Start Restaurant, Thrive, Repeat

In my 7 months living in Chattanooga, I have almost rounded out a food conglomerate. Milk & Honey, Taco Mamacita, Community Pie, Urban Stack, and Clyde's on Main are all owned by the Monen family. My previous post was about Taco Mamacita and Milk & Honey (both of which I've eaten at MANY TIMES), so this post is about the others I have visited.

I went to Urban Stack and Community Pie (on different days - I'm not quite that gluttonous!) with my friend Dell. Now that Dell isn't busy educating the children of tomorrow, she has more time to spend with me trying out different restaurants!

Urban Stack (www.urbanstack.com) is located downtown in what used to be the Southern Railway Baggage Building. The site is really cool - lots of exposed brick, cool modern updates - all right next to train tracks. The menu is full of many different kinds of upscale burgers. They also have an extensive drink menu. I had a hard time choosing what I wanted but I had the waiter's help. I was trying to decide between the New Yorker (imagine a Reuben ON TOP of a burger) and the N. Carolina Chili Cheeseburger. He recommended the chili so that's what I chose. It wasn't bad but it wasn't my favorite. 

 I don't like pickles so I didn't eat those. The slaw came on the side but I felt it was better ON the burger. The chili wasn't bad but it was kind of bland. The whole burger itself ended up being just a "meat-fest". Honestly, that sounds kind of appetizing but somehow it wasn't. I would've liked a bit more flavor, a bit more texture. I think the pickles would have added to it but they're just not my thing. The fries were really good and the bun is local (from Niedlov's) but it overall wasn't that satisfying. I only ate about half. Interestingly enough, better as leftovers....
I would definitely be up for trying Urban Stack again, but next time I'm going for the Reuben. Dell had a regular cheeseburger with regular fries and I think she enjoyed it pretty well - just not super exciting.

Next time, maybe we'll both be a little more adventurous! Urban Stack DOES offer Milk & Honey Gelato but only in the form of milkshakes. :(

Let's move on to Community Pie. Community Pie (www.communitypie.com) offers traditional New York Style and authentic Neopolitan pizza. They use special "deck ovens" to bake the pizzas. One great thing about this restaurant? There's a mini Milk & Honey right inside!! I ordered the "Drunk Pig" but the waiter suggested the "Vodka Pie" which was made Neopolitan Style. I decided to trust him and I was rewarded.

The Vodka Pie has vodka sauce (duh), ricotta, homemade fennel sausage, mozzarella, parmesan, and red pepper (I nixed the red pepper). It was delicious. The "burnt" areas of the crust - I'm sure they're called something fancy but I don't know what - added a nice taste to the pizza. The vodka sauce was wonderful and I especially loved the ricotta. This pizza has a nice thin crust (my favorite!). I ate about half the pizza and took the rest home...where I then finished it on the same night. Add to the delicious pizza a dessert of Milk & Honey served in a cute little glass bowl? You've got yourself a winner! I will definitely be going back. 

Now I just have to check out Clyde's....

Scenic City

Welcome to Chattanooga, Tennessee! Since I can't find a list of the top 100 dishes in my new city, I may just have to make my own. The first would have to be at a local favorite - Taco Mamacita (www.tacomamacita.com). This restaurant is owned with a few others in the area including Milk & Honey, Urban Stack, and Community Pie, all of which I will be visiting at some point.

I went to Taco Mamacita with my friend Dell from college. This was not our first trip. She's a Chattanooga native and, even though I'm new here, this would mark probably the 4th (?) time I've eaten there. What I love about TM (which is what I'm going to call it now because I'm tired of writing it out) is the taco "combo" where you can get 2 tacos and a side for less than $10 - and it will fill you up. TM is more of a tex-mex restaurant in my opinion and they have a large selection of drinks, entrees, and even sides. I love the tacos menu - where else can you find tacos with sloppy joes, korean bbq, and jerk chicken? The sides include a corn and black bean salad, sweet potato fries, and (my favorite) Mexican street corn. The Mexican street corn is available on or off the cob.

I've tried several different tacos here but on this particular visit, I found the one I love - the Korean BBQ - my Top 100 dish. All the tacos are served on flour tortillas. This one has "red pickled onion, Korean BBQ sauce, braised beef short rib, Sriracha cream sauce, cabbage, and radish". Being the slightly picky eater that I am, I opted for no radish but I did keep the pickled onion. The sweetness of the BBQ and the sharpness of the pickled onions worked so well together....I wish I'd gotten 2 of them! My other selection was the Oy Vey ("slow-cooked chipotle beef brisket topped with Mama's Ranchero Sauce, crispy lettuce, pico de gallo, monterey jack cheese, guacamole, and fresh escabeche"), which was a little bland but possibly because I nixed the guacamole and pico de gallo. I can also wholeheartedly recommend the Sloppy Jose, which is their version of a Sloppy Joe (it has fritos on it, people!) Ahhh, I love this place.

