Kilted at CrackerBarrel Country Store

[mddock58]

There are no Cracker Barrels in California, though there are some in Arizona

[arrogcow]

A good way to get great service (at least in the mornings) is to ask the server it they really have Purnell's sausage (all Cracker Barrels claim to serve it, but you can'b buy it retail much farther than KY and southern IN). Still great sausage (and I'd say that even if I didn't go to school/church with some of the founder's kids).

Worn my kilts in Cracker Barrels many times.

Adam

[freddie]

Cracker Barrel, I love the place, the meatloaf is fantastic!!! We've used this chain of restaurants on trips to Tennessee and North Carolina. One year I had a great day out at the Grandfather Mountain Highland Games and my only regret was that I didn't bring my kilt. I'll certainly bring one next time I come over!

[Hachiman]

never heard of the place. Any good? Sounds like a hoot mon!

When my then-fiancee (now wife) took me to the 'States to meet her family, we went into a CrackerBarrell so that I could "experience traditional 'southern cookin' " ... and I loved it - with the possible exception of "grits", which I still don't understand.

My worst case of 'jonesing' has been my enforced separation from CrackerBarrell now that we've returned to Australia. However, we will always visit CB's at least once whenever we return to the US.

Gotta love those hash-brown-potato-casserole thingies!

cheers!!

Hachiman

[BonnieT100]

I find it amusing that a gent from the UK loves Crackerbarrel, while one from CA has never heard of it.

[Southern Breeze]

If you're ever at CrackerBarrel for breakfast and want to have fun, order a grit, not grits, just ask for one. We do this to the new waitresses, the experianced ones are in on it as well.

[Frank McGrath]

When our German foreign exchange student was here, One of the first restaurants we took her to was Cracker Barrel in Winchester, Va. She wanted every thing on the menu. We each ordered something different and shared. That fraulein drove us nuts. But she was a joy to have around for the school year.

[Chris Webb]

I've been to Cracker Barrel kilted on many occasions ... and I get more 'shocked and bewildered' looks there than anywhere else. Cracker Barrel has always catered to the 'road trip' crowd, offering good ole home cookin' and a gift store that just about guarantees you'll find something Grandma will appreciate. Shoot, they've even got dedicated RV parking at every location, always right off a major highway. With antiques hanging from all the walls and ceilings it just breathes Old Americana ... no wonder a man is Scottish garb gets a long, long look.

It is fun, though, to go to Cracker Barrel because once that long and awkward moment passes the spirit of Southern Hospitality just takes hold of everybody and you find yourself answering the most sincere questions you've ever heard. Sometimes what looks like a mean look is only an intense 'taking in' of something different, unexpected and new. In a place frequented more often by the old than the young this phenomenon can be even more pronounced. After all, Cracker Barrel presents itself as a place where you will be surrounded by the sites, sounds and smells of your Grandfolks' house ... a place of profound familiarity though far from home. No wonder a man in a kilt, a grandly unfamiliar site to many, gets such an 'interesting' reception there.

It's trips to places like Cracker Barrel that sometimes leads me to hope that the kilt never becomes so common as to not be startlingly noticable there. At least for me the uniqueness of kilting is a big part of the joy of kilting. The chance to answer honest and sincere questions from genuine people is something that I'll really miss should kilts become so common as to not illicit such. I'm off work tomorrow, I think I'll put on my Utilikilt Workman and mozey on down to the Cracker Barrel for breakfast. When I walk in I'll stop at the door and let everyone get that long, intense look they really want to get, I'll flash a smile, say g'mornin' and make some new friends.

Kilt On.

Chris Webb

[Rex_Tremende]

... and I loved it - with the possible exception of "grits", which I still don't understand.

Not my favorite thing on any menu either, but my attitude toward grits changed when someone explained that I should think about it in terms of polenta (which I like) for country folk. Polenta and grits are both made from corn, the difference being that polenta is the whole kernel, whereas the hull has been removed for grits.

I always thought that grits had an unappealing name, which may have contributed to my distaste for the dish (but it could be the boiled texture and bland taste). But here's an interesting factoid: "grits" is an alteration of Middle English grutta, coarse meal, from Old English grytta, plural of grytt, so explains my American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language.

ObCrackerBarrel: I avoid them, mostly on account of an old boycott over discriminatory hiring practices that I sort of heard may have been called off after they fixed the problem, ostensibly, but I don't really keep up with such things, and there are plenty of other places to eat, besides. I may have to try one in a kilt again, just for fun.

Regards,
Rex in Cincinnati

[freddie]

I find it amusing that a gent from the UK loves Crackerbarrel, while one from CA has never heard of it.

There's nothing like Cracker Barrel over here, and if there were the food wouldn't be as good. In fact the idea of 'diners' has never taken off in the U.K. The nearest we ever got to it was a place called 'Little Chef' and anyone who knows these places will understand why I love 'Cracker Barrel' ('Down home cookin' at it's best).
By the way, on reflection I probably encountered this chain of retaurants when in Arizona, but I'm sure we've come across them all over America on our travels.