J. Pepper's Southern Grille

 

Located at 841 Old Winston Road in Kernersville, J. Pepper’s Southern Grille offers locally sourced Southern cuisine for lunch and dinner daily. There is a full bar, and patio seating is available. Food and drink specials change daily.

 

Much like Lucky 32 in Greensboro, J. Pepper’s offers dressed-up versions of familiar Southern dishes. Maybe it was a confluence of favorable circumstances (warm, sunny day + patio seating + not too busy), but “the Kernersville version” made for a surprisingly outstanding lunch.

 

Though the inside is dark, J. Pepper’s patio is an open and inviting space. My wife and I showed up for a midweek lunch and were seated without any wait. One look at the menu told us that we would have difficult decisions ahead as J. Pepper’s offers no shortage of enticing options. After mulling over a few sandwiches, we settled on a fried green tomato starter, shrimp and grits, and a southern salad. The first two are among my go-to dishes when available, so J. Pepper’s had a high bar to reach to leave an impression.

 

Fortunately, the food more than hit the mark. J. Pepper’s fried green tomatoes and shrimp and grits fall among the top five versions that I’ve had anywhere. The former paired really well with a sweet and smoky bacon jam while the latter featured sizable shrimp, very creamy grits, and hints of sherry in the sauce. The southern salad was no slouch either as it came topped with large chicken tenders that were both crisp and juicy. Speaking of salads, a deviled egg Caesar is a winning choice as an entrée side option. All this made for a very filling meal (and leftovers), which is fortunate as I can only imagine the desserts.

 

J. Pepper’s pricing was right where it should be for a restaurant of this type: entrees in the teens and apps in the $8-$11 range. Kate provided friendly and attentive service, and we weren’t left waiting long for anything.

 

Whether we caught J. Pepper’s on a particularly good day or whether the establishment is criminally underappreciated remains to be seen, but for a nice lunch in Kernersville, look no further.

Tom's Place

 

Located at 1524 North Main Street in High Point, Tom’s Place serves American cuisine for breakfast and lunch daily.

 

Sometimes, appearances actually aren't deceiving. From the outside, Tom's Place looks like a classic neighborhood diner, unpretentious and untouched by time. However, the amount of love it receives on local social media, coupled with some admittedly tantalizing food pics, had me thinking it was a hidden gem of a breakfast spot. Only by that measure is Tom's Place a disappointment. Nothing I tried was bad, but nothing was particularly remarkable, either.

 

I put in a takeout order for a Greek omelet (peppers, tomatoes, mushrooms and feta) with a croissant and fruit and a Dirty South (scrambled eggs, onions, peppers, Neese's sausage, ham, bacon, hash browns, and gravy) and had no trouble with pickup. Both dishes were waiting yet still hot when I arrived.

 

The food proved to be comforting if a bit bland. The sausage gravy was a standout, but everything else seemed subdued. Portions were a decent size though not as huge as the hype suggests. At $7.75 and $9.75, Tom's prices are reasonable though other diners may have them beat.

 

Rather than delivering a breakfast that could rival the Moose Cafe, Tom's Place offers standard Southern-inflected diner fare. It's a solid representation thereof, and I might have to come back to try the breakfast burrito, but the hands-down best breakfast in High Point it is not.

Assassin's Creed Valhalla

 

In the present day, the unexplained strengthening of the Earth’s magnetic field poses a catastrophic threat. Seeking answers, former Abstergo Industries employee Layla Hassan uses the Animus to relive the memories of Eivor, a 9^th century Viking warrior who sets out with her adoptive brother/chieftain Sigurd to find a new home in England. They arrive to find a land torn between the remnants of the Danish Great Heathen Army and Saxon defenders led by Aelfred of Wessex and must navigate a series of regional alliances to stake their claim. Meanwhile, Sigurd’s new friend Basim, a member of the secretive Hidden Ones, warns of the threat posed by the equally clandestine Order of the Ancients while Eivor is haunted by visions of Odin trying to fight his destiny.

 

The latest entry in the long-running Assassin’s Creed series (available on PS4, PS5, XBox One, Xbox X/S, and PC), Valhalla uses familiar game mechanics to visit a less-familiar (relative to Ancient Greece or Rome) period in history. It boasts an engrossing – if at times confusing – story, a huge open world beautifully rendered, and tons of side content. Those not prepared for a substantial time sink will likely lose patience, but for the committed, the game pays unexpected dividends.

 

The inescapability of fate is a recurring theme here, and one that the game ultimately subverts. Eivor sometimes has the option of either charming or fighting their way out of difficult situations, and some of their decisions, be they dialogue options or killing vs. sparing defeated foes, have long-reaching consequences. So too does Valhalla challenge reverence for the Viking warrior culture. In order to be successful, Eivor must find allies among Saxons and Danes alike, and there are positive and negative representations of both. That said, the present-day segments seem superfluous, and the Assassins/Hidden Ones vs. Templars/Order of the Ancients conflict feels shoehorned in.