After dinner, we traveled across the parking lot to Milk & Honey (http://milkandhoneychattanooga.com/) for some gelato. I first tried M&H (I know - I'm being lazy) when I was with my friends Lena and Shelly at The Chattanooga Market and it was wonderful. What I like about them is that their standard cup includes THREE flavors of gelato. No need to pick a favorite. Their gelato is made fresh daily and includes local ingredients. On this wonderful evening, I chose the Lemon Buttermilk, Peanut Butter & Oreo, and Coffee & Cream. Dell and I sat down in a comfy booth and discussed my upcoming trip to Disney World. It was heaven. All 3 flavors were so smooth and creamy and perfectly balanced. The lemon wasn't too tart, the coffee wasn't too overpowering, and...how could you mess up peanut butter and Oreos? 

Do yourself a favor and try these great places. Taco Mamacita also has locations in Nashville and Sullivan's Island, SC. Milk & Honey is just local (good for Chattanooga!).

Guess Who's Back....

So I'm honestly surprised my blog hasn't been cancelled because apparently it's been almost TWO YEARS since I've had a post! I really decreased my foodie restaurant visits and that's something I definitely regret. I'm going to try to get started again.

I moved from Charlotte to Chattanooga in September and so I have a whole new city of restaurants to conquer! Before I left, I visited Fran's (of course) one more time and ate the bread pudding (also of course):

My favorite

The last restaurant on my list to be completed was Good Food on Montford. I went with Natalie, a friend from church. Good Food has a number of small plates that you share instead of larger entrees with sides and all that jazz. The dish listed on the 100 best list was the steamed pork bun:

Deliciousness between 2 pillows

This dish is more Asian-inspired. The pork belly is spiced with Asian spices and served with pickled vegetables on a steamed bun. I would have honestly been happy to just eat a bunch of those and nothing else (although everything else was good). The bun was so soft but not doughy, and the pork was spiced so well. The vegetables added a little crunch. I guess serving a smaller portion just leaves you with a really good experience and you can't get tired of it.....

And thus concludes my dinners in Charlotte (insert sad face here). My plan for Chattanooga is to visit as many great restaurants as I can (as money and time allow) and maybe make my OWN Top 100 list.

Until next time!!

Stonecrest - land of love

I started my first week at my new job & I now have 5 opportunities a week to eat at a multitude of restaurants in the Stonecrest shopping center. My first pick was Qdoba & I ate there about 1 1/2 weeks ago. That was my first experience at a Qdoba - I know - surprising but true.

I ordered the chicken burrito with quest & this thing was HUGE. I know Moe's was all the rage when I was in vet school but I never liked such big burritos. I still feel that way today but the corn salsa they had was quite delicious & I got 2 meals from that burrito!

Today I went to Smashburger. Oh...my....goodness. So delicious. I had a regular burger with American cheese, an egg bun, lettuce, & mustard + sweet potato fries. That was one of the best burgers I've had in a long time - so full of flavor! The fries were equally delicious. I almost went with a Nutter Butter shake but I have to work this afternoon, not lay around basking in postprandial comfort.

My next place? So many choices......

And now for a new year...

So I know it's been a new year for awhile now but I have been slow to post. To multi-task, I'm going to post on two restaurants in one blog - I know - I'm so talented!

The first restaurant was Lang Van on Shamrock Drive. I went there with my frequent dining buddy Shelly for the Bi Cuon. This restaurant was a tiny little hole-in-the-wall Vietnamese place that had a pretty traditional menu. The Bi Cuon is a rice paper wrap filled with cabbage & carrots that comes with a dipping sauce. I am pretty much fine with any sort of spring roll thing so I was a little taken aback when the waitress said something along the lines of "You don't want that. It's not good" & recommended a different appetizer. Now this was a first! I wasn't quite sure what to do - I mean, that's what I was there for! I read the description again & figured I would be fine. I was. I don't think I would ever be interested in paying for that again because I'm more of a fan of deep-fried rolls but you know....

For my entree I had the pho with well-cooked beef. I've always had pho with chicken but this was really good l. The portion was huge so I had some leftovers. 

The 2nd restaurant barely requires mentioning. Shelly, Anna, & I went to Davidson one day for lunch & shopping. If you haven't been there before, you should go. We chose the Flatiron Kitchen & Taphouse for lunch & I was super excited because they have Reuben that's on the list. Well guess what, they don't have it anymore. They haven't had it in a long time. I'm taking way too long to finish this list - Places are going out of business and dishes are disappearing. Our lunch there was okay but not that great. I don't even think I would recommend it. Slightly disappointing, but the trip to Davidson was nice.... And of course I always have fun with my friends!

