"TL/DR: If you need pretty much anything in the way of snacks, candy bars, ice cold beer, sodas, fried chicken, boiled peanuts, pickled eggs, propane, fishing bait, hardware, dog food, lottery tickets, and ethanol free gas...Gold Mine General Store has you covered. I had a late lunch today at Cindy 's Starlight Café in Catawba, NC. I arrived at 1:30 p.m. against a 2:00 p.m. closing so they were out of meatloaf. Their CSS was extremely good though, so no worries. Their stewed beef looked awesome as well. And oh my Lord people, I spotted chocolate meringue, Oreo, lemon meringue, and coconut crème pie in the dessert case $2.99 per slice. Next time.... Afterwards, I decided to mosey on over and check out the Gold Mine General Store and Grill. The store is probably all of ten minutes from the downtown metropolis of Catawba. Their parking area is extremely tight quarters, as in oh, heck where am I going to park? Luckily providence intervened, and someone was backing out as I drove up. I happily pulled into their vacated parking space. I thought of Michael B. 's photos, because there were at least six or seven old guys sitting on benches in the shade of the front porch, telling lies and visiting with each other. No one paid much attention to the stranger, me, other than a momentarily glance to check me out. BTW, country etiquette is to nod if someone makes eye contact with you. That 's a way of saying hello, offering respect, and acknowledging that person with a momentary gesture. I have found this to be true in other countries, and other states beside those in the South. It 's kind of a universal way of saying hello. (Smiling while doing so also conveys a sense on bon homme, telling the other person that you 're not going to shank them right away without provocation. I walked in and I was immediately inundated, overwhelmed, and bumfuzzled with a myriad of choices...and the narrowness of the aisles. I was extremely impressed with the selections of stuff inside the store. They had every type of candy bar imaginable. Cold sodas. And of course plenty of cold beer in the coolers. Like I said in the beginning, if you need some type of snack, this is ground zero. Their selection rivals many huge truck stops that I 've visited. The grill was on the left. I don 't know if that area is accessible, probably not. The potato wedges did look pretty good, and the aroma of fried chicken lingered in the air. It 's a good thing that I 'm allergic to poultry, otherwise I probably would have tried some. What I actually dropped by for was their SPICY CAJUN BOILED PEANUTS. I became enamored with these years ago when I travelled to south Georgia on business. I walked all the way around the store twice, and I didn 't see any boiled peanuts. As I was about to ask someone for help, I spotted them right in front of the store, immediately as one enters the front door. If they had been a rattlesnake, they would have bitten me. Doh! I 'd guesstimate that the large cup is about 32 oz. for $3.89. I filled the cup with spicy boiled peanuts and put on a lid. There is also a small container and the regular, non spicy, version of boiled peanuts. I paid at the register. I knew from looking online that the Gold Mine Store has ethanol free gasoline...somewhere. I asked the young guy who was the cashier. He said that they had one, 90 octane UL ethanol free gas pump, off to the side of the parking lot. It is adjacent to their diesel fuel. After I discovered how detrimental ethanol laden gasoline is to engines, I made the switch over to ethanol free for all my lawn equipment and petrol burning cars. I was kind of uncomfortable with this being my first time in a new place, with plenty of people milling around, and knowing that I was probably on candid camera. The end result is that I didn 't look around in too much detail. The next time I visit here that will change. Why will there be a next time? Those spicy boiled peanuts were heavenly, that 's why. I 'd guesstimate the spice level to be around an authentic Thai restaurant 's 3 to 5. I had to take a sip of soda after the FIRST peanut, because it lit me up and burned my lips. Warm and SPICY!!! Love the burn. It tastes like someone poured an entire large bottle of Sriracha into the cauldron where they 're stored. I will need more of these. They also have pickled eggs and pickled sausage, but I have yet to try those maybe one day. As one old time gas station poster from the 50 's used to say: stop here, eat, and get gas. I 'd say that pretty much sums up Gold Mine Store and Grill perfectly."