 

However, the awkward handling of series mythology doesn’t mean that this won’t play like an Assassin’s Creed game. You can still strike from the shadows with a hidden blade and perform leaps of faith from save points atop mountains and towers (take a moment to admire the breathtaking visuals before you do). The game’s combat – attack, dodge, block, parry – is familiar as well. It lacks the fluidity and versatility of Ghost of Tsushima’s stance system, but it is easy to pick up, and weapon and ability upgrades expand its potential.

 

Of course, there is plenty more to do here than dive and fight (and annoyingly scour the far reaches of the map for treasure chests). Valhalla lets you engage in everything from flyting (a poetic insult battle) to hunting and fishing to building up your settlement and bonding with members of your clan along the way. There are plenty of side quests as well, from battles with legendary foes to stranger-aiding World Events that range from funny to macabre to frustratingly pointless. At their best, these diversions offer sly nods to British lore: a visit to a certain forest in Snotinghamscire, for instance, lets you meet a familiar wealth redistributing archer.

 

All told, Valhalla is an ambitious game that offers a bit of everything – character development, an immersive setting, seemingly limitless activities – but demands nearly as much.

I Care a Lot

 

Marla Grayson (Rosamund Pike) is a scammer who conspires with an equally crooked doctor (Alicia Witt) to get seniors declared incompetent and herself appointed their legal guardian. After transferring them to a nursing home, she gradually sells off their assets and pockets the proceeds. Marla and her partner Fran (Eliza Gonzalez) find seemingly the perfect target in Jennifer Peterson (Dianne Wiest), but it turns out their mark is the mother of a dangerous gangster (Peter Dinklage) who is none too pleased to learn of the deception.

 

Writer/director J Blakeson’s attempt to combine dark comedy, social commentary, and crime thriller isn’t particularly successful on any of those fronts, but it does feature a magnetic lead performance. Recalling her earlier work in Gone Girl, Pike is again convincing as a ruthless serpentine narcissist schemer. Marla is loathsome yet impressively implacable and efficient.

 

While Pike is the standout here and has plenty to work with, several of her castmates make do with limited opportunities. Dinklage tries to rise above his underwritten part and is still able to convey so much with a simple facial expression. Similarly, Jennifer’s journey from overwhelmed sad sack to threat-barking quasi-prisoner is a testament to Wiest’s range.

 

Unfortunately, weak writing and an uneven tone undermine all of their efforts. From the beginning, I Care a Lot plays fast and loose with the very real issue of elder abuse with Isiah Whitlock as a judge either too gullible or too corrupt to be believed. However, Marla’s manipulations are artful enough to distract us from these contrivances. Even they cannot salvage the film’s second half, which morphs into an action movie, takes a turn toward the even more improbable, and ends on a cliched and heavy-handed note.

 

Viewed holistically, I Care a Lot tries and fails to do what Better Call Saul has been able to pull off for several seasons: make viewers care about an amoral manipulator while upping the stakes without losing a comedic edge. Watch this movie for Pike’s devilish turn as Marla, but be prepared to be disappointed otherwise.

Blacow Burger Sushi Bar

 

Located at 517 University Center Boulevard in Charlotte (with another location at 1515 South Tryon Street), Blacow offers burgers, sushi, and Asian fusion cuisine for lunch and dinner seven days a week. There is a full bar, and online ordering is available.

 

Best described as a less expensive and less ostentatious (some would say less fun) version of Cowfish, Blacow more than holds its own. We opted to give it a try for a late post-IKEA Saturday lunch and found plenty of space at the bar. The atmosphere was comfortable if familiar - low lighting and big TVs – but the menu’s variety made up for it. In addition to apps and wings, there are more than half a dozen burger offerings, traditional and specialty sushi rolls, and bento boxes for the taking.

 

My wife and I opted to split an order of kimchi fries, a volcano roll (fried fish, avocado, cream cheese, and spicy tuna on top), and a summer roll (tempura shrimp, avocado, salmon, spicy mayo, and eel sauce). The kimchi fries (pulled pork, fried egg, and kimchi) were a wonder to behold. A massive portion, the fries were salty, the kimchi spicy, and the pork slightly sweet, a balancing of flavors that made the taste buds happy. The sushi wasn’t quite as memorable, but it was flavorful and plated nicely.

 

At $9, $11, and $11, nothing we ordered seemed overpriced, and again, the fries yielded plenty. We did not have long to wait for our food, either. Credit Lauren the bartender and the hard-working sushi chefs for staying on top of everything.

 

Time will tell if a burger sushi bar concept makes its way to the Triad. Until then, Blacow is a name to remember for Queen City visits.

