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Magnolia 23 ~ Asheboro, North Carolina


23 S Fayetteville St, Asheboro, NC 27203

With some qualifications, this is probably my favorite place in the whole area I worked. Amazing food, details (and a picture of the menu below) to follow. And it's cheap: $11-12 for dinner, $3.75 for dessert. One of my colleagues described the fried chicken as something like, "I imagine the chickens are raised swimming in a pool of buttermilk from birth before being slaughtered & prepared fresh in the back of the restaurant". While I suspect this is not a factual or verifiable report, the chicken IS damn good! For starters, no liquor license: lemonade or tea for all. Dinners come with 2 sides and either biscuit or cornbread. Note: for a large table (we had 7), just randomly order sides and eat what you get (pretty much the same approach as ordering specific items). I had fried chicken (of course!) with collards and pinto beans. We ordered a few extra pieces of chicken for the table (which I ate) and a 'smoked pork chop' that was really a slice of grilled country ham in my estimation. The sides were all good (I tasted a few others besides my own), and the chicken rivals some of my fave chicken joints in the world (Castle Cafe, f'r instance). Dessert was Persimmon Pudding - quite nice! Go early if you go; they have people lined up out the door by 6 pm. Was tempted to come back and try chicken & dumplings or chuck roast, but hours of operation & proximity to my hotel conspired against me. They are building a second location in Troy, NC - scheduled to open summer 2022 - if I perchance go back to the area.


- Rude Dante

Thanks to Visit NC for first photo.
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