The Moose Cafe

Located at 2914 Sandy Ridge Road inside the Piedmont-Triad Farmer’s Market in Colfax, The Moose Café is a “farm to table” restaurant specializing in country cooking. The restaurant is open daily for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. There is a country store on-premises, and a sister location can be found in Asheville.

At first glance, The Moose Café looks like a less corporate Cracker Barrel. The menu screams “country” and you walk by the store upon entry. However, there is much more to this establishment than meets the eye.

For starters, the variety is astounding. We arrived between breakfast and lunch and perused one of each menu, each of which came with an insert for specials. On the breakfast side, you’ll find everything from hearty combination plates (eggs, pancakes, grits, meat, etc.) to omelets and skillets. The lunch selections read like management mugged a Southern grandmother. Chicken and biscuits, pulled pork, fried chicken, collards, and slaw are all accounted for here. No matter what you opt for, you’ll be able to enjoy it with complimentary biscuits and apple butter, both of which taste fresh, homemade, and delicious.

Whatever you pick, you will likely receive lots of it. Portion sizes are plentiful, and the pricing is unbeatable. The lunch plates typically range from $7-$8 and include two sides and cornbread. Each plate easily yields two meals’ worth of food, which may make you feel bad the next time you drop $8 on a sandwich.

The execution here is mostly spot-on. Though “homemade” is often an empty buzzword, the farmer’s market location adds credence to the concept, and several items can be sourced to specific local farms. Plus, your taste buds will do their own convincing. The pulled pork had a pleasantly surprising sweetness, the sweet potato casserole (made from roasted potatoes) was smoky and melt-in-your-mouth good, and the fried green tomatoes were simply but enjoyable. Even the few missteps are forgivable. An oily succotash redeemed itself by packing an unexpected kick and creamy-but-bland cheese grits were nothing some pepper couldn’t fix. The sweet tea, served in glass jars, was the genuine article.

Given the busyness of the farmer’s market when we arrived, service was impressively quick. We were seated with zero wait time, and our food came out earlier than expected. Despite the high volume of patrons, both our hostess and our server were friendly to a fault. The one slip-up – my companion received non-sweet instead of sweet tea – was quickly and apologetically corrected.

Country cooking, perhaps understandably, gets a bad rap, but The Moose Café can make a believer out of you. If you’re at the farmer’s market, it’s a must-stop, and if you aren’t, it’s well worth the drive. What you spend on gas, you’ll save on the leftovers you’ll inevitably have, and your stomach will thank you for it.

8.5/10

Tex & Shirley's Family Restaurant

In business since 1972, Tex & Shirley’s has locations at 708 Pembroke Road in Greensboro (the Friendly Center) and 4005 Precision Way in High Point. The menu features Southern-influenced American fare, such as sandwiches, ham steaks, and chicken platters. Breakfast is available all day, and specials change daily.

“Family Restaurant” suggests a focus on congeniality over food, and at Tex & Shirley’s, the suggestion is all too apt. Though the all-day breakfast is a nice touch, the non-breakfast options leave a lot to be desired in terms of quality and variety. A fried oyster sandwich was merely so-so, and the accompanying fries looked like they came out of a bag. On the plus side, everything on the menu runs reasonable-to-cheap. A sandwich, fries, and a drink can be had for under $7.


The Friendly Center location has a wooden interior with lots of space and little liveliness. On average, the crowd here leans toward geriatric – this is the kind of place you frequent if you want to take your grandmother to breakfast. Servers are polite, but not overly swift, even when the place isn’t packed (and at lunch, it isn’t likely to be).


Tex & Shirley’s seems like a perfectly passable option if your culinary wants are simple and you don’t feel like spending much money. If you’re looking for a good meal, however, your better served elsewhere.


5.5/10

Ham's Restaurant

A regional, family friendly casual dining chain, Ham’s Greensboro locations include 3709-J Battleground Ave., 3017 High Point Rd. and 699 East Cone Blvd. This review will largely cover the original Friendly Avenue location, which will close Sunday after 75 years. All locations share a common menu featuring appetizers, salads, sandwiches, burgers, pasta, steak/chicken/seafood entrees and desserts. Drink and food specials change daily. Please contact your nearest location to ask about trivia, bingo or karaoke.

In many ways, Ham’s has been my culinary guiding light as a Southerner. When I arrived in New Bern from New Jersey five years ago to begin my journalism career, Ham’s was among the first restaurants I lunched at with coworkers. I was intrigued by the menu, which offered delicacies unavailable (and, in some cases, unheard of) in the Garden State. My first time out, I went with the shrimp burger: a delectable wad of fried shrimp served on a bun with slaw. Later, I graduated to shrimp and grits and the Cajun skillet, a shrimp/sausage/rice concoction that quickly became a favorite. A year into life as a Carolinian and Ham’s was a fixture in my regular restaurant rotation.



As I moved from New Bern to Elizabeth City and from my first reporting job to my second, I learned that aside from a Waffle House and a church every few miles, the South did not necessarily lend itself to homogeneity. New Bern was a placid-but-developing city filled with Northern transplants and retirees; Elizabeth City was a restless little town forced, somewhat reluctantly, into growth by the spillover from the Virginia Tidewater. There was no Ham’s in Elizabeth City and nothing really like it, either. And while I did find a few reliable places to eat, my cravings for lowcountry and Cajun fare went largely unfulfilled.



