Food Truck Finale

Posted on by

November Food Truck Friday

I was both happy and sad to head to Food Truck Friday this month.  Happy because it was a beautiful clear fall evening after days of rain and sad because it was the last one of the year.  When I arrived I got to see a rare benefit of the time change and that was the darkness really settting off the decorations they put up around the park.

The Christmas tree felt a little early but it was nice to look at and people were digging it.

I had a plan in mind for the food truck I was going to hit since I’d seen the list of trucks and map of locations.  I swung by the brew tent on my way to the target.  I got a Lonerider Viggo which was a smooth Oktoberfest lager that paired well with the chilly evening.  Beverage secured I headed for the Carolina Seafood truck.  The designated slot was empty, just a lone cone with a space number designation.  My plans were dashed but the bulgogi quesadilla from a truck I passed on the way seemed like a reasonable back up plan and I turned around to retrace my steps.

I slowed down to glance at the menu board for the Comfort Food on Wheels truck and the barker decided to pull me in.  He stepped over and proceeded to tell me about the great things they had on the menu starting with mango jerk chicken wings and chicken and waffles and great big chicken tenders, etc, etc.  I stopped him and decided to get the mango jerk chicken and waffles.  Well I think what we did was make up something new because when he told them the order the two guys cooking in the truck just looked at him like they didn’t understand the language he was speaking.  He had to tell them twice how to make the order happen and they eventually got it and I got my meal.

 

Those were some jumbo wings and quite saucy.  I expected it to be spicy but it was all the jerk with none of the heat and that was ok but I’d have liked a bit of pepper.  The mango was so subtle as to be almost non-existent but that didn’t really matter as the jerk flavor was good and the wings were meaty.  The waffle was whole wheat and they provided cinnamon maple syrup to go with it.  The waffle had a spongy cakelike consistency that I took advantage of and just pulled into quarters and dipped the sections in the syrup.  I was a big fan of that cinnamon syrup I have to say.  After finishing up the meal and using every scrap of napkin I had clean my face and hands I headed to the other beer tent to secure an after dinner, listening to the band libation.

The lady working the tent asked what I wanted and I said I was checking out the selection and she said “Oh we have some interesting choices this time.”  Of course my response was “Tell me more about those interesting choices,” and she offered to let me taste for myself the most interesting of the lot in her opinion.  The beer was from Amor Artis Brewing Co in Fort Mill just up the road and was called Walk in the Woods.  So as I was bringing the cup up for a sip I got a whiff of the beer and wasn’t quite sure what I was getting until the beer hit my tongue.  Pine, it was pine I was tasting.  She looked at me and said “what do you taste?” and of course I mentioned the pine and she added that there was also some oak bark and other stuff.  I took another sip and decided to go ahead and get a full cup.  When I asked for it her reaction of “Really?!?” and the face she made was worth it.  I took the what I now know was a Belgian golden ale with locally gathered pine needles, sweetgum leaves, and white oak bark and grabbed a seat to listen to the band.

I got about half way through the Walk in the Woods and decided even though it had some nice citrus notes as well the overall experience was too much like a beer that had a pine tree air freshner dunked in it.  The trio line dancing to Play that Funky Music also pushed me towards the exit even though they were kind of pulling it off.  So until next spring I’ll have to go afield if I want food truck fare.

 

Russian Yum

Posted on by

Russian Snacks

The October box from Universal Yums was loaded with snacks from the continents spanning country of Russia.

 

The nice thing was there were none that I really disliked but it was also pretty easy to come up with the “worst yum” for me as well.

As usual there was a nice mix of sweet and savory leaning more toward the sweet end of the snack scale.  My favorite was also the first snack I tried, the Blackurrant Zefir.

This snack was a chocolate covered marshmallow cream with black currant. The layer of chocolate was very thin and brittle. The marshmallow filling was the star. It was a bit firmer than marshmallow fluff and a nice tangy mix of black currant throughout. Really tasty and a winner from the start.

