Recently, while in Chatham, Virginia, doing research at the Pittsylvania County Court House, my sister, Theresa, and I got hungry.

On the way into town that morning, we saw Kim’s Kitchen, a nondescript restaurant located next to the Old Dutch supermarket on Main Street. It didn’t look like much — just a cavernous space in an old strip center — but we immediately decided that was where we would have lunch.

Sometimes, the best restaurants are the ones that aren’t the most architecturally impressive. Case in point, the Frontier Diner in Little Rock, Arkansas. Husband John and I stopped there for breakfast en route to a wedding in Louisiana last summer.

The Frontier was located on a frontage road, next to a major highway. It wasn’t fancy. It was surrounded by pickup trucks. But inside was a friendly staff and a perfect breakfast. Sure, it was just eggs, bacon, biscuits and hash browns, but it was perfect and I’d definitely eat there again.

At Kim’s, Theresa and I sat down and then asked our waitress what she’d recommend for lunch. She said the roast beef was one of their biggest sellers, so that’s what we ordered, along with mashed potatoes and gravy, macaroni and cheese and cornbread. The waitress described it as “Northern” cornbread, adding that it was sweet.

We both ordered sweet tea, too. How could you not?

Our food arrived shortly thereafter and, as expected, the roast beef was excellent. Let me tell you, though, if you’re a fan of rare roast beef — the kind you see at fancy carving stations — this is not that. Kim’s is more of a chopped roast beef, served in a gravy. No knife is required and it almost melts in your mouth.

I was in heaven and ate every last bit of it.

I’ve heard fried catfish is the special on Thursdays. I can’t wait to go back.