Visit the Middle East - Jerusalem Market

A trip to the Jerusalem Market in Greensboro, North Carolina was like stepping off a plane into the streets of any city in the Middle East. The aroma of spices and freshly prepared foods was intoxicating. Jerusalem Market is just that - a market with a fresh deli counter in the back. When we walked into the store Beth and I were amazed at the plethora of foods and goods from all over the Middle East and Europe that were on display for purchase. The article in Our State magazine mentioned the variety, but seeing was believing. The aisles were spilling over with items I had only seen in Italy, Greece, or Turkey.

The deli in the rear of the market was beckoning, so to the back we went! Fresh meats, salads, pies, and sweets filled the cases. Mr. Hanhan, the owner and chef, was working on a to-go order so we grabbed a menu and tried to focus on lunch. I ordered the Armenian Wrap that was recommended in the magazine, and Beth requested the combination plate which featured spinach pie, hummos, tabouleh, and toasted pita bread. As we watched our food being prepared, we struck up a conversation with Mr. Hanhan about his market and the magazine article.

Saliba Hanhan was a chemist by trade before he opened the Jerusalem Market twenty years ago. The massive variety on the shelves of his store is an answer to the requests of his loyal customers. The deli menu features sandwiches such as Falafel (falafel patties with hummos and tahini sauce), The Turk (spicy dried beef sausage with provolone, baba ghanouj and yogurt cucumber sauce), and The Armenian (spiced, dried beef filet, provolone, spinach, onion, baba ghanouj, and yogurt cucumber sauce). Salads include hummos, tabouleh, feta dip, and dolmathes (hand rolled grape leaves stufffed with rice, pine nuts, tomatoes, onion, and parsley). There are also wonderful spinach, cheese, and meat pies to choose from on the menu. Desserts can be purchased by the piece or by the pound and feature homemade baklawa, cashew lady fingers, and kourabiethes (Greek wedding cookies).

Lunch was eaten outside and was truly better than anything I have ever eaten in Greece or Turkey. The Armenian was fresh and moist and wonderfully flavorful. Beth's combination plate was the perfect taste test of items that we wound up ordering separately and taking home with us to share with our families. The food was great, our visit with Mr. Hanhan was wonderful, and Jerusalem Market is now on our map of places to visit again and again! The directions on Mapquest were correct (http://www.mapquest.com/maps?city=Greensboro&state=NC&address=5002+High+Point+Rd+Ste+H&zipcode=27407-6200&country=US&latitude=36.024961&longitude=-79.875813&geocode=ADDRESS)

The website of the Jerusalem Market is http://www.jerusalemarket.com and the phone number is 336-547-0220. The market is situated on South High Point Road in a small shopping center on the right, coming from Greensboro. They are open from Monday - Saturday, 10 to 8, and on Sundays from 1 to 6.

Lance's Grocery and Grill - What a Hidden Jewel!

The drive to find Lance's Grocery and Grill in Stokes County is one of the prettiest I've taken in a long time. The diner is part of the brick store building out in the country between Danbury and Mt. Airy on NC Hwy. 89. Thank goodness for the sign or we would have missed the best biscuits this side of my grandmother's kitchen!

The directions from Rural Hall up to Danbury near Hanging Rock State Park on Mapquest were very accurate (http://www.mapquest.com/maps?1cRural+Hall:NC::US:36.240299:-80.293602:city:Forsyth+County:1:::/l::3528+Nc+89+Hwy+W:Danbury:NC:27016-7316:US:36.445608:-80.27815:address::1:::/io:1:::::f:no:en_US:M::/bl:/e) 

Once we found the diner, we opened our windows and could smell the food. Shirley Greenwood runs the diner and does all the cooking. When we arrived at 8:30 am she was just taking out some fresh biscuits from the oven. It was all I could do to keep myself from grabbing the whole pan full. She welcomed us, took our order, and kept on cooking the whole time. As you can see, the biscuits are the size of you hand.

We sat down at one of the tables in the small dining area and dug into our two-fisted biscuits and grits. I had a country ham and egg biscuit with a bowl of grits, and Beth enjoyed an egg and cheese biscuit with grits and sweet tea. I actually think if you look up southern breakfast in Webster's there would be a picture of our food at Lance's. 

Once we had cleaned our plates, we talked with Shirley for a bit until she got busy with new patrons and their orders. If our thirty minutes there are any indication, Shirley stays busy every second of everyday at Lance's. The biscuits were light and moist and delicious. My ham and egg was cooked perfectly, and the grits had just the right consistency. Lance's might be off my beaten path, but I promise I will find a way to get back up in the hills to enjoy another one of those biscuits sometime real soon!

