Every highway and byway in the state is a potential jumping off point for a food adventure, whether discovering the Restaurante Rosa de Saron in Sampson County or the Pakse Café in Greensboro.
by David Cecelski When I opened the Pakse CafĂ©âs door, I felt like I was walking into another world. Named for a city in Laos, the little cafĂ© has 7 or 8 tables and a specials board written in Lao. Everybody there was speaking Lao, too. At one of the tables, a group of older men… Read More →
Soft Crabs, Engelhard
by David Cecelski This week I visited Engelhard, a quiet little fishing village between Lake Mattamuskeet and the Pamlico Sound. Itâs always a good place to forage for fresh seafood. There are no retail fish markets, but the guys at the wholesale fish packing companies are happy to sell you shrimp and fish right off the boat if… Read More →
4-H Livestock Show, Ponzer
by David Cecelski Yesterday I visited the annual 4-H Livestock Show and Auction in Ponzer, a rural community on the Pungo River. The children had worked all year to raise their hogs, sheep, and goats and I could see the pride in their faces. Some of the boys and girls were in middle school, but many were… Read More →
Country Ham, Cove City
by David Cecelski My daughter and I stopped at Whiteâs Meat Market in CoveCity today. Itâs an old fashioned sort of place, where they do all their own butchering, sausage making, and smoking. Owned and operated by my Cousin Idaâs first cousin and her husband, the little shop sells fresh cuts of meat, local vegetables, hoop cheese,… Read More →
Paw Paw Pudding
by David Cecelski Today I planted paw paw trees by the old spring in our back woods. I have wanted a paw paw since I first read about them in John Lawsonâs New Voyage to Carolina when I was in college.Lawson lived among the Tuscarora and the coastal Algonquians here in North Carolina 300 years ago. He was… Read More →
Washtub Fish Stew
by David Cecelski âWash tubâ fish stews are a spring-time tradition along theNeuse River.  When the shad and rockfish swim upriver to spawn, local fishermen take to the water and cooks get out their biggest pots. In the old days, that stew pot was often literally a tin wash tub. These days itâs more likely a big cast… Read More →
Last Oyster Roas
by David Cecelski Last week we gathered next to the old millpond, on a little rise between the orchard and a field of purple clover. My cousin had been on the river the day before and came home with several bushels of oysters, probably the last weâll have this winter. We stood around the fire,… Read More →
Skin and Bones, Hookerton
by David Cecelski I was standing in the parking lot at Morris Barbeque in Hookerton this morning when I got to talking to the ownerâs mother. She was a charming woman and she told me that her father-in-law, Willie âPopâ Morris, started this wonderful little âcue joint back in 1956. He had been cooking in… Read More →
Al-Baraka Market’s Almonds with Lemo
by David Cecelski I love visiting Meredith College in Raleigh because I can walk across Hillsborough Street and explore the Al Baraka Market. Run by a very gracious gentleman from Syria, the little store carries Middle Eastern staples like olives, bulk lentils, Halal meats, and a large assortment of the regionâs spices, as well as sublime delicacies such as grape molasses… Read More →
Bill’s Hot Dogs, Washington
by David Cecelski  There is a kind of an ascetic purity to eating at Billâs Hot Dogs in little Washington. The unadorned storefront (the window says only âBillâs Hot Dogsâ), the bare shop floor (no chairs, no tables), the simplicity of the fare (hot dogs only), the bare-bones condiments (chili, onions, and mustard onlyâno ketchup,… Read More →