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I have the house to myself on a Friday night. I’m in my mid 30s. It’s cold and dreary outside. I should be in sweatpants eating a Tombstone pizza or something. But, I decided to venture out to Tarboro Brewing Company and try Smoken Birds. Thank God I was just fat enough to want to go out for food, but not fat enough to stay home in pajamas and just eat freezer pizza. (Life is about balance afterall.)

I wasn’t sure what the menu on this truck would consist of but I hoped for some turkey barbecue. Win. Turkey BBQ was on the menu. So I ordered the turkey barbecue sandwich with slaw and a side of fries. (I could have gotten tater tots or fried okra alternatively.) The gentleman running the truck, apparently by himself, was very friendly. Kudos for somehow being able to handle everything by himself too. That’s an impressive feat. My food was ready in maybe 8-10 minutes. I barely got any social media binging in before my food was ready.

So I took my food home. I opened the box and prepared to arrange it nicely for a picture. If you didn’t take a picture of your food, did you even eat? (Same principle as the gym) I noticed that the barbecue had sauce on it. My heart skipped a beat. Barbecue with sauce seems like some sort of sacrilege. What next? Unsweet tea? Heaven forbid. But, I kind of kept an open mind. Let me tell you this much, there is a lot to be said for pulled pork or turkey, referred to as barbecue in these parts, that stands on its own without sauce. That said, this turkey could have stood on its own, but I’m glad it was served the way it was. The sauce was tangy and a little bit spicy. It meshed perfectly with the slightly cooling effect of the slaw. As I took a bite, it was like there were flavor crystals exploding in my mouth. Song of the South began to play as the heavens opened and Dale Earnhardt and Colonel Sanders gave me high fives. Southern barbecue can have sauce. If this sauce is available, southern barbecue SHOULD have sauce. Amen. The barbecue was so good I don’t even feel it necessary to talk about the fries. But, in brief, they were some of the best fries I’ve had in a long time, possibly ever. They were crispy, hot, and had great seasoning on them.

So look here, check out Smoken Birds if you get a chance. You’ll be happy you did.

If I keep this blogging thing up, I’ll have to come up with a tagline or some sort of rating scale to end with. For now, Smoken Birds gets two thumbs up.

If you are looking for good Italian food around Tarboro, and maybe don’t want Mama’s Pizza, go check out Brandy’s in Princeville.

I’ve mentioned the eating healthy nonsense that I am trying before here. So today, rather than having some delicious pasta or pizza, I had a delicious antipasta salad. I didn’t even eat the amazing looking buttery garlic bread that came with my salad. Honestly, I get antipasta from Mama’s all the time so I guess I didn’t sacrifice too much.

Let me start off this review by saying that the staff were extremely friendly and the service was amazing!

Now the food: my antipasta was fantastic. Everything was very fresh and tasty. There was so much that I was only able to eat about half of the salad. Also at my table were two coworkers who had some crazy good looking pizza and baked ziti. Both said that theirs was insanely tasty.

In the past, I have also had a grilled chicken hoagie and New Orleans Pasta. I can say that both of these dishes were amazing as well.

If you are looking for a great lunch, stop in Brandy’s or call and order delivery. You’ll enjoy it or something’s wrong with you.

Deputy Hollifield thoroughly enjoying my garlic bread.

Good Food Ain’t Cheap and Cheap Food Ain’t Good.

I’ve been meaning to get to Everleans since I started this blog. It is somewhere that I like to eat regularly. There are two things that you need to know when you walk in: the folks that own and operate it are just great people and the food will always be good. Ann and Willie are always friendly and you get the feeling that your food is being cooked with love.

Everleans is one of the “hole in the wall” restaurants that I always seek out. It’s a “no frills” cinderblock building. The magic is inside.

Today I had the marinated grilled chicken breast with rice and cabbage. I pretty much always order the cabbage….protip, order the cabbage. Everything I had today was awesome but the cabbage is always the star of the show. I usually order hamburger steak or meat loaf, but everything I’ve ever ordered was delicious.

The bottom line is that you should come to Everleans and have a great meal. Any time you get the chance. Come on in and put something good on the Wurlitzer jukebox. Have your meal and get a piece of cake.

Once the weather gets warm, be sure to stop one of their ice cream trucks and get a sweet treat. You’ll thank me.

Coming from the 919 to the 252.

So I saw Jolly’s was coming to TBC while looking at TBC’s Facebook earlier in the week. Because food is life, I went ahead and started following Jolly’s on social media. I got excited. I told my partner at work what I was seeing. The menu items I was seeing made me ready for Sunday. I’m never ready for Sunday because it means I have to go back to work the next day.

Today came and I eagerly went to TBC. I realized that I was behind on TBC beer releases as well. I know, I’ve been busy, don’t stone me yet. So, I walked up to the Jolly’s truck and immediately saw the Big Mama Wrap. Yo, this thing has got fried chicken, mac and cheese, and collards in it. Why would I NOT want that? (Alisa and Ashley both ordered a cheeseburger. Smh. Why? From a food truck with all these other options. A cheeseburger. Like it’s McDonalds.)

