FRO M T HE PUB L ISH ER
A Publication Of High Country Press Editor & Publisher Ken Ketchie Creative Director Courtney Cooper Senior Graphic Artist Tim Salt Associate Editor Anna Oakes Advertising Sales Beverly Giles Amber Smith Ken Ketchie
Let’s Eat! L
Harris Prevost
et’s go out to eat! Everyone likes to hear those words. But where to go? Well, I’m glad you asked—because in this month’s issue of High Country Magazine, we have some great ideas about dining out at our local restaurants across Watauga and Avery counties. We called on Randy Johnson to write our leadoff story that takes you on a trip down memory lane across the culinary landscape of kitchens and restaurants serving up dishes for locals and visitors alike for more than a hundred years. Randy’s a long-time resident of the High Country and an ace writer who has been covering topics across this region for local, regional, national and international publications since 1978. Back in the 1980s, Randy wrote a dining out column for my newspaper, taking the time to visit a restaurant just about every week for seven years. For a publisher concerned about selling ads, I always had my fingers crossed that he’d come back with a “good” review of my restaurant advertisers, and I have to say for the most part he always made everyone happy. It became somewhat of a joke that Randy “never had a bad review.” He took care to point out the great things about our local restaurants and introduced our readers to the growing array of the many diverse eateries that were popping up all across the region. Randy claims to have thrown in a few punches “in between the lines.” But I always appreciated the fact that Randy kept his reviews positive and helped restaurants find new customers. When we began talking about this story, Randy showed up with a box of old newspaper clippings of his reviews he had from back in those days along with his notepads, as well as some old menus. Looking through the box was a thrill. We found that many restaurants from those days are still around, and many of the chefs mentioned are still working in the High Country. For those of you who have lived up here since the 1980s, I think you’ll find Randy’s story a fun read remembering some of those old restaurants. If you’re new to the restaurant scene, we think this story will convince you that dining has a long, rich history, and it would be really worth your time to make a culinary adventure part of your summer plans. Independent restaurants really rock up here in the High Country! I hope everyone gets inspired to suggest to someone, “Let’s go out to eat!” 10
High Country Magazine
Contributing Writers Randy Johnson
July 2011
Tim Gardner Jesse Wood Todd Bush Eric Crews Bill F. Hensely Contributing Photograhers James Fay Todd Bush Peter Morris Lonnie Webster Finance Manager Amanda Giles High Country Magazine is produced by the staff and contributors of High Country Press newspaper, which serves Watauga and Avery counties of North Carolina
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