The Cardinal Boone Breathes Life & Love Into American Cuisine
The Cardinal Boone…North Carolina. The skiing at Sugar Mountain, nearby, was abominable – the 16-18 inch base was struggling to stay put with the warm Christmas 2019 temperatures. And it was crowded!
Abominable Skiing
With less snow we and many others went in search of other ‘winter’ activities. Since we travelled from Florida by car, we’d had enough of the franchised…reliably the same….consistent quality eats and drinks and sleeps. But we are human and we get bored and it gets ‘predictable.’ The Cardinal in Boone offered a culinary and brewing change that was atmospheric and most welcome!
The Cardinal Boone – Great Vibes
Our deep need for ‘non-franchised’ family run restaurants and real small businesses struggling to stay ahead of the ‘franchise culture’ brought us to The Cardinal in Boone NC.
The college town was full of surprises. This one the most memorable. We embarked on a cultural food and spirits adventure here! The line was three kids deep at the Pinball and Space Invaders in the family room. The servers all trendy and young and many bearded – or ultra stylish, the atmosphere was part ‘trapper’ part modern bar, the culture was deep set! A celebration of all that is North Carolina!
The Food!
Venison, Bison, Sour Pickled Apple? Such a real treat with strong hints of old America. (I’m British & European – so ‘old’ is relative) but we admire any of the root threads to the days of America and it’s establishment. (Not the destruction of Native America – that’s despicable) but the modern remnants of food culture from the old days threaded into this very busy – amazingly cozy – youthful energy – restaurant and brew pub!
The Brew at The Cardinal Boone
Poor Richard? The connection between the brew and independence from the British…what is it about that? The beer. This stuff made me feel like George Washington and or Ben Franklin’s beer recipes were taken from The City Tavern in Philadelphia and transplanted here. I could almost hear the upstarts and their friends sorting out how to disrupt the British and disengage..right at the table elbow to elbow….
In my opinion, brewery’s and brewing are sacred arts of almost magical proportions
