My friend, the chickpea

This past week, I visited the Kabob Grill in Stonecrest for some hummus (or as they say on their menu, hommos). I am a big fan of hummus and have tried many different varieties. There is a restaurant in Knoxville called King Tut's and they do a huge Mediterranean sampler...delicious! I had never heard of Kabob Grill, which of course is one of the reasons I'm doing this list!

I had to call the restaurant to find them in the ginormous shopping center. I'm pretty sure I would build a house smack dab in the middle of this shopping center and never have to leave it. There's a vet office, Target, Ulta, Dean and Deluca, Chick-fil-A, Smashburger, Firebirds, a movie theater, and Tasty-Yo is just a few seconds away. However, if you're trying to find a specific store you've never been to before, this place is like a maze. Kabob Grill is tucked away on the side. I wasn't too surprised to see only one other person in the restaurant when I went, but I did go at kind of a weird time. By the time I left, the place had filled up. I ordered the Chicken Kabob, which comes with "two delightful side items" (seriously, that's what the menu says).

Don't I look amazing?!

I chose the hummus and baba ghannouj as my side items. The meal was $15 but, as you can see, the portion size was great. I had a meeting to go to, so I only got to eat about 1/3 (can we say lunch the next day??). The chicken was seasoned so well, the vegetables were almost pickled but really good, and the dips? Oh my, the hummus was so creamy and delicious. The baba ghannouj had a wonderful flavor and texture. The only complaint I would have was that the baba ghannouj had a TON of parsley on it and that was a little weird. The description of the hummus in Charlotte magazine talks about eating it with a spoon and, believe me, you are tempted to. They serve everything with little packets of pitas (I got extra when I left), and it makes it so easy to eat. In fact, I took my leftovers to work the next day and just ate it cold - fabulous! This restaurant has several locations in the Charlotte area (http://www.kabobgrill.com/) and I would definitely recommend trying one!

Anyone want some of my mother's brisket?

Anytime I hear the word brisket, I automatically think of The Big Bang Theory and Howard always talking about his mom's. As much as I'd heard of it, I don't think I've ever actually had it unless it's in BBQ. Harper's brisket is on the Top 100 list, and I decided to go get takeout one day when I traveled to the Pineville mall.

The Texas beef brisket comes with two side items. The menu says macaroni and cheese and twice baked beans, but I got the cheesy corn bake instead of the beans. The macaroni and cheese is a "pimento" mac and cheese.

I have to say I'm honestly quite confused by the brisket. It was served with BBQ sauce that was kind of sweet and smoky, but the beef itself was fairly salty and had a different type of sauce on it. I wasn't sure what it was really supposed to be - it's beef, but it's not hamburger. It's thin and in strips but it's not really steak. It's BBQ, but it's not pork....what is it? I mean, it was good, but the BBQ sauce almost clashed with it. However, on its own, it didn't have enough dimensions of flavor. The mac and cheese was good as I was worried since I don't like pimento. The cheesy corn bake was a little strange. I guess I'm pretty used to sweet corn and this was not sweet. I think it had a couple of different kinds of cheese in it and then a crust of some sort. Once again, things kind of clashed together. It's not like I didn't enjoy the meal, but not enough to really ever eat it again. If only they'd had tiramisu so I could compare that....=0)

Caramelized Goodness

Anna's family was in town after their vacation so what better to do in Charlotte than eat?? We traveled uptown to Aria (complimentary valet, woo-hoo!). I had been working and then cleaning cat kennels where I volunteer, so I stopped at Target to make myself more presentable. I missed the appetizers and ordering but was there for the rest of the meal. However, my dinner buddies were kind enough to order me my top 100 dish, Caramelized Gnocchi.

For those of you who don't watch Top Chef obsessively like I do, gnocchi are thick little dumplings made from a variety of ingredients. I think most of the ones I see on TV are potato. At Aria, the appetizer gnocchi is served with prosciutto di parma, pear, gorgonzola, and truffle oil. The portion is pretty small but honestly OK for an appetizer...although maybe not for the price. The gnocchi were honestly like nothing I've ever had before. The first bite was really kind of sweet with the pear and the caramelized crunch, but then if you get the cheese underneath, it made it savory, almost like macaroni and cheese. I really enjoyed them, although I would have enjoyed them more if they were less expensive!




Little puffy clouds of goodness

 For dinner, I chose the penne a la vodka, which was the Top 100 dish at Mama Ricotta's. It was very good, but not nearly as good as Mama Ricotta's (which I guess is why that one is on the list...). For dessert, of course I had the tiramisu.

The tiramisu was really good, possibly one of my favorites in Charlotte (better than Blu Basil for sure), but nowhere near as good as Mike's. The pictures on Aria's website looks like it could have come close, but it was not representative of the actual tiramisu.

Although it may sound like I'm not giving this place a good review, the food was really great and I had a fabulous time with my dinner companions. However, one of the downsides of the list is that some of the restaurants are really similar. This is the 3rd (maybe more?) Italian restaurant I've eaten in and now it's like they really have to make a great impression to blow me away...Sorry Aria!