My second favorite was the Grapefruit Chocolate bar.

It had a very good quality dark chocolate providing a thick shell for a creamy filling.  The filling had a significant grapefruit taste.  It was authentic enough I expected a bitter aftertaste that never came.  It was just the citrusy grapefruit goodness with some sweetness that melded well with the slightly bitter dark chocolate.

The worst of the lot was the Holodets and Horseradish Husks.

I didn’t know what holodets was until I read it in the booklet.  It is cold meat jelly and that put visions of that congealed nonsense you wipe off of spam or something like souse.  Either way not an appetizing picture to start.  When I opened the package I got a whiff of something that smelled vaguely meaty but not appetizing.  Husk apparently means something like breadstick.  These were rye bread bits and I figured getting past the smell would get me a sinus clearing taste of horseradish but it was very very mild.  The texture was like a crouton and since they weren’t very good just eating them from the bag I tried eating them with a bowl of homemade vegetable soup.  They didn’t ruin my soup so they had that going for them.  Anyway not the best.

The most unusual wasn’t anything weird but more like something unexpected in the Tula Pryanik.

This was a nice big gingerbread cake made with milk and honey.  The Russian writing was raised and the whole thing was about an inch thick and had a thin line of filling in the middle that was brown and sweet.  The cake itself had about the same consistency as a cake doughnut and the gingerbread taste was milder than just about anything gingerbread in the US.

In addition to the ones pictured there was a toffee with peanuts, shishkabob potato crisps, fairy tale roll cakes, wheat snacks that were shallot and potato flavored, salmon and cheese husks and a big old pack of milk cookies with a chocolate glaze on the bottom.  Oh yeah the bag of candies was great with forest fairy honey peanut delights, juicy light peach & apricot jellies, and caramel dreams that had no caramel but did have lemon fondant and apple jam.

Good box of snacks.  If I read the clues right next months featured country it Holland.  I bet it’ll be Gouda.  (I’m not even ashamed)

 

 

What a Jerk

Posted on by

Caribbean Food Truck

The evening for the October Food Truck Friday in Rock Hill was just about as good as you could ask for.  The weather was clear and cool, 64 degrees or 18 for the Celsius crowd.  The attire varied from shorts and t-shirt like myself to people wearing honest to God coats and beanies, not jackets mind you but full on coats.  To each their own but I thought it was great.

As per usual I grabbed a beverage, in this case a NoDa Brewing Premium Roasted Breakfast Coffee stout.  It was smooth and like a lot of breakfast blends a hint of coffee flavor.  I walked the area enjoying the weather and band looking for something that called to me.  I thought about the vegan burrito food truck because this is about trying new things but these folks always get started late so I passed them by without a tear.

After strolling and perusing I chose to go with Marlie Q’s caribbean food truck.  They had some decent looking options and while the stewed ox tail was tempting the jerk chicken with some beans & rice sounded like the way to go.

I’ll say up front the sign clearly said this was spicy and they were not lying.  It had a great jerked spice flavor and it was.  The rice and beans were scalp tingling, nose running, brow sweat producing hot as well.  One thing though was you could taste the pepper flavor and not just the heat so it was well done.  The chicken breast was good sized and cooked tender enough it came off the bone easily.

As this was not a meal that lent itself mobile dining I shared a table with a couple dining on something from another truck.  I didn’t pay much attention until the lady said, “Wow you left me a lot of mac & cheese” and the guy said “that’s because I’m a great boyfriend”.  I chuckled and they both took notice and the guy said, “I have to get points where I can since I’m usually called an a-hole” and the lady straight faced said “It’s true”.  We all laughed and I finished up before they wanted to be friends.

I swung by the beverage tent and since everyone else was doing it I got a Dogfish Head Punkin Ale to enjoy while I listened to the band.  Pumpkin ales I’ve tried in the past have been hit or miss and often cloying with the amount of pumpkin spice.  This one did it well.  There was enough pumpkin and pumpkin spice to make you reminiscent for that last slice of pumpkin pie you had rather than hitting you in the face with the pie.

