{"id":8613,"date":"2023-02-27T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-02-27T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/feathersandwhiskey.com\/?p=8613"},"modified":"2023-03-02T20:33:51","modified_gmt":"2023-03-03T01:33:51","slug":"burgertownusa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/feathersandwhiskey.com\/?p=8613","title":{"rendered":"Whiteville, NC : Burgertown,USA"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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By Robbie Perdue <\/h6>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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In southeast North Carolina there is a small town named Whiteville. It came to national attention in the recent past when American Idol judges couldn\u2019t understand the name of the hometown of a contestant. That\u2019s fair, most of the people here pronounce it somewhere between \u201cwhatville\u201d and \u201cwyattville\u201d.<\/span><\/p>

Funny accents aside, the real magic of the town can be found at the corner of Madison and Commerce. In less than a block from that spot are five incredible burger restaurants, but burger joint or grill might be a better description.<\/span><\/p>

I recently visited each and got the same order: cheeseburger, hotdog, fries, and a tea. Each was ordered \u201call the way\u201d which in these parts means onions, chili, mustard, no slaw. Yes, places here do have slaw for what people associate with \u201cCarolina style\u201d, but around here slaw is optional.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Ward\u2019s Grill<\/strong><\/span><\/p>

Started by my great-grandmother\u2019s brother, Kermit Ward, this grill has been a Whiteville institution for decades and is currently under I think the third iteration of ownership. There must be a reason for the longevity as\u00a0 they seem to keep winning best burger awards from the local paper. The place is very narrow with limited seating so expect to get your order to go. Best get here early, there will be a line down the sidewalk.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Ed\u2019s Grill<\/strong><\/span><\/p>

While the grill started out narrow like Ward\u2019s, at some point they bought the place next door, knocked out a wall and expanded the seating options. I like eating here as I know the people and it\u2019s nice being greeted by name. That\u2019s the nice thing about small town restaurants. That, and the never ending supply of great sweet tea.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Jerry\u2019s Sandwich Shop<\/strong><\/span><\/p>

Jerry recently retired and I’m sure he is giving the fish down in South Carolina a rough time. The new ownership kept the name and the same great food. I found myself sitting at the bar and enjoying a conversation about local baseball, a common Whiteville topic. I think the combination of red swivel stools and paper wrappers makes the food taste better somehow.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Penns Grill<\/strong><\/span><\/p>

Ok, so Penn\u2019s is a bit extra. They have actual menus while the other places have a plastic board on the wall with Coke or Pepsi boldly in the center. They have lunch specials, specialty coffee, and something called \u201csalads\u201d. This is the only place where I felt compelled to say \u201csweet\u201d tea. But, they do have what we are after: burger, dog, fries, and tea. The cheeseburger was similar to the previous spots with all-the-way being onions, chili, mustard. Also, these fries had that little bit of peel on the ends if you’re into that. Penn\u2019s also has a curb service option. I like it. You can go here when you’re with one of your \u201chealthy\u201d friends.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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What-A-Burger<\/strong><\/span><\/p>

Our final spot is almost exclusively curb service. I think there\u2019s maybe two stools or something inside, but who wants to get out of their truck? It\u2019s probably hot out anyway. The girl walking my way to take my order looks like she\u2019s hot and it\u2019s December. Opening the styrofoam plate revealed a burger not with the staples (onions, chili,mustard) but instead with tomato, lettuce, and pickle. I think there was some mustard as well. The hot dog was standardly equipped, but the fries! The fries here are breaded because regular fries are just too low-carb. I would come here just for the fries. You know the fries are good when they have melted holes in the plate they came in.<\/span><\/p>

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I know what you’re probably saying \u201cWait, what about dessert?\u201d Well, at that same corner of Madison and Commerce you will find Guiton’s Drug Store. They have one of those old time soda fountains and hand-dipped ice cream. So stop in and get a scoop (and maybe some Tums).<\/span><\/p>

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Is Whitevile, NC really Burgertown USA? Probably not, but it is for ME. That’s the great thing about Burgertown; It\u2019s where YOUR favorite burgers are served.<\/span><\/p>



<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Somewhere in your hometown is a burger place that makes you happy. If you\u2019re lucky, there might be two of them. If you\u2019re really, really lucky like me, there are five. Welcome to Burgertown, USA.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8625,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[171,169],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8613","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","category-food"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/feathersandwhiskey.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/what-a-burger.jpg","acf":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/feathersandwhiskey.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8613","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/feathersandwhiskey.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/feathersandwhiskey.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/feathersandwhiskey.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/feathersandwhiskey.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8613"}],"version-history":[{"count":24,"href":"https:\/\/feathersandwhiskey.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8613\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8648,"href":"https:\/\/feathersandwhiskey.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8613\/revisions\/8648"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/feathersandwhiskey.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8625"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/feathersandwhiskey.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8613"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/feathersandwhiskey.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8613"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/feathersandwhiskey.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8613"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}