A trip through the Nantahala Gorge on our way to visit friends and have lunch at Zink American Kitchen, a popular uptown eatery in Charlotte, NC

Last week old friends that we’d met when they were cruising on their sailboat in the islands near our home in Abaco invited us to visit them in Charlotte, NC. As we left our home in western North Carolina, the fog was just lifting in the mountains of Cherokee County.

Traveling about thirty minutes east on Highway 19/74, we entered into the Nantahala National Forest. The highway is a serpentine, narrow two-lane road that was once part of the Native American Indian Trail of Tears and winds it way beside the Nantahala River. The river begins high in the mountains and then flows through the Nantahala Gorge, which is narrow and steep. The word Nantahala comes from the Cherokee Indians and means land of the noonday sun. In some areas along the gorge, the sun reaches the ground only when it’s directly overhead. The Nantahala is one of the most popular rivers in the world for whitewater rafting and kayaking.

We arrived in Charlotte around lunch time. Charlotte is a vibrant, cosmopolitan city and a banking capital with the home offices of Bank of American and Wachovia as well as the hub for Continental Airlines. Our friends live in the city so they suggested we walk to Zink American Kitchen, a popular uptown restaurant. As we entered the restaurant we couldn’t help but be impressed with the thirty foot long zinc bar and the deep crimson décor. They told us on the walk over that the chef likes to take traditional American comfort food and reinvent it.

I knew I was at home when I picked up their extensive menu and noticed that they had a Grits Bar. They offer two grits selections as side dishes, or grits du jour as the French would say. I’m from the deep south, so how was I to pass up today’s grits with pimento cheese and ham? It was pure heaven for this little southern girl.

Inspired by Greg at Sippity Sup who does fabulous job with his different food series, such as tomato mania and burgers, I decided right then and there that I would do a series on grits.

My (current) favorite grits recipe comes from Southern Living magazine. It’s a Cheddar Cheese Grits Casserole that always gathers rave reviews. We recently served it for breakfast along with herbed scrambled eggs on wheat toast when we were visiting our family in Florida. Our nephew’s five year old daughter said when she returned to the kitchen with her empty plate, “that’s the best breakfast I’ve ever had.”


I cooked my grits in a soufflé dish, but Southern Living used an 11 x 7 casserole which would allow you to cut squares for serving. Sometimes I add fresh herbs, such as parsley and basil, to the grits mixture for flavor and color. I highly recommend letting the grits sit for a  few minutes after you take them out of the oven before serving. Their texture seems to improve.


Join me next time as I prepare one of my very favorite dishes – Shrimp and Grits.