The band was quite good, Chunky Daddy played a varied set list that included, rock, soul, country and ranged from 70s to more recent stuff like Wagon Wheel.  I also saw a guy who I think was unintentionally cosplaying David Tennant’s Dr Who.  Dude looked just like him from clothes to haircut to glasses.

Overall it was a good second to the last FTF of the year and the fountain was looking great in the evening light.

 

OMB

Posted on by

Germany

OMB could stand for Oh My! Beer or October Means Beer or Olde Mecklenburg Brewery  In this case it’s the last one.  Since it is October and the temperatures finally started acting like it’s Fall it felt like a weekend for some German food.

Although I’ve had some of their beer before I’d never been to the restaurant at the brewery.  I checked out the menu online to make sure they had German food on the menu and not just bar food. They did so off I went.

It was a relatively short jaunt up the interstate to find Olde Meck which happened to be within sight of a cider company I visited a while back.  OMB is really more of a complex of buildings and a huge biergarten.  The restaurant is large also with a bar area and at least two seating areas I saw.  One has regular tables and the other has several rows of tables butted up to one another making long community tables.  Outside there is a covered area with picnic style tables and the biergarten which has row upon row of picnic tables to accommodate at least a couple of hundred people.

I got there fairly early and they had the seat yourself sign out and it was easy to do since I was the only person inside.  I’d have opted for the biergarten had the sun been out.  Anyway the service inside was good and I had a menu and beer list in just a minute.  Since it was an option I got a flight of 4 different beers to go with the meal.  For the meal I selected the Teller plate that included two sausages, a roll and two sides.  From the options I went with a regular bratwurst and Nuremburger brats plus sauerkraut and potato salad.

The flight came first and included a handy key in case I couldn’t have picked out the beers on my own.  I started with the Captain Jack, a pilsner that was a perfect option for Bud drinkers.  The food arrived and I had the Mecktoberfest and the Copper with my meal.  The Mecktoberfest tasted a lot like a full bodied version of the pilsner which made it better in my opinion.  The Copper is reddish in color like the name suggests and has a hoppier flavor but not like the overdone IPAs.

Looking at the plate it occurred to me I probably could have used a little color on the plate but what was done was done.  The wursts were good quality sausages, the mustard was a good slightly coarse vinegary style, the sauerkraut was plain tangy kraut served warm.  The potato salad was good but not great and served cold.  I think it would have been better served warm.  The bread was warm though and a bit dense and chewy.  Nice meal that paired well with the beer.

I finished up with the Fat Boy Porter (don’t make the obvious joke, you’re better than that).  It was my favorite of the four having a bolder taste, slightly sweet with a hint of caramel and the higher alcohol content was noticeable.  Nice desert.

Based on the number of seats OMB must be popular at times and certainly has capacity to host large events and the food and beer were worth the drive.  One note for the true German beer aficionados OMB adheres to Reinheitsgebot so they have a few different types of beer but the ingredients are the limited to the 4 approved.

If you didn’t check out the Tell Me More the last time I posted for Germany check it out for a little extra content.

 

 

Thailand Yum

Posted on by

Siamese Snacks

The September Yum snack box was Thailand themed and continued the streak of fun boxes loaded with interesting and unusual snacks.

 

I’ll continue highlighting my favorite and number two as well as the worst and most unusual but I’m also going to mention a couple of the others that just need to be touched on because they were both weird and weirdly good.

So the favorite was the first one I tried from the box.

Coconut Snack Bites sounded like a can’t go wrong and that big package looked like it was going to be a two session snacking event.  Alas it was a case of excess packaging but the contents were delicious.  They were little round golden brown crispy treats with a nice toasted coconut flavor. Real shredded coconut that was not too sweet so you got the natural coconut taste.  The package says crispy and yummy and I concur.

