Caribbe Inn Motel, Atlantic Beach, NC

During a visit to North Carolina’s Crystal Coast, Poncho and Lefty found themselves in need of a place to lay their heads on Atlantic Beach. As they drove, North Carolina Route 58 across the narrow strip of land that makes up the Bouge Islands, just south of the Outer Banks the pair happened upon the “Caribbe Inn”.

The Caribbe Inn is a classic 1950’s era motel complete with neon lights, parking places directly outside of the guest rooms, and decorative concrete. The motel is painted with lively colors; pinks, teals, and oranges. Playful ocean-themed murals are painted in each room. Poncho and Lefty’s room featured a giant sea turtle over the bed and decorative swirls on the ceiling. The rooms are sparkling clean – especially the bathrooms.

At $54 per night in the off-season, a stay at the Caribbe Inn is a steal. Lefty’s only regret was that there was no wireless internet signal to be found at the Inn. The motel is located just across the street from the beach and backs up to an inland creek. It is a perfect location for fishermen with boat slips, a fish cooler, and cleaning station. For those not wanting to fish, you can enjoy the grill and patio area.

The friendly staff, creative décor, and reasonable price make the Caribbe Inn at Atlantic Beach, NC a Poncho and Lefty top pick!

The Caribe Inn can be found at:
309 East Fort Macon Rd
Atlantic Beach, NC 28512
http://www.caribbe-inn.com/
252-726-0051

The Lady and Sons, Savannah, Georgia

It should come as no surprise that Poncho and Lefty consider themselves connoisseurs of southern cuisine. As such, they felt that a trip down to Savannah for a meal at Paula Deen’s The Lady and Sons restaurant was in order.

Getting a table at The Lady and Sons was no easy task. In fact, their first attempt to dine with the Lady ended in failure as Poncho and Lefty were met with legions of loyal fans willing to wait for hours to get a reservation.

The pair devised a way to beat the lines and recruited Federale Assistance to swell their ranks to a party of more than ten guests. Paula will take your reservation (no waiting required) with a large group and a pre-paid credit card!

The atmosphere inside the Lady and Sons is welcoming and bright. There are three floors of dining with large open windows that overlook the streets of downtown Savannah. Things really get going when the bread lady shows up at your table with a mountain of cheese biscuits and hoe cakes to get your taste buds started!

For lunch at the Lady and Sons guests are encouraged to order off of the all-you-can-eat buffet. This gives you a nice but limited sampling of Paula’s famous southern favorites. There are a few additional sandwiches and other entrees that can be ordered off of the menu.

The food is good. Poncho ranked the macaroni and cheese a perfect ten! And the fried chicken lived up to Lefty’s most discriminating standards.

Paula Deen’s success seems to be living proof that what most folks want at the dinner table is a good meal. Get the basics right, and the rest falls into place. The food at the Lady and Sons is not unlike what can be found in local cafes and diners all over the south. Paula does the classics; and she does them well. The standard lima beans, back eyed peas, and sweet potatoes have helped position the Lady as a southern cooking royalty. Job well done!

In summary… if you can manage to get a table at the Lady and Sons; eat up! If not, don’t be too disappointed. There’s plenty of good southern cooking out there waiting to be discovered!

The Lady and Sons can be found at:

102 West Congress Street

Savannah, Georgia 31401

http://www.ladyandsons.com/

(912) 233-2600

Clairpointe Resturaunt, Grosse Pointe, MI

Poncho and Lefty look for more than just food. They travel in search of all things local, a sense of place, and an understanding of the people who call the places they visit home.

This is all well and good, but lots of times they stick out like sore thumbs as regulars size up the pair and try to figure out exactly who they are and what they are up to.

It is hard to “blend in” while taking pictures of food.

This was the case as Poncho and Lefty traveled north to Gross Pointe, Michigan. With images of the movie Gross Pointe Blank and Maggie O’Connell in their heads, the pair drove their foreign-made rental car out of the motor city, along the shores of Lake St. Clair and into the heart of Gross Pointe suburbia.

The Clairpointe Restaurant looked welcoming on a downtown corner. And in they went.

Once through the door, it was pretty obvious that regardless which table they choose, Poncho and Lefty would run a substantial risk of taking a regular customer’s table.

With less than a sentence out of their mouths the waitress asked, “Where ‘ya from?”

Lefty ordered fried chicken with macaroni and cheese while Poncho tried out potato filled pierogi. While the food was good the conversations around the restaurant were better.

The Clairpointe was comfortable and surely felt like home to the folks who were eating there. Our waitress knew her customers; not just their regular order, but also their latest health concern and the names of all of their twelve grandchildren. All sorts of interesting conversations were happening all around.

Poncho and Lefty left happy in knowing that their visit would fuel discussions at the Clairpointe for at least the next few meals.

The Clairpointe serves breaskfast, lunch, and dinner. Each day has it’s own daily specials aside from the wide range of selections on the menu.