Until next time…

The Prodigal Eater Returns

I was talking about my blog to a coworker and I realized it's been FOREVER since I posted. This is likely due to the fact that I haven't eaten at any more Top 100 restaurants for several reasons. The 2 biggest reasons are money and time - eating out is expensive and most of the restaurants left are in Uptown. If you've read any of my previous posts, you know I don't like Uptown. However, since discovering the light rail is actually pretty easy, I'm hoping to sample a few more dishes once I add some more eating-out-money into my budget. This evening, I am posting about the Fish Market in Fort Mill, SC. This restaurant is not on the Top 100 list and I don't have any personal pictures to go with my post, but I'm trying to steal some from the website.

I went to the Fish Market with my cousins and my aunt the other night and it was one of the best meals I've had in a long time. I ate so much that my jeans felt super tight when I left, but I never regretted it one second. This restaurant has been around for awhile but I honestly never even knew it was a restaurant - I thought it was some sort of meeting house in Baxter Village. Boy, was I mistaken!

For my appetizer, I had a cup of the she-crab soup. I've always been hesitant to eat she-crab soup because it talks about sherry. I've never even had sherry, but I thought it would be some sort of sweet, alcohol-tasting soup. This is, of course, a ridiculous idea but one I've clung to nonetheless. For Father's Day, my dad had some she-crab soup when we all went out to lunch and it was pretty awesome so I was up for trying some at the Fish Market. My cousin Mary said it was the best she's had outside of Charleston. Oh...my....goodness.....It's not often I do this, but every single bite of that soup I took, I said "mmmm" under my breath. It was so wonderful - perfectly creamy and warm with a hint of black cracked pepper. I wanted to lick the bowl clean.

For dinner, I had the wedge salad and the appetizer lobster mac and cheese. The wedge salad was, of course, a huge wedge of lettuce that came with bleu cheese dressing, bits of real bacon, and pecans. I wasn't quite sure what the pecans were doing there because they didn't add too much to it (maybe if they were flavored?) but the salad itself was wonderful. It wasn't even that complicated - just really fresh and super good. My lobster mac and cheese was fabulous. It could have MAYBE had a bit more cheese on it, but that's just because I love super creamy mac and cheese. But seriously - I'm not complaining. This meal was so perfect. The only part that I didn't like? I had no room for dessert. I will most certainly be going back there for another meal. Dinner is pretty pricey but lunch is really reasonable. For lunch, they have offerings like fish tacos, crab cake sandwiches, and a lobster wrap. For dinner, I'm definitely going to have to try the oven-roasted grouper with mashed potatoes, grilled asparagus, and black truffle cream sauce....or maybe the market fish and chips - fried in tempura batter....or maybe the shrimp and grits....oh my gosh, I have to stop. My mouth is watering!

Pictures (stolen) from www.fishmarketbarandgrill.com

Front of restaurant



Chilean sea bass

Looking for Luce

Ahhh, Uptown...the bane of my existence. I have lived in Rock Hill for 4 years now, traveling fairly consistently to Charlotte, and I still can't get the hang of Uptown. Every time I go, I end up frustrated, with sore feet, and sweaty from getting lost and walking so much. That being said, there may not be too many dishes coming from Uptown for awhile. However, this blog is way overdue so maybe I'm close to attempting it again.....sometime.....

Anyhoo, Shelly, Anna, and I traveled to the evil Uptown to eat at Luce. This little restaurant is set WAY back in a plaza and has no signs to let you know it's back there (can you sense my frustration?). After I calmed down and had some water, I enjoyed the free bread and the calamari appetizer my dining companions were kind enough to order as I was getting lost on the street. The calamari was breaded and served with a spicy marinara sauce, delicious and light enough to make you think you could eay way more than you should. I love calamari, but when they put the little ones on there that really LOOK like little squid creatures, I have to pass and stick to the other options on the plate.

For my main dish I ordered the Tagliatelle. Now I had a hard time finding where to get this dish because it was originally served at Coco Osteria, which is no longer in business. Thankfully, Luce still serves some of Coco's favorites, this dish included. One hundred dishes are hard to get through and, unfortunately, some of the restaurants are no more, making it difficult to complete my task! The tagliatelle is described as "spinach tagliatelle, porcini mushrooms, prosciutto, parmesan cream sauce."




Salty, creamy goodness

I used to be an Italian food lover, but it's usually so heavy that I really stopped liking it. However, doing this 100 dish thing, I've realized a couple of things - When it's made well, Italian food is FABULOUS and you can always get a to-go box!

