Mystery Diner: Hampton's Laurel Fork Restaurant rises from the waters

From my vantage point here four months in the future, the destruction wrought by Hurricane Helene was and will be the stuff of legends. Mine is a ruptured propane tank bubbling away merrily while dolphin-ing down the Doe River. All it lacked was some surfer dude "hanging ten" off the tank's nose and hollering "Cowabunga."Fortunately, the Tennesseans who call the town of Hampton home are a hardy lot, especially Ms. Lisa Qualls, owner of the Laurel Fork Restaurant on Highway 321.On that day in late September, "Miss Lisa" and her front-of house "Miss Tabitha" showed up to serve breakfast to their hungry customers, and found that 18 inches of water and river bottom had taken up residence in their restaurant and parking lot. A downpour from Hurricane Helene had flooded the Doe River over its banks and tributaries.This included Laurel Fork Creek, a stone's throw from the restaurant's front door.Well, it took Miss Lisa and team almost three weeks to get the mess cleaned up and reopen the restaurant for their (very gratified) Hampton neighbors. After a four-month hiatus, your Mystery Diner and his dining partner were glad to join the crowd.Getting thereYou folks coming from Johnson City will find transiting Elizabethton to be a task, since the Broad Street bridge over the Doe River isn't there anymore. Take U.S. Hwy 321 from Johnson City to Elizabethton. Bear right onto West Elk Avenue and head through downtown to where East Elk Avenue joins Veterans Memorial Parkway (U.S. Hwy. 19E/321). Turn right onto 19E and head toward Hampton. Once in Hampton, turn left at the junction with U.S. Hwy. 321. Laurel Fork Restaurant is one block ahead on your left. There is plenty of parking all around the restaurant.Once insideOnce through Laurel Fork Restaurant's front door you are in a dining area that seats over 60 patrons. The cashier/carry-out desk is right next to the front door, with (clean and tidy) restroom access ahead and on your right. The spotless dining room is the purview of Miss Tabitha: friendly, knowledgeable and thoroughly professional. Lastly, there is a television set mounted on one wall. Fittingly, it was showing the Weather Channel when we were there.SelectionsAs my dining partner and I studied Laurel Fork's latest menu, Miss Tabitha said that we could still get breakfast if we wanted to.This pleased my dining partner, who ordered two gravy biscuits, two fried eggs cooked medium-well and some bacon ($7.99) as her version of Laurel Fork's brunch.I wanted something lighter, and chose Laurel Fork's chicken tender salad from the lunch portion of the menu ($6.99) as my lunchtime meal.How it tastesMiss Tabitha soon had our orders in front of us.My dining partner was very pleased with her biscuits and gravy — the gravy being a lovely beige-to-tan color, which my dining partner assured me was how you could tell the gravy was made from scratch. My taste of it proved that theory very well. Her fried eggs were well-, rather than medium-well done, while the bacon was lean, fried just long enough to be cooked through (but not brittle) just the way my partner likes it.My salad was quite good — cold and crisp, a commissary-style blend of chopped iceberg lettuce, shredded purpled cabbage and carrot, sliced onion and green bell pepper with the chicken tenders nestled comfortably on top.A dollop of Thousand Island dressing was all I needed for a fine lunch time meal, in pleasant company.ConclusionsAs we were finishing up, "Miss Lisa" Qualls came out of her kitchen to say hello.To my questions about what went on during those days in late September, she responded that once the water had subsided, the cleanup started for her team.This was interrupted by the arrival of the National Guard, who requisitioned her property for a military truck and trailer parking lot, and a secondary base of operations.Qualls said National Guard troops became regular customers of Laurel Fork Restaurant — biscuits and gravy are obviously a better way to start the day than chowing down on an MRE (Meal, Ready to Eat).My dining partner heartily concurred with that sentiment.As my dining partner and I left Miss Lisa, Miss Tabitha and Laurel Fork Restaurant, we took our time driving from Hampton back to Elizabethton and then home to Johnson City. Everywhere we looked we saw fellow Tennesseans, our neighbors, picking up debris, clearing away brush and seeing to the removal of the (garage?) roof perched in the middle of Laurel Fork Creek.They are doing the little jobs that contribute to completing the bigger cleanup job that is the goal of the town of Hampton's recovery.Feel like getting your hands dirty?Laurel Fork Restaurant201 US Hwy 321Hampton, Tennessee725-2091Daily 7 a.m. – 4 p.m.Dine-in & Carry-outAvailable on social mediaCredit cards accepted