Walt Bagwell - Walt and Jim do food

Walt Bagwell and Jim Williams, self proclaimed food experts?  Muddle their way through eateries in Marion and around the country.  Believe it or not, you may find a new place to visit for a great meal.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:22

Hello, I'm Jim Williams, and you're on the porch. Well, my guest today, uh, he and I have hiked together, biked together, uh, we've traveled together, we have served on committees together, but more importantly, we've eaten food sometimes together, sometimes in different places. So, in my mind, that makes us experts on food. At least we're as close to an expert as you're gonna get on this podcast. Walt Bagwell, welcome to the porch.

SPEAKER_01 1:00

Thank you, Jim. It's uh it's great to be here. Uh expert and my name don't usually fall in the same sentence, so I'm gonna go ahead and set the bar really low because, first of all, my taste buds aren't the same as yours, and usually when we're at those restaurants, I'm there because I want to drink something.

SPEAKER_02 1:16

Well, and we're gonna talk about drinking too, because uh when it comes to drinking, you're you're much better at it than I am. You know a lot more stuff than I do. Let me get into one right away. Let's just jump in here. Toner's restaurant down in Morganton. We've both been there. What do you think? The wings. I love the wings. The wings are absolutely that's my favorite, but you've had some other stuff.

SPEAKER_01 1:41

I have. Uh I've had the shepherd's pie, I think I've had the smash burger and uh something, maybe the bangers and mash, but I always go back to those wings and the beet salad too, because you gotta balance the fried wing with a salad so that you don't walk out of there with uh some sort of clogged artery somewhere.

SPEAKER_02 2:00

Well, that's a good idea. I've never tried that salad because it's a little too healthy for me to try, but I can't get away from the wings. I get the large order of wings. My understanding of the way they cook them is however you cook wings, but then they finish them off in a bourbon of some sort. Uh and I I thought I could taste the bourbon in the wings.

SPEAKER_01 2:24

Yeah, it was good. I think the sauce really makes them pop. But then again, you know, I like a wing. I don't like one that's got a lot of breading on it. Right. Because it takes away. I like one that's hard fried, not um soft, if you will. It'll pull away from the bone pretty easily, but there's still a hard-fried, and then the sauce is what really closes it out for me.

SPEAKER_02 2:44

That sauce I think is just excellent. Yeah, I can't remember the size of the large order. That's what I always get because I figure if I can't eat them, that's a nice portable take-home. Even if I bring home uh four or five more wings, uh always good around the tee. And they're good cold too.

SPEAKER_01 3:04

Wings are good cold. Sure, sure. Let me ask you a question. Do you prefer flats or drums?

SPEAKER_02 3:11

You know, I don't know. I I get a mix because I can't decide. I think I like the flats better.

SPEAKER_01 3:21

Well, most true wing eaters prefer flats, I think. Yeah, I think so, because they're you can get more meat off of them. But uh I kind of like the drums. Either way, you're gonna get a face full of sauce. Right. These wings are probably eight to ten napkin wings. And I've walked out of restaurants plenty of times with sauce all over my face without knowing it. So you gotta just go ahead and bear with that.

SPEAKER_02 3:46

Well, and of course, I've got a mustache, that's even worse.

SPEAKER_01 3:50

It's disgusting if you really want to make it.

SPEAKER_02 3:52

Well, it's uh it it is, but not for me, because I can't see. You can't see, right. So it's just the other people.

SPEAKER_01 3:58

It's just not as appetizing for those that are sitting around you. Well, and and I don't care that much. I didn't think you did. No, no, it doesn't matter. So Jim, let me let me stop. Listen, I I don't want to upset any restaurateur in the county locally, okay? Right. So I'm gonna be completely pragmatic and blank, diplomatic, if you will, on any of our local restaurateurs because that's quite a challenge in today's environment, you know, to open a restaurant. It takes a lot of courage, first of all. There's a lot of hidden expenses that the average person doesn't realize, and they're all fighting for the same food dollar. So I'm gonna be very careful in praising all of our local restaurants here in McDowell County. We're lucky to have each and every one of them.

SPEAKER_02 4:46

I think that's an excellent point. I I wish I'd have said it. In fact, after I get through editing, uh it probably will be me that says it. I I'm the same way uh because on any day, you and I both know at any restaurant on any day we can have a bad experience. And there's no need to bring that up.

SPEAKER_00 5:06

No way.

SPEAKER_01 5:06

And I I don't want to point you can do what you want, you go, that's on you. But I don't want to highlight any local restaurant over any other, because if we if I do, I'm gonna leave one out. Right. You can say what you will, but I will make sure uh I treat all equally here in McDowell County, because I do love them all. They all have different uh things about them that I like, the ones that I've been to anyway.

SPEAKER_02 5:30

Well, you know, we really are pretty lucky in that we have a lot of good places to go eat. Just uh whether it's fast food and speaking, I'm gonna I'm just gonna get off the subject here and go down a different track, which is uh typical of what we do here. Uh have you tried the Big Arch burger at McDonald's?

SPEAKER_01 5:52

Yeah, no, and I haven't. I I don't typically eat fast food because I've got enough problems, and nothing against our fast food franchises, but uh I try to limit the intake of fast food in my diet because there's too many bad things going in there already. Not that it's all bad, but it's just a theory I have.

SPEAKER_02 6:14

Well, Janet will not eat uh McDonald's food. Uh I and I eat it once in a while. I I like it. I'm I'm kind of a fast food kind of guy once in a while. But this new one that they've got, it's called the Big Arch. It's a double patty. It has, I'll just call it secret sauce. It's kind of a hot sauce in between the patties, got cheese, of course. And we have to get the combo, and we'll just get one combo and cut the burger in half. It's that big. Wow. And it is a plenty good meal. And then you get fries, and of course, I get a big sweet tea, then Janet will get a drink. So there you have a a lunch, a fast lunch, certainly less than $20, probably less than $15 for the two of us. Uh and I'm guessing that you know what one McDonald's has, they all have.

SPEAKER_01 7:09

They probably do. I I when I was going, and if I were to go, it'd be on a road trip or something, need something quick. I'd probably go for the Big Mac. Yeah. Now I used to eat the McRib. Did you ever eat that? Yes back in the day? Yes. So I don't know if they even still have that anymore. They would bring it out for a couple of months and then take it away.

SPEAKER_02 7:27

A friend of mine who uh I'm not gonna name him because I'm gonna make fun of him, and he'll know who I'm talking about. Actually, he handles some of our money, and he's cheap. Yeah. You know who I'm talking about.

SPEAKER_01 7:40

You didn't have to say another word? Yes, I do.

SPEAKER_02 7:42

Well, uh he will sometimes take me out to lunch and he'll wait until McDonald's has the McRib. Oh, is that right? Yeah, and that's where he takes me for lunch. What a treat. Yes, oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:56

I I I love it. So uh I try to find places when I'm out somewhere that have uh personality, if you will. Because sometimes I don't care as much about the food as I do about the vibe.

SPEAKER_02 8:09

Yeah, I'm with you on that.

SPEAKER_01 8:10

I mean, absolutely example. We'd go to the tourist game in Asheville, and there was a place called Joe's Crab Shack. You know about it, yeah. I'm sure. I mean the food was you know so-so. So so. Yeah. But I love the atmosphere in there. Yep. It just felt like a dive bar, if you will. So the beer was always cold, which is important to me. Yes. And I just enjoyed that, even though the food was not always great.

