Oink, Oink

I should oink like a pig after going out to eat last night at Fred Chason's Grandsons buffet restaurant in Hope Mills, NC.

If I understand it right, Fred Chason was famous in this area for "The Best Down Home Cooking.....Any Where." And the road sign now prominently placed on the wall of his grandson's restaurant attests to it.

The menu calls it "Carolina's Famous Buffet." It took probably a half an hour to get there, but the trip was worth it. Well, in some ways; not if you were counting on staying on the "plan."

The line to get in was long when we got there, but it moved rather quickly.

The red checkerboard tablecloths and Kerr quart jar drinking glasses were great atmosphere, but nothing next to the bottles of fat back grease offered for sale at the cash registers up front. The clientele proudly sported their light blue University of Carolina hats with white NC logo, Tar Heels sweatshirts, and Red NC State shirts. Others wore their favorite NASCAR driver's cap or jacket.

The aroma was awesome. The buffet contained every southern dish you could ever want. A sampling: fried chicken, BBQ chicken, chicken liver & gizzards, fried pork chops, and BBQ pork chops. There was fat back, meatloaf, fried trout, fried croaker, and baked trout. Then there were the vegetables and beans. A sampling: black-eyed peas, pinto beans, turnip greens, fried okra, fried squash, field peas, white & green lima beans, etc., etc.. I won't even mention the desserts; let your mind wander.

Even though the food was good, after spending the last couple of years avoiding deep fried foods I felt like an alcoholic on his first binge after going off the wagon. That part of it was not good. I used the excuse to my trough-mates that I was going back to pile it on because I had to try all these southern foods I hadn't had or don't get the chance to eat in the mountain west. What rationalization.

I can only hope the two-hour, five mile walk I took this afternoon makes up for a small portion of it.