Raymond’s World Famous Boiled Peanuts

[Map it on the Roadside Guide]
Rating: 3 peas on a 5-pea-pod scale
Verdict: You’ve heard of tiny, regional airstrips with, say, one weekly flight to Cancun that bill themselves as “international” airports? “World-famous” can be just as misleading. Sell to one strange customer from a distant land and you’re “world-famous,” no? People from Indonesia, Algeria, Vietnam, or other boiled-peanut-friendly nations may rightly wonder: just what are Raymond’s boilers really famous for?

Our first of two recent purchases at Raymond’s began with the simple, pleasant surprise that this fruit and veggie stand was even open (in our experience they aren’t open according to their posted hours, daily noon to 7:00pm). This batch tasted a little old, with peanuts of varying doneness. But they were fairly well-seasoned, well-cooked Valencia-types.

More recently, we bought two large bags to discover that Raymond had mixed Valencias with some larger, Virginia- or Runner-types. That’s unique, though perhaps not something to be famous for. So this was a very odd and very inconsistent batch, but a little fresher than the previous servings — and served piping hot. We let them cool and then chilled them in fridge, powerless to resist snacking on them all weekend long.

We are resisting the urge, however, to print up a certificate of appreciation and present it to Raymond so he could add “award-winning” to “world-famous” on his sign. We’re glad Raymond’s there, but there’s room in his world for improvement.

[Map it on the Roadside Guide]

Season: All year round?
Hours: Noon to 7:00pm
Price: $3
Serving: Probably more than a quart’s worth
Notes: Lots of other fruits and veggies
Proprietor: Raymond
Last taste: March 2008; May 2008.
Nut type: Mixed, if you can believe that.
Soak time: n/a
Boil time: n/a (Cooked offsite)
Taster: Thomas