SPEAKER_02 8:32

Well, talking about places with atmosphere, and it really doesn't do us any good to talk about it now because it's gone. You know who I'm talking about. Straightaway cafe.

SPEAKER_01 8:42

Yeah, let me tell you about that. I thought I had hit a gold mine. And we're coming back from Black Mountain one day, and we take the old way down Highway 9, and somebody had heard about this restaurant, one of our friends, and we pulled up and walking in, man, it was just I felt like I was cooler because I was there.

SPEAKER_02 9:02

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 9:03

I mean, they had outdoor seating, they had a little band playing. They had all these neat retro pictures and posters and all this stuff inside, and the food was good.

SPEAKER_02 9:14

It was a nice old building, uh, kind of a collection of buildings, really. It was.

SPEAKER_01 9:19

Uh, sort of an eclectic look. Well, we got to talking to the people there because I would go back a lot, and they tried to make it like an old Alaskan roadhouse, is how they described it. It was a yeah, so we would go up there on Friday nights, they would have a vinyl LP night. Oh, yeah. And they'd stick an LP on and just let it play through. And this was usually stuff from the 70s, which I love. So that was a must-do. And I thought, well, I found this place, nobody knows about it, but I told you about it. You said, Oh, yeah, we go there all the time.

SPEAKER_02 9:49

Yeah. Yeah, we we loved it. And and now they're gone. So uh we'll we'll just tip our hats to uh straightaway cafe, not since you're not there anymore.

SPEAKER_01 10:02

What do you got? You got any? Well, I wrote down a couple uh that I have uh and straightaway was on that list. Uh uh let me tell you about one. Um I happened upon this place in 2017, and I remember it well because it was the summer of the full eclipse. Yeah. Okay. My wife and I had been in Hilton Head and we were coming back on um I-26, and the eclipse was supposed to be full right around Newberry at the that one. So we pulled off on the side, uh, just random exit, and and it happened to be a gas station. I think there was a waffle house across the street. And there was a little cafe called Bill and Franz, and they were serving the eclipse burger at that time, and we were pretty hungry, so we went in and and grabbed something to eat. And it was one of those type of places. It had that vibe to it. It it's got that old diner type vibe. They've got a counter and they've got a hustle bustle going on inside there. You can see the guy throwing the meat on the grill, and and it's just a really neat place. And the food was really good. I actually stopped there a couple of months ago coming back from Edistow. Yes. Yeah, it's Bill and France, and and it and it was crowded. People know about it around there. But if you're on I-26 uh around Newberry and need a place to eat, that's one that always grabs us.

SPEAKER_02 11:26

Bill and France.

SPEAKER_01 11:27

And we remember it because we stood out in the parking lot and experienced the total eclipse.

SPEAKER_02 11:32

And that was a good eclipse.

SPEAKER_01 11:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 11:35

There are there are a few things I would have changed about the eclipse. It wasn't. Okay, go ahead. Tell me that. Well, it wasn't managed as well as I thought it could have been. There could have been a little more darkness. Is this a conspiracy theory? It could be. It's it's possible. I I think uh the government might be in control of the eclipse. And of course, when they turn everything dark, then they can sneak into your house and take stuff.

SPEAKER_01 12:02

Good. Well, I didn't have anything missing at that time, but uh I'm interested in your thoughts.

SPEAKER_02 12:06

Or have you really checked?

SPEAKER_01 12:07

Yeah, I mean they could have taken something I didn't care about, but do I really care if they took it?

SPEAKER_02 12:11

Well, that's what they take.

SPEAKER_01 12:12

Are they gonna trace my DNA? Is that what's gonna happen? And I'm gonna be tracked forever or something?

SPEAKER_02 12:18

Well, it that's already happened. Have you not done one of those uh family DNA things?

SPEAKER_01 12:25

Yeah, no, I have not, because I'm not really sure I want to find out. Well, my trust those. If you don't trust the eclipse, how can you trust DNA test?

SPEAKER_02 12:34

Well, I don't, but my DNA honestly is already on file with the government, so I got nothing to lose. My DNA and my fingerprints. So uh, you know, it doesn't matter to me. But those they s they brought made some laws that say when the government is out to get you, you know, you're a criminal, let's say, they can't come get you because th through those DNA programs. That's against the law. That's invasion of privacy.

SPEAKER_01 13:03

Like 23andMe, they've tracked down killers that way, haven't they?

SPEAKER_02 13:06

Yeah, but they're they're trying to stop that. Okay. So that uh unless you're in a legal database of DNA, they can't come get you through those programs. Well, there's loopholes everywhere, right, Jim? Oh yeah, and what they do is they'll find someone and they'll take a familiar familial DNA, and uh so let's say it's your daughter. Well, and they've got your DNA at the murder scene, but they get the DNA of your daughter. Well, that's close enough that they can say, okay, well, it's somebody in her immediate family, and then they'll come and get you. So you gotta watch it.

SPEAKER_01 13:45

Uh they don't have to worry about me. If they find me, they're gonna find one of the most boring people around.

SPEAKER_02 13:50

I have no secrets, nothing to hide, and I've uh Well, I I I'm kind of right there with you. Uh well, let's see. Who can oh, here's a new place in town here in Merion. We tried it, uh, and I I would say that it's it's very interesting. It's called Yoshi Sushi. Have you tried that?

SPEAKER_01 14:12

Where is that the one down here in the shopping center? Yeah, down there in that uh Oli's Yeah, no, I have not tried that, but I was I think we got a menu somehow in our mailbox, and I was looking at it, and I do like that kind of food. I don't like sushi. Yeah, but I do like the Japanese style rice and chicken and that's the thing.

SPEAKER_02 14:31

Yeah, and they got that, and they got uh I think they got those dumplings, gyoza, I think they call it. I thought it the thing that I liked about it, which I it's the first thing I look at at all sushi restaurants, is it looked nice and clean. The sushi that we got, now usually when I try sushi the first time at a restaurant, I'll I'll be more on the vegetarian side. Right. You know, I'll get a California roll or maybe I'll get a shrimp to impure roll or something like that. But I won't go hardcore until I f taste the freshness of the fish. Right. But I I felt like it was pretty fresh and and uh pretty good and uh I'll definitely go back to it. Well, maybe I'll give it a try. I I think it's worth a try. But like all sushi places, you gotta be in the mood for sushi or even Japanese, you gotta be in the mood for Japanese. But I think it's pretty good. Well, I'm usually in the mood. I just try not to eat too much of it. Well, now for those that are in the crossover mode, you know we've got this restaurant coming in called the Madness over there in that complex. Yes, the Miller complex. Miller Complex. Janet and I went to the Madness in Morganton. They serve sushi and burgers.

SPEAKER_01 15:51

I've heard. I haven't eaten there, but I've heard that. Uh so it's like an artisan burger, it's real fancy burger.