The tagliatelle is pretty similar to fettucini and this one was made with spinach, so it was full of flavor. The cream sauce was pretty heavy, but there wasn't too much on the dish so it evened out. The prosciutto added a salty flavor that balanced well with the pasta and sauce. They also added fresh cheese on the top, which gave it a tangy flavor. I don't really like onions in certain dishes, so I really didn't eat these. I guess if you like onions, they would have been good, but I wouldn't know. Overall, this was a really good salty, creamy dish with perfectly cooked pasta. I am still a HUGE fan of Vivace's pasta, but Luce comes pretty close.

For dessert, of course, I had the tiramisu. I am still looking for tiramisu as good as it was in Boston.

This would not be it. It was served, as you can see, in a cup - not as the piece that I'm used to. It was good, as tiramisu usually always is, but it is definitely not up to the quality of Mike's Pastry Shop in Boston.

As far as the rest of Luce, we sat outside because it was beautiful weather. Their patio is really nice and it's fun to see all the business people coming out of the buildings. The wait staff was very attentive, given the fact I have no idea exactly how much water I drank because they kept filling it up. If only they had a little sign at the entrance to the plaza......

Chicken (not so) Little

Ali, Andi, and I went to The Roasting Company for dinner one night and it was fabulous. Just walking in and smelling the food was enough to make me start salivating like Pavlov's dog. This little gem of a restaurant is located on Montford Dr. and its menu is filled with a variety of Southern and Tex-Mex cuisine.

The Top 100 dish is the "Quarter Dark," which is basically a quarter of a chicken with dark meat. Not being a fan of dark meat, I edited my choice to the "Quarter White" and was much happier. It's served with 2 side dishes. On an interesting note, all of their side dishes contain no meat by-products, which is a little weird considering you're probably going to get some sort of chicken on every plate. Anyhoo, I got the squash casserole and smoked cheese and pasta salad. Andi got the chicken and rice, and Ali got the chicken and black bean combo.

Your order is taken at a bar area with a cash register and then they call out your name to pick up your food. It's kind of nice not to have a waiter - more self serve - but the ticket for a credit card still has a "tip" line on it. That always confuses me - am I supposed to tip someone just for taking my order? Anyway, our food came out in a reasonably short amount of time and it was delicious. The chicken is rotisserie so it's nice and moist and it was a huge portion. I ended up taking home half of my meal. The squash casserole almost looked like a cornbread dressing and I think it did have some sort of stuffing-like component to it. When I read the smoked cheese and pasta salad, I missed the salad part and thought it was some type of macaroni. Well, it's not - it's an actual pasta sald. No matter - it was really good. It had spinach, penne pasta, and cheese, and it was served cold. Everything tasted great the next day for leftovers too!

The second best part of the meal? TCBY was very close so we got dessert too!!  All in all, a really nice dining experience.

Pudding Parts 1 and 2

As evidenced by the title, this is a tale of 2 puddings. The first is the banana pudding at Savor Cafe and Catering. I went with Andi to this Morehead St. eatery (Ali unfortunately couldn't make it due to the hellish work day she'd had - something we all can symphathize with, no?). I parked at the Open Kitchen across the street and half expected the mean man that works there to come and yell at me. Thankfully that did not happen.


Although the dessert menu was my goal, I had to have dinner first. Darn you, rules of society! I chose the "Carolina Shrimp & Andouille Sausage Gravy over Yellow Stone-Ground Grits" and it was heavenly. Being from the South, I'm a bit odd in the fact that I don't usually like grits. The only time I had enjoyed them previously was when a classmate from Delaware made cheese grits on our Radiology rotation...strange. I chose this dish because it promised a bit of spiciness and I was not disappointed. There was enough food to make up 2 meals so that was even better. The grits were nice and creamy and the sausage was just spicy enough. The gravy made me want to lick the plate and the shrimp were cooked perfectly. Andi had the "Pan-Fried Chicken Cutlet" topped with pimento cheese and bacon. Only in the South would a dish like that make the cut. It wasn't exactly what she was expecting but she liked it.


Now, the Top 100 dish is the Banana Pudding - it's pillowy and light and comes with homemade vanilla wafers:

It was so filling but yet really light so it didn't leave me feeling too full. Besides, the shrimp/sausage/grits dish did that enough for me. I forced myself to finish it, despite not having too much room in my tummy just because it was so good. All in all, an A!


The next pudding tale is of bread pudding at Customshop. Shelly, Anna, and I ate at the King's Kitchen and then had dessert at Customshop in Elizabeth. Now, if you remember, Fran's has a superb bread pudding that really sets the bar high. Unfortunately, Customshop did not deliver. The bread pudding was GOOD, just not THAT good. Besides, it was super heavy and had a lot of extra stuff in it:

It was prety hard to eat given its small container, and there were bits of apple and walnuts in it that I wasn't too crazy about. I think the apples would have been good on their own without the walnuts. This dish would be much better on a really cold night if you haven't had a full meal right beforehand, but it's never going to be as good as Fran's. The one thing, however, that will keep me from forgetting this restaurant is the selection of naked man pictures in the women's restroom. Yes, you read me correctly. There are some strategic leaves placed in a couple of the pictures, but not all of them. It left me with a few questions: does the men's restroom have naked women pictures in it? are children allowed in the restaurant? should there be some sort of charge to use the facilities? how much time do the employees spend in the restroom on a daily basis?