I ordered a flight of beers inside with the Frozen Mist DIPA (Even though I hate an IPA. I think that people who like IPAs really hate their taste buds.) and Chaiveza Choco-latte. The Frozen Mist was predictably not my cup ‘o tea and gave me lock jaw it was so bitter. I was able to con Alisa into trying it without warning her and got to see her bitter beer face too. The Chaiveza was pretty awesome I thought. It was a little bit sweet and had a tiny bit of bite from either peppers or maybe cinnamon. Both were a bit on the boozy side with ABVs over 9.

The main event: the fried chicken wrap. It was just as awesome as I expected. The fried chicken was amazing and every bite left me wiping my mouth to get rid of the string of cheese coming from the wrap. As with every wrap I have ever eaten, there was too much wrap in proportion to the filling. I warn you: if you don’t like grease, this isn’t something you’ll want to eat. Overall, I wish it had more chicken and mac and cheese stuffed in it, but I savored what was there.

On the way home, David Bowie – Just Dance came on the radio. My belly was full and I was happy. So I danced in the back seat. Layla was not amused.

If you see Jolly’s is going to be in your neighborhood, go check them out. You won’t regret it.

So I had heard a lot about Chirba Chirba and asked Inez to see if she could lure them to TBC. She told me that they wouldn’t come to Tarboro because there wasn’t a big enough volume of customers. I let my dream of trying their dumplings die.

Fast forward 6 months to a year. Inez told me excitedly that she had convinced them to come to town during the Christmas parade and Sean Draughn’s Coat Drive.

Finally, a reason for me to wade through crowded Main St. during the work up to the Christmas parade.

We went to the truck and I just ordered pretty much everything not vegetarian.

From the menu:

Juicy Buns- sweet and savory (super juicy!) pork mini bun

Bayside Chive – pork dumpling with Chinese chives, carrots and cabbage

Spicy Glass Noodles (v)(vg)– Green onion, tamari, sriracha, carrots, sesame oil (Admittedly vegetarian, but it’s a side dish so I’ll let it slide.)

Sichuan Beef – thinly sliced beef marinated with chili peppers and sichuan peppercorns, stir fried with onions and red bell peppers

So we had all these dishes to sample.
We got one of each of the sauces. My favorite was pineapple curry. It was pretty tasty. All of the food was just insanely good. We definitely wanted seconds.

So, tonight, as part of the 3rd birthday party for TBC, Chirba Chirba returned. We ordered all the same stuff except for Sichuan Beef.

Again, it was just ridiculously good. Do yourself a favor and go get some Juicy Buns, Bayside Chive, and Spicy Glass Noodles any time you see them serving near you.

http://www.chirbachirba.com

Let’s talk about a Tarboro staple.

Pepperoni and mushroom pizza. New York style.

This week has been hectic, to say the least. Lawin’ has interfered with eatin’. So, mostly I ate junk that was fast or was brought to me on a crime scene. I can’t really give any stellar reviews for any of that.

I did get to enjoy some of the best pizza around on Tuesday night. If you’re from Tarboro, then you have eaten at Mama’s Pizza. It’s been a Tarboro landmark for as long as I can remember. (Sometimes that’s no more than a few seconds, admittedly.) Out of all of the amazing food at Mama’s, one of my favorites is the pizza. I am also partial to cheese steaks and stromboli. Both of which are pretty amazing at Mama’s.

So, Alisa brought home a pepperoni and mushroom pizza. She excitedly told me that Peter, the owner, cooked it. This pretty much assured me that it would be some of the most baller pizza in the world. It was.

I grabbed one of the bigger slices, folded it over (the long way) and bit into it. Some grease from the cheese and/or pepperoni ran down my chin. Ecstacy spread over my body. Then I ate the rest of my half of the pizza like a savage. Think Tasmanian Devil in the old cartoons. Grease, spit, and bits of cheese flew everywhere. (Not really or Alisa and I would have had a domestic) You just can’t beat the pizza from Mama’s.

Now, I know there is a young upstart contender across the bridge in Princeville who has amazing pizza as well. But there is something to be said for the old staple, still holding it down and making it like they always have. The other folks will get their review in due time.

Pro tip, pizzas are on special on Wednesday nights at Mama’s. Get in there and get some amazing Italian food and enjoy a beer or mixed drink from the bar side, Nico’s Cafe.

Korean Food Hidden in Downtown Tarboro

Tarboro Seafood has recently been bought by a nice Korean couple. This restaurant is on Main St. in Tarboro across from Brewer’s Jewelry. I have been hearing a lot of positive things about their Korean fare and decided I had to see what it was about.

For this initial experience, Alisa and I decided to order Chicken Teriyaki and Bulgogi. Bulgogi is a Korean beef dish. It has steak strips and vegetables. Let me tell you, they know how to cook. Both dishes were awesome! The spices in the dishes were delicious. My only complaint about the meal was that by the time we got it home and started eating, the fried rice was cold.

