Where I'll never eat BBQ again and it's not the BBQ.

I have been known to travel for good BBQ as will a lot of BBQ lovers. This place was one of the best I have ever found. If you went there for lunch the building was packed. So I started to go after the lunch crowd had left so I could take my time and get better service too. It was a dreary atmosphere in the dining room with no windows and the lights were always dim. I don't remember why I started eating there but it was the best BBQ around.

After a year or two I noticed that the bbq prices had become marginal on being practical. So, I started ordering a less expensive item, the Brunswick stew. They had the best by far I had ever tasted.

Over the years I would stop in ever few weeks by myself and sometimes with a friend or two and I would have the stew while my party would have the “Q”. It was then that I first noticed that the guy at the register, (the owner) would often make mistakes on the amount of the check, always to his favor. If we caught it he would always apologize and we would pay and leave. I was in with a friend that had never eaten there before and as we finished I suggested we tally the check. I pointed out to my friend that the register guy will probably charge too much and we should already know how much we were to pay. Sure enough, he charged too much and I looked at my friend and spoke loud enough for some of the other patrons to here, “I told you he would charge too much!” Nothing was said by register guy just an apology. He corrected the check took our money and we left.

    
   I never took anyone there again although not long after that I went and I ordered the stew as usual and as I took my first bite I thought it had a “odd” flavor. I had been eating this stew for years and I knew the taste explicitly and for it to have an “odd” taste was enough for red flags to go up. I called over the waitress and declared that the stew was not good. She said no problem and she would get me another bowl. Taking my bowl away she went through the swinging doors to the kitchen and soon returned with another bowl and set it in front of me and affirmed that the cook had just made it this morning. So I took a bite and it had the same “odd” flavor. I can’t say for sure, but it did remind me of the smell I have experienced while in a restroom. Then I looked over at the kitchen door and noticed the cook sheepishly peering out at me. That’s when I had a very strange feeling. I wonder if he and the register guy put something in my stew as to get back at me for embarrassing him when I was last in. No…they wouldn’t do that would they? Maybe if… no, I can’t believe that anyone would do such a thing! So, I’m just going to leave it up to you. What do you think?

    
   If you ever go there to eat and the register guy charges you too much…maybe you shouldn’t say anything if you by chance ever plan on returning!

"The Hickory House"    North Tryon Street.   Charlotte, N.C.

What I say about you behind your back is none of your business!

   Once a guy told me that everyone talks about everyone. So why would you think that just because you are friends with a person and you both gossip about other people, as soon as you are not around, that person is gossiping to someone else about you. You do it! Right? So why would you think they don't? The main thing is that most of it is totally harmless. You would never hear about it anyway. What I'm trying to say is if you do gossip try to keep it to a minimum and remember that a lot of friends have been hurt and lost because of it over the years. Keep your friends close and keep your tongue to yourself on these matters and we will all be better off, don't you think?

MORE LATER!

Recipes that change somewhere along the way!

Sometimes I like going to recipe sites and just look around to see what might catch my eye. I have run into some really nice recipes that way. Plus, by reading the recipes you get real familiar with how the ingredients fit together. One of the things I do is try to imagine how each one of the recipes will taste the way it is put together. Sometimes I will think that it would be really good. Or, I might think I don’t want to try that one. Other times, I might figure that if I left out this or added something like that, it might be improved. Which brings me to my point.

I see this quite often where someone will comment that they tried the recipe and it was very good but they changed something or added something and now they like it better.

The other day I saw one where the lady said she loved the recipe but she changed this to this and this to this and this to that and added a little of this other stuff along with this special powder.

When I read that, I just laughed out loud. She had without knowing, changed the entire recipe. She had actually desecrated the original recipe. There is an unspoken rule in cooking and it goes like this, “ when you change, (add/remove) two or more things you have a different recipe.”  So, this lady was blowing her own horn!

I have worked up a “pot roast” recipe as an illustration.
2-3 lbs. of Boston butt
1 large yellow onion chopped
2 stalks of celery chopped
2 large carrots sliced
4 medium potatoes quartered
1 envelope of onion soup mix
Combine all ingredients in a slow cooker and cook on high for 6-8 hours.


