Weekend in South Carolina

Would that make them Cardaboose?  Nice photo Al and Papa John Stadium is a great place to see a game.

About that bland cornbread:  traditionally, cornbread in the South was made with white corn meal.  We didn't do sweet corn or sweet corn bread.  I married a Yankee and learned to eat yellow corn bread--it goes good with syrup.  You were in a genuine soul food place and i wish I could have been there too.

buffetbuster
As for the unusual name of the place, it was so that when wives asked their husbands where they were going, they would think the guys were heading for the gym, instead of out for a few beers.

That's great! Those pimento fries and burger look great. It's understandable about the cold cheese..that stuff doesn't have much time before it takes a turn for the worse. Here's to hoping I'll have a better experience when I try my first pimento burger (can't wait). I've really got to make it down to the 'ol Athletic Club...thanks for the tip on another sign-less restaurant.

Oldlowe


About that bland cornbread:  traditionally, cornbread in the South was made with white corn meal.  We didn't do sweet corn or sweet corn bread.  I married a Yankee and learned to eat yellow corn bread--it goes good with syrup.  You were in a genuine soul food place and i wish I could have been there too.

Thanks for the info.  I had a feeling that it was really good cornbread, just not what I am used to or prefer.

I'm betting that's another poor people food thing.  Either the southerners didn't have sugar to include in the cornbread or got used to making it without sugar, but I grew up eating the nonsweetened, white corn meal variety and I started to think of the other stuff as cake when I got it at school.  There's one place down here where the corn muffins are so sweet I suggested they serve them with macerated strawberries as a shortcake.

lol.

Nancy, I think you're on to something there.  I love tracing
the origins of regional foods...I know that so much
of what is called soul/country/southern was developed
in the south after the Civil War because of the extreme
poverty and hard times.

Turns out that resulted in a fantastic cuisine.

Nancy, I grew up eating the same kind of cornbread as you did. Mom was a farm girl from the hills of eastern Kentucky and, when I was a kid, she'd make pintos n' cornbread several times a year. Always sided with her great fried taters with onions and fried fatback. I grew up loving this meal, and I sure wish Mom was still around to make it for me ( I'd do it myself, but my kitchen skills are pathetically lacking. )

As always, a great report with great photos. I'm glad you met Nancypalooza who has seemed like a great person to spend time with. I look forward to meeting her.

Feeling much better after a couple hour nap and the sun going down, we were ready for some bbq.  Lisa again picked me up at my hotel and we headed east on I-26 to the small town of Chapin and a place called Farm Boys BBQ.


First of all, no visit to the South is complete without at least some bbq.  And with this being South Carolina and I personally loving the yellow mustard based bbq sauce, I was really looking forward to this.
 
We knew the place closed at 8:00PM and we didn't walk in the door until 7:50PM.  Normally, I don't like to do this, but with it being a buffet, it posed less of a problem.  Just in case, I asked when we entered and the hostess told us we were welcome and could take as much time as we wanted.  The fact that the dining room was still packed made us more relaxed.
 
For some reason, probably because I was rushing to eat, I didn't take any photos of the buffet.  But it is a long line with plenty of other options besides the 'que.  Here is the plate I ended up with on my first pass.
 
Some of the sides were better than others, but the pork was nice and tender.  Here is a close up,

along with the good mac and cheese.  They also had what they called Calabash chicken on the buffet, but I couldn't tell the difference between that and regular fried chicken.  It was average at best.  Along with the hash, the pork was the best item.  While we were eating that plate, the waitresses went around and gave everyone one more chance at the buffet.  I declined, because I wanted to try a couple of desserts.
 
They had six or seven different desserts sitting out, but Lisa had gone crazy over the chocolate cake.  As someone who doesn't usually react that way, I took her advice and grabbed a piece for myself. 

And this was some seriously moist, super chocolatey cake.  This was the best thing we had here.  The banana pudding was nothing special.
 
Lisa loved the cake so much, she asked the waitress what it would cost for her to get a piece to go, to take home to her daughter.  A man at the table next to us, overheard this request and told the waitress to wrap it up and give it to her for free.  Of course, this was the owner and that was very kind of him.  We spoke to him briefly and I asked about the huge collection of piggy decorations throughout the building.  He laughed and said he had much more but couldn't display them all.  I asked if he minded I take some photos of them and he said sure.