My number two was the Coconut Cream-O Choco Plus.

This was a five pack of two cookie sleeves so they were easy to parcel out and enjoy several times.  The cookies had chocolate and coconut flavored caramel. The cookie part tasted like a regular butter cookie that had a well in the center lined with a very thin layer of caramel with coconut flavoring at the bottom and topped with chocolate. The chocolate was soft, the caramel was a bit chewy and the cookie was crumbly. All working in harmony to provide an enjoyable snack.

The worst snack was the only snack I haven’t finished from any box to date.

Big Roll Grilled Seaweed roll Tom Yum Goong flavor.  This was the second snack I tried from the box and thank goodness it was not indicative of the rest of the box.  I’m not a seaweed hater but the mascot looks like Eric Cartman so maybe that should have been a hint.  Man was this not good.  It was a thin, fragile seaweed roll that was flaky and on first taste had a strong salty sea / fishy taste and then I forgot about that as the hot and sour flavor came to the fore.  The hot and sour wasn’t bad but trying to get by that fishy salty nastiness wasn’t worth it with a box of other choices.  One of which was the most unusual.

Sticky rice with coconut cream and mango.  Living up to the name it was very moist and sticky.  Unusual but quite tasty.  At first the coconut and mango were both mild flavors but definitely present.  Then as I got into it there turned out to be a very ripe piece of mango in the center of the sticky rice.  The look, feel and texture could easily be off-putting but it was a tasty little snack once you got past all that.

Two others I liked that were just odd enough I wanted to share them as well.

The Juzi-C gummy strip was a spicy pineapple fruit roll up type of snack.  The strip itself was thin, flat and coated with a light dusting of sugar crystals.  A bite of the stretchy treat got you a sweet pineapple taste that resolved into an eye opening spicy sweet treat.  It wasn’t too hot when balanced by the sugar but it was definitely not something you have every day.

The other was a savory snack.  Jack ‘n Jill sausage and sweet chili potato rings.  This snack was on my radar to be in the weird column because it had a hot dog on the package and it was unusual. They were wee little crunchy rings.  After I opened the package the first thing to hit me was the smell.  They smelled like hot dogs so the package was no lie and as I was eating them the immediate impression was the same but a microsecond after they hit your tongue the sweet chili flavor takes over. Not bad but staying in the weird column.

I signed up for a 6 month subscription and this was box 5 and unless box number 6 totally tanks I’m definitely going to let the auto renew go through.  If you’re interested in securing a box or more for yourself use the link below and you’ll get $5 off and so will I on my future purchases.

Universal Yums referral link

 

Rock the Grill

Posted on by

BBQ Cook-off

The week found me heading back downtown in Rock Hill for the Rock the Grill event.  Now that fall is here and the temperatures are less hellish the second festival / outdoor event season has arrived as well.  This one had all the makings for a great afternoon; classic car show, live music, kids area, wood carving display, a theoretical moonshine tasting, food trucks and the star of the show a KCBS cooking competition with public tasting.  I mean seriously that’s a great day.

I went early for a couple of reasons.  First I was afraid this might be popular enough the tasting tickets would run out and also there was a football game on at 3:30 I had to be home for.  They had this in the same area where the Food Truck Fridays are but they closed off a few more streets so I got to come in along one of the car show areas and there were some nice ones.

I knew the public tasting was $10 but I wasn’t sure how it was going to work until I got there.  Turns out they give you 10 tickets and two tokens and I also later learned the BBQ butt samples were 1 ticket each and the ribs were 2 tickets and the tokens were for you to vote for your two favorites.  Now you could certainly purchase more bundles at $10 a shot but I figured this would do me and I was right.  Now that I had the important part down I headed for what you may have noticed I called a theoretical moonshine tasting.  The tasting was supposed to be held at the historic White Home.

