18 Seaboard and Grits

There is something about grits south of Fauquier County. It is just so much better than anything in Arlington or DC or the north. For some reason, I love Waffle House. It's one of those places that I have to go to in the south. Don't know why there isn't a Waffle House near me... it's irritating. There's something to be said for a pecan (please don't pronounce it PEE-can, thank you) waffles, eggs, hash browns with jalapenos and onions, and of course grits. The consistency is, I feel, a thicker or coarser down south...I know that there is that myth that fried chicken in the south is better because the flour they use has a higher percentage of cornmeal, I don't know how true that is though....you'd think you'd be able to get the same flour everywhere in the country. Anyways, I digress. Waffle House, dirt cheap, NOTHING fancy=GREAT!

Exactly...take that paleo

Now, with grits in mind, I needed to find a restaurant for a nice date. I haven't seen her for a while, so I was looking for something nice. She was also on paleo diet (the merits, or lack there of, I will discuss in a later posting), which means its GODDAMN tough to find ANYTHING. I ended up deciding with 18 Seaboard, which had great reviews on Yelp. Of all the places in NC that I've been to, this may be the best, tough call between this and Glenwood Grill (read about it my previous post). The chose here was between scallops and pork shank with grits for me, and my date got there grilled fish of the day.

I ended up with the pork shank and grits. Her fish was excellent, and it came with a side of roasted cauliflower. I have been fairly surprised at the quality of seafood, considering Raleigh is nowhere near an ocean, nor is NC really known for great seafood, but the last 2 times she's gotten fish and it has been good. My pork shank was also amazing. It came roasted, bone in, which means that there is still a little bit of bone marrow left in it. If you haven't had bone marrow before, you have not lived. It is one of the joys in life. There wasn't enough of it left, because marrow tends to melt fairly fast, but the essence of it all went into the grits (AMAZING)! There was no dessert, because most all dessert, not paleo!

All in all, NC has yet again surprised me, but then it really shouldn't. The south has a long standing tradition of good comfort food. I think the South and Mid-west is true American food, as opposed to the north which Italian and European tends to dominate or the west, which is more Mexican and sometimes Asian as you move north. The south is what American food was founded on, and it's good. REAL good. Keep it up NC, I'm digging it. The south also has Waffle House. Point, set, match. 

Yup.. that's what's up