SPEAKER_02 15:57

Yeah, it's and uh so when we went, we went with another couple, and I had the sushi, I had just sushi. Uh, and I kind of there's uh and I'm gonna get to another pr restaurant pretty soon, but I had uh the same sushi that I get at a restaurant in Black Mountain, kind of a test sushi. Uh, and I thought it was pretty doggone good. Uh, and I'd go back to Morganton, but you know, if we don't have to, we'll just go here in Mary. Yeah, that's true. And the beauty of it is if you're not a sushi eater, you you got the burger side. Well, I'll give them a try. I don't know if they're open yet, but that sounds like a new place to check. I don't think they are. We drove by there the other day and they're not quite open, but uh I'm gonna be one of the first ones at their door to to check them out.

SPEAKER_01 16:48

So you're already talking like you know this stuff, you can really taste the flavors, and I'm usually eating fast.

SPEAKER_02 16:55

Again, let's go down another rabbit hole. Have you ever had a better deep dish pizza than we had in Las Vegas?

SPEAKER_01 17:04

Yeah, I that was great. I I'm gonna say that it it's good, but it may be possible that I have. Oh, really? I've been you've been to Chicago. Yes, I have. So this is Giordino's there, Chicago restaurant. They actually freeze and ship those pizzas too, if you didn't know that.

SPEAKER_02 17:19

No, I didn't know that.

SPEAKER_01 17:20

About 80 bucks a pizza, but they'll get it to you. So I've been to I've I I love the deep dish. It's not my go-to, but I do like to have it from time to time. And um, and there's been a couple in Chicago that I've eaten that I think are pretty much on par close to the one we had in Vegas. Uh Uno's was good and Lou Malnotti's. Oh, we had those? Yes, yes. Um they were both very good deep dish pizzas. Well, Maybe East is another one, too.

SPEAKER_02 17:50

See, I've eaten deep dish pizza because I I used to work in Chicago, and we've eaten deep dish pizza all over Chicago, along with, of course, a Chicago dog, which I can eat any time of day, 24 hours a day. Okay, so I wouldn't. Oh, really?

SPEAKER_01 18:06

Yeah. I mean, what do you put pickles on it and stuff? I I don't that doesn't go on a hot dog. Mustard chili.

SPEAKER_02 18:11

Oh, they're that's maybe onions, but it's the only hot dog to have uh it's got tomato wedges and it's got sport peppers. You you just can't beat a Chicago dog or a dog as they call it in Chicago.

SPEAKER_01 18:26

Each his own, Jim. I I don't think I'd like that.

SPEAKER_02 18:29

Now I'll tell you what I I don't like, although I ate it all when they gave it to me. At the same place that you can get the Chicago dog, we used to frequent a place, a chain called Portillos, or or maybe Portillos. It might be uh Portuguese, I don't know. Although I uh expect it's Italian. In Chicago, and along with the Chicago dog, you can get something called a meat sandwich. I've heard of that. Okay, so you get your meat sandwich, which is about a about a pound of m meat, sliced beef, probably, between two buns, and it's got some, you know, pickles and uh I mean uh peppers on it and stuff. And before the guy gives it to you, he goes, Do you want this wet? Well, my first time I thought that meant like an au jus. You know, he'll give you a little cup of sauce or juice, and you would dip it in it w when you wanted it. So I said, Yeah, I'll take it wet. And he just takes it and puts it, submerges it in a big vat of uh hopefully au jus, and brings it out and it is soaking wet from head to toe. Yeah, I mean it's it's fallen apart wet. The meat is wet, the bread is wet.

SPEAKER_01 19:48

Well, they cook that meat for hours. Yes. Oh, it is and it's uh it's so good. I don't know if you've seen the television series The Bear. I have seen one in the Hulu or something, I think. But yeah, that's what it's about. He runs a restaurant that sells those sandwiches. Oh, and I don't know that I've ever had one. If I have, I don't remember it. Nothing that's a bad thing, but that's right up my alley there. Oh, yeah. And I would wet that thing down as well. Really? Yeah, I think I would.

SPEAKER_02 20:16

See, I now I like a French dip. Uh you probably had to eat it with a fork, though. Yeah, yeah, that's true. But but that dip, man, that that meat sandwich, that is just something out of this world, I think. Oh, that's a good one. That's a good one. And that led me to another thing I wanted to talk about. French dip. You you're kind of in the loop around here. Do you know when the copper penny's coming?

SPEAKER_01 20:42

Don't.

SPEAKER_02 20:42

No, I don't.

SPEAKER_01 20:43

I've not heard any uh on that yet. Hopefully soon.

SPEAKER_02 20:46

Well, the copper penny, I go the copper penny down in Morgan or uh Rutherford. Right. And uh I would say they've got one of the best French dip sandwiches I've ever had. Yeah. I really like it. I like the way they uh present it, cut it, dip, and um, you know, the au jus. That's a good place to go. You know, Rutherfordton's a nice, pleasant drive from Marion down to 21, I guess it is. And uh if you're not there going there on business.

SPEAKER_01 21:16

Well, you told me about a place in a drugstore off the uh thermal belt that had a good French dip. Now they're not open anymore.

SPEAKER_02 21:24

No, no, they're they're closed. There is still though in uh what's that town down there below Rutherfordton?

SPEAKER_01 21:34

Spindale or Ruth?

SPEAKER_02 21:36

Uh no, further on down. Four city Four City. In Four City, there's a drugstore still down there that you can go to the counter and eat. Uh and that's pretty good. But if I were gonna go there, I don't remember the name of the drugstore, but really walking up and down the streets of Four City, how hard is it gonna be to find it? Right. If I ate there at the counter, I would get like a hot Fudge Sunday, something like that. Because it's fun to eat in the drugstore. You are an ice cream connoisseur. I do like ice cream. Milkshakes. Yes. Chocolate milkshakes, probably probably one of my favorite desserts. Although, right here in Marion, Artizana, have you had their ice cream? Yes. Man, they've got uh I've started going to when they first opened, he had some really healthy ice cream, which he still does. He makes it a certain way. I would get that. It would be like sometimes a sherbet or something like that. So anyway, there in Artizana, um, I would I would always eat the healthy stuff. Well, here lately, he has developed uh, and you know, everything's made on the spot right there. Uh he has developed a butter pecan. And I tell you what, it's a really, really good butter pecan. So I we go there uh uh once in a while, you know. For for us, it's just a short hop down after dinner, grab some butter pecan ice cream. So so I would recommend anybody stop by Artizana and get a uh get a Butter pecan or get whatever you want. Except if you've got kids, uh don't go. Because I'll tell you what, I can't get to the counter when the room is full of little kids trying to decide what kind of ice cream they want. Ice cream is not for anyone under the age of 40.

SPEAKER_01 23:29

Well, don't beat around the bush. What do you really mean?

SPEAKER_02 23:31

Well, that's what I mean.

SPEAKER_01 23:33

What you mean?

SPEAKER_02 23:34

I I don't like people in my way when I want my ice cream. So now that we've changed subject. That's right. But we got it now, we got to talk about Dot's Dario.

SPEAKER_01 23:48

Yeah, I know. I mean, you're doing this, and you're gonna you're gonna upset somebody if you don't talk about all of them. So I love them all, that's what I'm gonna say. And try to go to all of them.

SPEAKER_02 23:58

I think Dots Dario. In fact, you you brought me a chocolate milkshake one time, and I think that was from Dots, wasn't it? It was. Yeah. Oh man. My favorite at Dot's Dario, you can order a chocolate milkshake and ask them to make it with vanilla ice cream.

SPEAKER_01 24:14

That's what I did that day.

