I tried out these places Saturday during the day. The first two are on 1st St (the main street) closest to 17-92. The cupcake place is on 2nd St behind those two. The brewery is down on Sanford Ave a few blocks up on the right.
Tennessee Truffle - I'm not sure if I should have had any higher expectations than I did when I read that the exec chef went to CIA and worked at Cafe de France, but, I guess I did. That is why I was mostly disappointed by this glorified food truck. To start with, they really just do biscuit sandwiches. And only three of them when you get down to it. They add an egg to a BLT and make salad out of the chicken, but, it is really just bacon and pork loin and chicken breast in the fridge. And I get that you need a hook. But, biscuit always have and always will suck. There is a fiction that they can be light and flavorful. They never are. Maybe if you get them within five minutes of being out of the oven. And that is just a hypothesis. They and hush puppies and scones and jonny cakes are English culinary refuse. These were no better. Hard shell. Pockets of salt or baking soda or baking powder or whatever doesn't work to lighten them up. And they don't work well as a food conveyance. They are too tall. You can't fit them in your mouth. Even open faced. I had the pork tenderloin one for $9 because it seemed like it required the most effort. If you are CIA approved, you are going to get nit picked for overdone pork. I don't subscribe to the pink in the middle pork doctrine, but, this was dry. Maybe why it took fifteen minutes to appear. They also didn't trim the fat. The best part was whatever jam it came with and the pickled onions. I also won't mention that I just ate an upscale pizza place and they had a pork HERO for $7. I'm sure that was bigger. The sides seem to be the star here. Now if their execution was as bad as my bland mayo/celery/onion potato salad then this place is totally still born. The place is ratty. I think they used reclaimed booths and tables. My table had some sticky imprint on it. The one area that isn't awful is the register. The went through all the bother of creating a corrugated tin overhang. It seats about forty. They don't do dinner. The cooking crew looked zombified. This just seems like a place run by a chef who doesn't put out and doesn't crack a whip. Sometimes a chef goes solo because he/she is so good. Sometimes it is because they have a character flaw (ie lassitude) that an owner can't live with. I wonder if this is case of the latter. I've been to alot of biscuit places all over the country (because of Diners, Drive Ins and Dives) so this place isn't a curiosity to me. Maybe some of the rest of you will dig it. No amount of imagination or obscure potions or powders can stiffen this limp biscuit. They have been open for a couple of weeks.
El Zocalo - This place replaces Tony's which replaced Cafe Rouge in the corner location. I had a combo to go for $8 because I didn't know they were in business and I already had eaten and I didn't want to come back to Sanford just for them The combo was two tacos and a flauta. I chose a shredded beed taco and chicken in the others. The beef had flavor. The chicken did not. I waited too long to eat the combo and the tortillas (hard shell) wilted. They looked cool. Crinkly. Not your average crap. They stuffed the tacos with guac and cheese and lettuce and tomato. They also included a small cup of rice and beans and a tiny salad. Nothing to write tomes about. They did nothing to the decor or layout. The menu is large and draws from all over Mexico. At least they don't serve biscuits. Deserves a longer look. I think they said they have been open for two months. *Moved to Sanford Ave.
Dreamy Cakes - I had a chocolate cupcake with mint icing that was dipped in chocolate and crowned with a peppermint "cherry" for $3. Not bad. The cake was really moist. I kept looking at my fingers to see if chocolate sauce was all over them. The chocolate coating helped mitigate my distaste for over icing. The cake was on the smaller size. They have been open for six months. They are not a chain. They had four lunch options. The place looks like a cute little doll house. It seats about four. Next to Fuel barbeque.
Sanford Brewing Company - They finally tapped their own kegs a week ago. I had four out of five. All were very good. Hoppy. Hopefully that isn't a masking trick. The one with celery was the most interesting. If I didn't mention it in my first "visit", they also serve food. It doesn't look that bad. I saw a bag of fries that was potato spears in Velveeta sauce that looked tempting. It seats about sixty.
*I saw that another brewery is being built diagonally from Celery City. It will be called Inner Compass. And Smiling Bison is only open at night.
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