Dine like a Hillbilly in North Carolina

I drove right by it; not once but twice. I thought, "That's a house; anything but a restaurant." At first glance it looks like a country home complete with rocking chairs and hanging plants but a small simple sign reads: "Hillbilly Hide –A-Way Restaurant".

Located between two of North Carolina's triad cities, Winston-Salem and Greensboro, the remote location fits with the Hide-A-Way name.

Once you park and as you open the thin white screen door you still have the I'm-walking- into-someone's-house feeling in your head until you go through an entry way and into the main dining hall.

This is North Carolina's rustic country atmosphere at its absolute best. Once you pass through the doorway you are transported back to the days of the honky tonk and that "ya'all come on in now and have yourself some supper" southern welcome.

Exposed log cabin interior with family photos, bicycles, framed country art, signature graffiti, and checkerboard plastic table cloths from childhood picnics long gone are all alive and well covering over a dozen tables.

The simple and welcoming interior

The staff is perfectly typical. Friendly, welcoming and genuine; something that more and more restaurants are forgoing for city center locations and young reality show wannabe wait staff in matching outfits.

A beverage cart pushed by the sister of the owner pulls up to the table with 12-can fridge packs of soda on the bottom and homemade sweet tea riding high served in the finest styrofoam tall-boy cups.

No order taking, no menu passing, no today's special recital just a three-tiered cart filled with the freshest southern comfort food you have ever had the joy to lay your eyes on just rolled up. Not even a choice is given... you get it all.

Mismatched muted green, yellow and orange bowls (the kind you would eat from when you were a kid) fill the table. Each vessel of southern goodness is filled with the likes of creamed potatoes, sweet corn, fresh green beans (southern style with bacon grease, of course) fluffy corn bread, the meatiest, richest meatloaf you have ever had and baked apples. Next, the meat baskets arrive each filled with salty country ham and perfectly cooked fried chicken.

My four-year-old daughter born and raised in the eco-green-no-MSG-not-too-much-sugar Seattle correctness is across the table scarfing creamed potatoes and country ham at a rate that makes the BP oil leak seem like a trickle.

The next minutes, hours and seconds are spent in conversation, a dance of flavors and a myriad of "mmmms" as each bite is savored. As your belly becomes Thanksgiving Day uncomfortable you begin to wonder how this special place came to be.

Once there was a man named Sam who liked to play country music for his friends (gathering folks in your home and playing the simple, traditional tunes that many generations before passed down has been a southern tradition for decades).

Sam Bray was a working man and his passion was playing country music to almost anyone who would listen and because of his schedule he could only play on weekends. Sam's wife; Louise was also getting on his case because the people who gathered to hear Sam play would trash the furniture, eat them out of house and home and basically were a nuisance; in a "ya'll come back now ya' hear" kind of way.

It's not a house, it's The Hillbilly Hide-A-Way!

In 1978 they opened the restaurant so Sam could play his music, people could eat and Sam's wife would not have to worry about telling folks to get their feet off the couch.

Since then the Hillbilly Hide –A-Way Restaurant has continued its weekend-only hours along with live country music on Saturday's. It's known by patrons from around the world for its honest, carefully prepared southern comfort food.

Hillbilly Hideaway
4365 Pine Hall Road
Walnut Cove, NC 27052
336-591-4861

If you would like to plan a trip to North Carolina, contact
Travel 4 Real
1-800-554-5170
info@travel4real.com