THE STATE
A Weekly Survey of North Carolina
Enterrd si ■erond-fhM Bintler. June 1, 1031. *1 the
РояЮЯс*
»l Raleifh. North
Carolina, undor tho Aft of March 3. 1879.
Vol. VII. No. 35 January 27, 1940
What a Weal!
It was enough to make old Epi¬
curus turn over in liis grave. Just
another one of those interesting
anil enjoyable things you run in¬
to when you're traveling in West¬
ern North Carolina.
By CARL GOEKCII
BRING forth your Epicureans,
your gourmands and your gour¬
mets. Put in a call for the most
famous rest a urnn tears of this or any
other country in the world. Drag out
your outstanding chefs of modern and
ancient times. If possible, call upon
tho gods who used to feast atop of
Mount Olympus, and line them up
with the others.
Then place yourself in front of
this august assemblage and address
them as follows:
“Gentlemen; I understand that you
pride yourselves upon the famous
meals you have served and eaten :
is that correct?”
And with one accord they will
answer: “That is correct.”
“Fine. And now, gentlemen ; one
more question. Have any of you
ever eaten a meal at the Xu Wray
Hotel in Burnsville, which is located
in the western part of North Caro¬
lina?”
There may be n slight delay while
they confer with one another, hut
eventually they will reply: “No. we
have not.”
Whereupon, with a gesture of ut¬
ter disdain, you remark: “Well, then,
gentlemen: all I can say is: ‘Phooey
on all of you, ltecause you don’t
know the first thing about a good
meal’.”
Imagine tlieir absolute dis¬
comfiture. particularly Zeus. Apollo,
Artemns, Bacchus and some of those
other old boys.
But don’t feel sorry for them, lie-
cause they had it coming to them.
And this is why:
We landed in Burnsville last Wed¬
nesday, shortly after noon. On the
way up from Asheville, we had seen
the Nu Wray Hotel advertised on
signs along the highway, so wo de¬
cided to stop there for lunch.
It’s an attractive rambling old
house, nicely painted on the outside
and nicely furnished inside.
"Dinner," said the polite young
gentlemen at the desk (somebody told
us afterwards that he was Mr. Will
Wray) “will be served in just a few
minutes.”
Sure enough, in n few minutes, this
same polite young gentleman came
back upon the scene with a hell in
his hand, which ho rang vigorously
and lustily. Whereupon six or seven
other gentlemen, including ourselves,
made a break for the dining room.
We believe we finished fifth in the
race.
There arc half a dozen or more
tables in the dining room. Wo seat¬
ed ourselves at the largest one, which
had places for ten or twelve people.
Two colored boys waited upon the
guests and for live minutes there was
more passing of dishes than we ever
had seen before in our lives.
The method of service is different
The new highway leading into Mar¬
shall, up in Madison County. It
cost $71,600 a mile just to grade
some stretches of this road, prelimi¬
nary to paving.
from what it it at most hotels.
Ordinarily, a waiter hands you a
menu card, you pick out what you
want, and he brings you a portion
of each dish. At the Xu Wray, how¬
ever, everything is on the table when
you sit down. And everything is mo¬
und hot, too.
Here’s what we found; and we
don’t mind saying that we took out
pencil and paper in order to get
»
complete list:
Country Sausage
Big Hominy
Backbone
Sauerkraut
Spnrerihs
Cole Slaw
Roast Turkey
Turnips
Sweet Potatoes
Prunes
Irish Potatoes
Biscuits
Corn Bread
Baked Beans
Black-eyed
Рея»
Sliced Pickle
Relish
Preserves
Honey
•fellies
Ice Cream
Cake
Coffee, Tea and Milk
Please note that we say: “Coffee,
tea AND milk,” and not "OH milk,"