I think I'm just going to leave you with that.....=0)

The Return of Charlotte Restaurant Week

I am super behind on my blogging, but I'm sure I will be forgiven. This post is about Charlotte Restaurant Week and let's not even talk about how long ago that was!

When I read that Charlotte Restaurat Week was a-comin', I knew I had only one goal - to get reservations at The Melting Pot. As soon as possible, I made said reservations online and thanked my lucky stars they were still available. We had to do it on a Sunday night because Fridays and Saturdays were already filled up, so let that be a lesson to you!

Shelly, Anna, and I went to the Midtown location and had a fabulous dinner that I still think about fondly from time to time. First off, the drinks - it was relatively close to Valentine's Day and so they had this strawberry deliciousness thing that I got - the Love Martini (made with Malibu rum, peach schnapps, cranberry juice, and fresh strawberries):
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You can't see it but there's a tag that says "drink me"

It was wonderful and gave me a nice little warm feeling that added to the happiness of the night (please don't interpret this to mean I'm addicted to alcohol).






Next up was the cheese course. We chose the Boston Lager Cheddar because it had some extra little herbs and, come on, it sounds great. The cheese course (if you haven't been there before) is served with different kinds of breads, veggies, and apples:


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Pot o' cheesy goodness

Then came the salad course. I got the house salad, which comes with "crisp romaine and iceberg lettuce, aged cheddar cheese, roma tomatoes, seasoned croutons, and sliced egg" (of course, nixing the tomatoes). By this time, I was really into dinner and completely forgot to take pictures.









Onto the next! We were in for a surprise for the main course because we assumed we'd have to order one choice for the whole table, but we EACH got to pick. Anna got the Coastal because she doesn't eat red meat. This choice included: "blackened scallops, sesame-crusted Ahi tuna, all natural breast of chicken, teriyaki sirloin, Pacific white shrimp, and spinach & artichoke ravioli." Shelly and I both got the American, which included: "seasoned choice Angus sirloin, filet mignon, Buffalo chicken, Old Bay shrimp, and wild mushroom sacchetti."


Once again, if you haven't been to The Melting Pot before, they bring out all these meats/seafood/etc raw and you cook them in a big pot in the middle. They also have fresh veggies and (my favorite) a choice of sauces. You get to pick a cooking style and we chose the Court Bouillon, which is just a nice broth that helps cook the food but doesn't really change the flavor. The sauces included a bleu cheese, sour cream, sweet and sour, teriyaki, and (my favorite) a curry sauce. You can see the remains of my dinner below:
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It doesn't get better than this

I can't remember what type of main course I've had before, but the combination of these two was great. The Ahi tuna was sushi grade, so you could just eat it raw or sear it. I'm not a fan of raw fish, so I chose to cook mine through, but Shelly seared hers and liked it. My personal favorites for the night were the buffalo chicken and Pacific white shrimp. But who am I kidding? I loved it all!


Now comes the piece de resistance (unfortunately not appropriately accented with French accents because I don't know how to do that on here) - DESSERT! I fought hard for the Original and didn't receive too much resistance. The Original is like eating a huge liquid Reese's Cup. It's milk chocolate with a swirl of crunchy peanut butter. Dessert fondue is served with fruit, crusted marshmallows (like crusted in oreos!), pound cake, and cheesecake that you just drizzle the chocolate on. I had recovered my senses enough to take a picture of this:
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Sweet, sweet happiness

My mouth waters just looking at it. It was the highlight of my night. No wonder Shelly and I (and Anna, behind the camera) looked like this:
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Clear eyes, full bellies, can't lose

Of course this was a great meal and I wouldn't change a thing. Of course I'm going to try desperately to make reservations at The Melting Pot every Charlotte Restaurant Week because we got ALL of this for $30 per person (+ the discounted drinks). NOBODY can beat that and no one should be expected to try. We're only human after all.

Seize the fork

One evening, Shelly, Anna, and I traveled to Elizabeth for dinner at Carpe Diem. If you remember my previous posts, Elizabeth also has a great ice cream shop. Also, upcoming is my visit to another restaurant in that area. I love going down there because it's easy to get to anfd there's FREE parking! Any restaurant that has that in Charlotte gets an automatic point in my book. Carpe Diem is a pretty fancy little place but we just wore our regular clothes and weren't treated any differently, so don't worry.


