State

The Pheasant Farm is a 130-year-old farmhouse on NC-27 near Ml. Gilead. The new owners plan to restore the two-story piazza which once added grace to the front. The Pheasant Far] Л liohliv laiiiH'liod two retiroil men flit о ;i profitable business, and I lie result is another bright spot for gourmets lhroiiglio.it North Carolina. By HIM, SIIABPK AH U N G R Y population is seriously interfering with the long-laid retirement plans of E. J. Stinson and A. L. Burch, who operate the Pheasant Farm on N. C. Route 27, between Albemarle and Troy. Instead of playing his piano and sketching in oils, as he had verily planned to do. Stinson is boiling chopped onions in honey and pre¬ paring gumbo soup. The plight of Burch is even more pitiable. It was his plan to spend his declining years whittling wood and raising pheasants, but the way it turned out. he spends most of his time broiling steaks, and steaming fried chicken in garlic. Ilis beloved pheasants also lack a lot of secure retirement, since most of them have been gobbled up by patrons of the Pheasant Farm’s dining room. The two men got into the food¬ vending business mainly because they were pretty fair* amateur cooks and hoped to pick up a few guests. They were better cooks than they knew, and pretty soon patrons began to go home talking about the tasty specialties of the farm. Now there is a steady stream of discriminating diners which is gradually absorbing most of the time and energy of the farm operators. Their first specialty was pheas¬ ant, broiled in wine, a quarter pheasant to the portion, and selling for $3 a plate. It was about the only place within hundreds of miles that you could buy this succulent fowl, and in the past year the Farm has served some 500 of them. If you figure that one bird will gross $12 on the table, you will get an idea of how the little bachelor-cooking hobby is paying out. Especially when it is learned that they sell even more chicken and steak dinners. Burch, who cooks all the meats, served 17 years in the submarine service in all the waters of the world, and originally hails from Texas. His partner. Stinson, was a pianist and composer, and has ap¬ peared in both the Metropolitan and Chicago operas, in addition to tours as accompanist through North and South America. He also served in the Indian Service, in¬ cluding a 4-year stint with the Arizona Navahoes. The two of them landed in Montgomery County almost by accident, moving there from Vir¬ ginia where they had a small pheasant rearing farm. Hearing that the 130-ycar-old DeBerry house was for sale, they bought it, along with 14 acres, and were peacefully restoring and renovat¬ ing the old house when they were set upon by hordes of pheasant- hungry Tar Heels. Their operation, now about 13 months old, is just one more ex¬ ample (of which there are all too few in North Carolina) of how the serving of excellent and dis¬ tinctive food can be made a prosperous business. The farm is near no large center of population, and is not even located on a heavily traveled road. It does no advertising, and the owners do not care to take casual motorists from the highway. "They ’re in too big a hurry,” explained Stinson. "We like for people to take their time and enjoy their food here.” The keystone of their success seems to lie in the fact that they stick to a fairly uniform menu and refuse to turn out a bad dish. Meals are served in a cheerful dining room seating 24 persons and are heated by an open fire¬ place. There are two other rooms used for private parties, and these are increasing in numbers. The two men do all the cooking, and two colored women serve and do the dish washing, a job which is just as distasteful to the pair as it is to any non-cooking bachelor. Here’s what was on the menu one day last week: French onion soup. Chicken gumbo soup, shrimp cocktail, steak, broiled pheasant with wine sauce, fried chicken steamed in garlic, beets in orange juice, onions boiled in honey, baked potato, asparagus in cream sauce, relishes, cherry pie and ice cream. The vegetable master, Stinson, is especially proud of his onion- THE STATE, February IS. 1950