SPEAKER_02 24:15

Oh, that is the best. And what will happen is when you do that, it confuses them a little bit right at the first. And they'll say, Well, wait a minute. Do you mean you want me to put vanilla ice cream in the cup and pour chocolate syrup in it and then milk? And you go, yep, that's it. That's the way I want you to make it. And they're so nice over there.

SPEAKER_01 24:37

So you're kind of an in-between chocolate and vanilla. If you really are thinking about that, it's not purely chocolate milkshake, because otherwise you'd be using chocolate ice cream.

SPEAKER_02 24:46

Right. That's right. I don't like the strong chocolate. I like the kind of in-between flavors of the chocolate and vanilla, and Dots Dario does a great one. And and and of course, we've lost our other ice cream place, Jack Frost.

SPEAKER_01 25:02

Um I hate it, I really do, but it's probably better for my waistline. This is ice cream eating season right now. Oh, yeah. I've got to be a little bit more disciplined in what I do.

SPEAKER_02 25:14

I have a niece who lives in Lincoln, Nebraska, and uh, when she comes out here, she listens to my podcast. So I'm just gonna say it up front. When she comes out here, she buys ice cream for me. And I'm expecting it, really. Wait a minute, she goes to the local places. She'll go and get me a cone of ice cream. Well, that's a treat.

SPEAKER_01 25:36

And you deserve it.

SPEAKER_02 25:37

I do.

SPEAKER_01 25:37

Because you're so good with children.

SPEAKER_02 25:39

I am, I am. And and she doesn't bring her children anymore because they've got children of their own now. So uh that makes it all that much better. Um speaking of Lincoln, Nebraska, there's a place in Lincoln, Nebraska called Raisin Canes. Now I know you No, that's a chain. It's a chain, and it's chicken fingers.

SPEAKER_01 26:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 26:02

I think it may be some of the best chicken fingers that I've ever had. Now we've got some good places here in Marion that has chicken and fish. In fact, what's that place right down here on the five lane? Uh Golden Fried? Golden Fried. They're not bad.

SPEAKER_01 26:17

Oh, yeah, they're good. Uh very good.

SPEAKER_02 26:19

And they've got uh they they've got deals on fried fish and fried chicken and that sort of thing. So let me ask you a question.

SPEAKER_01 26:26

Yeah. We've covered chicken wings, fried, right? Right. We've covered deep dish pizza, we've covered chicken tenders, you ate sushi. We've talked about ice cream. What healthy type foods do you like to eat, Jim?

SPEAKER_02 26:41

I try to stay away from healthy foods uh the best I can. There's uh I don't think they're good for you. I I I think you need to just eat.

SPEAKER_01 26:52

Is this another government conspiracy like the Well it could be?

SPEAKER_02 26:56

It could be. Although, here's some healthy food. I think it would be healthy, although it's pasta. And that's Louisa's out there uh close to Walmart. Yeah, yeah. Now they've got here's a here's a little tip. If you get spaghetti and you like meat sauce, get it on the side. Get the meat sauce on the side so you can blend it yourself, and you'll get a perfect flavor. But here's my tip to you. Try this, it's gonna sound weird at first. Have them give you spaghetti dinner, you know, di uh salad, bread, and all that stuff. No sauce on the spaghetti. Have them bring you butter, and you melt butter or you pour olive oil on your spaghetti. Now, you've been to Italy. Uh you may not have run across this, but this is not an uncommon way to get your spaghetti in Italy.

SPEAKER_01 27:53

It's also not an uncommon way to get your cholesterol up.

SPEAKER_02 27:56

Yeah, yeah. Well, I like to keep I like to keep my numbers up.

SPEAKER_01 28:00

Yeah, well, you're high, I'd say, right now, with butter, butter and spaghetti. I don't think I've ever done that.

SPEAKER_02 28:06

Uh well you just I would say try it once. I wouldn't I wouldn't do that, you know, and just before a hike.

SPEAKER_01 28:14

Yeah, no, I I don't think that would be a wise move.

SPEAKER_02 28:16

But I do think that that's a good meal. Uh spaghetti with just butter. Well and you can have your little bowl of meat sauce as a backup. I would recommend Luisa's. I think that's a good place to eat. And uh sometimes we'll order and pick it up. You know, it's just an eatery. The environment in there is great, but we have never had bad service in there.

SPEAKER_01 28:38

Well, service is important, like I said. It it can be it can trump the food sometimes. If I go in and out, it's it's not always about the food when I go to a restaurant. It's a social event for me. I agree. And if it's pleasant, it's not too loud. I can't listen, things are getting louder now, Jim. I can't hear anything. So if it's a loud environment and and I can't hear the person across the table, and we're having to wait to have our glasses filled, and maybe they make a mistake on the order or something, that can impact my experience more so sometimes than bad food can. Yeah. And so I like places like that that'll give you the good service and makes the event more enjoyable.

SPEAKER_02 29:17

Well, I have never been disappointed over at Louisa's with the service or the food, uh, you know, for that matter. So that'd be a place I'd recommend.

SPEAKER_01 29:27

Uh what else you're well I do have one that I wrote down. I think I've covered a lot of these. So this one you recommended to me. Um, and we're gonna go north here. This is uh uh steakhouse that that you told me about. Oh my gosh. Um I think I went with you. I I may not have been. I went with you one time. I'm not sure if it was the time I took my daughter. We went up there with Jim Isaac. Okay, so I went back after that because it was fantastic. And again, this is one of these little things you don't hear about, you don't see it, you just have to get word of mouth. So we went up there with my daughter who lives in New York City. She's got all the things that she knows about food. So she goes to these Michelin star fancy French restaurants and all this sort of thing. So she's used to that. So I told her that we don't we're going to this nice steakhouse. The food is really good, but they don't serve alcohol. We have to bring our own. And so she grabbed a bottle of wine and took it, and I took a couple of beers with me. And we got there, and of course, it's kind of crowded. That place does a good business, and the steaks, oh my goodness. Oh, yeah. Everything, all the way down. But they didn't have a corkscrew. She's got the bottle. We didn't know what to do, and so we took off, everybody got seated, and we uh took her down the street, and there's a dollar general about a mile down the road.

SPEAKER_02 30:52

Well, that would be uncommon if there wasn't a dollar general.

SPEAKER_01 30:56

This has been several years ago. Yeah. And we found a corkscrew, we took it back, we opened the wine, and they brought us two styrofoam cups to drink it out of. And I don't know, even for the beer. Oh I don't know if you've ever poured a beer into a styrofoam cup. It's not a pleasant experience.

SPEAKER_02 31:13

No, that's that's foamy.

SPEAKER_01 31:15

The reaction is not something you want to be around. But I remember that, but that was funny. But the food is so good. I really enjoyed the the every bit of it. The appetizers, the desserts, and everything. I haven't been back in several years, but uh that that's a that's a neat one that's you know out of the way a little bit.

SPEAKER_02 31:35

Well, we talked to um actually he's a friend of ours and our accountant just before tax time, actually. And he had been there, he goes there all the time. He lives in Spruce Punk. Okay, works here in Marion. He said it I was asking him, is it as good as ever? And he said, Yeah. And I hope so. I hope they can maintain the quality because you're hard pressed when you go up there because their fried shrimp is excellent, but their filet mignon is just uh it is just so far above what you would expect.

