Writer Margy Rochlin reports from her recent trip to Charlotte, North Carolina: For all that is brand new in town—the gleaming luxury malls, the condo villages, the two-year old Bobcats N.B.A. basketball team—there is still The Penguin This tiny (circa 1950's) road house, located in the Plaza-Midwood district, serves hot dogs and burgers Southern style (with chili, mustard, onions, slaw) and cold pints of Yuengling lager on draft. The Shuffletown Pork plate is a tangle of moist, stringy pulled pork that comes with hush puppies, a lightly dressed cole slaw, and a squeeze bottle of thin hot sauce. But the most popular dish on the menu, which appeared at every table and banquette in the place, were the rough-chopped slices of dill pickle that soak in a buttermilk batter (made with flour as opposed to the more conventional cornmeal breading) right up until the time the waitress calls in the order. Delivered hot to the table in little cardboard trays, the lightly fried crust on the pickles was so crisp and delicate it could have passed for tempura. Though the appetizer came with small plastic tubs of white ranch dressing—the prevailing wisdom, I guess, is that something needed to cut the sour acidity of the pickle—I copied the locals, who promptly peeled off the plastic lid from the dressing to use as dipping pool for Tabasco sauce, which only intensified the vinegary flavor. My taste buds are still tingling.
Tingle Town Pickles
07.03.07
- Keywords
- william sertl,
- margy rochlin,
- southern u.s.,
- restaurants,
- dressing
Pinterest
