This weekend Sara Jane and I helped decorate (and of course attended) Emily Bailey's wedding to Will Dalzell (pictured above in the foreground). It was a nice ceremony in New Ellenton, SC in a small church on a hilltop. The church was beautiful with an antique feel complete with stained glass windows even though it's a newer construction. They opted for a morning wedding at 11AM and a brunch reception that followed in the fellowship hall. The theme of the reception was English garden meets music/literary wonderland which was fitting since Emily is an avid reader, scholar, and musician, and Will is a landscape architect. Rather than serving cake at such an early hour, the couple had a cinnamon roll tower and "cut the cake" by scooping out one of rolls with a serving piece and rather than a champagne toast, they toasted with coffee mugs with "Mrs. D" and "Mr. D" written on them. Tre cute!
After setting up the reception hall the night before the wedding, Sara Jane and I decided to head to the local Bar B Que restaurant down the street. We are suckers for some good bar b que especially when accompanied with an assortment of home cooked sides and rice/hash! So, we park in the tiny parking lot of the restaurant called "Carolina Bar B Que" (clever name) and observe the situation. We were looking for a place called "Duke's" and when we arrived at the wrong restaurant we wondered if we should have continued looking for dukes or if we should stay and eat at the place. While mulling over our decision, we see an interesting family enter the small establishment wearing button down denim tops, high wasted jeans, Reebok tennis shoes, and what appeared to be an entire can of AquaNet hairspray between them. It was then that we knew...it was meant to be. Following them was a man going in alone wearing black tennis shoes, white tube socks, jean shorts, a tshirt tucked in, and a baseball hat. He held the door for us and as we walked in just ahead of him we were greeted with the heavenly scent of pulled pork bar b que, vinegar based sauces, fried everything, and sweet tea. There was a buffet line we filed into, and not wanting to seem like out-of-towners we opted to just go with the buffet rather than order a sandwich which required asking an employee to make.
Along the way down the line as we pile our plates with fried okra, squash, macaroni and cheese, potato salad, green beans, rice, hash, and bar b que, we read handwritten signs detailing the rules of the restaurant. I can't remember exactly what they said, but I do know that they went something like this: "No sharing. Only take what you can eat. Do not eat off of anyone else's plate. Only take what you can eat. No taking buffet food to go. Only take what you can eat." I'm regret that I didn't have a camera to document all of this for you visually. We got the picture by the end of the buffet line, although neither of us seemed to heed the "take only what you can eat" rule which was repeated numerous times.
Heading for the tea we cruise on down the line bypassing an employee wiping the seeming empty counter space between the food and the tea. Armed with our trays and a will to eat we become confused. We hadn't payed. We didn't pay before we gathered our food, nor did we pay after, and we certainly didn't notice a cash register between the macaroni and green beans! We toss around the idea that maybe you pay when you finish eating and that way there's a record of how many times you went back to get more...but that's against the very nature of a buffet! Just then, we notice the man who walked in just behind us pulling out his wallet and nearly being charged for three buffet dinners! Once we noticed our mistake we hurried back to pay for our dinners rather than sticking a perfect stranger with the bill....although it would have been nice if it had been free somehow.
After nearly stealing our food, we sat down to enjoy our loot. It was d.e.l.i.c.i.o.u.s.!!! I don't think I'd ever had fried squash before, but I know I can't wait to eat it again. So, if you're ever in New Ellenton, SC stop by Carolina Bar B Que and have some bar b que...just be sure to pay for it :)
2 comments:
did you take that picture of the sign? surely there can't be a picture of that restaurant on the internet!
you forgot that we kicked ourselves for not making friends with the jean shorts man after we discovered that he had 2 shiny black labbies. and that you whipped out into the 4 lane road vin diesel style.
No, I didn't take a picture of the sign, it was online!
and thanks for filling in the plot holes.
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