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I live in the deep south where it sometimes seems unfried foods don't exist. You know how it goes, fried green tomatoes and all that.
Like everywhere unemployment is creeping up so about eight months ago three out of work women decided to open their own restaurant business. They bought an old style southern house, one of the two story monsters with the porch that wraps all the way around that are cheap down here, and spent two months cleaning, painting, sanding hardwood floors and working on landscaping. The ceilings in this house are 12' high with the glass transoms over the doors and everything.
The downstairs has the old style entry with a central hallway that branches into four rooms of about equal size and I would estimate each measuring 20'x25' each. They have this set up as three separate dining rooms having four tables each plus you have the tables on the porch. Right now it is to hot for porch dining but in the fall and spring it's a perfect setting.
I will get some pictures and post links later today.
I admire anyone who gets up and tries their own business. Right after they opened I wondered if they would make it. Nothing is more competitive than opening a restaurant and here they were making the attempt in a small southern town. It takes guts and courage, especially in this climate, and I tip my hat to anyone that has the guts to try.
First time we went they served us on paper plates. They explained they didn't have their commercial dishwasher set up and needed to open to pay bills. The service was excellent and the food was the best in town. Kid you not, it was good.
So they got some regular plates now and it is looking better.
The menu is like no other I have seen... Everything is different from what you see standard fare in so many restaurants down here. Last night I had their shrimp, greens and grits with cheese and it is really good.
For the lunch trade they have cheese burgers and things that.. well, the standard hamburger is 1/3rd pound of what I can tell is excellent quality lean ground chuck not hamburger and the first time I ordered I got a "double cheeseburger" which was so big I couldn't take a bite out of it. The single has more meat than a standard double anywhere.
They are doing it, they are making it and I attribute their apparent[LEFT][/LEFT] success to the unusual menu presenting something you normally don't see and Yankees never heard of. Another thing I noted is everything is healthy.. I looked and fried food isn't offered.
They are always busy and the lunch trade is phenomenal with cars parked up and down the street every day. There is even more take out trade than eat in because the food is really good beating the standard fast food garbage by a mile.
You had me until you decided to insult northerners as if they had no idea what true southern cooking is all about, and eat nothing but fried food. That comment was uncalled for and quite bigoted.
You had me until you decided to insult northerners as if they had no idea what true southern cooking is all about, and eat nothing but fried food. That comment was uncalled for and quite bigoted.
Get off your high horse.
You are the type of person who makes their way through life being "outraged" and "insulted" as if that carried bully weight. Really disgusting.
You are the type of person who makes their way through life being "outraged" and "insulted" as if that carried bully weight. Really disgusting.
Like I said, it was a great story until you added a bigoted remark that was uncalled for. You think I'm on a high horse? I'd rather be that than a bigot, racist, or misogynist.
Like I said, it was a great story until you added a bigoted remark that was uncalled for. You think I'm on a high horse? I'd rather be that than a bigot, racist, or misogynist.
nicet
could you pm and tell me where this restaurant is. i had a similar one open up near me, it was an old bed and breakfast that had been rundown and shut down for years. now it is opened up and i wonder if that is the one you are talking about.
loved that story! I am always so interested in the ideas that others have thought up and moreover, how they did it. I dream of owning a uniqure speciality restaurant myself and your post was really refreshing! And I think when you mentioned Yankees that you meant that this type of fare is more unfamiliar to the those from the Northern part of the country. Thanks for the post! signed, A Yankee! (New York)
They are doing it, they are making it and I attribute their apparent success to the unusual menu presenting something you normally don't see and Yankees never heard of.
I assumed you meant grits?
Quote:
Another thing I noted is everything is healthy.. I looked and fried food isn't offered.
Ahhhh, so they are also offering something Southerners have never heard of!
Sorry couldn't resist.
Seriously, thanks for sharing. I love small-town mom-n-pop (or mom-n-mom ) business success stories!
Eat some grits for me and tell them good luck and best wishes!
I love this story! I wish them many years of success!
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) business success stories! 
