Gate City Chop House

Last night I had dinner at a place called the Gate City Chop House. I was invited by a Regional CPA firm called Dixon-Hughes. It has three offices in the Triad area. High Point has 125, Greensboro has 60, and Winston-Salem has 40. The entire firm spread out in the Southeast, but the biggest office is in High Point. I interviewed with Dixon-Hughes this morning and had a great experience. Although it is not a Big Four firm, it is apart of Moores Rowland International and has clients all over the World. We sat in a private room that prestigous groups usually sit in. I was told the Duke Basketball team was one of these groups.

Here is what we had for dinner.

appetizers

• Shrimp with cocktail sauce (the sauce was hot like horseradish or wasabi)
• spinach mix with bread
• spinach clams

dinner

• 6 oz. Filet Mignon
• Zuchinni and other veggies
• Onion Rings

Dessert

• Mile High Chocolate Suicide Cake (it was 9 inches high, and came with a huge ball of ice cream. Just a bit bigger than the Great Wall of Chocolate Cake served at PF Changs

A lot of us ordered this for dessert not realizing what we would get ourselves into, none of us finished it. I sat and said, well I doubt JJ Reddick finished this. Then someone said, "Reddick would have choked on that, just like he choked in Tournament." We all had a good laugh. It was a Carolina table. I also heard another good joke about Duke. Appearnetly it is referred to by most as the Univeristy of New England in Durham.

The night went very well with a little pressure to stay, but I wanted to get home in order to be ready for the interview. Besides, staying around consisted of watching WV playing MD. It was 21-0 WV with 2 minutes to go in the first quarter. I didn't think Maryland would make a comeback.

Here are some quick facts about why it is called the Gate City Chop House.

The city we live in is called Greensboro. It is named after Nathaneal Greene, a general in the Continental Army who in 1781 lost a battle to General Cornwallis. However, this weakened the British significantly and soon thereafter had surrendered in Virginia. Nathaneal Greene was Washington's Southern General.

In the 1808, the founders of Guilford County measured out the county lines and built a 42 acre city right in the middle and named it Greensborough. It later became the Gate City because of so many railroads that came through. Today it has two interstates (I-40 and I-85). It will soon have I-73 and I-74 along with a loop. Throughout the past many years, many other things have come through the Gate City.

In 1923, an insurance company named Jefferson Standard built the highest building from Atlanta to DC. It is now the second tallest building in the city, second to Jefferson-Pilot tower. The building was constructed in a way that both buildings are connected. Certain floors connect evenly so that people can walk from one end of the building to the other. On the the tenth floor of the new building is where the Dixon-Hughes Greensboro office is located.

In the 60's was the very first sit in held at the Woolworths just one block south from the JP building. Four students from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University sat in and were arrested. By the end of the week, police had to arrest almost 1,000 students for sitting in. Next to Woolworths was a Kress. So when Woolworths would shut down to stop the sit in, Kress would get a visit. It went back and forth like this for almost six months. Finally the president of Woolworths said enough is enough. Currently the Woolworths is being redone and will soon open as a museum. There is a plaque in from the honor the four men. It says, "Sometimes standing up for your rights means taking a seat."

Now the Gate City is soon to become one of the major transportation hubs in the nation. Dell recently opened up a facility and FedEx plans to open a transportation hub in 2009. This is good since, almost all of the furniture manufacturing in High Point has moved overseas.