Many readers who are named Jim Smith and live in East Carolina have all been asking the same thing--

I want to know where you and "your friend Jeff" ate lunch. Was it another manly place of ferns, polished wood and eclectic rubbish--sorry, furniture? And the food, small portions, tall in design and all with the latest of creamy fennel pesto and raspberry dipping sauces? Last month's place was so trendy it made me almost want to grab some Birkenstocks and head on down--almost.

Friday's lunch was another excursion to Homewood's famed meat 'n' three Anchorage Restaurant. For some reason, the crowd was way off--I even managed to park right at the front door. Jeff got the baked codfish, and I got a cheeseburger (yes, it had a bun, and no, I shouldn't have had that much bread, but at least I ate less bread than french fries.) The food is pretty good, as these types of places go--the hamburger patty tastes like meat loaf, and it's big and misshapen as a handmade burger should be--but the atmosphere is definitely on the non-trendy side. (Despite being in the very center of the most cloyingly twee strip of boutiques and stores within at least two miles around.) And I still have trouble figuring out why they go to all the trouble of having a nautical theme, and yet have so few recipes that have anything to do with fish. My suggestion would be to keep the tattered, frozen-in-1968 maritime atmosphere, and go all out with fresh seafood similar to what you find at the Original Oyster House down in Mobile. And don't serve canned Diet Cokes--buy yourself a derned fountain.

posted by Terry at 12:01:00 PM