by David Cecelski First established in 1927, Hux Grocery in Rocky Mount is a shrine to chitterlings. Preparing, cleaning, and cooking pig intestines is just about all this little store does in a big way. The sign painted on the brick wall next to the parking lot says it all: “Hux Grocery—the Chitterling Capital.” You can buy… Read More →
Mole de Guanajuato
by David Cecelski When my sister and my brother-in-law arrived yesterday, I had the chicken broth ready for them. Following my brother-in-law’s instructions, I had boiled a chicken with onions, garlic, carrots, and cilantro. As soon as he took off his coat, he removed the chicken from the pot, put it in the oven to… Read More →
Picking up Pecans
by David Cecelski I was picking up pecans in our front yard this morning and I got to thinking about the old trees that dropped them. My grandfather planted those trees when he was a young man in the late 1910s or early ‘20s, soon after he returned from the First World War. They’ve been… Read More →
US 701 – La Mixteca and La Michoacana
by David Cecelski Around dusk last night, when I got out of the Black River swamps, the only place I could find a hot meal within 15 or 20 miles was Tienda y Restaurante Doña Mary, a Mexican store, pool room, and café at the corner of US 210 and US 701. From the outside… Read More →
Tapatio Home Cooking–La Cuata
by David Cecelski The first time I went to La Cuata, a homey little Mexican cafe in Dudley, in WayneCounty, was a quiet Monday evening. I was on my way back from a cousin’s funeral and it was dark and cold and I was looking for comfort food again. I didn’t have the patience for rush… Read More →
Julia’s Talley House
by David Cecelski Julia’s Talley House is an old and much-loved restaurant in the little town of Troutman. I stopped there for the first time when I was in IredellCounty the other day and now I understand why it’s so popular. It offers good old-fashioned Southern fare for one thing—fried chicken, country ham, chicken and pastry, country fried… Read More →
Pan de Muerto
by David Cecelski Durham ’s Latino bakeries were filled today with the aroma of anise seed, the traditional flavoring for pan de muerto, the bread of the dead. They are getting ready for the Day of the Dead—El Dia de los Muertos— and anticipating shoppers looking for the sweet egg bread that has been part of the holiday… Read More →
Peanuts at the A&B Milling Co., Enfield
by David Cecelski The other day I was driving through Enfield, a small town 25 miles north of Rocky Mount, when I saw a sign for “Aunt Ruby’s Peanuts.” I had a little time to spare, so I made a quick turn off NC-581 and found the A&B Milling Company’s office, warehouse, and retail shop at the… Read More →
Great Dismal Swamp
by David Cecelski A hot meal isn’t easy to find near the Great Dismal Swamp if you don’t know your way around the back roads of Camden, Pasquotank, and GatesCounty. It’s wild, remote country, with only a few villages anywhere nearby. Fortunately, I got help from a crowd of rangers and swamp rats at the Dismal SwampCanalVisitorCenterwhen I… Read More →
Fried Hard Crabs, North River
by David Cecelski Oh, the Lord blessed me this day. I had missed lunch and I was running late and I was driving on a rural road where I didn’t think that I had any chance of finding a bite to eat when I saw the hand-scrawled sign: “Fried Fish and Crab Plates, $6.50.”… Read More →