I got there and didn’t see any activity which I’ll grant I hadn’t expected a lot since it was 11:00 am.  Now I know some of you may be saying “Moonshine before noon, is he a lush?”  No, my thought was to give that a try early so by the time I needed to leave and drive home all traces of the moonshine would be gone.  So I head into the house that is a museum to focused on a prominent family in the area.  I was greeted by a really nice lady who apologized that the moonshiners hadn’t shown up yet even though she didn’t have anything to do with the event.  Since I was there I decided to pop for the $5 and tour the house which is a really great old house with displays and infographics in each room.  After killing about an hour there and still no sign of the shine I headed over to the beer tent since it was noon and getting warmer.

I wouldn’t otherwise mention the beer tent visit because I just got a Windy Hill Gala Peach cider and I’ve mentioned them before but while I was there I did get a good laugh.  As I’m getting my cider a guy comes around the tent with a container of pickles (they had a specialty dill pickle dealer on site) offering to share.  One lady at the beer tent waved them away with a shiver but another said “Oh, I love dill pickles I’ll take one”.  She grabbed one and was just crunching down on it as the guy says “Yeah, they’re the spicy horseradish ones”.  Her face was priceless. Four out of five people there had a little chuckle as she gamely finished the pickle slice.  I still had an hour or so to kill before the tasting started and that sounded like some time to spend enjoying the live music.

Based on the two acts I heard; the Maggie Valley Band, and The Drovers Old Time Medicine Show, they could have called it Country the Grill although neither would classify themselves as country I’m sure.  In fact according to their respective websites they are dark Appalachian & moonshine fueled bluegrass.  Anyway they were talented even if there weren’t a dozen people watching either one while I was there.  The bubble guy was busy though.

At last the time had come and the tasting was starting.  As I mentioned earlier you were sold tickets and tokens and each contestant was given a number and a table where their entries were served but you had no idea which belonged to a particular team.  There were 27 entries although I don’t think they all got their meat delivered on time as there were some empty spots.  As a taster you went up to one of the tables that struck your fancy and exchanged one ticket for a sample of butt and / or 2 tickets for ribs.  The teams were required to cook chicken and brisket as well but that was not part of the public tasting.  I guess those were judged by the KCBS (Kansas City Barbecue Society for anyone wondering) judges.  As it happens I am a butt guy and got just one token rib.  In any case there were plenty of ribs and butts and not a vegetable in sight.

It was interesting as the table volunteers varied in how full they fill the sample cup.  I’ll admit when I first saw the little sample I was thinking “That’s all?” but when you pile 8 of them and a rib on a plate I got my money’s worth.  For the most part the little cups provided two or three bites of each, enough to give you a good idea of the flavor and the texture.  One contestant though did chop theirs a bit coarse and you can see the one at the top of the plate has a huge hunk of meat in the cup.

Also depending on the volunteer you might get to pick the rib you wanted or they’d just reach in and grab one at random.  For my one rib I happened to get a young lady who let you pick so I got a nice meaty one.  None of the meat was heavily sauced but most did have some type of sauce or rub.  Those ranged from sweet to savory and some had a mild spiciness.  My two favorites were one that had no sauce but a great smokey flavor that permeated the meat throughout and not just on the surface and another that was a bit like a Carolina vinegar but not quite as tangy and with some other flavor I couldn’t quite identify but it was very good.  Those two got my votes but I was happy with all the entries.

Now lest you think this was a carnivore only event at least two of the food trucks had vegan options as well as normal food.

In closing I also want to mention this is held to benefit Miracle Park Rock Hill which is really cool and worth a click on the link.

Overall I’d say this was a successful culinary outing and I can’t wait to see what next year brings.

Fork in the Road

Posted on by

Food Truck Friday

September’s entry continued the win streak for good food and good music even if it was hot and humid.  This month I didn’t do any pre-planning as to which truck I wanted to hit so I knew I’d be strolling the streets looking for something that struck my fancy.  Since street strolling is thirsty business I stopped by the beverage tent to secure something to enjoy as I roamed.  I wasn’t sure if it would be too heavy in the heat but I decided to take a chance on the Warlock Imperial Stout.

