Southern home cookin'

Another great day on the road: good weather, good eats. We're spending the night in Macon, Georgia and heading across the state to Savannah tomorrow morning. Savannah is one of my favourite U.S. cities and I'm looking forward to a few nights there before completing our journey to Florida.

This little cafe, Zarzour's, is not here in Macon; it's in Chattanooga, Tennessee and it's where we had lunch. I found this wee gem in a book entitled "Roadfood", written by Jane and Michael Stern. There is also a Roadfood web site and I strongly encourage anyone who travels in the U.S. to spend a lot of time at this site. If you like to eat, that is.

The captain and I are fairly adventurous about our choice of restaurants when we travel. If a place is local and looks clean, we are more apt to eat there than any of the popular chain restaurants (oh, we have our favourite chains too, but sometimes there's nothing like eating where the locals eat). The Roadfood book is a wonderful reference of hundreds of eating establishments across the U.S. and while I was browsing through it last night, I found the Zarzour's listing in Chattanooga. A quick distance check told us we would easily be there for lunch, so we made plans to try it. I'm glad we did.

Now, I can't give it a perfect rating, as our beef in gravy was unfortunately not hot enough. Yes, I could have complained, but the place is so homey I thought it would be rude. Really. And it was still so tasty ... just like the pot roast I make. Both the captain and I had the beef, but different sides: I had turnip greens and pinto beans, all piping hot, while the captain enjoyed cole slaw and green beans (also hot). Fresh cornbread was served on the side and our iced tea (or, as they say in the south, "sweet tea") was included in the price of the meal. We also enjoyed dessert: the captain had one of his favourites, peanut butter pie, while I had yummy lemon icebox pie. I realized halfway through eating it that I should have taken a photograph, hence the artsy "half-eaten" display.

It's a very small cafe and is only open for lunch, Monday through Friday. Cash only. Terrific homemade food prepared and served by very friendly people. When we paid we were asked if we enjoyed our meal and that's when I mentioned the beef should have been hotter. Shannon, one of the owners who was working the cash, was SO apologetic and told me she wished I'd spoken up. It's Canadian politeness, I know -- just like when someone bumps into us but we say "I'm sorry".

And they even had a guest book for those who found them through Roadfood, which we were happy to sign. Shannon signed my Roadfood book too!