SPEAKER_01 32:11

Well, yeah, when it's not a very fancy looking place. No. And it's even not fancy inside. It's the kind of vibe I like. Right. And but the food is fancy. Yeah, it's good. I did I don't usually eat a lot of steak, but the filet is good. I I usually get the teriyaki chicken, it seems like that's what the rice.

SPEAKER_02 32:29

Oh yeah. Well, that's a it's Mountain Holler. Mountain Holler. Mountain Holler, that's right. We didn't mention the name. And it's close to closer to Burnsville than anything else, right?

SPEAKER_01 32:42

It's on the way to Carver's Gap.

SPEAKER_02 32:45

That's right.

SPEAKER_01 32:46

We drive by it.

SPEAKER_02 32:47

We've had some experiences at Carver's Gap, uh, that's right. Uh, which we won't go into so that we won't uh bore the audience, although Well now we can talk about the trip we took to Carver's Gap.

SPEAKER_01 33:00

It was a good trip. We hiked out and got the ride and then we went to eat. Oh, that's right. That's your place. So you told me about Walt, I'm gonna take you to this restaurant that has the best barbecue east of the Mississippi. And I thought in my mind, well, yeah, okay, we'll see. And I think that's a good idea.

SPEAKER_02 33:24

What makes it so good is that typically in North Carolina, when you even when you have a barbecued sandwich, you get pulled, pulled pork or pulled beef, you know, shredded. Yeah. Ridgewood Cafe, uh, I guess it's close to Lisbethon, that's the closest town in Tennessee. They slice the meat. Coming from California, that's that's the way I got used to barbecue, was sliced and sauced heavily. They give you a bun that's easily, I'd say it's easily five inches across. It was as big as your head. Yeah, it's a m it's a monster. And it's loaded, I mean loaded with I get the sliced pork Janet and I do, and we we now cut it down the middle and and split it. But not only do you that barbecue sandwich, I think they've got some of the best French fries. And they cut them right there and and put them in the fryer right there in front of you. So you'll see a pile of raw potatoes, and into the fryer it goes, and out it comes. And, you know, having lived overseas a long time, we have our French fries with mayonnaise, of course. Oh, God. And they're they're glad to bring us out a big old bowl of mayonnaise. Our mutual friend David Ricketts, yeah, who introduced me to the place, when he goes up there, he gets a bowl of Okay, I'll go ahead and stop you because this was talked about on the trail.

SPEAKER_01 34:58

Oh, okay. Right? Right. I was so excited. I was excited about the barbecue. You built it up a lot. You talked a little about the fries. But Ricketts was talking about the crackers and cottage cheese, I think.

SPEAKER_00 35:11

Blue cheese.

SPEAKER_01 35:12

Blue cheese. Yeah, the the crackers with blue cheese. That I was not excited about.

SPEAKER_02 35:18

I wasn't.

SPEAKER_01 35:19

I was like, not sure how this is gonna go, but I'll give it a shot. Well, let me tell you something, Jim, and you may not know this. I don't like the barbecue as much as you. Really? Yeah. Oh. I'm a pulled guy. I lived in North Carolina my whole life. Chopped and pulled is the way to go, man. Lexington style, Eastern North Carolina. Oh, yeah. All that and the different sauces. Now, I'm not gonna say it wasn't good, but if pressed, I'm going pulled or chopped.

SPEAKER_02 35:46

Well, I've got pictures of you and Dan Smith up to your elbows in that barbell.

SPEAKER_01 35:51

I ate it because I was very hungry, but I ate that blue cheese and crackers. Did you like that?

SPEAKER_00 35:59

Yes, I did. Gosh. I was sitting right next to Ricketts and we were battling for that blue cheese in that little bowl. Uh that had to refill it.

SPEAKER_02 36:08

Ricketts is an animal over that stuff. And then he'll you get up there and he'll eat gallons of blue cheese before we have the barbecue, and then he'll take home a quart of blue cheese. I think he keeps his own crackers at home.

SPEAKER_01 36:23

Well, I didn't I don't usually blue cheese is not something I go towards, but that day in that restaurant, I loved it. And and I ate my share of uh crackers and blue cheese. Yeah, the barbecue is uh is okay. Okay, I'm just gonna tell you for me. Yeah, but uh that was what I thought I liked the best.

SPEAKER_02 36:46

Well, at least I hooked Dan Smith. I'll bet you Dan will tell me that was a good barbecue.

SPEAKER_01 36:51

We may go give it another shot again.

SPEAKER_02 36:53

Well, I mean it's worthwhile. It's worthwhile, and that's uh it's called Ridgewood, it's in Elizabethan. They they don't need our recommendation. They've got more customers than they need. But uh, if you're in the area, if you're in Elizabethan, uh look up Ridgewood Barbecue. And if you like barbecue, even if you're a hardcore North Carolina shredded barbecue guy, just give them a try. Give them a try, and I think you'll thank me. Now you're on your own about the crackers and the blue cheese.

SPEAKER_01 37:26

Uh well, don't don't poo-poo it. Yeah, you got at least. Oh, you can try it. Yeah, you can try it. Give it a shot. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 37:31

Oh, oh, and one other thing. Did you have the baked beans up there? Well, gosh, that's been how long ago?

SPEAKER_01 37:37

I'll have to go back and I probably did because I like them with barbecue.

SPEAKER_02 37:42

The the baked beans are excellent. I usually have a bowl of baked beans before the meal comes as an appetizer.

SPEAKER_01 37:49

Yeah, so I I may have been skewed in your description of the barbecue, and my expectations were really high. Because you were pretty dramatic in how you told me it was so good.

SPEAKER_02 38:00

It is okay.

SPEAKER_01 38:01

So maybe if I had gone in a little bit less uh excited about it, I might have enjoyed it more.

SPEAKER_02 38:08

Well, well, I I I just uh I think it's just terrific, uh the the barbecue. Well, okay. Uh we've talked for 45 minutes and I'm only we haven't gotten to a vegetable yet.

SPEAKER_01 38:22

Well, now you could bean a vegetable? A baked bean lathered in the bag. Yeah, baked beans. Yes, okay, good. That helps then.

SPEAKER_02 38:28

Uh it's a legume and uh what about a potato? Oh, potato. So french fries count. French fries are good. Now, baked potatoes are good too. Uh I'll I'll tell you, uh, where you can get a good baked potato right here in town alongside your prime rib. And you know where I'm going now? Jay Hartman's. Have you been there for their prime rib? No.

SPEAKER_01 38:51

I like I said, I'm I don't you got the wrong guy in here for restaurants. I don't eat a lot of red meat.

SPEAKER_02 38:56

Oh well, you should uh I've just heard I've got a family member that thinks But I've heard about it. Well, I have a family member who's now on a she calls it a uh carnivore diet, and she only eats meat now.

SPEAKER_01 39:12

That's like the Atkins diet, right?

SPEAKER_02 39:14

Yeah, yeah, it's all the same thing. It's uh but Atkins was uh he was no carbs, right? Yeah, that's right.

SPEAKER_01 39:24

But there's not many carbs in meat, right? Right. That's all protein. Yeah, so that's the the same type of thing, just a different name.

SPEAKER_02 39:32

You know what? You know, Atkins died prematurely and you know his last words.

SPEAKER_01 39:38

Hand me a steak?