Shirley Greenwood behind the counter at Lance's Grill

Lunch at Mamie's Drive-In

Our route to and from Sunset Beach takes us through Laurel Hill, North Carolina, right outside Laurenburg on US 74. If you blink twice you will miss one of the best old-fashioned hamburger joints I've ever frequented. The road is a four-lane divided highway, and Pate's Village Food Mart is across the street. As you can see from the picture, Mamie's is a small brick building tucked under an old oak tree, with picnic tables outside and a small seating area inside so you can get out of the car and stretch a little.

As we walked up to the counter window to order lunch, we were greeted by Shelia Smith, the cheerful owner of Mamie's. The menu reminded me of other drive-ins decades ago: direct, simple, and mouth-watering. My husband Beau and I ordered cheeseburgers with fries and onion rings while our daughter Meg asked for the grilled chicken sandwich and chips.

At 11:15 on a Saturday the place was already beginning to get busy. We went to the back and waited for our food to be prepared. Mamie's makes their hamburgers by hand and cooks them fresh to order. Fries and onion rings don't sit under a heat lamp waiting all day to be served - they are fried up when requested.

I didn't realize how hungry I was until I watched Lauren and Kesha prepare our food through the plate glass windows. In the kitchen area they had food prep down to a science. Everything was super organized and clean as a whistle. Today's fast-food joints have nothing on this good old drive-in. With a grill, steamer, and fryer, they produce some of the best sandwiches!

Our burgers were tasty and juicy, with the cheese still warm and the lettuce and tomato crisp. The two cooks, Lauren and Kesha, are proud of their kitchen and rightfully so! The restaurant was originally opened by Mr. and Mrs. Carl Sampson in the 1960's as Carl's Drive-In. Mamie Hyatt worked for the Sampsons until 1980 when she purchased the business and changed the name to Mamie's Drive-In. Mamie employed a lot of young girls over the years, and continued to work full time until she sold the business in the late 1990's. In October, 2009, Mamie passed away after a short battle with cancer. The business was purchased by Shelia Smith in October, 2009 and restored to its original state with lower prices, fresh vegetables, and burgers made by hand. A picture of Mamie Hyatt hangs on the wall for all to see and read the history of the drive-in.

If you are ever in the Laurenburg area of the state, take a detour to visit Mamie's Drive-In in Laurel Hill and try a cheeseburger. You will agree with us - it's a taste of yesteryear. The restaurant is open Monday through Saturday. The directions on Mapquest were perfect, but unnecessary, since the drive-in sits right on US 74.

Yacht Basin Provisions in Southport - A Great Little Seafood Find!

While the Dancy clan was enjoying the annual Sunset vacation trip, I decided to drag a few family members with me on our NC Epicurean Adventure to visit a tiny little place in Southport, NorthCarolina - Yacht Basin Provision Company. Our State listed it as the best place to eat in Brunswick county, so off we went. The directions from Sunset Beach to YBPC in Southport on Mapquest were terrific. The address (130 Yacht Basin Drive) is right at the docks where yachts are anchored. From the outside, I wasn't sure we were at the right place for lunch, but upon entering the little shack there was no question - we were in for a delicious treat.

The restaurant sits right on the docks. As you walk in the door, you order your food and beverage, pick out your drink of choice, and have a seat in the open-air restaurant area. Fans on the ceiling keep the breeze moving and every view is a great one of the yacht basin area. As we were watching boats coming in and out of the basin, our food arrived with the call of a name.

The magazine's recommendations were the Conch Fritters and honor-system

beer, both of which we ordered along with a Grouper Salad plate and the daily special of Boiled Shrimp and a Crabcake. The food was as wonderful as it looks in these pictures. The conch fritters were piping hot and delectable. They were a perfect combination of chewy conch and tasty filler

that when fried created the best conch fritter I have ever eaten. The peel-and-eat shrimp were tender and oh so tasty. My sister-in-law and daughter agreed with me they were AWESOME!! When I tasted the crab cake I was equally impressed.

Grouper Salad, our other entree, was wonderful.

The grouper was tender and moist with the right amount of mayo and pickle relish to make it a tasty treat without masking the delicate flavor of the fish. Put homegrown tomatoes on the side and you have a perfect summer midday meal. The prices were very reasonable and the serving sizes just right. Take a gander at the menu selections on their website listed below and you will agree. Dessert was across the street at the ice cream shop owned by the Provisions company. Our group was too full after lunch, but we took some wonderfully tart key lime pie home to share with the group we left behind on the beach.

