Raleigh Roadfood Trip, Feb-20-2010, Part 1: Mama Dip's Kitchen
Breakfast on Sunday was more nearly brunch, scheduled so late that even we late risers could make it fairly easily. Breakfast was at Dip's Country Kitchen, of great renown as a dinner place, but less known to us as a breakfast place.
The sweet potato biscuits in our first basket were denser and a bit moister than the biscuits that came later.
ChiTownDiner ordered a plate of fried green tomatoes for the table, which gave me one of my action shots from the trip - everybody was photographing all the food, not just me.
The fried green tomatoes were firm and vigorous. It was a very different experience than I get from a ripe garden tomato, but tasty.
I ordered the salmon cake, egg, and grits. The salmon cake was somehow not what I expected; it was fairly dense with a thick salmon flavor. Chris was very impressed with it, though. The grits were sturdy and hearty; it's hard for me to compare them to the grits at Big Ed's, because neither grits called much attention to themselves, but both were well above the average of my previous grits experience.
I ordered a side of fatback as well, to double my fatback experience. Chris did a much better job of comparing this to Big Ed's fatback than I managed; he pointed out that this was a bit more solid and meaty than Big Ed's.
I quite enjoyed Chris's trout breakfast; I remember the trout being very light and tender, though with many small bones.
And I quite liked buffetbuster's country ham. I think that I have had better country ham - but most country ham is good.
(Apparently I deleted my picture of the country ham and kept the accidental video. Silly me.)
Steve got the chicken tenders biscuit, which was served with gravy. Unfortunately, I don't recall the flavor.
ChiTownDiner got the roast beef hash, which was excellent. It was much better than most corned beef hash or roast beef hash of my experience.
Mariton's fried chicken was also served with brown gravy. It's a combination that seems reasonable, but not familiar to me. I don't recall whether I tried it; I think I heard others commenting that the gravy eliminated any crispness of the chicken crust.
A grand breakfast like this would not be complete without dessert. Chris ordered the chocolate pecan pie, which was a luscious concoction of warm, gooshy chocolate.
I forget who ordered most of the desserts, and perhaps it wasn't even clearly determined at the time, because all the desserts were ordered with intent to share.
The pound cake was very good, a cut above most pound cakes.
My memory fails me on the layer cake; perhaps Lori will be able to add some comments.
I ordered the blackberry cobbler, which was outstanding - this hit my gold standard of what a cobbler should be. The berries were incredibly flavorful, and the crust was just as crisp as I like it. (I tried spooning some berries on one of the biscuits, and though the biscuits were good, it just wasn't as tasty.)
The sweet potato biscuits in our first basket were denser and a bit moister than the biscuits that came later.
ChiTownDiner ordered a plate of fried green tomatoes for the table, which gave me one of my action shots from the trip - everybody was photographing all the food, not just me.
The fried green tomatoes were firm and vigorous. It was a very different experience than I get from a ripe garden tomato, but tasty.
I ordered the salmon cake, egg, and grits. The salmon cake was somehow not what I expected; it was fairly dense with a thick salmon flavor. Chris was very impressed with it, though. The grits were sturdy and hearty; it's hard for me to compare them to the grits at Big Ed's, because neither grits called much attention to themselves, but both were well above the average of my previous grits experience.
I ordered a side of fatback as well, to double my fatback experience. Chris did a much better job of comparing this to Big Ed's fatback than I managed; he pointed out that this was a bit more solid and meaty than Big Ed's.
I quite enjoyed Chris's trout breakfast; I remember the trout being very light and tender, though with many small bones.
And I quite liked buffetbuster's country ham. I think that I have had better country ham - but most country ham is good.
(Apparently I deleted my picture of the country ham and kept the accidental video. Silly me.)
Steve got the chicken tenders biscuit, which was served with gravy. Unfortunately, I don't recall the flavor.
ChiTownDiner got the roast beef hash, which was excellent. It was much better than most corned beef hash or roast beef hash of my experience.
Mariton's fried chicken was also served with brown gravy. It's a combination that seems reasonable, but not familiar to me. I don't recall whether I tried it; I think I heard others commenting that the gravy eliminated any crispness of the chicken crust.
A grand breakfast like this would not be complete without dessert. Chris ordered the chocolate pecan pie, which was a luscious concoction of warm, gooshy chocolate.
I forget who ordered most of the desserts, and perhaps it wasn't even clearly determined at the time, because all the desserts were ordered with intent to share.
The pound cake was very good, a cut above most pound cakes.
My memory fails me on the layer cake; perhaps Lori will be able to add some comments.
I ordered the blackberry cobbler, which was outstanding - this hit my gold standard of what a cobbler should be. The berries were incredibly flavorful, and the crust was just as crisp as I like it. (I tried spooning some berries on one of the biscuits, and though the biscuits were good, it just wasn't as tasty.)