The Clairpointe Restaurant can be found at:
630 Saint Clair St.
Grosse Pointe, MI, 48230
(313) 884-6810

The Silver Skillet, Atlanta, Georgia

In the heart of the city people need nourishment. I’m talking about a good cup of coffee that needs a lot of sugar and warm biscuits to clean their plate. If you will neglect the popular names and the shiny lights in downtown Atlanta, you can find a warm booth with a window to watch the world go by. Just around the corner from the Technical College of Georgia is a painted white brick building and a sign announcing the award of “Best Breakfast in Atlanta.”

The Silver Skillet was founded in 1956 and under current operation since 1967. The morning we visited the Silver Skillet it was damp and cold, so as we stepped into the busy diner and were met with warmth and the smell of coffee. Every table and chair was filled in the diner. As a table would empty it would immediately be filled by the next patrons. After a brief wait we were seated and on our way to another memorable meal.

The menu offered many nice selections that complemented the specials written on the wall. We were honored to be enjoying this meal with a few of our closest federalies. Between all of us we ordered:

-Ham and Cheese Omelet
-Country ham with red eye gravy
-Hamburger steak
-Egg salad sandwich
-Grits, scrambled eggs, hash browns, white gravy, and biscuits

After the meal no one complained nor did anyone leave hungry. Above all else the biscuits were truly homemade. Even the coffee was worth mentioning. In most dinners you need lots of cream and lots of sugar to manage the coffee. On this visit we were surprised to find the coffee quite tasty, despite the warning on the wall to “add a little sugar and stir like hell.”

Saturday and Sunday is breakfast only and come early to beat the crowd.

The Silver Skillet can be found at:
200 14th Street
Atlanta, GA 30318
http://www.thesilverskillet.com/
(404) 874-1388

Mama's Boy, Athens, Georgia

Sometimes you only need to look in your own backyard to find something special and noteworthy. Poncho and Lefty often find this to be true… especially since their backyard happens to be the cultural and culinary melting pot that is Athens, Ga. In a town with a population to restaurant ratio that can only be found in a place made up of one third college students, surely there are more than a few good places to eat!

Mama’s Boy is just such a place.

In an unassuming building overlooking the Oconee River Greenway, Mama’s Boy offers “southern fun dining” in wonderfully retro atmosphere complete with jazz on the radio and not-too-sweet tea in a mason jar.

Poncho likes to call this kind of cooking “fancy southern”. It’s the way your grandmother would have cooked if she’d been shipped off to cooking school to learn how to add goat cheese to her macaroni.

Mama’s Boy pulls all of this off to perfection. The fried chicken is brined in sweet tea, the green beans are still crisp, and the French fries are hand cut. Homemade breads and sweet herbed butter are not to be skipped.

Lefty’s meatloaf was well-seasoned, but he preferred to scrape the marinara off and just add Heinz 57.

The servings were plentiful with the menu featuring several “southern fun” additions such as milkshakes, a signature strawberry-lemonade, and even espresso drinks made from Athens’ own, Jittery Joe’s coffees. Poncho and Lefty shared a memorable blueberry cobbler a la mode.

The laid back atmosphere welcomes guests to bring their own bottles of wine (or coolers) to enjoy at the comfortable tables and booths indoors or on the deck out back. Perfect for a week night or a date night, the food here may just make Mama’s Boys out of all of us!

Mama's Boy can be found at:
197 Oak Street
Athens, Ga
http://www.eatatmamasboy.com/
(706) 548-6249

Hunting Island State Park, Hunting Island, South Carolina

Spring was at hand and Poncho and Lefty were ready for a weekend getaway. The pair loaded up the Freestyle and headed for the coast for what was the first of many trips to South Carolina’s Hunting Island State Park.

Hunting Island is one of the state’s southern barrier islands. Travelers to the island will pass through historic Beaufort and cross over the numerous rivers and tidal creeks that create inland islands like Lady’s Island and St. Helena Island. The drive through the low-country from Beaufort to the campground takes about 25 minutes.

The park, one of the states largest, offers campsites directly off the beach and others under the maritime forest. Tall pines, palmettos and a reconstructed beach offer plenty of natural environment to enjoy. A nature center on the island’s southern tip delves into the animals, fish, and plants that inhabit the area. Miles of beaches mean that you’re never too close to the nearest beach neighbor. Poncho must say that the waves at Hunting Island are impressive and make for excellent boogie boarding!

Campsites are available for tents, campers, and RVs. Sites offer electricity and water with adequate (but not to be bragged about) bath houses. There is a well-stocked camp store to purchase anything that may have been forgotten or even a souvenir. Reservations for prime sites nearest the beach can be hard to come by during peak season. For the best spots, the park begins taking reservations eleven months in advance.

For this reason, Poncho and Lefty have enjoyed visiting the park during the off-season. The weather is less predictable – but at least there are no hurricanes to worry over after you’ve had your spot reserved for almost a year!

There is plenty at the park to keep you busy off the beach. (Lefty can only take so much direct sunlight!) A must see is the Hunting Island Light House. You can climb the spiral staircase to the top of the light for a spectacular view of the island. Interpretive displays depict life on this remote barrier island for the light keeper and his family.

