MARY'S GOURMET DÎNER

An institution for breakfast. On weekends, the locals crowd in as soon as the restaurant opens, forming a queue that regularly overflows onto the road. Mary's Gourmet Dinner is above all generous portions and specialities from the South, including the famous bowls of grits (a southern speciality made from cornstarch) and huge cookies (shortbread); all cooked with local products. On the first page of the menu, you will find a list of farms and other local businesses that produce the ingredients. But if we appreciate the skill, it is as much for its gourmet cuisine as for its charismatic owner, Mary, a pillar of the Winston-Salem community, with her hand on her heart always ready to help her neighbours. A visionary, who, more than 18 years ago, spontaneously launched into the business, at a time when in this part of North Carolina, it was not always easy to justify higher prices justified by quality. But quickly the charm worked and the locals adopted Mary's little dinner. In recent years, she has settled in the former bank of the tobacco district, a major historical site in the industrial history of Winston-Salem. Mary, who recovered a building in poor condition, imagined, in her own image, a room full of colour and warmth, punctuated by numerous local works of art, including a huge mural fresco and many colourful paintings; a series of circular chandeliers and multicoloured square tables have just finished brightening up the room.