Seaboard Station Restaurant – Hamlet, NC

My visit to Hamlet today was on the “spur of the moment.” I had just finished breakfast at J.K.’s in Fayetteville and asked myself how long it would take to drive to Hamlet. It was a little over an hour, one way. It made no sense to drive to Hamlet today. Also, it made no sense to be in Hamlet at lunch time, and not visit Seaboard Station Restaurant, having just shortly finished a “late breakfast.”

But, I arrived at the Seaboard Station Restaurant about a quarter till noon. There were few spaces left around the old house, but I found a spot on the far side of the house. I walked around the front, walked up the steps, and entered the front door. A couple of guys were sitting on the front porch talking.

A waitress asked me how many, which was “Just one.” She directed me into a backroom, which had several tables, and one table, just for two. I unwrapped my cutlery and headed back over to the buffet.

I chose a white melamine plate and waited for an elderly black man to continue loading a take-out box, and move down the line. Before the black gentleman had finished, and at one point, he actually began to “tamp down” some of the food around the edge of his take out box with a fork.

I got a small scoop of scalloped potatoes (cheese), I got a couple of scoops of black eyed peas. I got a drum stick of fried chicken, and reached over and took the tongs that the black gentleman had moved from the lightly breaded thin sliced porkchops over to the cornbread, and got a pork chop and left the tongs in that tray. I got a couple of scoops of steamed cabbage. I didn’t get a biscuit or cornbread, nor any desert. I walked around the corner where the salad bar was located, and got a few sweet pickles (I hoped they were sweet, and they were), a pickled okra, and a small scoop of potato salad, and some chopped sweet onion.

I went through one dining area and through a door into the back dining area and sat down. The waitress may have already brought my water. She brought it either as I was getting up to go to the buffet bar, or as I was just returning.

The scalloped potatoes needed a little salt as did the black eyed peas and the steamed cabbage. I added some of the sweet pickles to the potato salad, which is exactly what it needed, and this would be a winner that everyone wanted. The black eyed peas seemed to be unseasoned and probably were cooked this morning. I say this because I do know how to cook black eyed peas. You get some kind of seasoning meat, but the real secret to excellent black eyed peas is to let them cool, refrigerate them overnight, and re-heat and serve the next day. This gives the beans time to incorporated their flavors and they become something magical the next day, even for a mediocre cook.

I got a drum stick of fried chicken, and yes, the chicken parts were smaller, which someone mentioned is intentional, and maybe smaller (younger) chickens make for better fried chicken. The coating was flavorful, and not heavy, and the fried chicken was really delicious. But, I also got a pork chop, and this too was very delicious. It was a lightly breaded, thinly sliced, bone-in porkchop. I’m not sure of the seasonings in the breading, but this pork chop was very good.

After lunch, I drove over to the Hamlet Public Library. I saw a couple of people coming out of the Library, so I parked, put on my mask, and went in. I did notice a sign on the door that said masks were encouraged for those who had not been vaccinated yet. I looked to the left and the small alcove that had magazines the last (only) time I had been in the Library, only had green, barren shelves. No magazines. *I went up to the counter and asked if this was a temporary outage due to COVID, but the librarian said, that they were no longer going to have magazines as these could be accessed online. She did say the newspapers were over in another area. I thanked her and went to the bathroom.

As I walked out, I noticed some Federal Tax Forms & Instructions, and I got a couple of these.

ADDENDUM [01/27/22]: The Seaboard Station Restaurant photos are from my Monday trip, but most of the food descriptions are the same. The fried chicken on this day was exceptionally juicy, maybe the best fried chicken I have ever eaten. Not just at this restaurant, but ever eaten in my whole life! However, the pork chop was dried out. Not a bad pork chop, but not the best I have had here. If I just glance at the food photo, I might think I am looking at a banana pudding in the wooden bowl, but it isn’t. I used the wooden bowl this time to make my modified potato salad… with sweet pickles, sweet onion, hard boiled egg and some sweetener. They sweeten the steamed cabbage just a little, but perfectly. I don’t think there is any seasoning meat used in either the cabbage nor the black eyed peas. The black eyed peas do need seasoning meat, and as I stated earlier, really good black eyed peas require you to let them sit for a day for the flavors to meld. I try the scalloped potatoes almost every time, but they have not yet reached perfection. Not sure what they need. More cheese? More salt? Don’t know. They have pickled okra on the salad bar, and I get a couple of them usually. Their carrot cake is my favorite dessert.

NOTE [10/10/22]: On the way to Hamlet, NC I came past a new facility, the James A. Leach Aquatic & Recreation Center. Previously I had thought this was going to be a new school, perhaps high school, but now I saw the writing on the wall, literally. I googled for more info. A full sized swimmng pool & two basketball courts, with an indoor track, and I think I read, a price tag of $20 millions. *The negative part of me, which I’ll admit is very prominent, immediately started to question how many people you could get it the pool (around the clock) and how much basketball you could play on two courts (around the clock) and how much it would cost in the day to day operations for staff & heating/air, water and trash, to keep the place running. “Leach’s Folly” if a bust.

Had lunch at Seaboard Station again. As I picked up a small drumstick and brought it to my lips, I immediately was made aware of how tender their chicken was. My lips told me it was tender, and once chewing the chicken I also realized how moist it was. Immediately I was thinking or asking myself if they marinated their chicken with something… like buttermilk? The pork chops they had were also incredibly moist & tender. Sometimes the pork chops are a little dry, but usually flavorful.

They didn’t have any Sara Lee “Carrot Cake” on the counter, and I didn’t ask for any since they did have a wide variety of desserts. I also did not “feel like” making my souped up potato salad from their “starter”. I normally add some of their chopped sweet onion, some crumbled hard boiled egg, some sweet pickles and even a little sweetener over the whole mess. I just put some of their macaroni salad on my plate and added a few diced tomatoes. The tomatoes looked good, but as most tomatoes do “now a days” had little flavor. The canned Diet Coke cost $1 and I think the buffet was $11 tax included.

I drove back from Hamlet, the “back way” taking various secondary roads (38, 381), making it into and out of South Carolina, and eventually coming out on Hwy. 74 in Laurel Hill, directly across from where I got onto Hwy. 74 earlier in the day.

I drove into Laurinburg, by the high school, and into the Scotland County Memorial Library parking lot, parking in the shade. Clean bathroom. I went over and got a magazine that caught my attention, Consumer Reports. The cover had something to do with choosing TV channels & streaming services cheaply. I read a little, and slept a little, and read some more. Most of the streaming services I was already aware of, or had used at some point already: HULU, Netflix, Paramount+, Acorn TV, HBO Max, etc.

I finished the magazine, saw nothing else I was interested in, and walked up & down the Non-Fiction aisles looking for a book that I might have donated. I did not recognize any of my donations, but did see they have quite a few cookbooks.

I drove back to Fayetteville, needing gas, but having checked my Gas Buddy app, thinking that Fayetteville might have gas cheaper. There was a Circle K which proved NOT to have cheap gas ($3.48 / gal.). I did a circuitous route back to another Circle K at the corner of Glensford Dr. & Raeford Rd. This location had gas for $3.30 /gallon. I filled up.

I was planning to stop at Taco Bell for dinner but made a trip down Bragg Boulevard and then something caught my eye. Just off Filter Plant Rd. there was construction blinds along a fence, but it was obvious that many trees had been cleared and heavy equipment was clearing a large portion of this corner. I turned around and came back to take pictures. I don’t know what the plans are, or if the city has sold this area, or is planning to develop it, but this is a major change (after 24 years of working at FSU). I took pictures.