This place probably has more piggy decorations than any bbq place that I have ever visited.  They are literally everywhere!  My kind of place.  On the way out, I took a photo of the redneck weather rope.

 
Farm Boys BBQ
525 Columbia Avenue
Chapin, SC
803-345-7600
 
 http://www.farmboysbbq.com/
 
I give Farm Boys a good recommendation, but I wouldn't go out of my way to go back.  It is very conveniently located, just minutes of the interstate.

Green Beans looked old like two or three days,The Fried Chicken was Overcooked and Dried out.The Desserts looked outstanding.You spent 14 bucks on that meal?

Yeah, but this is the problem with a buffet--there's always going to be something that suffers, particularly if they don't have constant business to keep everything necessarily refreshed.  Which is a big part of why I like Shealy's and Duke's--they stay slammed so the food that is already very good is never sitting around long.  I think Shealy's is up to $12 for dinner.

I don't know where the local fascination with 'Calabash' chicken started, other than just evoking Calabash, NC-style seafood frying, but I've seen that used as a modifier here probably all my life.

I wonder if they have somebody's gramma making cakes.   It did look scrumptious.

buffetbuster


Feeling much better after a couple hour nap and the sun going down, we were ready for some bbq.  Lisa again picked me up at my hotel and we headed east on I-26 to the small town of Chapin and a place called Farm Boys BBQ.
 

 
Where apparently you met up with TTM and WJ...
 
Brad

Brad-
I'm trying to figure out which one is which!

You must be the guy with the Clemson sweater on?

I may have to get out to SC soon, you've got two of my favorite things there that look amazing...the mac & cheese and the chocolate cake...although it's become increasingly difficult to find a nice moist piece lately. Nice photos and write up as always.

Before I left on this trip, I contacted Chris of ayersian to ask for a recommendation near Charlotte before the drive down to Columbia.  The place Chris recommended was 521 BBQ in Indian Land, SC, which closes at 8:00PM.  My plane was scheduled to land at 6:35PM, so if everything went smoothly, I should have no trouble making it on time.  But, of course, the real world doesn't work that way does it?
 
My plane landed 12 minutes early.  But there were no available gates, so we sat on the runway for almost 20 minutes.  Since all my luggage was carried on, I hustled down to Budget Car Rental.  And they had a sign that said that they were closed at I had to go to Avis.  Apparently, I was the only person on the planet who hadn't heard that Avis bought Budget.  So, I got in the long line at Avis.  One person in front of me is arguing that it shouldn't cost more to bring back the tank empty and was throwing a fit.  I was ready to prepay this guys gas just to shut him up.  Finally, I get to the front of the line and there is a problem with my rental.  He tells me I need to catch the shuttle to the off-site lot and ask for the manager.  I do this and it takes the manager 15 minutes to show up.  At this point, I am on the verge of going insane.  The manager checks me in and my car is waiting for me, with engine running, next to the curb.  What that was all about, I have no idea.  It is now just a few minutes before 8:00PM and I figure any chance of me eating at 521 BBQ is out the door.
 
But, it is good to have friends in high places.  And when I mean high places, I am referring to connections at bbq parlors.  Chris' friend Amy works at 521 and I call her to tell her I will be too late.  But in a sweet Southern accent, she tells me they have a combo tray waiting for me, that they still have to clean up and to get there as fast as I can.  Can do!  Unfortunately, my GPS would not accept the name of the town Indian Land.  While driving way too fast to get there, I call Amy back for help with the directions.
 
Her directions were perfect, but it took her telling me them a few times.  Once again, my Yankee ears weren't hearing things correctly.  When she told me to go past Indian Land High School, I thought she said hospital.  She said, no, high school and this time I heard hostel.  Does Indian Land really have a youth hostel?  Finally, I understood her and pulled up at 521 BBQ

at 8:20PM.  Amy was waiting for me at the door and immediately put this plate

down on the table.   The crinkle cut fries and baked beans were all fine, but the ribs,

with meat easily pulling off the bone were the first thing I polished off.  Even better was the excellent chopped pork. 

Extremely moist and tender, I had a great time eating this with the three different sauces you are given.

The red tomatoey sauce and yellowish mustard sauce are both commercial sauces, with the tangy vinegar sauce is homemade.  Excellent!
 