For an appetizer, we all had the goat cheese salad. The salad is mixed greens with wine poached onions and goat cheese mounds inside a hazelnut crust:

As you can see here, I added chicken to mine. Overall, I really enjoyed the salad. The goat cheese was delicious and I broke open the little "cakes" of it and spread it around on the salad. I even enjoyed the onions. The only thing I would have liked was something to add a bit of crunch to it. There were little carrot strings that helped, but some type of nut maybe would have been perfect to add some texture.

We also had dessert, but apparently I didn't take a picture of it, nor was it memorable enough for me to have any idea as to what it was....something with chocolate?

Overall, a delightful dinner and a good time with friends.

Opa or oops?

Shelly, Anna, and I traveled to the Greek Isles restaurant for dinner and baklava, a Top 100 dish. The thing I like most about Greek Isles? They have a parking lot! This seems like such a small detail, but it is very important when traveling into Charlotte, the land of paid parking garages.

We made reservations at the restaurant, but I don't think it's too hard to get in. They have a huge dining room, and we actually changed our reservation to an earlier time at the last minute. We did eat a little early but I've never seen a line there. For appetizers, we had the flaming cheese and a greek salad to split. The flaming cheese was wonderful and honestly the best dish all night.

For dinner, I had the Aegean Chicken, which is breaded chicken stuffed with artichoke hearts, feta, mushrooms, spinach, ouzo cream, rice, and asparagus. Here's the the kind of sad thing about Greek Isles. I've eaten there a few times and, every time I do, I get super excited about the food and feel a bit let down. I mean, it's good, but it's never as good as what I think it will be. Maybe it's my ordering, maybe it's my expectations, but that's what it is. This dish was good - honestly even better the next day - but the chicken was really thin and the dish was mostly about the stuffing. I was thinking it would be a big breast of chicken stuffed with some of the things mentioned. I mean, it WAS tasty, but just not what I expected.

For dessert I, of course, had the baklava.

Opa!

Here's what I have sadly discovered over time - I'm honestly not a fan of baklava! I know it's close to heresy but I've had so many and not really LOVED any of them so this has become my conclusion. I really do love the baklava sundae at the Greek Fest, but is this because it's mainly ice cream with baklava sprinkles?? Now, I'm not a fan of honey so that may be part of it. This baklava is soooo tall and was a little difficult to eat - VERY sweet. If you like baklava, you will love it and it is definitely worth it. If you're kind of on the no side like me....it's a bit much.

Honestly, this is a good restaurant and I will probably go again. The atmosphere is great, the service was fantastic, and the food was pretty good. I would like to find something there that I LOVE and it would complete the trifecta.

Give me Liberty or give me death!

My dining friends Ali and Andi went with me to The Liberty on South Blvd. for dinner one night. The Top 100 Dish is the Devils on Horseback - sounds interesting, yes? The restaurant is in a pretty cool little area, although parking was a bit rough. I might even suggest taking the little monorail to get there as it goes right by. After finding a space and getting in, we were all taken away by the ambience. This a pretty snazzy looking little restaurant, with dimmed lights and kegs used as fixtures. Unfortunately, we had to wait so long for a waitress that I had to re-visit the hostess stand to get one, so the service wasn't great that night. The food, however, was.

Devils on Horseback are grilled dates stuffed with bleu cheese and almonds wrapped in smoky bacon.



You really WANT me to be good



Sadly, I have to say that it wasn't my favorite part of the meal. I think the dates were the part that really threw it off. I love mixing savory and sweet (reference bacon-wrapped tater tots at Fran's) but somehow this just didn't quite cut it. However, the rest of the menu looked really good.

We all chose the Chicken and Dumplings (come on, it looked great!) and we were pleasantly surprised. This is not chicken and dumplings like you're thinking.

Not your mama's chicken and dumplings

Obviously, as you can see from the picture, it was like a huge chicken laying on a bed of veggies and gnocchi as dumplings. The dish was total comfort food, just like the original chicken and dumplings, and I couldn't really say anything bad about it. Alas, it paled in comparison to the dessert - Salted Caramel Budino.

You think Italian men look good? Take a look at me!

Budino is a type of Italian "pudding". This puppy has chocolate, salted caramel, butterscotch, and fresh cream. It is sooooooo sweet, but soooooo good. The only thing that would have made it better was a cup of coffee....why didn't I think of that???

All in all, this meal was wonderful - good friends, delicious food made up for not so great service....definitely trying this place again.

What the crepe?

All right, I know you've been wondering where I have been. It's been a long time since my last post. I have to say that I have been enjoying the food and not super looking forward to writing about it, but this is what I set out to do and I will continue it!