So, the food was awesome, and the gentleman working struck both of us as really nice. When I ordered, I was very uncertain of my pronunciation of Bulgogi. I still don’t know how to pronounce it. But, despite having a mush mouth on my end of the phone, the Korean gentleman got my order correct, didn’t have to have me repeat anything, and was extremely polite.

I highly reccomend this restaurant, and in particular, these two dishes.

Tarboro’s Hidden Gem

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At least once a week, you’ll find me enjoying lunch at El Manantial in Tarboro. To get to the food, you have to walk through the Hispanic convenience store. At the back of the store, you go through a doorway and find yourself inside a legit restaurant. If someone didn’t tell you it was there, you would have no idea looking from the outside. See photo below:

Once you make it to the restaurant, you will find yourself greeted by a smiling face. When I first started going to El Manantial, you had to be able to speak Spanish to order. This may have been a hindrance for some. But, the current owners/operators speak very good English and we communicate without any problem. The problems come in when I get cocky and try to rattle of some poorly executed Spanish.

The menu and decor have evolved to a pretty good point now. You will feel like you are in one of the bigger Mexican restaurants. But here, you will be getting authentic food, not tailored to the tastes of gringos. I have eaten everything on the menu except for tongue. I just can’t force myself to do that. All of it has been top notch, delicious food. I can’t pick favorites because all of it has been great. But, my current go to is carne asada quesadillas. I like to pour a bunch of salsa verde on my plate and dip each bite of quesadilla in it.

To give you an idea of the caliber of people running this restaurant, on several occasions, they have thrown in different food items so that we could taste them. This Friday, they gave us each a bowl of posole to try. It’s hominy corn with pork in a delicious broth. They are always very friendly and like to laugh and joke with us. Though some of the patrons seem a little nervous around law enforcement officers, I have never once gotten that vibe from the people who work in the restaurant. We have truly enjoyed the welcoming environment that this restaurant has shown us.

If you want some good, authentic Mexican food at a reasonable price, seek this restaurant out and enjoy yourself. Get it to go or sit inside. Stop in the store up front and get you a Jarritos soda to go with your meal. I recommend the mandarin or lime. Check out some of the Mexican chips or snacks as well. I like the salsa verde chips distributed by Tostitos Mexico. The restaurant takes cash or card, while the grocery store section only accepts cash (to my knowledge).

Pinetops Location is Good Too.

Abrams has long been a staple for us on the weekends. With our recent attempt at eating a little better, we go there less frequently. But, when I throw health conscious eating aside, and instead focus on getting something that tastes good, I go for a chicken and cheese biscuit. Layla usually gets two sides of bacon. Yes, two. She eats these with her bowl of vanilla ice cream from Tarboro Coffee House. I think it’s a well rounded breakfast. (Again, no unsolicited parenting advice.)

The thick hoop cheese and fried chicken work together to punch you in the taste buds, leaving you reeling and almost comatose afterwards. You will want a nap after eating this. I can only imagine the shock that hits folks from other parts of the world who are fortunate enough to stop in and get one of the famous Abrams Cheese Biscuits. Bless their hearts, they probably think that Nestea is proper sweet tea. Hopefully, they get a cup of sweet tea with their biscuit and enjoy it properly.

Bottom line, if you want to live your life happily, up until your heart attack, get a cheese biscuit from Abrams and add your meat of choice. Get some sweet tea to wash it down, or do like me and swing by Tarboro Coffee House for some coffee to go with it. Enjoy it!

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After a week or so of fighting the good fight and fending off this cold that Alisa and Layla had, I finally succumbed to this evil last Saturday. As a result, I didn’t go to any of the food trucks at TBC this week. I have failed you, my readers, (numbering 0 so far) (for good cause) by not doing my due diligence. But, to somewhat salvage this week, I will do a review of Coker Town Honey, Maker’s Mark Whiskey, Redneck Riviera Whiskey, and Hall’s Defense lozenges.

Let’s start with the Hall’s Defense. The fruit flavors are awesome: grapefruit, lemon, and orange. I enjoy that part of them. What is truly awful about these is the slight menthol taste they added into them. Supposedly this is to “soothe,” but instead makes me want to gag. The drops have the daily dosage of Vitamin C in them, so that’s good I guess. Bottom line, I’ll use them again. Hopefully, not any time soon.

Coker Town Farms honey is just great. I picked up a bottle at one of the Saturday morning markets this past year. Around Tuesday of this week, I was nearly on my death bed and decided to try the honey and whiskey before bed thing. It worked for me. The Coker Town Farms honey was very tasty! I took a shot of it followed by a couple shots of Maker’s Mark whiskey, then went to bed. After two nights of this, I really feel like my cold broke. I saw a drastic improvement anyway. It worked as a cough suppressant and made me “sweat out the cold.” I don’t care if that is not scientifically proven, it worked. Friday, I was able to procure a couple bottles of Redneck Riviera whiskey. I did the same routine, but with that instead of Maker’s Mark. That is some pretty smooth whiskey. Again, it had the desired effect.

I’ve got some eating to do this weekend so I can write some more stuff that no one will ever care to read. If, you’re reading this, bless your heart.