Tuesday, March 28, 2017

A taste of Bay St. Louis at The Buttercup


On a previous trip to New Orleans, we passed through Bay St. Louis, MS and saw a lot of activity around an older house that had apparently been turned into a restaurant.

So on our last trip West, we decided to stop and give The Buttercup a try.


It is located on Second Street just a few blocks away from the main touristy commercial area called Old Town, just a few blocks from the waterfront.

Our noon Friday meal consisted of a shrimp sandwich along with a side of cole slaw. My wife had water and I chose coffee.



My wife and I have gotten into the habit of sharing a meal because, nowadays, a lot of meals tend to be more than large enough for one person. We made the right choice and were very satisfied.

Apparently a few interior walls had been removed to open up the dining area in the house. There was adequate table space inside, along with an outside dining area.


The Buttercup offers a wide variety of foods and is sure to satisfy all taste buds.

We enjoyed the airyness of the restaurant and enjoyed checking off another place that we felt looked intriguing.

Next post: April 4, 2017



Tuesday, March 21, 2017

The past relived via credit card payment

Throwback to the past -- wife Linda shows an
old paper form used to pay with a credit card.

My wife and I had a small taste of the past, this past weekend.

And that taste of the past of which I am referring, happened like some 20 or so years ago.

Just exactly was it?

Well, it was the old way of paying by credit card.

We had visited an eatery on our way to visit relatives in Baton Rouge, La., and decided to stop off in Bay St. Louis, on the Mississippi Gulf Coast.

We ordered and shared the meal. When it came time to pay, the waitress caught us a little off guard by what followed, since it was so unusual in this day and age.

Her credit card reader, which was used when patrons made a payment, was not working.

So what did she do? She pulled out the ages-old paper form and wrote down our name and our credit card number on it.

My card had raised letters on it, but I guess she didn’t have the little contraption that allows pressure to be used to make an image of the credit card number.

She wrote the number on the old form, gave us a copy and we were on our way.

The event was a throwback to the “good ole days.”

Yeh!


Next post: March 28, 2017

Tuesday, March 14, 2017

Pizza's not all that's on menu




We like to eat at River's End Restaurant at the Nantahala Outdoor Center (NOC) in North Carolina when on our journey to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

The world-known NOC facility is located between Murphy and Bryson City, NC.

We have a problem with the eatery when we are only passing through or in the area for just a short time.

But it is a good problem to have.



As an aside, I would stop there to eat just for the experience of overlooking the Nantahala River which runs by it. I love the feeling.

But, back to the problem.

Historically, our first stop ever there was on a day that we traditionally eat pizza.

It could have been a Sunday, or Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday or Saturday.

I don’t remember. But it was a day we needed pizza.

My wife and I use to order a large pepperoni pizza, but upon getting up in age, we realized that sharing a small pizza with each of us getting a house salad sufficed.

Our first stop for pizza at the River's End was great. And so were subsequent stops.

But their menu has more than just pizza.

There was an item -- “The Sherpa Rice” meal -- that caught my wife’s attention. 

The menu states concerning the dish: “This River’s End classic, named after the famous mountaineers, is legendary in its own right. All sherpa rice dishes start with a healthy stir fried medley of aromatic basmati rice, lentils and barley."

It is prepared three different ways: 

— Veggie Sherpa with broccoli, mushrooms, red and green peppers, onions and roma tomatoes, topped with cheese: 

— Chili Sherpa with one of three styles of homemade chili; classic beef, white bean chidken or black bean vegetarian and topped with cheddar cheese, and

— Chicken Sherpa with chicken, broccoli, mushrooms, red and green peppers, onions and roma tomatoes, topped with cheese.

Over the course of a couple trips, we couldn’t decide how to handle the situation because, our first stop there is always pizza. Could we ever change our ways?

Well, our last trip up that way a couple weeks ago helped us solve the problem.

Our seven-day trip included two nights at Murphy. The first day out of Murphy, we stop at River's End for lunch and guess what? We had pizza and a salad.

But, our trip that day was to take us to Gatlinburg and back.  So we timed it to get back to Rivers End before they closed that night. We ordered the Veggie Sherpa which was plenty for my wife and I to share.

So, now we have satisfied our desire to partake of that meal.

But looking at the menu, we are going to have to make a lot  more two-stop days to work in all the other good stuff the offer.


Next post: March 21, 2017

Tuesday, March 7, 2017

Three Goats Inn and Cottage a nice find



Sometimes there are not too many places to stay in small town Mississippi.

Such was the case just last week when my wife and I were off on a  a 7-day jaunt that took us to a place where we lived from mid 1967 to mid 1970. 


And that was Aberdeen, Ms., where I was for a year, assistant editor, photographer, advertising salesman and sometimes paper delivery boy on the weekly Examiner. The second year the paper changed hands and I became editor, while also keeping the other titles. That lasted for another year and then we were gone.

But getting back to a place to stay.



In the 1960s there was the Shelaine Motel, which was, I believe, the only such place in town. Today, the structure is there, but the business closed down. What was the motel restaurant then, is now an ethnic style restaurant.

So on our search for a place to stay, we came across what I believe we can refer to as a “bed and no breakfast inn,” which was OK with us because we had other plans for food the next morning.




The compound, located in the downtown area, consisted of a a unit with two suites and what I will call a cozy cottage adjacent to them.

The compound is known as the Three Goats Cottage and Inn.

My wife and I spent the night in the cottage and found it rather charming with a colorful decor and myriad pieces harkening back to an earlier time.

A small enclosed sun porch greeted visitors and was a nice place to sit and relax.

We had the cottage to ourselves and managed to fix a meal before calling it a day.

It was a nice place to stay, and we would consider it first upon another trip to the area.

Next post: March 14, 2017