WandaVision

 

Following the events of Avengers: Endgame, powerful magic user Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen) and her synthetic human partner Vision (Paul Bettany) have retired to Westview, New Jersey to raise a family. He works an office job, and she tries to keep nosy neighbor Agnes (Kathryn Hahn) from learning their secrets. But their suburban sitcom antics mask many darker truths: a town trapped, the dead brought back to life, and an intelligence director (Josh Stamberg) threatening to escalate the situation. Meanwhile, S.W.O.R.D. captain Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris) teams up with FBI agent Jimmy Woo (Randall Park) and scientist Darcy Lewis (Kat Dennings) to get to the bottom of what is going on in Westview.

 

While Marvel’s cinematic offerings are more or less bulletproof, the first Marvel streaming series for Disney Plus represented a huge gamble. WandaVision includes a few requisite flashbacks for the uninitiated, yes, but the series has more resonance for those who have been keeping up with the Avengers film franchise (which last saw the Vision killed off twice in the same movie). Add to that the show’s copious allusions to sitcom tropes, and the amount of prerequisite viewing involved should have made for an audience-shrinking premise. And yet WandaVision proved to be anything but, shooting to the top of many most-watched lists. Unlike last year’s infatuation with Tiger King, however, WandaVision got there largely on merit.

 

Credit series creator Jac Schaeffer for keeping viewers on their toes. While a good chunk of episodes have Agents of S.H.I.E.LD. overtones – plucky team of nerds races to confront growing threat – more than half are odes to sitcoms past, each done in a different style (black and white I Love Lucy/Dick Van Dyke Show homages in the first episode to a mock-Malcolm in the Middle in episode six). These feel like faithful recreations rich in period detail rather than cheap parodies, not surprising given that Olsen’s sisters starred on Full House, director Matt Shakman was a child actor on Just the Ten of Us, and Van Dyke himself gave behind-the-scenes advice. And yet within these sitcom setups, there are moments of intense discomfort, poignance, terror, and tension.

 

These tonal shifts are made plausible by Olsen’s commanding lead performance. She is equally adept at screwball comedy as she is as a woman completely beset by loss and grief. Bettany spends much of his screen time beleaguered and perplexed as he tries to unpack not only what is happening in Westview but his own nature as well. Hahn is one of those performers who elevates everything she appears in, and this is no exception. It helps that there is far more to her character than her first appearance suggests. Only Stamberg as S.W.O.R.D. director Hayward is a letdown as a one-note antagonist.

 

Weird, insular, and occasionally confounding, WandaVision is a creatively bold work of meta-TV bolstered by a cast uniquely suited to the challenge.

Judas and the Black Messiah

 

In the late 1960s, petty criminal Bill O’Neal (Lakeith Stanfield), arrested and facing prison time, is recruited by FBI agent Roy Mitchell (Jesse Plemons) to infiltrate the Illinois chapter of the Black Panthers and get close to its leader, Fred Hampton (Daniel Kaluuya), whom the bureau has designated a threat. The closer that O’Neal gets to Hampton and his inner circle, the more money – and pressure – he receives from Mitchell to keep gathering intelligence…and worse.

 

Historical dramas are, sadly, too often staid and predictable affairs. Even when the performances do the subjects justice, the storytelling often follows a familiar arc. Kudos then to writer/director Shaka King and his collaborators Kenny and Keith Lucas for delivering an inspired-by-fact film that is powerful and full of tension.

 

Though the title suggests a simplistic morality, Judas and the Black Messiah is full of complex, multilayered performances. Kaluuya is charismatic and commanding as the young revolutionary Hampton, doomed to be murdered by police during a raid, a man given to both inspirational speeches and cult-like indoctrination alike. As O’Neal, Stanfield is quick-witted and increasingly (and intensely) conflicted, a sympathetic take on a treacherous and selfish figure. Plemons, who is well-versed in playing characters a great deal more dangerous or competent than they initially appear, gets a change of pace here. The manipulative Mitchell has enough of a conscience to be disturbed by his superiors’ nefarious COINTELPRO tactics yet lacks the will and introspection needed to affect change. That said, while Martin Sheen under heavy makeup brings name recognition and the requisite note of menace to J. Edgar Hoover, he feels miscast in a brief role that is more caricature than character.

 

Were Spike Lee in the director’s chair, Judas and the Black Messiah may have featured a number of awkward cuts to contemporary racial justice protests. Instead, King wisely trusts his audience to implicitly make these connections and keeps his film largely grounded in time and place, marking it as a period piece with resonance rather than a grand treatise on race and injustice some had hoped for. If nothing else, it is both more affecting and more interesting than many movies set during the same turbulent era, and it shows us that just because the outcomes are preordained, our response to and understanding of them needn’t be.