Don't listen to those nay sayers: A story of the ill informed, Aiken, SC, and some pretty good food

Let me just begin this one with this. Don't ever just listen to what somebodies says, always do your own investigations. Sometimes..........heck, a whole lot of times, people simply don't know what they're talking about. I've been living in Augusta, Ga for little more than a year now. Living in a place can be like a relationship sometimes....an unfaithful relationship. After a while a man just starts getting wondering eye's. I had eating in a lot places in Augusta and I must admit my eye's as well as my taste buds, have started to look else where. I've been checking out all my options. I've taken quick trips to Evans, N. Augusta, and near by small towns. I've taken day trips to Columbia, Charleston, Atlanta and Savannah. But there was one option I let some random person talk me into over looking. An option that ain't too bad on my pockets. It takes gas money to get to my options, and just like a relationship, some of them can be pricey. 

 

Downtown Aiken, SC. Just a hop, skip and a jump away from Augusta. For a whole year I did not step one foot in this place. Yesterday I decided to change that and I'm glad I did. As always, my partner in crime, the misses accompanied me for the trip. We explored around for a while, there were a lot of nice little areas, but it was getting about that time. I am a food explorer it was time to discover what I had came for. The both of us had a hankering for something sweet, and this place looked like to the perfect place to stop by. 

 

Desserves specialty bakery & more. There is nothing like that waft of pure deliciousness that hits your nose when you open a door to place that is doing something very right. There were a lot of great options to choose from, but I already knew what I wanted. The red velvet cupcakes had been basically screaming my name. 

 

This best sums up my experience when taking my first bite. 

 

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The both of us went to war with those cupcakes and after completely destroying them we decided it was time for the main course. Didn't take us long at all to find where to get it either. We found our destination right beside Desserves.

 

The New Moon Cafe. The inside and outside had nice vibe to it. On top of that everything is made with fresh local ingredients. Fresh local produce, local meats, and bread baked in the store. We looked over the menus and decided to go with the "The Dr. John". Cajun roast turkey with sharp cheddar, muenster, tomato, and fresh spinach leaves. 

My meal was delicious, you can really tell the difference between carved turkey and preprocessed slices. The turkey on this sandwich was the real deal. the muenster set it off. I don't know what they sprinkled on the tomato but I could have ate it by itself. It was a meal that satisfies you, with out making you feel like you have to run 8 miles immediately afterward to burn it all off. My only bone to pick is that I feel that the drink should have been included and not extra. That being said I definitely would go back. Next time I'll try some of their desserts. 

 

 The misses, myself, and my stomach thoroughly enjoyed our trip to Aiken. If you ever in the Aiken, SC/Augusta, GA(learned after my visit that Augusta has a new moon cafe as well) area, and your looking for a light but satisfying meal. I definitely recommend you stopping by The New Moon Cafe, and for those of you with a sweet tooth, Desserves has what you need.

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Life Times Of The Broke & Hungry: A Students Quest From Ramen To One Of The Best Burgers In "The Boro"

Before I start this off I would just like to give a big shout out and thank you to the good people at Top Ramen, Maruchan, Sapporo Ichiban, and my personal favorite Nong Shim. Seriously these brands of ramen were life savers and without them a good chunk of my college experience would have been a world of pain....hunger pains. College can be a whole lot of things, a life changing experience, mind opening, culturally enlightening as well as the brokest, hungriest time of your life. College is also a place of food discovery. 

Statue of the Greensboro Four Outside the Dudley Building On North Carolina A&T Campus

Greensboro, North Carolina, home to my Alma Malta North Carolina A&T State University(Aggie Pride). I gained extensive experience in being hungry 101. I swear I probably cooked noodles in every way imaginable once my commuter meal plan ran out. But being hungry was an excellent motivator, that motivation led to a scholarship and grant, and that scholarship and grant led to an absolute game changer in the way I was eating. I started eating out every chance I could to the point to where the places I was eating at knew my name and what I wanted to eat before I could even order.

In my food discovery benge I ate a lot of places and I even witness a lot of great places to grab a bite to eat come and go, sigh. Goodbye Menjes, tuesday and thursday 50 cent wings were the best, goodbye Center City Cafe and Gourmet City Market, your burgers were the absolute truth, Goodbye  Downtown Caribbean Cafe, brown stew chicken, jerk wings, oxtail, and curry goat could not be beat especially since it was only 5 dollars for a plate. But there was one place in my downtown Greensboro food voyages that stood the test of time.

Fincastles Diner. I had tried a lot of places around downtown and realize that I had never stop in to check it out. They gave me my menu which consist of burgers, salads, po'boys and sandwiches as well as good ole fashion shakes and ice cream. I went with the fincastle burger: 100% fresh rolled angus beef patty, pimento cheese, grilled onions, lettuce and tomato, with fincastle sauce on grilled sourdough. For my side I went with the sweet potato fries. There were finally done cooking my meal and everything looked great. You ever just know something is going to be good before you bite into it? It's like my spidey senses kicked in when they place my plate in front of me. But instead sensing danger I was sensing a plate a food I was getting ready to wreck. 

Before even go further let me just say if you ever get a fincastle burger or any of their burgers that includes the fincastle sauce, you definitely are going to want a whole bottle of that sauce. That sauce set the whole burger off. The pimento cheese only further elevate the taste of the burger. The burger patty itself was well seasoned and as mentioned above was ground fresh that day, along with fresh veggies.....I know your probably reading this like you can't really mess up veggies but believe me I have had plenty of places that tried to place some old browning lettuce on my burger. All in all my burger and not to mention my sweet potato fries were delicious. I even got another burger that day.......shouldn't have though, not gonna lie, the second burger was simple pure greed.  

I left that day happy to find a new spot, and today I'm even happier that it's still there.....seriously I could have went on and on about some of my favorite spots in downtown Greensboro that has bit the dust. If you ever in the area whether it be a concert, or visiting for "The Greatest Homecoming On Earth" Fincastles Diner is definitely a place I recommend stopping by. 

Make sure to subscribe for more Downtown good eats and if you live in the area drop a comment of your favorite fincastle dinner menu item or leave a suggestion of one of your favorite places to eat in "TheBoro"