This is like the remarks that someone might leave.
I loved the pot roast recipe but I changed a few things and  now I like it better!
I changer the Boston butt to bananas
I changed the onion to vanilla wafers
I changed the celery and carrots to custard, which had eggs in it.
I changed the potatoes to coconut, shredded
And lastly I changed the onion mix to 1 teaspoon of vanilla.
I used a rectangle casserole dish and baked it at 350 for 1 hour in the oven instead
of a slow cooker.

It was the best “pot roast"  I’ve ever had!  You should try it too... Just don't change the recipe!

The worst Hot Dog in Charlotte, N.C.

I would like to start off by saying that Doug Sweetser I really enjoy a good hot dog!

I don't eat them as often as I use to because my doctor mentioned that I cut down on eating so many.

Well..he a little more than mentioned it. I think it was closer to, "if you don't stop eating those things they'll kill ya!" So, I cut down to 5 or 6 a year when I get a hankering for a hot dog. I am not always close to my favorite place to get them which is, "Green's Lunch" down town Charlotte, N.C. I have been eating those since I was 13 and I haven't found a better one yet. I have found some that came pretty close but still no cookie.

Last week I had one of those hankerings while I was out on the north end of town at a car dealership and I asked a couple of guys where I could get a good hot dog and they suggested, "South 21 Jr." just down the road.
First I would like to mention that everyones idea of a "good  hot dog " is not necessarily the same. As

a matter of fact it couldn't be farther from the truth, as I found out.

Entering the parking lot it was full of cars and people walking in and out of the restaurant. I found a place to park went in and stood in line. After a short wait a friendly girl took my order of 2 hot dogs all the way and ice water. ( For those of you that don't know what "all the way" means is: mustard, slaw, onions and chili sauce.) She took my money and gave me a little claim  number ticket.

 My piping-hot hot dogs were out in less than a couple of minutes. I was so excited! I found a booth in the corner in the back in the dark and started to eat my hot dogs. My first bite was a disappointment. No wait.. a disappointment is putting it very lightly! It was more like..."what the *#%"!  I think you know what I mean.

 The weenie had to have been the cheapest one that money could buy. The slaw was far from the standard that goes on a hot dog and the bun was so charred that it crumbled when I bit into it.

I tried adding some salt, that didn't help. I tried adding some catsup, that didn't help either. I forced down a couple more bites just to quench my hunger pain and threw the rest of my horrid meal in the trash and left!

I have always asked my friends this question when the subject of buying food at a restaurant comes up.

Do you think the owner would serve these same hot dogs to his friends and family if he had a cook-out at home. My thought is absolutely not. Then why is he serving them to people who are paying. I  have gotten a much better hot dog at the, "fix it yourself"  corner convenient store, which you might not except!

Well that's my little affair with South 21 Jr. restaurant.

I hope I never forget... and go back for another hot dog!

Things I complain about!

There are some things that really get under my skin. One is the "shaky cam" in movies! I have been seeing it more and more every day. I know what the directors are after but a lot of it is so over the top it makes the movie absolutely un-watchable! Like the one I watched last night, "The A Team". I use to watch the original show back when it came on TV and I enjoyed it a lot. It seemed to have a lot of action and it didn't have the

"shaky cam". It left the viewer with the thought that what you saw, moving, exploding, crashing, fighting ...

was the action, not the camera man that seemes to have "Parkinson's Disease"!

The reason to watch a movie is to "see" what is going on not just a big blur where the action is. How can the viewer describe to someone about a fight scene or a chase scene if it was nothing more than a blur! It might go something like this, "I saw this movie last night it had a lot of action it it but I can't tell you much about it because it was so much of a blur that I had to close my eyes because it made me dizzy when I tried to watch it! But it had a lot of action though!"

Did it seem like there was action in the car chase in the movie, "Bullitt" with Steve McQueen back in 1968? Did it seem like there was action it the chariot race in the movie, "Ben Hur"? My point is if the directors do a good job then we the viewer can see the "real action" and not just a shaky cam technique! Maybe the director is after a "most shaky cam" award? I don't think they have that award yet. Perhaps the awards people should come up with one for the next awards night.