Also coming with the meal are some fantastic sides.  In general, I'm not a hushpuppy fan.  Most hushpuppies I run into have a hard shell with a gummy interior.  But not these.  521's hushpuppies are oddly shaped, wonderfully crunchy, with a faint sweet taste on the inside.  Sorry, the photos of the hushpupies were too blurry to post.  Another highlight is the vinegar cole slaw,

which reminded me just how close I was to the North Carolina border.  Along with a large glass of good sweet tea, this was a bbq meal to remember!
 
While they continued to clean up, I took a few inside photos of the place.


Can you believe that not only didn't they not charge me for all this wonderful food, they even insisted I take some more pork and ribs with me.  How cool is that?  Needless to say, I owe a big thanks to Amy for the incredibly generous hospitality and Chris for setting this up.
 
521 BBQ was easily the best of the three bbq joints I visited during my weekend.
 
http://www.roadfood.com/R...229-5330/521-bbq-grill 

Very cool tale....glad you made it. What a gal Amy is!

I'm missing those hushpuppy pictures

this is becoming my favorite thread...keep em coming!

I still love that story.  I'm gonna have to visit next time I'm headed to Charlotte.

My mother owns PK's. Thanks for this nice article on her restuarant. She will really enjoy reading it. Next time you visit, try the red velvet. It is awesome!. Also, she cooks everything from scratch. They actually clean turnips and collards just like the old days. Thanks again! I am glad you enjoyed your visit.

Mochaa924-
Welcome to Roadfood!  Thank you so much for saying hello and giving us a little background info on PK's.  The attention to detail and the desire to do things the right way really comes across in the food.  Continued success to your mother and her restaurant!

Funny you mention the red velvet cake because it is a real favorite of mine.  I was mildly disappointed when the waitress told me they were out of it.  But, with so many other mouth watering cakes to choose from, I got over it quickly. 

Welcome mochaa!  PK's just made it up to the top of my to-do list.  :)

I have no desire to turn this into a political thread, but.....
 
One of the reasons I was late headed to Spartanburg on that Sunday afternoon was that I made an unscheduled stop at Maurice's BBQ in Columbia.  My two previous visits here were both approximately a decade ago and I very much enjoyed the food.   It was my introduction to South Carolina mustard based sauce. 
 
While having breakfast with Nancypalooza, we discussed this place.   I didn't recall that much in the way of political overtones to Maurice's in my previous visits, but Nancy said it is much more overt now.  So, I decided to go see the place myself.
 
To differentiate this Maurice's location from the others and there are several throughout Columbia and the state, this location is known as Piggy Park. 

It is rather hard to miss the place with the huge sign out front.

As soon as you walk in the door, there are a bunch of books for sale.

I did take this quick photo, but I had no desire to buy anything or even linger while thumbing through a couple.  Just looking at the photo, there are quite a few there that have benign titles, but who knows what the books are like on the inside.  It seems to me the key book on the table is Maurice Bessinger's own "Defending My Heritage".
 
Going up to the counter to order, I originally was going to get a pork bbq sandwich and maybe a dessert.  But the young lady told me it would be a better value to go for the buffet.  When I saw the price difference and saw she was right, I agreed.  She led me to a table and said help myself.


Here is the plate I ended up with.

The chicken tasted old, the hushpuppies were hard, the mac and cheese bland and lifeless. Basically all the sides except for the creamy slaw tasted like they had been sitting around for too long.  The pork itself

was nothing special and I think it was greatly improved by the sauce.  The yellow bbq sauce here is thick and sweet and I am a fan.   My favorite item was the very good hash

on top of rice.  Yeah, I know what's in hash, but I like it anyway!
 
I only made one trip to the regular buffet, before I brought a cup of banana pudding

back to my seat.  This was a gloppy mess and I didn't bother to finish it, which doesn't happen with banana pudding very often. 
 
The decorating in the place was mostly Gamecock prints and Confederacy art work.

Back to the table of books.  How much of it is racist crap, I don't know.  I do know some people I hold in high regard and know more about the subject than me, who won't eat here (I'm not talking about Nancy, who is more than capable of giving her own views) because of the owner's political beliefs.  And that is good enough for me.  You combine the below average food and the questionable politics and that is enough to insure I won't return.  Which is a shame, because I really do like that sauce. 
 
Besides, what kind of bbq joint has a diet book for sale?
 
Thanks again to everyone for reading my trip report!

