On the Road in America - 500 Places for Food and Wine Lovers - page 235

L $$ South Shire Inn, 124 Elm St.

here earlier rather than later, because it's
not really a dinner place—most days of
the week, it closes by 5pm.

( & 802/447-3839; www.southshire.com).
$ Paradise Motor Inn, 141 W. Main St.
( & 802/442-8351; www.theparadisemotor
inn.com).

314 North St. (Rte. 7; & 802/442-5140 ).
( Albany International (32 miles/52km).

Diners & Drive-Ins

257

Sonny's Grill
Blue Ridge Country Biscuits
Blowing Rock, North Carolina

Just a few minutes' drive off the Blue Ridge
Parkway, Blowing Rock has been a popular
mountain resort ever since the mid-19th
century, attracting nature lovers who
come to admire the panoramic 4,000-foot-
high (1,200m) namesake promontory just
outside of town, known for its stiff updrafts
(in winter, snow sometimes actually falls
upward here). But lately, Blowing Rock has
been increasingly inundated with antique-
filled B&Bs, chichi art galleries, and trendy
bistros like Crippen's (famed for its choco-
late-infused beef tenderloin) or the Storie
Street Grille (with its signature eggplant
napoleon). And as all these new develop-
ments sprout, you can be sure the regu-
lars at Sonny's Grill are discussing them
over coffee at the eight-stool counter or
one of the three tiny tables in this quintes-
sential Main Street cafe—a stalwart relic
of Blowing Rock's small-town charm.
In classic Main Street cafe style, break-
fast is the main event here. The outstand-
ing highlight of the breakfast menu—the
thing Sonny's advertises in hand-painted
lettering on its front window—is a per-
fectly simple southern dish: two flaky but-
termilk biscuits sandwiched around thin
slices of grilled locally cured country ham.
Sweet-potato pancakes are another break-
fast specialty (top them with maple syrup),
with their savory-sweet taste and pump-
kiny aroma. Then there's the liver mush,

which is just what it sounds like—mush
made out of fried pig liver. Chances are
you must have been born a Tar Heel to
fully appreciate that dish. But at a place
like Sonny's, that's reason enough to keep
it on the menu.
The lunchtime burger and cheese-
burger are also popular, though the res-
taurant can get crowded midday,
especially during foliage season, and the
small friendly staff sometimes has trouble
keeping up with the flow. The ham biscuits
you can order any time of day.
Sonny Klutz opened the unassuming
cinder-block cafe among Main Street's
quaint Victorian edifices in 1954; his son
Tommy has carried on since Sonny's death
in 1999. For regular visitors to the High
Country, an annual stop at Sonny's pro-
vides stability in an ever-changing world—
or at least reassurance that Blowing Rock
isn't getting prettified out of control.

1119 Main St. ( & 828/295-7577 ).
( Asheville (90 miles/145km).

L $$$ Chetola Resort at Blowing
Rock, N. Main St. ( & 800/243-8652 or
828/295-5500; www.chetola.com). $$ The
Green Park Inn, 9239 Valley Blvd. ( & 800/
852-2462 or 828/295-3141; www.green
parkinn.com).