One great thing about having so many visitors is that it's given us an excuse (like we really needed one) to try out more restaurants around town. Now, because none of our family has spent much time in the South, we tried to find them some real Southern food to have while they were here. In this vein, I found myself at Edith Ann's Taste of Home.
Edith Ann's is what my father fondly refers to as a "greasy spoon" which really means a traditional breakfast diner. They have a menu that covers the basics - omelets, scrambles, pancakes, etc; however, because we're in the South, the basics also include grits, biscuits and gravy, and meat n' eggs (pork chop with 2 eggs over easy anyone?). It seems that most people have at least heard of grits and biscuits and gravy, but there was at least one item on the menu that none of us had heard of before... red-eye gravy.
When I think of biscuits and gravy, I think of the white and creamy sausage gravy that gets slathered all over fluffy buttermilk biscuits and will fill you up for a week. Red-eye gravy is something completely different. Usually served with meat and egg plates rather than biscuits, red-eye gravy is pretty simple: take the pan drippings from the pork (can be any meat you made for your meal, but often it's pork chop drippings from what we were told), and add coffee to it. Let that simmer and mix and there you have your red-eye gravy. Cringe.
Granted, I did not try it so I can't say for sure that it isn't appetizing, but I have to admit that it just doesn't sound like something I'd want to eat. I might have to work my way up to it - after all, I do love pretty much all other southern food I've had so far (see: fried food, made with butter). If I do ever try it, I'll be sure to let everyone know how it is. As for our breakfast at Edith Ann's, my sister was adventurous and tried the grits (I already know I like grits), where the rest of the family stayed mostly to the stuff they already know.