As you can see by the picture, we were very satisfied and happy with our lunch choice that day. Everyone seated around us in their white plastic chairs, drinking a good beer on a very warm day, seemed to agree. Yacht Basin Provisions was well worth the trip from Sunset Beach and now has become a "new" family tradition!

To check out the YBPC online, visit http://www.provisions company.com

Ketchie Creek Bakery and Cafe - YUM!!

On Friday, July 9th, Beth and I went to Mocksville, North Carolina to check out Ketchie Creek Bakery and Cafe. We truly went for the dessert; the sandwich was just the prelude we thought. But, as is usually the case when we think too much, we were delightfully surprised by the lunch offerings as well as the desserts. Gerald Welborn (co-owner) greeted us as we walked into the deli area. Beth ordered a #7 roast beef with horseradish sauce and German potato salad, and I had the #9 pastrami with provolone. Both sandwiches and the side of German potato salad were GREAT! I was thrilled with the pastrami (of which I am very picky) and impressed with the variety of items they served on their breakfast and lunch menus.

Once lunch was over, we bellied-up to the dessert cases to see the delectable sweets that were at our choosing. My eyes fell quickly on the chocolate cake while Beth's went to the fresh strawberry cake. The triple chocolate cake was perfectly moist with a double layer of chocolate icing. It was all I could do not to lick the plate clean! Only my mother-in-law's chocolate cake comes close to the wonderful taste of this one. The fresh strawberry cake consisted of vanilla cake (dense and moist), whipped creme icing, and fresh strawberries. It was light and WOW! (see picture to right)

We left the bakery with a Ketchie Creek signature five-flavor pound cake with cream cheese icing, a Wonder Bar (pictured), and a coconut macaroon bar. Admittedly, the Wonder Bar and the coconut macaroon bar never made it out of the car! Both were a mixture of flavors that equalled heaven!

Ketchie Creek Bakery and Cafe is very easy to get to off I - 40 W heading to Statesville from Winston-Salem. It took us about twenty-five "easy" minutes to get there. The directions on Mapquest were accurate and the bakery faces the street, so we didn't have to hunt for it. The hours of operation are Monday - Thursday, 7 am to 6 pm; Fridays, 7 am to 7 pm; and Saturdays, 7 am to 5 pm. The website, www.ketchiecreekbakery.com, is dangerous to peruse if you are on a serious (or not so serious) diet. After checking out the website, I was so craving sweet stuff that when we arrived I wolfed down my sandwich to get to the wonders housed in the dessert cases. In addition to incredible desserts and cookies to taste, Ketchie Creek also does a big cake-to-order business. Pictures of some of their cakes are on the website.

Gerald (pictured below with Beth) and Renna Welborn have been the owners of Ketchie Creek for the last two years. As you can see from the photos, the bakery/deli is very brightly colored and whimsically decorated. The service was as wonderful as the food, with no less than seven people behind the counters at any one time.

The address for Ketchie Creek Bakery and Cafe is 844 Valley Road, Mockville, NC, 27028. The phone number is 336-751-9147.

Overall, our experience was FANTASTIC while we were at the bakery and once we got home! Another "winner-of-a-choice" for Our State magazine! Our next blog will come from the coast in about a week.

We will keep you posted on our delectable journey across North Carolina.

June 30, 2010 - Prego's Trattoria

Prego's Italian Trattoria in Burlington, NC was our first stop of our adventure. It is very easy to get to from the interstate, and only an hour's ride from Winston-Salem. Once we opened the door, we were greeted by the incredible aromas within. We both ordered off the daily specials board and were not disappointed!

I had the chicken pizzaiola with penne and Beth ordered the spaghetti with bacon and Italian sausage. Our lunch came with a delicious salad, fresh bread, and fried polenta cubes with olive oil for dipping. As we were waiting (not long at all!) for our entree, the chef and restaurant owner Vicento Hernandez came by our table to check on us. Once we had our meals, Vicento came back around to be sure that all was to our liking. Boy, was it!! The sauce had the right amount of garlic in it and the chicken was tender and melted in my mouth.

The picture above of Beth and Vicento is great. Vicento comes by his culinary skills naturally! As it turns out, Vicento is from Ecuador and his mother is Italian. She taught him to cook in her kitchen and at her restaurant. He opened this restaurant in 2005 after many years of working in restaurants in NYC. After our delicioso meal, I would say that Vicento has the right combination of great food, great service, and reasonable prices that makes a winner of a restaurant. I know I will return to that little piece of Italy in Burlington, N. C. very soon!

The link to Prego's Trattoria's website - http://www.pregostrattoria.com

The link to the Mapquest location for a street view map to Prego's - http://www.mapquest.com/mq/6-CcAdOGOXFMcz