One day, I had the fortune of working in Cotswold, a prime location for some Top 100 dishes. I chose Cafe Monte for my lunch. Unfortunately, I received a call from my bosses right as I was seated, so I ended up talking to them and not ordering for awhile. By the time my Smoked Ham and Cheese Crepe came out, I had to shovel it in and put half in a to-go box!

The cafe is really cute - it gives an air of being outside while dining inside. There was some construction around it for a Whole Foods (yippee!) so it also took out some of my lunch hour trying to find out how to actually get to the restaurant. I had a cup of French Onion Soup to start:


Perfect for a cold day

The soup was definitely good, but I think I realized I'm more of a fan of the cheese than any actual french onion soup....



The crepe came out some time later and was definitely delicious, although eating anything very quickly can take away from the experience.



Breakfasty goodness

My first thoughts were of breakfast. The crepe had egg in it, which I wasn't expecting, and the bechamel sauce tasted a bit like gravy. I was a little thrown by what really tasted like a breakfast dish at lunch but, all in all, it was quite good. I would definitely like to re-visit Cafe Monte and sample some of the other menu items when I'm not in such a rush!

Now, onto the next:
I'm adding this little nugget in here because it wasn't technically a Top 100 dish, but it was mentioned in a little section in the article - eating illegal bread at Mez. I went to see Twilight: Breaking Dawn with Anna at the Epicentre. I was super excited because I could eat DINNER while watching a MOVIE in a theatre! Who came up with that? He/she is a genius. When I read the article, I thought they were talking about real "illegal" bread, like you're not supposed to take food in to a movie, but Mez has a dish called illegal bread and it's one of the dishes you can eat while enjoying a film. I ate WAY too much that night - I had been so excited that I hadn't really eaten a lot that day. The movie seats are comfy but the "table" that they give you to eat on and is not that big....at least not big enough for me. I had the illegal bread, a chicken salad, and then tiramisu for dessert. Unfortunately, I didn't take a picture of the tiramisu, but here's a pic of the bread:

OMG, it's so good. The description from the menu is "ricotta, feta, cream cheese in a phyllo pastry, tomato chow chow" and it is delicious. I should have just had the bread and tiramisu but my eyes were bigger than my stomach. This bread is soooo creamy and cheesy, it really should be illegal. The tomato chow chow was a bit confusing because I thought it was like a weak marinara...but still good.

The tiramisu was in a glass so it was more vertical than anything I've had so far. It had a pretty thick layer of cocoa on the top, which turned me off a bit, but the layers were good - still not as good as Mike's (sadly).

All in all, the movie was great, the food was delicious - I will definitely revisit this spot!

Not so Open Kitchen

A few weeks ago, Shelly and I went to the Open Kitchen on Morehead Street. This restaurant claims to be the first in Charlotte to serve pizza so it's been around awhile.  It was pretty easy to get there since it was right off of 277. Shelly and I got a table and waited for Anna to arrive and we were served bread in a basket while we looked over the menu. Here was the first disappointment. The bread was basically the kind of bread you could pick up at Walmart as a loaf and serve to friends at your house. It wasn't heated or served with any fun oils or spreads, just butter. They did have a few other options like those little hard breadsticks and crackers but for a really old Italian restaurant, it just didn't quite cut it.

The second disappointment? No mixed drinks. I'm not a wine or a beer person. In fact, I barely drink alcohol at all, but I certainly like a little something when I'm having a nice dinner. There was nothing available. I guess this isn't so weird because there have been a few other restaurants like that (Mert's Heart and Soul, you know I'm talking about you)...but I still don't like it. For dinner, Shelly and I each ordered the Chicken Parmigiana (the Top 100 dish). Anna got fettucine and added chicken. Here was the third disappointment. She asked if something green could be added - broccoli, etc. They had NONE. Who doesn't have broccoli in a restaurant? She ended up getting mushrooms on it instead. I also ordered the antipasto platter while Shelly and Anna got a Greek salad. Anna ordered the dressing on the side, but it came tossed in despite her wishes. The waitress also asked both of them if they wanted beets, which they did not, but didn't think to ask me...so I ended up with beets on my antipasto platter (which wasn't listed on the menu as one of the ingredients), necessitating me scraping them off before I could even enjoy the platter...and I was HUNGRY!

Our dinners came out and smelled delicious, renewing my hope for the evening. Anna's plate had a HUGE number of mushrooms on it, but it still looked good. Shelly's and mine looked good as well.


Chicken Parmigiana

Here was the next disappointment - the dish really wasn't that great. The chicken was pretty tough, the spaghetti on the side uninspired, and the sauce was only so-so. The best part was the cheese. They could've sent out a plate of the cheese and little bit of sauce and it would have been much better than what we were served.

