Food in Nelson County-- Part 2

Yum-- that pretty sums up everything about the food we had during our mid-week weekend.  Every meal was better than the last.

First dinner was at the Blue Toad Pub.  It was right down the road from the Inn.  They had bottled beer representing every state, but of course, we got beer that was brewed right down the street at Blue Mountain Brewery.

The next day we started our wine tastings (and visited three wineries), and let's just say we needed something hearty for lunch :)  We went to the Blue Ridge Pig for BBQ.

I think we knew this would be great BBQ solely based on the sign.

Pork brisket sandwich with potato salad and macaroni salad.

Clearly, I thought it was delicious.  Great picture too, huh?!?

Dinner that same day was at Devils Backbone Brewing Company.  The history of the brewing company and restaurant was really neat since much of the exterior and interior of the building was re-purposed from county barns and buildings that were no longer in use.  All the food was local if not grown by the restaurant itself.  We started with their flight of beer-- 4 2 oz tasting glasses (I was done with alcohol for the night, but Austin had a pint of his favorite).

Beers were yummy, but the food was even better.  We started off with the nachos.  Fresh corn chips, topped with roasted peppers, black beans, and smothered with spicy, melted queso.  Topped with Pico de Gallo.  Amazing!

For dinner, I had pan-seared trout, and it was excellent.  Pan-seared cornmeal-dusted Rainbow trout served over smoky-bacon cheese grits and sautéed Brussels sprout petals.  Topped with roasted tomato butter and accompanied by smoked-corn guacamole.

Austin has a man's man burger:  the smokehouse burger.  A half-pound, all natural beef patty.  Piled with house-smoked pulled pork, bacon, o-rings, Muenster cheese and our house-made Backbone BBQ sauce.  Loaded onto corn-dusted jalapeno toast.  

The whole experience at Devils Backbone was great.  We sat outside in an enclosed porch.  It was chilly out, but the restaurant had blankets on the back of chairs for me to wrap myself with.....so thoughtful!

Wild Wolf Brewing was our last destination in Nelson County.  The brewery is the old high school building, so it was cool to eat and drink in an old school :)  Their beer was the best we had all weekend, and my favorite was the Blonde Hunny Ale...tasted like Blue Moon but even better!

I had a delicious fried chicken salad.  They grilled romaine lettuce and topped it with gorgonzola, bacon, and lemon vinaigrette.  I need to learn how to make this at home...I was licking the plate clean!

Dessert was also heavenly.  I lived in central Pennsylvania for three years and went to almost all the fairs in the countries in and surrounding where I lived.  The best part of the fairs (not counting the great country music, tractor pulls, kids showing their animals, etc) are the deep-fried oreos.  Wild Wolf had deep fried oreos (oreos inside funnel cake batter) for dessert, and I was required to order it.  AMAZING.

The whole "weekend" was great, but I would go back for the food.  They also have live music in the summer at both breweries, so I see a repeat trip in our future...