SPEAKER_02 39:40

No, I could have had a potato. Okay. Right. Yeah. I'm not sure. I I didn't get that from a uh a viable news source, but uh what about seafood, Jim?

SPEAKER_01 39:52

Do you ever eat seafood? I mean we're we're out on the coast here, but and I'm not a huge fan of seafood either.

SPEAKER_02 39:59

Oh really?

SPEAKER_01 39:59

Not really.

SPEAKER_02 40:00

No, I I like uh if you're gonna eat fried seafood, and honestly, you know how I like fried food, but fried seafood.

SPEAKER_01 40:10

Why did I not have to give that any thought to know that you would first not broiled, not grilled, fried.

SPEAKER_02 40:16

I like now Janet makes uh although uh she makes a uh grilled salmon, but uh no one's invited to our house for salmon, so let's move on to something else. She gets the salmon down at Longhorn Steakhouse in Morganton.

SPEAKER_00 40:36

Really?

SPEAKER_02 40:36

Yeah, and uh it looks I've never tasted it because well, why would I? But it looks like a really good uh meal and she enjoys it. And she but she gets it with that thing called uh broccoli. Yeah, I've seen that. Yeah. It's green. Yeah, I don't know about broccoli. But she'll have that and and I'll get a T-bond. Uh I used to get a ribeye steak down there. Now, now Longhorn is not the fanciest steakhouse. It's a roadside steakhouse. Everybody knows that. You're not you're not getting a $300 steak, you're just going in for a meal. Uh so keep that in mind when you eat. But I I like the ribeye, but I have recently switched to T bone because uh at at Longhorn Steakhouse. Because the T-bone, you know, there's the T-bone and then there's that little soft pocket inside the T-bone on one side. Even if that's all I eat, then that'll be all I eat because that that is so tender and so tasty.

SPEAKER_01 41:46

You talked about a $300 steak.

SPEAKER_02 41:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 41:50

What's the most you ever spent at a restaurant? Well, for where was it? And what did you eat?

SPEAKER_02 41:55

Well, it was in New York. Uh we've been to a couple. I think uh the most expensive before, not counting alcohol and tip, was uh five hundred dollars. Uh and that's cheap in New York. For two. Yeah, for two. And that was at a restaurant called Daniel in New York. It's a Michelin star. Yeah. And we ate at another uh restaurant in New York called, I think it was called La Mediterranean, and that's a Michelin star, three Michelin stars, and that's a seafood restaurant, about the same price.

SPEAKER_01 42:29

So are you able to tell the difference in a Michelin star and a non-Michelin star when you go to a high-end restaurant like that?

SPEAKER_02 42:37

Yes, yes. There's there's absolutely no way you can mistake it when you sit down to find dining. If you can't tell it in the food. Number one, the portions are tiny. They don't give you you're not gonna get a 26-ounce T bone. You're gonna get a three-ounce piece of wagyu meat on your plate. And they're gonna dribble maybe a little caviar over it, and that's gonna be your entree. But uh you'll probably get about five to seven courses of that, and over the evening you'll be you'll be satiated, you know. You it'll be enough to eat. But the service, uh as much as I enjoy the service in a lot of the restaurants we've talked about, the service is just impeccable. You if you're having a piece of bread and a crumb falls on the table, there's somebody there to sweep it off by the time it hits the table. I mean, your your waiter stands right beside you the whole time. And and I like that. I I like that kind of attention. It kind of makes me nervous.

SPEAKER_01 43:47

Well I've been to a Michelin star with my daughter in New York, and uh it was a pizza place, as a matter of fact.

SPEAKER_02 43:54

Oh my goodness.

SPEAKER_01 43:55

Yeah. I was so uncomfortable. Oh, well, I mean, I felt like I was gonna Spill something. And it was white linen table. Oh, yeah. Yeah. And it was not a big, you know, obviously New York, they're they're gonna use every bit of space they can. It was tight, I was uncomfortable, and I was afraid that I might do something wrong. Well, and I didn't belong there because you see all these really uh professional, good looking people coming into the restaurant, and I just felt like I stood out like a sore thumb.

SPEAKER_02 44:25

Well, I'll tell you when we went to Daniel in New York, we're walking up to the door, and the couple ahead of us, the guy, was wearing an opera cape. A cape around him, and he and everybody just accepted that that was normal. Uh he was an ambassador from somewhere we found out, but who wears an opera cape?

SPEAKER_01 44:49

I think there was a Seinfeld episode about that.

SPEAKER_02 44:53

Well, I don't even know how to take the cape off, you know. What do you what do you do with that?

SPEAKER_01 44:58

Well, I don't know. I don't I don't think that I would ever find myself dining in a restaurant where someone comes in with an opera cape. And if they did, I would probably head on out the door.

SPEAKER_02 45:07

Well, I've got to tell you, uh and I think this is the best approach when you go to one of those restaurants that's a big dollar restaurant. Our waiter came out after we got through with the same and all that. The waiter came out, and I just told him, I said, look, I did not in these exact words, but I know this is what he heard. We're just a couple of hicks from little town in North Carolina. Guide me through this. And he made the eating experience, the whole dining experience just excellent. We just we enjoyed it. Uh, we were able to sit there and talk to each other. He took care of everything. We didn't have to worry about making uh some kind of mistake that made us look stupid. And here's a what I thought was a mistake. I ordered this dinner and then I he said, Well, would you like a glass of wine or bottle of wine? Well, we don't drink enough to get a bottle of wine, Janet and I don't. So I said, Well, I'll have a glass of wine. And he said, Well, what would you like? Well, as soon as I said it, I thought, man, you've made a mistake, because I said, You choose it. Well, now we all know that a glass of wine in certain restaurants can be anywhere from ten dollars to $150, you know? And I told I said, You choose it. He said, I'd be glad to. Off he goes. He comes back and it was just it was excellent and went with a meal and and the glass of wine was twenty bucks. So he took care of me. He knew that I didn't want to spend all my money on a glass of wine. I I think when you're out of your element, uh and we are foodies, so we like to dive into that kind of stuff. And I think when you're out of your element, if you're not there with another couple, which of course will make you braver, just be up front with your waiter. And uh it I think it pays off. Well, they work for tips, remember? Yes. So he was very well compensated, I would have to say. Because when you when you spend five hundred dollars for a meal, even a twenty percent tip is a hundred bucks, and of course you want to give him more than that because of all the extra work he did. But that's that's the most expensive meal. Uh but I want to get back to uh Jay Hartman's place. Uh the I I've eaten a lot of things over there. Their salads are very good, their menu is very good. I would just call it very good. But I think, and I I've tried this uh in a lot of places, I think Hartman's has the best prime rib I've ever had. And that includes some pretty nice steakhouses. I don't know what they do, but they once they slice the prime rib, you know, slice your slice off, then they finish it off uh with a I guess they just like pan fry it or something. I don't know what they do, but they put a they put a little bit of a crust on it. It's delicious.

SPEAKER_01 48:24

I've never had it, um but I hear a lot of people say it's good.

