Designer Jones melded water, sand and green into a wonderful palette at Tanglewood. In the fall, the extra colors of tan fairways and deep blue skies only adds to the visual pleasure.
As I wrote yesterday, Tanglewood Park's Championship Course was a delight on a clear, crisp fall day, the trees on the surrounding hills just outside of Winston-Salem, NC, still showing a little color. The beautifully sculpted R.T. Jones bunkers had just enough clay mixed in with the sand to provide a nice contrast to the dormant fairways and the bronze of the leaves.
Crisp late-November days in North Carolina often give way to cool nights, perfect weather for a rich southern meal. I had read good things about Sweet Potatoes, one of the ever-increasing number of restaurants in Winston-Salem's slowly emerging Arts District downtown. Winston-Salem suffers from the same sort of chicken and egg thing that other cities - Hartford, CT, comes to mind - suffer from. People are reluctant to move to city center until there is supporting retail, like supermarkets and coffee shops and good restaurants. And the retail establishments don't want to take a chance on preceding the population surge. It's important for high-quality magnets like Sweet Potatoes to lead the way.
I was the first customer in the restaurant at 5 p.m. Wednesday; I hadn't had lunch after the Tanglewood round and, frankly, I wanted to get back to my hotel room before 8 p.m. to see Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani sling mud at each other in the Republican debate (I wasn't disappointed). As I was sipping a martini - an employee was
sent down the street for olives - I perused Sweet Potatoes' interesting menu of southern dishes, many of them of the "peasant" variety ("peasant" as in hearty, like fried chicken, meat loaf and other indigenous foods). An appetizer of three-cheese mac and cheese with country ham caught my eye. A nice-sized ramekin was filled with slightly overcooked ‘ronies and wonderfully gloppy cheese (I mean that in the best sense of gloppy), with a hard-baked cheese crust on top. The bits of salty country ham (I guess that's redundant) added a little crunch to the primordial ooze.The drunken pork chops were also terrific, two sizable boneless pieces of the almighty hog that cut easily and displayed only the slightest chewiness. The dark sauce laced with an apple brandy was thick and helped enhance the slightly dry but toothsome mound of sweet potato mash that lay under the chops. The food showed a creative hand in the kitchen, even if the accompaniment of Brussels sprouts were mushy, the carrots a tad undercooked and everything sprinkled with perhaps just a little too much sage.
The bartender at Sweet Potatoes was quite congenial, but I thought I should put on the apron and she should sit on my barstool. In just a few minutes, she had told me her life story, and I listened intently, occasionally probing and occasionally making sympathetic grunts. Maybe if this golf gig doesn't work out I can sling drinks for a living.
Sweet Potatoes is at 529 North Trade St. in Winston-Salem, NC, in the heart of the Arts District. 336-727-4844. Web: www.sweetpotatoes-arestaurant.com. The restaurant does not accept reservations. Open for lunch Monday thru Saturday 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Dinner Tuesday thru Saturday 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. Dinner entrees $12.95 to $18.95.