It's nice in life to have rituals or places that are dependably familiar. Caro Mi Restaurant where we went for dinner (and go fairly regularly) is such a place.
Caro Mi stands for Carolina-Miami. 
The original owners were from Miami. The menu (the same as long as we've been going for the past decade) definitely has a Carolina flavor.
The 1957 building 
sits back from the Pacolet River. There is a parking lot between Highway 176 and the river. There is another parking lot behind the restaurant.
There is a covered bridge over the river. 
If you park in the front lot, you walk over the separate covered footpath. If you park in back you drive over over the wooden bridge. There is a feeling of nostalgia either way.
The front porch of the restaurant is lined with rockers which from early Summer through late Fall are usually occupied by guests waiting to be seated or relaxing to enjoy the view and the sound of the river after their meal. 
Caro-Mi is only open Wednesday through Saturday. It does a steady business all year, but stays very crowded from early Spring through late Fall when tourists are visiting the mountains.
There are four rooms for dining in the restaurant. The menu is uncomplicated. There are six entries: fresh mountain trout (served with or without almond butter), country ham and grits, fried chicken, a porterhouse steak, fried shrimp and fried chicken livers.
Other than the grits that come with the ham and a baked potato with the steak, all the side dishes are the same and are served family style.
You definitely might have to wait to be seated if you don't have a reservation, but once you are seated, as soon as your beverage orders are taken, bowls of marinated slaw and macaroni salad and a basket of Southern biscuits are quickly brought to your table. Homemade apple butter is available if requested. Caro-Mi does not serve alcohol, but you can brown-bag your own wine for a reasonable corking fee.
My husband and I almost never vary in what we order. He usually orders the trout and I always order the chicken. I don't eat the skin of fried chicken any longer, but I enjoy the flavor and I can never eat all of the half chicken that is served.
When the entrees are delivered, they are accompanied by bowls of green beans and stewed apples. Like the salads, they are served family style and the bowls are filled repeatedly until you decline any more.
Caro-Mi has good desserts, including a homemade key lime pie; but, we are usually much too full to even think about ordering dessert.
The food at Caro-Mi is dependably good, but, it is always enhanced by the sights and sounds of nature that surround it.
We do not eat out a lot; but, living a good distance from any major city, we are very fortunate that we have a number of excellent restaurants near to us.
Going to eat at Caro Mi is something like going to eat at Grandmother's when you know that she is going to serve your favorites and that it will be good.
Another "ordinary day," . . . an ordinary dinner out, but made special by the grace of its familiarity and dependability.
It's so interesting. I was just at the Caro-Mi this weekend for a small family reunion. My Great Grandfather started the Caro-Mi years ago. All of the Grandchildren that actually worked at the restaurant during the Summers (back then it was only open about 4 months of the year)were there.
Posted by: Greg Wilson | July 07, 2008 at 04:16 PM
Going to Caro-mi tonight!!
Posted by: Ninacrocker | August 11, 2010 at 10:29 AM
CAIRO — Several thousand women demanding the end of military rule marched through downtown Cairo on Tuesday evening in an extraordinary expression of anger over images of soldiers beating, stripping and kicking female demonstrators in Tahrir Square.
http://www.womens-bags.org thank you1 http://www.lclongchamp.com thank you2 http://www.karenmillenkm.com http://www.raybans-rb.com more infomation infer to http://www.underwearmall.net
Posted by: Calvin Klein | December 21, 2011 at 12:26 AM