Blue Ridge Country March/April 2021 - 23

Places: EXCELLENCE THROUGH ADVERSITY
Fred and Jill Sauceman study, celebrate and write about the foodways of Appalachia
and the South from their home base in Johnson City, Tennessee, and have been
covering food for this magazine for decades. Who better to provide a set of food
favorites in three realms: restaurants, products and recipes.
By FRED & JILL SAUCEMAN | Photos by FRED SAUCEMAN

Soup beans are
topped with onions
and chow-chow at
The Moose Café,
Asheville.

ood food, appealing presentation, a clean atmosphere and
personable owners are common themes connecting the
hundreds of restaurants we
have covered over the years.
But there is another trait we
look for that may exceed them all in importance, and that is persistence. Whether serving Turkish kebabs or Appalachian
soup beans, the restaurant owners we
admire most are the ones who faced adversity and kept right on cooking. Never
has that kind of determination been more
vital or risky than in the recent months.
And never has our appreciation for these
business owners been deeper.
This is a sampling of some of our very
favorite places, owned by people who
have made great sacrifices to keep feeding
their communities.
Dan's Grill, Blairsville, Georgia. We
delight in finding immigrant influences
in Appalachian kitchens. In the mountains of north Georgia, Cuban immigrant
Dan Hernandez serves up Caribbean dishes he learned from his mother and grandmother. His ropa vieja, which means " old
clothes " in Spanish, is a blend of shredded beef, bell peppers and onions in a
light tomato sauce. It's served alongside
cumin-scented black beans, yellow rice
and tostones-green plantains cooked,
pressed into patties, fried and accompanied by a citrus and garlic mojo sauce.

The Dillard House, Dillard, Georgia.
Having evolved from Carrie Edwards Dillard's World War I-era boardinghouse,
The Dillard House serves up a tableful of
dishes family style, beginning with Car-

rie's original recipe for Calico Salad, made
with cucumbers, onions and tomatoes in
a simple dressing of white vinegar and
water. The Dillard House even owns a USDA-approved curing plant for its incomparable country hams.

The Dairy Cheer, Pikeville, Kentucky. In the course of our travels, we
have come across such oddly named hamburgers as the Big Hack, the Humpburger,
the Gurney Burger and the Big Pal. For
well over half a century, Pikeville's Dairy
Cheer has served up the Smashburger. Locals tell us the name is derived from the
days when the patties were beaten with
number-10 cans.
The Portal, Harlan, Kentucky. One of
the best pizzas we have ever found was in
Eastern Kentucky coal country, in downtown Harlan. Wood-fired pizzas are baked
at temperatures ranging from 590 to 625
degrees in the former location of the Harlan National Bank. Photographs and displays on the restaurant's walls pay tribute
to the coal mining history of the region.

Brown's Café, Sparta, North Carolina. The Brown family serves up slabs of
North Carolina liver mush for breakfast,
plate-covering pork chops for lunch and
meringue-crowned chocolate pie any
time.

The Moose Café, Asheville, North
Carolina. Located next to the Western
North Carolina Farmers Market, The
Moose Café features food that is simple,
inexpensive, hearty and connected to the
region. Housemade biscuits of cathead
proportions come to the table even before
you order, along with servings of chunky,
spicy apple butter. Much of the food is

MARCH/APRIL 2021

Blue Ridge Country March/April 2021

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