As you can see it was a dark like a stout should be but fortunately it wasn’t as heavy as some stouts and had a nice smooth taste and a cinnamony spiciness.  Subsequently I learned it has pumpkin and pumpkin spice in it.  You can’t escape that stuff this time of year.  As I took the first sip I got an interesting view.

Looked like the moon was rising like a bubble from the clouds.  Anyway from there I moved through the passel of food trucks arrayed around the park until I spotted the Roaming Fork food truck and that seemed like the perfect option since I was roaming too.

The menu board had some interesting looking items and from them I chose the Truffled Mushroom Swiss burger and for my side I decided to stick with the theme and get the Parmesan Truffle Fries.

As the picture shows it was a decent size burger with a generous helping of toppings.  The burger was a thick preformed patty that was served on a quality bun and a bed of lettuce and topped with bacon, swiss cheese, mushrooms, an aoli and crispy onions.  If it sounds good that’s because it was.  The fries were ok.  They had a crunchy coating and some truffle oil and grated Parmesan cheese.  The serving size was generous enough I didn’t finish them all.

I grabbed a spot to eat that had a good view of the band, Radiojacks, and the fountain.

I also had a dead on view of I what I decided to call disappointment corner.  When I sat down there was a lady standing there scanning the crowd and pacing and every minute or so checking her phone.  This went on through Superstition and two more songs before she walked away looking unhappy.  She wasn’t gone more than a minute before another lady showed up and basically repeated the process through All About that Bass and two more songs then walked away with a determined look.  Finally as I wrapped up the burger a guy stopped in the same spot and started checking his phone and looking around.  I didn’t stick around to find out if he left disappointed as well because I was dry and needed another drink.

The after dinner drink was a local brew, Whistleblower Watermelon Wheat, from Legal Remedy.  It was another chancy move as I figured it could only be really good or really crap.  Fortunately it was pretty good.  Nice refreshing wheat beer with a definite watermelon flavor.  The way the carbonation acted it was more bubbly throughout the full glass than most beers.  I wouldn’t want it to be my go to beer but it was a fine accompaniment to listening to a talented band and people watching on a hot humid evening.

Only two more Food Truck Fridays this year and I hope the trend of good meals continues.

 

Jazzy Lunch

Posted on by

Mediterranean

Last weekend I was out running an errand and happened to notice one of the newest local restaurants in Rock Hill, Jasmine Grill.  They took over a place that had been a fast food joint specializing in gyros and when I saw they were a Mediterranean place I wasn’t sure it was much more than a name change.  I decided to stop in and check them out anyway and I’m glad I did.  The place had been open 4 days and they didn’t even have their menu boards up.

They’ve adapted the old fast food set up so they have table service plus a counter where you can place take out orders or pick up called in orders.  At this time it was a seat yourself and the dude working the floor would get around to you.  So they weren’t fast but it’s not because they weren’t hustling because the counter guy and the floor guy were busting their butts.

The menu was definitely more than fast food Mediterranean.  They have some standards like various kebabs, shawarma, wraps, salads, etc.  I got the beef & lamb shawarma plate which came with two sides from a choice that included hummus, baba ganoush, white & yellow rice, fries, fatuch, labneh, or a house salad.  I chose hummus and yellow rice.

First out was the hummus so I had something to snack on while I was waiting for the main event.  There were two toasted pitas that served as delivery systems for the delicious hummus.  A great way to whet the appetite.

The shawarma was served with a spicy pepper and a yogurty white pasty substance on the side.  After a taste of the pepper sauce to see how hot it was I dumped the lot on the meat and added the white stuff and stirred it all up and it was a delicious combo.  I did taste the meat prior to added either of the sides and it was tasty with neither added but it was better with them.  The yellow rice was jasmine rice (what other kind would it have been) with a little carrot and peas added.  Not a ton of flavor by itself but a good accompaniment to the shawarma and wow was the duo filling.  They also have natural juices as well as tea and soft drinks so I took the chance to have some guava juice as well as tea to wash down this great meal.