The next disappointment: our check was not split into individuals and the man in charge seemed very angry with the waitress for not doing that. He looked at us like idiots when we started to list what our dishes were and made the waitress come up and figure it out. THEN, to our horror, he begin saying nasty things about a woman sitting near where we were. I guess she was having trouble deciding what to order and he said (very loudly) "Well, I'll make it easy. The kitchen is closed" and started muttering about her not making up her mind and wasting time.

All in all, I doubt a perfect plate of food would have made this experience better given the attitude of the man in charge and the things missing (fresh veggies, nice bread). I don't know if it was an off night, but I can assure you I will not be returning there to find out.

Give a little bit of heart and soul

Last night, I went uptown with Shelly and Anna to Mert's Heart and Soul for the veggie plate. A lot of the dishes left on my list are in uptown, which presents a problem. I HATE going uptown! If I knew where I was going or where to park, it would be awesome, but I always get lost. Last night was no exception. Shelly told me they had parked in this parking garage, which I thought I went to, but I actually parked in one a few blocks away, causing me to have to walk around uptown at night by myself. That's difficult for a girl who lives in Rock Hill!

Anyway, I made it to the restaurant unscathed and we all settled in for a delicious dinner. The veggie plate was the goal and we were super excited about all the veggies listed on the chalkboards. Unfortunately, they only had the whole selection at lunch. Dinner was a small (but also delicious) selection. So now it's time to confess. I didn't get the veggie plate! No judgment! My dinner was served with 2 veggies, which I thought was plenty. I would really like to go back one day for lunch and eat the veggie plate because they had some pretty awesome ones listed.

I had the salmon cakes with green beans and macaroni and cheese. Anna and Shelly got the fried chicken with 2 sides. The macaroni was delicious - all nice and creamy. The green beans were FABULOUS. They were actually a little sweet - so good! The salmon cakes were made differently than I've had them - they had some peppers and onions in them - but they were still good (not the best I've had but still really flavorful).

The epitome of comfort food

Anna and Shelly were underwhelmed by the fried chicken. However, when you've been to Savannah and had Paula Deen's and Mrs. Wilkinson's Boarding House chicken, it's hard to top that.

On to dessert! I had the strawberry cake, Shelly got caramel cake, and Anna got the peach cobbler. Everyone was a fan of my strawberry cake:

Strawberries never looked so good

Anna's cobbler was really good as well. Shelly was underwhelmed by her caramel cake but it looked tasty! Best of all, there were leftovers! Even better of all, the meal came with little cornbreads that were soooo good - nice and sweet like I like them! All in all, a very good dinner, but I would really suggest going for lunch so you can have all the side options.

Oh, and PS - if you want to do something fun, look up the YouTube video of the song "Heart and Soul" by T'pau - I love the 80's!!

I'm sorry...WHAT kind of pizza??

So it's been a SUPER long time since I blogged, which I'm sure you are all broken up about. Come on, be honest!

Several weeks ago, I traveled to Brixx Pizza in Dilworth to eat with two of my favorite vets, Ali and Andi. The Top 100 Dish at Brixx is the Pear and Gorgonzola Pizza. Let's start at the beginning. I ordered a nice fruity margarita drink that came to me tasting very much like salt. I asked for another one, which was just as bad. Andi had the same drink but hers tasted much better. She actually ended up switching with me, which was super nice of her. However, by that time, the salty taste had inundated my taste buds and that's all I could taste. The manager came by and I ended up drinking a very delicious Cosmopolitan. Lesson learned - ask for NO SALT on all margaritas. I feel bad for Andi because I'm pretty sure her drink wasn't so great after we switched (you know it's true! I owe you one!).

After the drink debacle, we moved onto dinner. We ordered our pizzas and they came out super fast!


When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie....



I really liked this pizza. I was pretty hesitant given the description, but all the flavors worked together really well. The pizza had a nice thin crispy crust, the cheese was deeeeeelicious, and the pears added that nice sweetness to contrast with the saltiness of the cheese. There were toasted walnuts on top and those added a contrasting texture. There were also sweet onions - I ate a few, but not a lot. The pizza was a really nice size - I ended up only eating a little bit and taking the rest home. The pizza wasn't AS good reheated, but still pretty awesome.

Now, of course, given this is an "Italian" restaurant (Italian in quotes only because it's really just pizza and stuff like that), they had tiramisu on the menu. Obviously, I had to try it. Ok, so no one twisted my arm, but I'm on a quest!



That's amore...



This tiramisu was one of my favorites. The more I thought about it, the less like Mike's I thought it was, but it was still pretty awesome. I think the key to this tiramisu is all that chocolate you see (my friend Nicole would LOVE it). I think a huge part of Mike's tiramisu is the fluffy ladyfingers layer, which this one was really close to. However, Mike's also has the huge layers of creamy goodness on top and bottom of the lady fingers. Brixx is different, but still really good, possibly one of the better ones I've had.

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!