Garazon’s Den

The now famous Pots On restaurant sign. (Well before I say anything else, can anyone tell me why we haven’t yet dropped the ‘u’ from words ending in ‘ous’ like we did with those ending in ‘our’ ??? I didn’t ever notice that until I wrote the word famous just then… : )

I can remember Alison having a puzzled look when I told her the name of the restaurant we were going, and I think she even had me repeat it a couple of times. As she said it was only a couple of days later she realised what I was actually saying. (thats another thing I found out, we have a twang and use the z sound a lot) I thought somewhere on the pc I would have a picture of the place as its been a local favourite for years and I’ve been there often. Sadly they closed down a few months ago. after 20 years in business. It wasnt really a fancy place but it had a very homely feel to it and the food was usually very good and plenty of it. During the season there was always a long wait for an open table, but thankfully they had a small porch on the front with a few benches and chairs to sit and relax while you waited. Even in the off season it stayed busy as there aren’t but a handful of restaurants of any quality in Currituck County. Speaking of those benches, in this picture you can see they have a pleasant view of a nicely kept lawn and landscape, not to mention making a great place to have a sit after dinner and surprise someone with a ring! :) I tried to find a link to a website that had a picture of the place on it but I couldn’t. I did find a nice review someone had taken the time to write here

By Patricia B. Mitchell, 2004.

Penny Gallop Bowden and Hagan Fischlschweiger are co-owners of Pots On ’N’ Kitchen restaurant, located on the Currituck mainland, just over the Wright Memorial Bridge in Harbinger, North Carolina. My family and I dined here on a recent Outer Banks vacation. Tanya Neeland, a relative, was hostess that night.We enjoyed our dinner in the family-oriented eatery with the “funny” name. (It comes from a frequent statement of Penny’s mom which meant, “Please come in and eat with us. The pot of food on the kitchen stove is ready and available.”)The restaurant was established in 1987 by Ginger Gallop Bowden and her cousins, sisters Joyce Hines and Katherine Johnston. (Katherine is now 88, but still comes in to peel a pot of potatoes every morning.) I had some of those potatoes, mashed — very thick, rich and buttery. Daughter Sarah had the potato casserole made with cream cheese and chives.A large choice of vegetables is offered with the entrees, which range from fried shrimp to pork tenderloin dishes.Sarah and son David ordered the fried shrimp. David says that the shrimp and the cole slaw he chose were both the best he ever had. Jonathan had fried clams, husband Henry opted for a garden salad and a bowl of gumbo, and I chose broiled sea trout.Rather than bread, diners are served sweet corncakes (flat, like pancakes) along with the entree. Cheerful Nancy Barfield, our waitress, took good care of us.David selected Hershey Pie for dessert, which he graciously shared around with other family members who were eyeing the slice of pie greedily. (I was one of those eyers.)Wine is available. The restaurant offers a child’s menu.Lunch is also served, plus a hearty “country” breakfast. The restaurant grows its own blueberries, so fresh blueberry pancakes are summer favorites.

well you can see from the review even the northern tourists who come down find the names of things funny down here. I was reading her explanation of how it got the name, and I can attest to it being true. I knew all the women who opened that restaurant very well. I was working in the late 70’s at a small little supermarket there in Harbinger, and all these women and their families lived probably within a mile of the store, so I saw them nearly every day coming in to shop. It was a very rural and small community then, just a two lane highway then and still some dirt back roads. Ginger was also a school teacher, and both my kids had her. And Ginger was also one of the women who helped to organise the wedding reception when Gretchen and I got married. Anyway just getting t the what I was going to say this woman has a fairly deep almost coarse voice for a small lady (years of trying to quiet the kids I imagine!) and she also has a very southern country accent too and I swear I can hear her now saying to us many times to Come on over and eat, the pots on ‘n (the) kitchen (well the “the” was actually spoken, but we Southerners sometimes speak a bit lazily and dont clearly pronounce very single word as we should, and if you’re not used to it you dont hear the very quick soft ‘th’ sound we put in… why waste extra energy on long useless words like “the”? LOL) Ginger and Joyce are retired now, Katherine passed away late last fall (autumn). Alison, I remember back then telling you that Dennis’ aunt had passed away, do you recall? (Well this Katherine was his aunt. For anyone else reading Dennis is a friend of mine I have known since I’ve been here. We get together Tuesday nights for a couple of games of chess and to visit. I guess by a lot of standards Pot’s On wasn’t a very old local landmark, but it is one of the last that were owned and run by the people whose families have been here for years. Sad in a way to see it closing. Things here have changed so much since I first moved to Currituck. There’s at least 5 lanes now of highway all the way from the state line to the tip of the county, and I would guess well over 95% of the farms are gone. All being rezoned for housing or business. Well thankfully there is still a lot of woodland and I am personally blessed to have a nice lot with a bit of privacy around me still. Alison may laugh at me saying we are growing too big, but we really are. By comparison to Limassol we are “out in the sticks” Oh I wish she could have seen the place 30 years ago. We used to stand at the window or on the deck and see not one, but 5 or 7 deer every evening come walking out from the woods behind the house and cross through the yard heading into the thicker woods for the night across the street. Foxes too. I even saw bear tracks in the back once but never the bear. Whippoorwills used to sing through the whole night, oh it was so peaceful really. Well its progress isn’t it. Nothing we can do but get used to it. Well in some ways we are still out in the sticks. Theres not much here as far as fancy restaurants, or big shops, any large malls are an hours drive away. Well I’m not complaining, I like it like this. And I’ll like it a whole lot more when my beautiful Brit is here with me! :)