If they sustain the level of patronage they were getting while I was there they will be very successful and I hope they are because I can see this becoming a regular place to grab some grub.

 

Just Graft No Corruption

Posted on by

Another DragonCon Edition

The Labor Day weekend and a few days before found me in Atlanta for DragonCon and visiting friends.  While at the con I stuck pretty much to known quantities and hit restaurants I’ve mentioned before in previous posts.  In some cases lunch is just a respite from the multitudes and the food is the same old, same old but I do want to mention two before I jump into the new place I visited.

Truva is a Turkish restaurant that I have been going to for years and I really enjoy the calm relaxing atmosphere, service and food.  I do try to sample something new each time and this time I had the Adana Kebab with an Efes beer.

 

I have to start by mentioning the warm bread that’s delivered with some olive oil and balsamic vinaigrette dipping sauce.  I love this bread and they are not stingy with it.  That and planning the rest of my days con schedule kept me busy until the adana kebab arrived.  As you can see from the photo it was a traditional ground meat, in this case lamb, formed and skewered kebab.  It was nicely spiced with red bell peppers, onions, a bit of red and black pepper plus other spices.  The salad was essentially shredded lettuce and no big deal but the grilled tomato and rice went nicely with the kebab.  The yogurt sauce also added a nice touch.  The Efes beer was a pilsner that didn’t have any special characteristics but was refreshing on the warm day.

The next place I wanted to mention again was the Pacific Rim Bistro where I got some nice sushi.

This is a busy joint during the con and they have seats around the sushi making station so you can see the chefs crafting it while you wait and it’s easy for a singleton to get seated.  You also get to meet new people who strike up random conversations about their trip from Michigan to Georgia and what their particular brands of geekdom are.  So what I’m saying is it’s a good place to get some lunch, R&R and make new friends.  I decided to let the professionals work for me and selected the Sushi Lunch Combo A.  This came with soup or cucumber salad, 5 pieces of nigiri sushi, 3 pieces of tuna roll, 4 pieces of California roll and Inari tofu (that’s the weird looking brown thing at the front of the sushi plate).  The cucumber salad was delivered first and I only got a few bites before the sushi was delivered so speed was something they did well.  The cucumbers were good and a nice change from the usual green salad offerings.  The sushi was fresh tasting and delicious and while it wasn’t spectacular it was a great variety and value in my opinion.  The Inari tofu was totally new to me and I didn’t have any idea what it was.  I lifted up the brown envelope looking thing and saw there was only rice under it so I figured it couldn’t be too dangerous.  The texture was a little odd, kind of rubbery, but the taste was ok.  It was a little sweet so it was appropriate I saved it until last and decided to dub it dessert.  Overall another good visit.

The last place I’m going to mention was actually the first restaurant I visited on my trip south.  As part of my DragonCon tradition I have the opportunity to share a great meal with my friend Sharon and she had scoped this place out ahead of time.  Graft Restaurant is a farm to table place in Grayson, GA.  It’s located in an old home and is loaded with heavy dark wood and a warm welcoming atmosphere.  The night we went was also a live music evening so we got a bit of a show as well.  Our server Kai (I’m guessing on that, I know it started with a K and rhymed with eye) was more than willing to go over the menu and explain what the evenings dishes were based on that days ingredients.  In the end I went with a couple of appetizers and Sharon got a salad with grilled chicken and I had a waiting beer and a meal beer.

