Chicken and Waffles. Stupid good pancakes, gritz and BBQ! Enjoying southern cooking.

Day 1 - Stops: Roanoke, Virginia; Nashville, Tennessee

Under the stress of packing and life’s own bumps in the road, we actually departed Scranton at 7:45am instead of 6am. Jeremy took the first shift since I had been driving back and forth to Philadelphia in my apartment search five times in the past two weeks.

Adios Scranton

We took 81 South most of the way and passed through Pennsylvania, Maryland, West Virginia (new state!) and Virginia where we drove adjacent to the Appalachian mountains and saw lots of cattle, and a lots of giant crosses.

Crosses line 81 south

We then made our first stop at the cute town of Roanoke where it was a sunny warm Saturday. Lucky for us they had a Saturday farmer’s market and we picked up apples and oranges for our car ride and met a French Bulldog named Gidget Gaga and her proud owner a VAtech Huskies fan.  We ate (Fried) Chicken and Waffles at Thelma’s Chicken & Waffles, with sides of Chili Mac and Cheese and Salmon Balls with Honey Mustard.  Highly recommend that you try chicken and waffles if you have not yet combined these two things in one sitting. And sweet Chili on top of Mac and Cheese sounds terrible but is awesome.  We hit the road with some Cuban coffee at Habana café because it was my shift.

Roanoke, Virginia

An Irish shuttle in Roanoke, Virginia

Salmon Balls at Thelma's Chicken and Waffles

Chicken and Waffles at Thelma's

Mac and Cheese Chili

The trip to Nashville continued on 81South which has some of the greatest billboards I have ever seen. Advertisements for a Titanic museum (in western Virginia), the South’s Largest Adult Store, and my favorite – a Beef Jerky Outlet. I must ask, where is the demand for a Beef Jerky Outlet?

Finally we hit 40 west and Tennessee (new state!) On the way we entertained ourselves with Amazon reviews of a banana slicer which apparently saves lives.  The rain started and continued as we hit Nashville where I was immediately struck by the interesting dress of the women and men here. Cowboy boots of course but with these itty bitty shorts and shoe suspenders that attach at the waist, many women with one side of their head shaved, men with beards, women with sequin leggings, leopard print leggings, and lace leggings. I felt incredibly boring in my bomber jacket and jeans. Next time I visit Nashville I’m going to partake in this ridiculous attire because there are so few places in this world where you can get away with wearing that!

Layla's on the main strip in Nashville, TN

We were hungry again and stopped at B&C’s BBQ where we ate brisket, some of the richest mac and cheese I’ve had in my life, garlic and cheese gritz, baked beans and cornbread with some Yazoo Beer to wash it down. We listened to bluegrass hillbilly music at Layla’s – no cover and $2.50 PBRs. This town is cheap! Then it was back to our Econo Lodge which hosted a friendly bunch of crackheads and drugdealers.

B&C's BBQ in Nashville, TN

Must Eat: Chicken and Waffles, B&C’s BBQ – garlic and cheese gritz, brisket, and mac and cheese,

Must See:  Downtown Nashville late night music scene

Day 2 – Stops: Nashville, Tennessee; Memphis, Tennessee; Little Rock, Arkansas; Oklahoma City, OK 

I’ve decided that if we’re going to eat this southern food multiple times a day, we’re going to run every day too. Besides it’s a great way to cover a lot of ground in a city and take pictures! Fortunately I have a fiancé that is okay with this plan.

We woke at 7:30am and headed to downtown Nashville for our run. We ran around downtown found some funny signs to take pictures of – Nashville loves its crazy billboards and murals. We ran across the Shelby pedestrian bridge which offers a great view of the city even though it was a gloomy morning. Free street parking on Sundays by the way – we accidentally paid the meter.

How about a PBR shower?

Bridgestone Arena

Shelby Pedestrian Bridge

Then a must eat in Nashville is the Pancake Pantry featured on Man versus Food and deservingly so. It’s actually near Vanderbilt so we drove on by and the line was long but worthwhile. It moved at a fair speed. The staff was super friendly and the pancakes are definitely the best I’ve had anywhere. Keep in mind these are not your normal pancakes – we ordered their Famous Sweet Potato Pancake with Cinnamon syrup which is very sweet and the Santa Fe which is a savory cornmeal pancake. The Sweet potato is more popular but I preferred the Santa Fe. Don’t be afraid to put syrup on top of sourcream and salsa. Just do it!

Apparently the Pancake Pantry always has a line

Santa Fe cornmeal pancakes with sour cream and salsa

 

Sweet potato pancake with cinnamon syrup

It was a busy day. Once we left Nashville we headed to Memphis and decided to drive by Graceland. Never in my life did I think I would pay money to go inside Graceland but we got tricked by paying for parking and then we figured with a few discounts we might as well check it out since we have no future plans to visit the Memphis area. Let me tell you something about the surrounding area, Elvis didn't live there because it's pretty. Graceland is kind of bizarre. Peacock stain glass windows flank the living room, there’s a Jungle room, and an insane looking man cave. It was overpriced but the exhibit itself was interesting and I feel like I learned a lot about Elvis, perhaps much of it was lost on me because I’m not of that generation. But I guess I didn’t realize he died at age 42 from congestive heart failure probably due to Cocaine induced cardiomyopathy.

Lions. SAE style.

Peacocks are necessary.

An Elvis era man cave replete with a monkey statue and lightning bolts.

Who doesn't need a Jungle room?

From Graceland we drove through Memphis and stopped to check out the Mississippi river which is enormous and beautiful. Memphis itself is a cute town but the surrounding areas are a little rough which is a pattern we’ve noticed in these southern cities.

Mississippi River outside of Memphis

We got a late start and headed off to Little Rock. Immediately the change in the landscape became apparent as the land was incredibly flat. We did a drive by passed Little Rock which has some funky lit up bridges and looks to be a pretty city. Although Jeremy wanted to avoid chain restaurants we did hit up Famous Dave’s because it’s not a chain anywhere in the northeast, and it was Easter Sunday in the south which means everything is closed. I was surprised how great the BBQ was here. Delicious spare ribs and a Texas Manhandler sandwich containing bacon, brisket, and spicy sausage that was quite memorable with pickles and coleslaw on top (Memphis style) .  Jeremy reports that the brisket at Famous Dave’s was even superior to the brisket he ate in Nashville.

Famous Dave's BBQ in Little Rock, AK

And then we got in the car and realized that Oklahoma City was further than we had anticipated, 5 hours away. Jeremy woke me up from my nap just to see the giant lit up cross that adorns the side of a skyscraper in downtown OKC and is visible from the highway. I’m guessing this is a Christian town. We arrived at 1am at the Travelodge.

Must Eat: Pancake Pantry – Santa Fe pancake with syrup
Must See: Mississippi river (Memphis)