SPEAKER_02 48:27

I would certainly recommend going to what's your favorite burger? Right now Is it the big arch? No, no, that's not my favorite. Oh, let me tell you, there's a place down in Morganton, and I I can't think of the name of it, but I wasn't prepared to talk about it. It's kind of it's at at Exit 105 up on the hill. They have they have a burger menu. I went down there one time and I got the Elvis burger. It's a it's a burger with peanut butter and bananas. Oh god. Are you serious? Well, I didn't eat the whole thing, I'll I'll say that. But the first, you know, the first several bites were pretty tasty. Uh peanut butter and bananas on your hamburger.

SPEAKER_01 49:17

That sounds awful.

SPEAKER_02 49:18

Now that's not my favorite hamburger of all time. There are there are just a lot of good hamburgers fast food-wise, because I can narrow that down pretty quick. Uh out there at Sonic, they've got a smash burger. It's a two-patty smash burger with cheese in the middle. Um, I think that's pretty good. Uh I can't eat the whole thing, it's too big for me. Well, you'd try it.

SPEAKER_01 49:45

Oh, yeah, I'd give it a good time. I haven't had that either. I've like I said, you brought the wrong guy on here that to talk about food a lot of places. Oh no, you know Yeah, I mean, I can um probably judge you uh about what you're eating, and you can judge me. But yeah, I I remember a long time ago I had a good friend and he loved to eat. And he's gone now, but probably because of eating. But yeah. But no, he was a great, great close friend of mine, and and he would he would find these fantastic places to eat. One of the places we would go at the time, it's that Riverside convenience store on 70. I don't even know if they still do this, but they had a a cook in there, a guy that was cooking cheeseburgers, and oh nice it was delicious. And he would want to go down there at least once a week, and we would eat this was back in the 90s, mid-90s, mid to early 90s that we were doing that. I I I remember that because we would go about once a week to that riverside, and I think the guy's name was Rick Shorehouse or something. I don't remember. But it was delicious.

SPEAKER_02 50:47

Well, speaking of uh small places, well, that's really not that small. And I think we're we may be going there for breakfast next week. What's that place down here by the uh there on the river by the swap meat area? Um, the diner.

SPEAKER_01 51:06

Oh, that's the country diner. Country diner.

SPEAKER_02 51:08

I've been there.

SPEAKER_01 51:09

Yeah, that's meat and three.

SPEAKER_02 51:11

We go down there occasionally and have breakfast. Uh well, let me talk about their lunch. Talk about healthy. You can go down there and just get vegetables, you know, on that's on the menu. Yeah, but do you do that? Oh, no, no. I well, I might get mashed potatoes.

SPEAKER_01 51:28

If you found yourself in a meat and three, what would your meat and three be? Well, it'd be uh the meat, of course. Yeah, but would it be meatloaf? Would it be uh steak?

SPEAKER_02 51:38

Country fried steak. Fried, of course, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 51:40

In fact, there you go. There's uh uh lathered with butter and chocolate syrup.

SPEAKER_02 51:46

No, no chocolate syrup. I don't need chocolate syrup. I'll get I'd get to that a little bit later, but but on Tuesday, Countryside has country fried steak. Okay. It's country fried steak, gravy, mashed potatoes, gravy, and you can add uh if you want, you can have green beans or okra, comes with coleslaw, comes with a roll, you know, and butter and stuff like that. Now that's really good eaten.

SPEAKER_01 52:19

Well, Jim, you know, you came from San Diego, you and Janet.

SPEAKER_02 52:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 52:23

You lived out there. You you gave me a few restaurants when I went out there ten years ago with my son for golf. But what were your favorite places? I mean, what types of food did you it was a Mexican type El Torito?

SPEAKER_02 52:37

Latino tortilla. No, uh the taco factory, the tortilla factory is where I sent you because they have a dish out there called mortaditas.

SPEAKER_01 52:47

That's right, yes.

SPEAKER_02 52:48

And uh those things, they're basically little enchilada type things. They're cooked and they're fried, maybe more like, well, I'm gonna say enchiladas. They're fried and then they're smothered in a jalapeno sauce, and they burn going in and they burn going down, and that's as descriptive as I'm gonna get, but they are and you tried the mortaditas. I did. Yeah. They were good. They're good. They're good. So there's a good place. Now, Anthony's fish grotto is in San Diego. The best fried fish, fish and chips I've probably ever had. I think they're down to just two restaurants now, uh, but they're good. There's also the San Diego fish market. So you can stand there and they'll bring a fish in off of a boat right there at the dock, bring it in the back door, fillet it, throw it on the grill, and that's what you have for lunch. Now that's fresh.

SPEAKER_00 53:50

Pretty fresh, right?

SPEAKER_02 53:51

That's fresh. You can eat fish there, you can have fried fish or whatever you want, and that and and I'll guarantee you it's less than an hour old. Wow. Yeah, hour out of the water, I'll say. Now those are some good places. There's a lot of good places in a big city like San Diego, but you gotta put up with the big city, you know, to to live there.

SPEAKER_01 54:14

Well, it's a nice place. It's expensive. It's expensive, but nice.

SPEAKER_02 54:17

Yes, I I like San Diego. It's El Indio. It's that's the name of the restaurant. El Indio, right. El Indio.

SPEAKER_01 54:24

We went there. We actually did. And I eat the Mortadito's or whatever you said.

SPEAKER_02 54:28

Yeah. It's one of my favorite places. If I go back to San Diego, I would go to I'd if I went back to San Diego, I'd go to uh the seafood market, I'd go to Anthony's, I'd go to El Indio, and I'd go to Phil's Barbecue up on Finch Street. Uh Phil's Barbecue has the best uh ribs I think I've ever had.

SPEAKER_01 54:50

Oh I'd gonna be skeptical about that. Well the best ribs you've ever had from San Diego. Yeah, ever been to Texas?

SPEAKER_02 54:58

I used to work for Bell Labs in Texas. I don't know. And there there's a place in Texas where you go and you stand in line and they're behind the counter and it's all you see it's it's paradise, really. All you see behind the counter is meat. Barbecued sausage, barbecued ribs, uh brisket, and and as long as you all you have to do is nod and they'll put it on your plate. And you can get out by the time you get to the cash register, you can have five or six pounds of meat on your plate. Which you know, by the time you eat it, uh course it's Texas, and you go back and get your banana pudding and stuff.

SPEAKER_01 55:45

So there's your fruit for the day.

SPEAKER_02 55:46

Yeah, there's fruit, there's fruit, there's okay. So we covered Jay Hartman. You got anything you'd like?

SPEAKER_01 55:53

Yeah, I'm not gonna get into the loc I'll I'll say all of them are good. I'm gonna be uh diplomatic here. And some of them mentioned they're all uh I don't wanna put any above the others, but what you've mentioned is all good.

SPEAKER_02 56:06

Yeah, I I think we have a good uh I I'm really pleased with the selection. I let's let's do a couple more that are here in town that we've missed. Let me see what I got here. Uh did we talk about jalapenos? No, we have not.

SPEAKER_01 56:25

We've not mentioned much about Mexican food.

SPEAKER_02 56:27

Jalapenos is a good now from San Diego, we're used to Tex-Mex. And jalapenos is not Tex-Mex, it's a different kind of Mexican food. Maybe more like uh Hakan or I I I'm not exactly sure, but in their food dishes, they'll present a lot of pineapple and fruits like that as a part of the dish. So it's not strictly Tex Mex, but the plates are big, there's tons of food. I get the combination plate mostly, number three, and it is a cheese enchilada and a chili riano. And the chili riano is stuffed with cheese. I think it's uh a great presentation. It's cooked just right for me. The skin on the pepper is just right, it's just tough enough to make it uh chewy but not stringy, you know. And uh, of course, it comes with beans and rice. I would recommend when you go down Rutherford Road, I'd recommend jalapeno's. And over there on the left, you and I have been, we haven't eaten there. It's called La Murietta. You and I went there and they were very generous.