When I moved to Greensboro nearly two years ago, hopefulness returned to my life and so did Ham’s. The Friendly Avenue location was a nine-minute walk from my friend Andrew’s house and thus a logical destination.



My first time in, I was initially disappointed. One glance at the menu told me the original Ham’s was a different breed of restaurant from the New Bern location (the New Bern restaurant, to my understanding, was a separate franchise spun off the original). My Cajun skillet and shrimpburger were nowhere to be found, replaced instead by far more pedestrian offerings. Also, original Ham’s felt cheap; less a dining establishment than a funhouse. A model train chugged back and forth along one wall, reinforcing the notion that this is a place where nothing gets taken too seriously.



Fortunately, my initial pessimism ended once the food arrived. I went with a Cuban sandwich, something that, while not rare, was at least not a burger or a BLT. It was done right and the choice of sides (options included slaw, vegetables, homemade chips and my eventual favorite, potato salad) was a definite plus.



What made me a convert, however, was the cookie skillet. This decadent dessert featured soft chocolate chip cookies served sizzling hot on a skillet, topped with vanilla ice cream, whipped cream and chocolate sauce. It required at least two people to finish, took a toll on your stomach and made you feel like a glutton, but it was all worth it. The cookie skillet transcended Ham’s the way Don Mattingly transcended those lousy Yankees teams of the 1980s. At an easily splitable $5.99, it was a bargain too.



Needless to say, I went back. The cookie skillet became a rite of friendship with me. I would bring new people to Ham’s and get them to sample it, pressing strongly for their opinion (most had favorable things to say). I even created a facebook group to stress the dish’s superiority.



Return visits to Ham’s fell into an easy, comfortable rhythm. Andrew and Anna (of previously mentioned baking fame) and I frequently ended up there on Tuesdays to take advantage of the dirt-cheap $2.99 (with drink) Charlie’s Cheeseburger special. Utterly unpretentious (there were no caramelized onions or bleu cheese crumbles to be found), the Charlie’s burger was simply satisfying. In time, I also developed a predilection for the Big Island Chicken Sandwich, a moist and flavorful teriyaki grilled breast topped with ham, Swiss and pineapple. Neither that (at $7.29) nor the fried chicken salad ($8.49) were particularly good bargains, but they were both filling and pleasing just the same.



Ham’s casual atmosphere, which I initially took for a liability, quickly proved to be an asset. A given night featured at least one screaming young child and plenty of garrulous adults, but it was a comfortable loudness. It was liberating. I could talk freely and not have to watch what I said because the odds were slim that anyone beyond my table would hear it. If diners at nearby tables weren’t caught up in their own conversations, there was a good chance the bantering of others would drown out any inappropriate comment my group should happen to issue (and we issued plenty).



The one major drawback to Ham’s was the maddening, almost IHOP-like inconsistency. On some nights, servers were swift, attentive and genuinely pleasant and personable. On other nights, they were slower, more frazzled and rhetorically violent (“Is everything excellent?” How does one comfortable say “no” to that?). Though the food was usually satisfying, the quality of the cookie skillet varied from visit to visit and a bad Charliesburger put Andrew and Anna off Ham’s for weeks. The best that can be said is that there was never a wait for a table, no matter what the crowd.



Because I am not a native Greensboroian, I cannot identify Ham’s with my childhood. I’ll miss the Friendly Avenue location for its convenience, but I won’t feel like I’m losing a major part of my past when it closes. If anything, it makes me feel like I am evolving, moving on, pressing forward. Ham’s will shut its doors a month before I am set to finish grad school. Just as the Ham’s in New Bern was different from the Ham’s in Greensboro, a different Zac ate there. It’s likely that the next time I visit a Ham’s, both it and I will have changed once again. And while economic constraints may, unfortunately, force Ham’s to trend downward, I can only hope I’m headed in the opposite direction.



7/10

Our final cookie skillet:

Zoe's Kitchen

Located in the Shops at Friendly, Zoe’s Kitchen offers Greek influenced soups, sandwiches, salads, kabobs and more. Takeout dinners for four are available, side items can be purchased by the tub and there is a limited selection of alcoholic beverages.

A Greek-deli hybrid with a health-conscious spin, Zoe’s Kitchen sounds great on paper, but fails to live up to the promise of its concept. To its credit, the Birmingham-based chain shows some innovation with its menu. Sides include braised white beans and mayo-free marinated slaw and hibiscus green tea is available as a fountain drink. Several dishes can be prepared to accommodate vegetarian, vegan or gluten-free diners.

Unfortunately, not all of these innovations are successful. Zoe’s signature sandwich, the “Gruben” (turkey, Swiss, slaw and mustard on rye) lacks zest and will leave you craving the real thing. Though feta is an oft-utilized ingredient, Greek staples such as gyros and spanikopita are notably absent here.

Pricing here isn’t unreasonable. Sandwiches are an even $7 with one side included and the sides are generously portioned. Salads and entrees (with the exception of salmon kabobs) are all under $10.

Lunchtime at Zoe’s can be a mob scene. Show up between noon and 1 p.m. and you should expect at least a five-minute line wait. That, coupled with the garishly bright interior design and less-than-comfortable chairs, severely diminishes its appeal as a dining option.

All and all, Zoe’s Kitchen is well-intentioned and offers a few novel selections, but the food has a long way to go.


6/10