Here is Poncho and Lefty’s list of things that are not to be missed on a trip to Hunting Island:

• Srgt. White’s Diner in Beaufort
  
• Sunrise on the beach
  
• The unique art galleries, shops, and Gullah culture of St. Helena Island
  
• Crab Cakes and Chocolate Stuff at Barbara Jean’s on Lady’s Island
  
• Look for the Ghost Light on Fripp Island (Poncho has been too chicken to actually do this, but she’s read all about it!)

Poncho and Lefty hope you'll enjoy discovering Hunting Island State Park as much as they have!

Hunting Island State Park can be found at:

2555 Sea Island Pkwy.

Hunting Island, SC 29920

http://www.southcarolinaparks.com/park-finder/state-park/1019.aspx

(843) 838-2011

You can also find the Friends of the park at:

Friends of Hunting Island

The Loveless Cafe, Nashville, Tennessee

Sometimes there are restaurant finds that are so memorable you try to recreate the experience over and over again. Sometimes doing so requires a 500 mile journey just for a good biscuit. Sometimes you find yourself attempting to replicate recipes and dreaming of the good food that someone must be eating right at a distant table right at that very moment.

For Poncho and Lefty, the holy grail of restaurant finds happened on a cold, wet November night when they walked into the Loveless Café outside of Nashville, TN. After thousands miles without sweet tea and just one night away from Georgia, the desire for a home-cooked meal had taken on a whole new meaning.

The Loveless is a magical little café that makes you feel as if you’ve just walked into your grandmother’s house. Pictures of famous locals along the walls let you know that you’re not the only one who feels this way. Most of Nashville’s red carpet gang has stopped in for a meal at the Loveless at some point during their stint in Music City.

There is so much to say about the Loveless, but the short of it is that this place is legendary. If you are anywhere remotely nearby there is simply no excuse for not having a meal at this Nashville institution. The Loveless opened more than 60 years ago serving hot biscuits and fried chicken to travelers out of the front door of Annie Loveless’s kitchen. The tradition (along with the good biscuits and chicken) continues to this day.

Poncho and Lefty were so impressed with that first night at the Loveless that they have returned two additional times to dig deeper into the menu. The country ham with red eye gravy left Poncho speechless. Lefty has declared the fried chicken almost as good as his grandmother’s. (The fact that it is even worthy of a comparison speaks volumes to the quality of the crust and the juiciness of the meat!) The hashbrown casserole and cucumbers salad round out Poncho’s favorites, while Lefty taps the fried okra and macaroni and cheese as his notables.

And then of course there are the biscuits. Always served warm and fresh, these biscuits are worth writing home about. The biscuits are neatly shaped and always have just the right amount of melted butter drizzled on top. They are still made with Annie Loveless’s recipe and you can watch the masterpiece in progress through a big glass window in the back of the dining room.

The biscuits are best enjoyed with a generous helping of preserves. Strawberry, blackberry and peach preserves are all homemade with only two ingredients: sugar and the fruit! You can take the preserves or a smoked ham and other memories home from the Loveless’s Country Store.

The Loveless Cafe can be found at:
8400 Hwy 100
Nashville, TN 37221
http://www.lovelesscafe.com/
615-646-9700

Jack's Bar-B-Que, Nashville, Tennessee

If flying neon pigs aren’t enough to draw you into a Bar-b-Que joint then it is quite possible that nothing ever will. And so it was without high expectations, but with heightened curiosity that Poncho and Lefty stepped off of Broadway and into Jack’s Bar-B-Que in the heart of Nashville’s downtown “district”.

Once you’re through the door of Jack’s and take a deep breath of the heavy, smoke filled air you know, “this is going to be good.” The concrete floors and red checked table clothes complete the feeling.

Jack (or one his employees) takes your order at the head of a cafeteria-style line. The menu is vast enough to please BBQ connoisseurs from across the south. There is beef brisket for the Texan, South Carolina mustard-based sauce, and even Kansas City sweet sauce. Turkey, sausage and of course pulled-pork round out the choices of perfectly smoked meat. There’s also macaroni and cheese, a lovely vinegar based slaw, BBQ beans and other sides to complete your meal.

All of this may sound a lot like your nearest chain BBQ place – attempting to be just good enough at all styles of BBQ but never hanging their hat in one place. The difference is that Jacks does them all – but does them well.

Even the corn bread is worth mentioning. As much like cake as bread, the dense slices are not to be skipped.

A BBQ purist will note the lack of Brunswick stew on the menu. Maybe it’s the style, maybe one of the pigs flew off with the stirring stick, who knows? At any rate the tasty sides, perfectly sweetened tea, and even a selection of pie slices just begging to come out of their syran wrap make for an excellent Bar-b-Que experience.

Items we ordered:
Smoked Turkey, Pulled Pork, BBQ Beans, Macaroni and Cheese, Slaw, Corn bread, and Sweet Tea.

Jack’s Bar-B-Que can be found at:
416 Broadway
Nashville, TN 37203
http://www.jacksbarbque.com/

615-254-5715