Serving Boone, Blowing Rock, Banner Elk, and other towns of the North Carolina High Country
Founded 05-05-05
February 1, 2007 issue
The Peddler Steak House—Often Imitated, Never Duplicated for 39 Years
Story by Sam Calhoun
Beef—it’s what’s for dinner.
Check that.
Individually chosen, precisely aged steak from specially selected heavy western beef cooked over glowing Tennessee hickory charcoal is what’s for dinner and has been for dinner for the past 39 years at The Peddler Steak House.
There’s a difference.
And that difference has been the driving force behind the restaurant located at 1972 Blowing Rock Road in Boone since 1968.
It’s an experience like none other. A Peddler server—often owner Murray Broome or his right hand man and manager Mark Scruggs—wheels a cart over to your table bearing a slab of the finest beef available and cuts it to your specifications—it’s within an ounce of your request or it’s recut. While it cooks, you help yourself to the salad bar. But it shouldn’t just be called a salad bar—that doesn’t give it justice. Filled with more than 40 garden-fresh vegetables, caviar, smoked oysters, heart of palm, fruits, cheeses, even hot French onion soup, the salad bar alone is worth the trip. But that’s not why you came—well, not the entire reason—and you remember after you bite into the meat in front of you. The charcoal taste is unmistakable; the texture irresistible.
But maybe you didn’t want steak. No problem. What began as a restaurant that strictly sold ribeyes, now serves an array of meat and seafood including filet mignon, prime rib, New York strip, beef kabob, shrimp, Alaskan crab legs, lobster tails, swordfish, salmon, yellowfin tuna and marinated chicken. There’s even a host of appetizers—as if you needed any before hitting the salad bar—from fried mozzarella to sautéed mushrooms, shrimp cocktail to spinach artichoke dip.
This mouth-watering selection is no accident. Broome has cultivated the menu—often relying on customer requests—since he bought the restaurant in 1975. Originally from Matthews, Broome came to ASU in 1969 and started washing dishes at The Peddler in 1970. He learned to cook from the first owner of the restaurant, Bob Rosely, and after graduating with a degree in health and physical education in 1973, bought the restaurant in 1975—the same year he married one of the waitresses, Debbie, who was originally from Gastonia and also attended ASU.
“When we bought this place, I had $150 in the register and we sat there and I said, ‘I hope this works,’” said Broome.
The couple has two children—Jesse, 27, and Kelle, 29. Jesse is a snowboard instructor in Utah and in nursing school. Kelle is a graduate of College of Charleston with a degree in fine dining, attends graduate school at ASU and is co-manager of the restaurant, helping to take the already-high standards of service to a new level.
The Peddler is the oldest restaurant in Boone with the exception of the Dan’l Boone Inn.
The idea for The Peddler Steak House began in the early 1960s at a motel in Sanford where the owner charcoaled steaks for his family on a patio adjacent to the lobby. At first, visiting salesmen asked if they could buy steaks and use the grill, but as the requests increased, the owner cooked the steaks, serving them with a salad. Eventually the refinement of his concept developed into The Peddler Steak House in Southern Pines. The operation was changed to serve ribeye steaks, cut to the individual’s order with a make-it-yourself salad bar. The idea caught on and Peddlers soon existed all over North Carolina, Tennessee, South Carolina and Virginia. At one point 30 restaurants bore the name.
Over time, the franchise died out and the remaining Peddlers became independently owned, like they are today.
Broome attributes his success and longevity to three main components of his restaurant. The first is service. The Peddler has always been known for personal service. From the local wait staff—some are second and even third generation—to Scruggs who has been at the restaurant on and off for 15 years, from Murray and Debbie’s tableside manner to Kelle’s ideas for the future, the restaurant serves excellent food with courtesy and attention to detail. The second is that The Peddler has always used only charcoal for cooking—Tennessee hickory charcoal to be exact. It’s expensive, but it sets the restaurant apart from its competition. And the third is that Broome ages his own beef. Each steak is aged between 30 days and six weeks before it is wheeled out to the table.
“We go a step further than most,” said Broome. “We want the best product, the freshest produce and that’s why we have beat the odds.”
But that’s not the only reason they’ve beaten the odds.
“We owe so much to the community,” said Debbie.
Having bought the restaurant in the middle of a recession and a gas crisis, Debbie and Murray attribute most of their success to a dozen or so locals who, for reasons unknown to them, took them under their wing and have frequented their restaurant for the past three decades.
“These same dozen people that were in here this past weekend were in here on the same weekend 30 years ago,” said Broome. “If it hadn’t been for a bunch of these locals, we wouldn’t be here today.”
“We want to thank the community—Boone’s an appreciative community,” added Debbie. “We were adopted in 1975 and we’re still under them.”
But those who adopted Murray, Debbie and The Peddler also probably adopted the superb food as well and the reasonable prices that come with it.
Broome no longer does the cooking so he can visit with guests, but he’s still in the restaurant seven days per week.
“I won’t even train a cook unless he’s going to be here for at least five years,” said Broome, who added that all of his cooks are highly trained, respected and taken care of. Some have been at The Peddler almost a decade.
Broome also thinks that, dollar for dollar, his restaurant is cheaper than most of the big name franchises that have sprouted up in the region pointing out that his salad bar comes with every meal and most other restaurants charge a la carte for salads and side items.
The Peddler has made a name for itself outside of Boone as well. While Broome was visiting Breckenridge, Co., recently with his friend and fellow Boone restaurateur Jack Pepper, the two decided to visit the Cookout Restaurant where customers cook their steaks on individual grills. A man approached Broome, recognizing him from The Peddler in Boone where he \had eaten while on vacation. Impressed with his previous meal, the man asked Broome to cook his steak for him.
Broome can’t even get a vacation all the way across the country.
But he may not want to. After 35 years, he still loves his job and wouldn’t change it for the world.
“Some of the best friends I have started as employees and customers,” Broome said.
The Peddler Steak House is located at 1972 Blowing Rock Road in Boone and is open from 5:00 to 9:30 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, from 5:00 to 10:30 p.m. Friday and from 4:30 to 10:30 p.m. on Saturday. For more information, call 828-264-4433.