Just Like Grandma Made It

For More than 60 Years, Dan’l Boone Inn has been Serving Up Family-Style Meals to High Country Visitors

By Chelsea Sherman

Situated in the heart of downtown Boone is a charming historical building surrounded by lush flower beds and a white picket fence. It was first built as a doctor’s residence in 1923, then served as the first hospital in Boone. It was later converted into a rooming house for students at Appalachian State Teachers College. In 1959, it was lovingly transformed into a family-style restaurant, the Dan’l Boone Inn.
Famous for home-cooked, family-style meals, the Dan’l Boone Inn has been serving up delectable southern food to the High Country for more than 63 years.

“It’s like being at your grandmother’s house back in the day. It’s the whole family gathered around a table, passing food to one another and enjoying a hearty meal together,” says general manager Jeff Shellman.

Shellman has been managing the restaurant for 25 years. While there have been some changes in that time, the family-style meals customers have come to know and love have remained unchanged.

“We’ve tried changing it up a few times and substituting different items, but we’ve found that people have come to love our original menu. They value the quality and familiarity of the dishes we’re well-known for,” Shellman says.

So, what does a family-style meal look like? It begins with salad in the summer or soup in the winter. The main course includes three meats that Dan’l Boone Inn is famous for—fried chicken, country-style steak and country ham—five vegetables, a beverage and biscuits with preserves. A homemade dessert completes the meal.

“Whether you have two people or a party of 10, we make sure you enjoy a family-style meal with the atmosphere our customers have come to love,” Shellman says.

On Saturdays and Sundays, customers can also come enjoy a family-style breakfast, featuring scrambled eggs, country ham, sausage, pancakes, grits, biscuits and gravy, and glazed cinnamon biscuits.

Dan’l Boone Inn is centrally located in downtown Boone, so guests are within a stone’s throw of plenty of attractions, like the Turchin Center for the Visual Arts and, during the summer, the Appalachian Summer Festival.

“Boone is a wonderful community, and it’s very rewarding to be a part of this restaurant that has become a well-loved fixture of the High Country,” Shellman says.

For more information about Dan’l Boone Inn, visit www.danlbooneinn.com or call (828) 264.8657. They are located at 130 Hardin Street in Boone, NC.