SPEAKER_01 57:48

They did, they donated to the auction.

SPEAKER_02 57:49

Yeah, to the rotary auction. Yeah. Uh and I haven't eaten there. I think we ate there once. And it it's it's a good place to have you'd know you just get in your routine. So we usually go to jalapeno rather than going on down the road. And on down the road, there's another Mexican restaurant. What?

SPEAKER_01 58:08

Las salsas.

SPEAKER_02 58:09

Las salsas.

SPEAKER_01 58:10

Um you've got Eddie's Pizza too, right next to not because it's a good one. Eddie's Pizza, yeah. Eddie's Pizza's good. We're lucky. We're fortunate to be in a town with a lot of good quality restaurants. Yeah. My problem with going to a Mexican restaurant typically is I fill up on the chips and salsa before the food gets.

SPEAKER_02 58:26

Yeah, yeah, I do that, and Las Salsas, they'll give you a pretty good size beer if you want it. And that's a problem for me. Right, right. And and it has been for me too. I've I've gotten beer so large that it kind of stemmed my appetite a little bit.

SPEAKER_01 58:42

I think that's pretty typical.

SPEAKER_02 58:44

But boy, that beer is good. In fact, I I'm getting in the mood right now for beer. Their beer is good and it's cold. I'll tell you about Las Salsa's one time. I went in there and they didn't have anything that I wanted. I just I wasn't in the mood. It was we got there right at opening, I guess, was what happened. And so I asked the waiter, I said, Well, could you uh just make me some uh uh eggs ranchero and you know, fry the eggs, cover them with sauce or whatever. And he said, I got it from here. And he goes back and he brings me out eggs covered in salsa and refried beans, rice, a couple of tortillas, and it was one of the best meals I've ever had. Mexico.

SPEAKER_01 59:28

What kind of egg was it?

SPEAKER_02 59:30

Well, I had it fried. I like it forgot, yeah, frost, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 59:34

Yeah, I mean, um I like to keep my eggs at breakfast. Well, you know, I mean, we went to Germany and a couple of places, and they bring out this sausage meal, and then they crack a dang egg on top of it.

SPEAKER_02 59:49

Yes, that's true.

SPEAKER_01 59:50

They do that. I couldn't I couldn't eat it. Yeah. We had a hard time over there. We we ended up raiding a McDonald's and scarfing down about six Big Macs about three days into that trip. But yeah, I I'm not a particular I mean, I'm I guess I am a particular eater.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:06

Well, and that's good, uh, because uh you send me pictures all the time when you're out eating of uh and I do to you when I we're out. We'll send pictures back and forth. And it's kind of fun to see what uh we're having. You realize that we're already more than an hour into this.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:26

Oh boy. I I'm sorry. No, I I hope that you still have people listening at this point in the uh podcast. Well, I'm I'm this broadcast, this podcast could be the complete and utter downfall of On the Porch with Jim Williams.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:41

It could be. It could be. Or uh I could meet some of my listeners at the different restaurants we've talked about.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:48

And you could meet some that you didn't mention uh on the streets of McDowell County. Well, I think Because you can't mention them all, Jim.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:54

There's no No, no, and I uh we've kind of kept track of what we've mentioned.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:59

You're gonna walk into a restaurant and in the next couple of months and ask them for a donation to the auction. Yeah. And they're gonna say, you know, I listened to your podcast. You didn't mention me.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:10

Well, by the time we're doing that, maybe come on back up. Let's do this again in say four to six weeks.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:17

I'm fine with that. I just want to make sure I don't bring this podcast to a halt. Oh, I listen. Uh boring commentary about things I don't know anything about.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:26

Surely we have given, and I'm sorry, I didn't mean to call you Shirley. We have given people in town some place to go. We're this let me just say, this is our opinion. We don't pretend to be more knowledgeable on eating than the average guy, even though we are. But we don't pretend to be. You can take it as just one one two guys' personal opinion of the food around Marion. But I'm telling you, we've got some good places in Marion.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:57

Uh Jim, let me let me just ask you, why don't you try to work in a few vegetables at least once a week? I'm doing that, okay? I'm gonna try to eat a salad today because I feel like I've gained five pounds just listening to you talk about all the fried food. And I'm bad about it too.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:13

I'll tell you what's good on a salad. They've got it right out there in Zex.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:17

Butter and uh gravy.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:19

Fried chicken.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:20

Fried chicken, of course, fried.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:21

Zaxby's got that fried chicken cob salad, and it is tasty. Yeah, okay. I'm sure it is. It's a good big salad, too.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:31

It's a big salad. I've had the Asian salad out there before.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:34

Oh, now the Asian salad is and you know what is good as a side to that Asian salad are those fried egg rolls.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:42

Fried egg rolls. Yeah. I've had those too. They're good. You probably got some sort of sauce to dip it in, maybe or pour some soy all over it.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:52

And after you dip your egg rolls in the sauce, you can pour their leftover sauce right on the salad.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:58

Oh, okay. And that is good. Yeah, that's good uh good for you.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:03

Yeah, yeah. It's a good healthy meal. Well, okay, I'll tell you what. Let let me leave with this promise. Uh we're gonna do this again because there were a lot of restaurants that we didn't get to. Now, that doesn't mean we didn't like them. It just means we didn't get to them.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:22

If you're a vegetarian restaurant in town or a place that specializes in uh nice leafy green salads, we probably didn't talk about you. No. Then that's probably because we've never been there. That's right.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:38

We really green stuff, even uh like Janet puts that broccoli stuff on her plate, and uh it's it's repulsive. Okay. You know, it really is.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:49

You could put some gravy on it. Yeah, you could have gone. Now I'm gonna tell you a secret. When I eat broccoli, I put hot sauce on it. Now that might not be bad. That's the way I eat it. Which is very seldom. Yeah, yeah, I know.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:02

I that's not a bad idea, a little hot sauce. I I might try that.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:06

Work that in.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:07

Yeah, yeah, I'll see what I can do, see if I can make that work. Well, we'll get back to you. We'll uh if we didn't mention you, well, email me. Uh my email address is on the porch with Jim Williams. That's all one word on the porch with Jim Williams. One word at gmail.com. If I missed you, email me and I'll be sure to get you next time because uh I'm gonna get Walt to come back up. We'll talk about something. Maybe, maybe we'll get into some vegetables. I don't know. Uh uh, you got anything you want to close with? Do y'all have any crypto bisco? Uh it's on the counter. Okay, I'll get some on the way out. Alright, uh, well, I appreciate you coming up. I I know this was uh off the wall kind of thing, but I liked it. Those of you that listen, uh, let me know if you liked it because I'd like to do this as a regular thing. There's a lot of restaurants in Marion, Morganton, Hickory, Hendersonville, all within uh easy driving distance. We'll be glad to talk about them. If you got something special you want us to talk about, I'll do that. Once again, I want to thank everybody for listening and see you next week here on the porch.