Robert.Maddrey
May 27th, 2008, 06:39 PM
This past weekend, Laura and I attended a family reunion of sorts for her family at her grandparents summer home in Murphy, NC. Aside from the weather being terrific and the mountains being a nice change of pace to good ol' flat Florida we were surprised to encounter a little bit of Tampa in the middle of the North Carolina Mountains.
On Saturday we were tasked with finding a restaurant for the whole family to have dinner at, and Laura and I found one of only 2 places open past 7pm, Flip Flop's cafe. Its located in the heart of Murphy's historic downtown and when you enter the front doors you are immediately greeted with a vista of another downtown...downtown Tampa. Needless to say the big 3' banner of downtown brought a smile to our faces, but as you look around the small but well appointed eatery you notice that everything inside is in fact Tampa themed, the walls being adorned with Guavaween, Gasparilla, Buccaneer, Lightning, Bulls and Devil Rays memorabilia. The menu features such items as "The Ybor Cuban" or "West Tampa Ropa Vieja"
We about fell over out of the uncanny luck of stumbling into a Tampa themed restaurant in Murphy, NC complete with home made stuffed potatos, devil crabs and Cuban sandwhiches made with authentic Cuban bread shipped in from the La Segunda Bakery in Ybor. Needless to say, good times and good food were had along with some entertaining conversations with the proprietor and his wife, 45 year residents of the Big Guava retired to Murphy, NC.
So, if you find yourself near the Smoky Mountain National Forest its well worth taking a 30 minute detour to stop in Murphy and grab a little taste of home.
Flip Flop's Cafe
21 Tennessee Street
Murphy, NC
On Saturday we were tasked with finding a restaurant for the whole family to have dinner at, and Laura and I found one of only 2 places open past 7pm, Flip Flop's cafe. Its located in the heart of Murphy's historic downtown and when you enter the front doors you are immediately greeted with a vista of another downtown...downtown Tampa. Needless to say the big 3' banner of downtown brought a smile to our faces, but as you look around the small but well appointed eatery you notice that everything inside is in fact Tampa themed, the walls being adorned with Guavaween, Gasparilla, Buccaneer, Lightning, Bulls and Devil Rays memorabilia. The menu features such items as "The Ybor Cuban" or "West Tampa Ropa Vieja"
We about fell over out of the uncanny luck of stumbling into a Tampa themed restaurant in Murphy, NC complete with home made stuffed potatos, devil crabs and Cuban sandwhiches made with authentic Cuban bread shipped in from the La Segunda Bakery in Ybor. Needless to say, good times and good food were had along with some entertaining conversations with the proprietor and his wife, 45 year residents of the Big Guava retired to Murphy, NC.
So, if you find yourself near the Smoky Mountain National Forest its well worth taking a 30 minute detour to stop in Murphy and grab a little taste of home.
Flip Flop's Cafe
21 Tennessee Street
Murphy, NC