The apps I opted for were the venison sliders and the twice cooked fries with cider vinegar aioli dipping sauce.  The venison sliders were cooked medium well and had some braised collards and a light tangy sauce all between a slightly sweet slider bun.  Very tasty.  It didn’t mention the sliders came with fries so I’d ordered the additional fries so there were a lot of taters on the table.  The aioli dipping sauce was very good bringing to mind a mash up of the vinegar the UK folks like with their chips and the mayo that the Dutch like with theirs.  Sharon reported the salad was good and the baby kale wasn’t bitter at all and the grilled chicken was great.  The beers I had were both from Akedemia Brewing in Athens, GA.  The dark one was the Hades’ Hounds Hunker Down Brown (any UGA fans will know why I had to have that one) and the other was Lemon Drop Blanc saison.  The brown ale was decent and had a nice malty taste with a bit of extra sweetness and the saison had a tart citrus flavor that was easy to sip as we chatted and listened to music (once they got the volume right and we could converse without yelling).

As I mentioned at the start Graft was a welcoming place and not only was Kai great but there was another woman walking around making sure everything was good and doing the needful.  And I don’t know if it was just us and the table next to us but when items got delivered it was a shared experience of “ooh what’s that?” & “that looks good” so there was a sense of camaraderie going on.  If you find yourself in the metropolitan Grayson area you should give them a try.

 

Thai One On

Posted on by

Thailand

This restaurant has been on my list since the beginning of the blog but I could never catch it when open when I was in the mood for Thai.  This time though it was an unplanned visit as I noticed it was open when I was on my way to run another errand so I hit the brakes hard and swung into the parking lot (much to the annoyance of the twerp who had been following too close in spite of having a free lane to the left, so bonus).

The restaurant in question is Sila Thai.  I’d seen good reviews for the place on Yelp & Google and it was only a couple of miles from the house so I had great hopes for my lunch and those hopes were met.  First impressions.  The place shares a building with a Chinese restaurant, they are essentially back to back so it made me wonder if they shared a kitchen and my hopes were going to be dashed for authentic Thai.  Upon entering it looks like a lot of other Asian restaurants with some decorations clearly from Thailand.  They do have a bar to the left of the main seating area that is also the counter where you pay on the way out.  I was greeted and seated quickly by a pleasant lady who welcomed me to the restaurant.  There weren’t many people there when I arrived but there were a lot when I left.

They have a nice lunch menu with a two price plan, $8 for chicken or tofu and $9 for beef or pork and then 3 pages of dishes to which you can add one of those.  The list varies from Sauteed dishes to fried rices, curries and noodles.  Plus you got a soup or salad and vegetable dumpling.  I chose the egg drop soup.

This egg drop soup was different than any I’d had before.  Upon first slurp I noticed it had a significant sesame oil component, which I quite liked.  Next was the vegetables which were swimming around in there, carrots, peas, corn & tofu, not a lot of any of them but enough add some color and additional textures.  Enjoyable start.  For my entree I’d chosen the Pad Woon Sen from the Noodle section of the menu since it was something I had never tried before.

I would definitely recommend this dish.  This was a significant plate of food.  The base was clear glass noodles and it also had cabbage, cauliflower, red & green peppers, onions, mushrooms, baby corn, zucchini, sprouts, eggs, and chicken with a brown sauce.  Wow, there were a lot of different textures to go along with the noodles and there was not a lot of any one thing but enough to get a taste of each.  The chicken was grilled and that brown sauce was like a smokey, slightly sweet soy sauce that I found delicious.  Oh yeah and there was a vegetable dumpling that wasn’t bad but it was a vegetable dumpling so I had low expectations anyway.

A couple more general notes.  The staff was all very friendly.  They have spicy dishes and like many Thai restaurants I’ve been too they let you specify the spiciness on a 1-5 scale so you can try those dishes without being afraid of frying your taste buds.  The food was delivered fast and hot, I hadn’t finished the egg drop soup before the pad woon sen was delivered so this is a reasonable option for people trying to grab lunch on a lunch break from work.  They had some deserts that I was thinking about trying but there was so much food in the main meal I just didn’t have the room.

Overall I’d say I’m sorry I didn’t make more of an effort to try them sooner and I will definitely be going back for some non-blog lunches.  If you didn’t check out the Tell Me More page last time Thailand was the subject check it out now.