Last week Lucy and I went with Christopher on another work trip, this time to Blue Ridge, Ga.

The last time we were in Blue Ridge was to celebrate my Aunt Barbara’s life in the summer of 2019. Most of our extended family was able to come, we stayed in a cabin on the lake, and had tons of fun even during such a somber time. We made big feasts, went on the Blue Ridge Scenic Railway to McCaysville, Georgia and Copperhill, Tennessee and back, had a fancy whiskey tasting, and enjoyed time together.

This time it was just our little family of 2 + Lucy. It’s still the winter season so lots of things are closed or have limited hours and downtown is pretty much empty. I mostly drank coffee at Mountian Mama’s Coffee Lounge and hung out with Lucy either at the hotel or walking around Main St. while Chris worked. We didn’t go in o any of the trinket stores, because I have no self control and it was hard to tell if and when they were open, but we tried lots of restaurants, because ya gotta eat.

The weather was really nice, crisp in the mornings and evenings, but perfect during the middle of the day for walks with Lucy and to get coffee.

I went to Mountain Mama’s Coffee Lounge almost every day we were in town and a couple days I went more than once. They had really nice coffee, amazingly friendly staff, and it just felt like drinking coffee in a friend’s living room. I loved every minute of it.

Our first meal in Blue Ridge was lunch on Tuesday, we went to Southern Charm Restaurant. I had the chicken pot pie and biscuits with hashbrown casserole and spiced apples and Christopher had the fried green tomato BLT grilled cheese with fries. They brought out biscuits and apple butter while we waited and YUM. The biscuits were so fluffy inside with a little bit of a buttery crunch to the outside and the apple butter was perfect. I didn’t like the chicken and biscuits situation or the hashbrown casserole, but the spiced apples were great, basically an hour away from being applesauce, so good. Christopher liked his sandwich a lot.

Tuesday night we headed to a pizza place on Main St., Cucinella’s Pizzeria. We had the BBQ Chicken pizza and garlic knots, plus a brownie and cookie for dessert. The pizza was good, but those knots were gloriously good. I mean look at all that garlicky juice goodness in that pan! We dipped the pizza in the garlic sauce and we highly recommend.

Wednesday for lunch we went to Oscar Chili’s Tacoria. It’s a one man show and you can tell by the quality that he really loves what he’s doing here. I had two regular tacos, Christopher had the chicken bowl and we ordered chips and salsa. The salsa tasted almost exactly like the salsa I make at home, so big points there and the chips were so crunchy and fresh and not overly salty. The tacos and bowl were really well made, literally while we watched, and so tasty. I would come back here in a heartbeat. I hope this guy gets some help eventually so he can expand his hours to include dinner. This is such a gem.

Wednesday night we were feeling fancy, so we ate dinner at General Ledger. It’s an American restaurant in an old bank building. They have a private dining area in the old vault, so cool. We didn’t make a reservation and as one of the only places open for dinner on Main St. they were pretty booked up, so we ate at the bar. Christopher and I each had a cocktail, Gin and sprite and a manhattan, and ordered the cast iron cornbread as an appetizer. The atmosphere was nice, not stuffy, and the bartender was awesome. I ordered the fried chicken paillard, and Christopher had the ledger burger with fries. We were really impressed with the food and the service. This would definitely be a regular date night spot for us if we lived here.

Thursday we walked across the street to Cantaberry for lunch. It’s a cute place with sandwiches, soups, and salads. Christopher had the hot beef and pepperjack with a side salad, and I had hot turkey and swiss on rye with pasta salad. They had crackers on the table, probably for soup eaters, but we helped ourselves to a little cracker snacky while our sandwiches were being made. The sandwiches were really good and definitely one of our favorites places this trip.

Thursday night was kind of a pain in the ass. We tried to go to a BBQ place on Main Street that we thought was open, but the kitchen closes an hour before the “official close” time, eye roll. Blue Ridge is a super small town with mostly retirees and tourists and because it’s the slow season, shit closes extra early and has really bizarre hours. So off we went to find a different BBQ place that was open.

We ended up at Carroll’s Barbeque a little bit outside of downtown proper. We decided to try as much food as possible, because when in Rome. We ordered the appetizer sampler with fried pickles, corn nuggets, and onion rings, Yum!! They really know how to fry some shit in this town. Then we got a three meat sampler platter with brisket, sliced turkey, pulled pork, collard greens and fries, plus a side plate with brunswick stew, baked beans, and macaroni and cheese. Neither of us were crazy about the pulled pork, it was fine, but nothing to get overly excited about.The turkey and brisket were good, I liked the brisket best. The collards were not great, sad day. The fries, beans, stew, and mac and cheese were all good, and our platters came with tasty dinner rolls and real butter y’all, not whipped canola oil, praise be. We got banana pudding and apple cobbler to go, and both were delightful. This is a pretty ok BBQ place, not the best ever, but not bad.

We ended up going back to Southern Charm on Friday for lunch (no pictures, oops) and I had chicken tenders with creamed corn, both good, and Christopher had a burger and the spiced apples. Friday was a much tastier trip than Monday and I think the biscuits even got fluffier somehow. Yum.

In the afternoon on Friday, I got an afternoon coffee at a differnt coffee place, Das Kaffee Haus. It was cute and the coffee was good. It is a take out place, so if you are looking for a place to sit and hang out, check out Mountain Mama’s.

For dinner on Friday night we went to The Dogwood. It had such a cool atmosphere, a simple but interesting menu, and a self serve beer garage! Instead of bread service, they bring boiled peanuts for the table. Neither of us had ever tried boiled peanuts before and they were surprisingly good, kind of like a cooked bean texture with an unsweetened peanut butter taste. We ordered the BBQ Deviled Eggs as an appetizer and then Christopher ordered the Garlic Parmesan Wings and I had the Shroomy Swiss Smash Burger with tots. Christopher didn’t love his wings, but the rest was great, and we had a lot of fun picking out our beers from the garage.

We wanted to get some fancy desserts for our last night in town, so we got a slice of cheesecake with strawberries from The Sweet Shoppe, and Key Lime Pie and Mona Lisa’s Mocha Cake from Mona Lisa’s Dessert House. The cheesecake was pretty good and the key lime pie was amazing, but the chocolate cake was kind of dry.

Downtown Blue Ridge is adorable. There are plenty of shops and places to eat and drink. My favorite part though, is that they have lots of murals. Even though it was still the off season and things were a little slow in town, it was still a fun week.