Bread pudding is a time-honored tradition of the American South, second only to stealing magnolias and midnight Yankee tipping. Indulge in refined Southern customs with today’s Groupon: for $20, you get $40 worth of upscale Southern fare at The Gamekeeper Restaurant in Boone.
Named one of the country's top 50 restaurants by OpenTable readers, The Gamekeeper prepares fine Southern fare with local ingredients and culinary traditions. Diners begin tasty treks through mountain country with appetizers including root-beer-braised pork belly topped with Korean black barbecue sauce, locally sourced scuppernong-grape syrup, and fried shallots ($12), then rustle up a buffalo tenderloin ($32) or spice-rubbed ostrich filet ($33) with the help of the restaurant’s rodeo clowns. The grilled duck breast ($28) pairs high-flying protein with the earthbound accents of blackberry barbecue sauce and honey-kissed mashed sweet potatoes. Bourbon-and-caramel bread pudding is the star of the dessert menu, dressed to impress in a crumbled-nut gown and chantilly-cream boa.
Filling out the corners of a vintage stone cottage, the restaurant's branch-trimmed dining room ushers the rustic spirit of the mountains indoors while keeping out inclement weather and pick-wielding prospectors. In the kitchen, skateboard-toting co-owner Ken Gordon executes culinary kick-flips while shuttling soup to tables on longboard platters.
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