Good know....not a place I would visit.

buffetbuster
Just looking at the photo, there are quite a few there that have benign titles, but who knows what the books are like on the inside.  It seems to me the key book on the table is Maurice Bessinger's own "Defending My Heritage".

Not this one, huh?

And I'm not going to make your thread political either, Cliff.  I am glad you got a photo of that table.  As I recall the table at the store on Hwy 6 in Irmo got super extra nutty before I stopped going there.  (This is the location with the giant mural of Maurice astride a white horse in the dining room.)  This selection looks maybe even mild.  Maybe the old coot's mellowing out.

When I try to see things from his perspective (difficult to do), I can see where knowing that once upon a time the rest of your prominent barbecue hut people had politics not that different from yours and then they turn their backs when you get called out . . that would make you bitter.  But it doesn't excuse the stubborn inability to change.

I'm also sorry to see they're relying on a buffet.  Back in the mid 90s when I went there probably once or twice a week for lunch, it was all fresh food and all very good--their slaw is unusually good for a barbecue place.

Nancypalooza

(This is the location with the giant mural of Maurice astride a white horse in the dining room.) 

For real?  Oh, that is too funny!

Yeah, if that had been on the agenda . . that's the one I would have taken you to.  It's just so . . . over the top, around the planet, and back over the top again.

buffetbuster


I have no desire to turn this into a political thread, but.....
 
One of the reasons I was late headed to Spartanburg on that Sunday afternoon was that I made an unscheduled stop at Maurice's BBQ in Columbia.  My two previous visits here were both approximately a decade ago and I very much enjoyed the food.   It was my introduction to South Carolina mustard based sauce. 
 
While having breakfast with Nancypalooza, we discussed this place.   I didn't recall that much in the way of political overtones to Maurice's in my previous visits, but Nancy said it is much more overt now.  So, I decided to go see the place myself.
 
To differentiate this Maurice's location from the others and there are several throughout Columbia and the state, this location is known as Piggy Park. 

It is rather hard to miss the place with the huge sign out front.

As soon as you walk in the door, there are a bunch of books for sale.

I did take this quick photo, but I had no desire to buy anything or even linger while thumbing through a couple.  Just looking at the photo, there are quite a few there that have benign titles, but who knows what the books are like on the inside.  It seems to me the key book on the table is Maurice Bessinger's own "Defending My Heritage".
 
Going up to the counter to order, I originally was going to get a pork bbq sandwich and maybe a dessert.  But the young lady told me it would be a better value to go for the buffet.  When I saw the price difference and saw she was right, I agreed.  She led me to a table and said help myself.


Here is the plate I ended up with.

The chicken tasted old, the hushpuppies were hard, the mac and cheese bland and lifeless. Basically all the sides except for the creamy slaw tasted like they had been sitting around for too long.  The pork itself

was nothing special and I think it was greatly improved by the sauce.  The yellow bbq sauce here is thick and sweet and I am a fan.   My favorite item was the very good hash

on top of rice.  Yeah, I know what's in hash, but I like it anyway!
 
I only made one trip to the regular buffet, before I brought a cup of banana pudding

back to my seat.  This was a gloppy mess and I didn't bother to finish it, which doesn't happen with banana pudding very often. 
 
The decorating in the place was mostly Gamecock prints and Confederacy art work.

Back to the table of books.  How much of it is racist crap, I don't know.  I do know some people I hold in high regard and know more about the subject than me, who won't eat here (I'm not talking about Nancy, who is more than capable of giving her own views) because of the owner's political beliefs.  And that is good enough for me.  You combine the below average food and the questionable politics and that is enough to insure I won't return.  Which is a shame, because I really do like that sauce. 
 
Besides, what kind of bbq joint has a diet book for sale?
Thanks again to everyone for reading my trip report!

Buffetbuster,

I completely agree with you about the political thing.  I have seen these bumper stickers all over the place here on vehicles driving down the road along with flags and every possible thing.  But I just moved here from Madison Wisconsin so I have seen both ends of the political spectrum.  I do my best to keep my mouth shut. Enjoy the food and don't let it get to you.  Keep the great reports coming.  I appreciate and enjoy them.

I'm from Spartanburg, and when I went to PK's, it was about 50/50 White and Black on Sundays after church.  Great food and service.

Grab-
Welcome to Roadfood and it is nice to hear from someone else who has been to PK's.  What do you recommend to eat there?