Church Pub?

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Ireland

It’s been a couple of weeks since the last blog due to life so this is from a visit a couple of weeks ago.

As part of the life stuff my sisters and I were visiting my Father in the hospital and we decided to go out and grab some lunch in Durham, NC.  We strolled one of the downtown streets looking for something struck our fancy among the many options available and Bull McCabe’s Irish Pub fit the bill.  It might have had something to do with its being at the end of the street where we decided we were going to turn around but nevertheless it won out over the plethora of other options.

This place has quite a bit of outside seating on a porch running the length of the building and a lawn to add more or have events.  We decided to eat inside amid the interesting decor.  The pub is long and narrow and said decor is a mix between a church, library and soccer (football for the non-Americans) pub.

The booths are old pews with some high back wood panels and there are bookshelves with old books and knickknacks plus lights of a lantern design with crosses that makes the place feels like they plundered an old church for the furnishings.  It was a cool look.  As you can see from the second picture they have various team jerseys on the ceiling and a ton of TVs around the bar.  It was a nice atmosphere and the server was very pleasant and answered our questions on the beers with tact concerning the ones she didn’t care for or had not tried.  I got a local Lynwood Brewing Concern Bill & Ted’s Excellent Amber since it was a bit warm for a Irish stout.

The menu isn’t loaded with traditional Irish fare so I opted for a dish that did have a nod to Ireland, corned beef macaroni & cheese and a side decidedly not Irish, creamy mango slaw.

The macaroni was cooked just right and the cheese sauce was nice and thick with plenty of cheesy goodness.  I wasn’t sure how the beer braised corned beef was going to be incorporated and the nice big diced chunks were a great treat.  They were tender and big enough you got great corned beef flavor.  The mango slaw was tasty as well with significant hunks of mango.  I was a bit surprised at the spiciness of the slaw but the sweetness of the mango’s mitigated the heat.

My sisters chose the Chipotle BBQ Carnitas sliders & the Open Faced BLT which by all accounts were quite good and worth the trip.

The circumstances that brought us together weren’t ideal but as always it is a treat when I get to spend time with my sisters and enjoying a meal together just elevates it.  Thanks Lynn & Dee.

Judgement on Bull McCabe’s is that the food is good the atmosphere is pleasant and I suspect might be rowdy when a good match is being televised and the outside area probably let’s them have some great events when the weather is good.

 

 

Strawberry Festival Food

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SC Strawberry Festival 2018

You’d think on Cinco de Mayo any American food blogger would be heading for Mexican but nope for me it’s Strawberry Festival time.  The day was overcast so while it wasn’t the beautiful Carolina blue sky of last year the temperature was very pleasant for a day of walking around and enjoying  the exhibits, music, wrestling, food and classic car show.

After checking out the options and deciding which lines looked ridiculous and which looked scary short I decided to try Red Oak Barbeque and specifically their BBQ bowl.

  

The BBQ bowl was basically a BBQ plate just layered in a container.  There were baked beans forming the base layer topped with mac & cheese then a layer of smoked pulled pork which was covered with a little coleslaw all topped with a flourish of BBQ sauce.  The best two things about this were the pork and the convenient container.  The baked beans were nondescript and the mac & cheese was on par with packaged mac & cheese from the grocery store.  The coleslaw was ok but a again nothing to spend many words on.  The pork was obviously where the time was spent and it had a good smoked flavor and was nice and tender.  In hindsight a sandwich would have been the way to go.  On the upside I got to hear a good band, Carolina Rhythm Band who had a set that varied from beach music to Blondie.  I’m not sure what’s going on with the two ladies by the tent in the picture but it looked awkward.

Not to be deterred by the just OK experience with the BBQ bowl I headed off to find something with strawberries from the many options available.

Had the day been sunnier I’d have almost assuredly had some strawberry ice cream but instead I was lured over to the Sweet Dough tent by their options of strawberries & cream, strawberry doughnut and strawberry fritters and the fact they were a local business.  They all looked good and I was leaning toward the fritter when the choice was cemented by one of the folks manning the tent telling me they were still warm from being delivered from the store.  I happily forked over my money and proceeded to step away when it turned out the little wax paper bag turned out to be more of a sleeve with two open ends and while I was opening one end the fritter was exiting the other.  When I turned around with a “What the heck” look on my face the guy just handed me another.  I was so shook-up by the pastry incident I forgot to snap a shot of the fritter so you’ll just have to imagine a golden brown fritter that had strawberries folded into the dough and glazed just lightly enough to give a shiny sweet coat to the fried doughy goodness.

I also couldn’t pass up these just because it sounded so different.

I did try one and the strawberry taste starts out stronger than the dill and the sweetness doesn’t go away but the dill side tries to assert dominance as you finish the pickle.  It never does but it tries.

Lastly I just wanted to share a couple of the cars from the car show that had quite a number of really nice cars.  For the older folks the Gran Torino is the Starsky & Hutch car.

Almost Canadian

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Food Truck & Ciderworks

Today I decided I’d try to find a food truck as it had been a while since I had something from meals on wheels.  A bit of internet sleuthing turned up Almost Homecooking Food Truck and they were celebrating their 1 year anniversary parked at Good Road Ciderworks who was also celebrating their 1 year anniversary so that seemed like an excellent pairing.

Just a short run up the interstate and couple of left turns had me right in front of the Good Road and Almost Homecooking was parked right out front.

I got there fairly early and there weren’t many people so seating was plentiful, both inside and out.  I determined right off the bat I was dining outside at one of the picnic tables because it was such a glorious spring day.  I got a big smile and “Welcome” from the lady with the wristbands who directed me inside and told me to make sure I asked about the specials.  The had excellent classic rock pumping from the speakers outside and in so they got points for good taste.

I started by ordering my food since I know the trucks usually take a bit of time to get things in order.  They had some nice looking choices like pork belly tacos, beef sliders, lamb sliders, a cuban sandwich, truffle fries, and several other options all of which sounded good.  What caught my eye though was the Southern Poutine and that’s what I ordered.  While they worked up my poutine I went inside to pick my accompanying adult beverage.

The tasting room is good sized and two stories so there are plenty of places to sit and sip.  There are two bars, one seems to be the cider bar and the other the mead bar based on my experience but that may not be wholly accurate.  They have a number of different ciders and meads but I figured I’d start with one of the special releases and got the Rum Barrel Aged Cranberry Crossroads cider.

This is their normal cranberry & apple cider, you guessed it, aged in a rum barrel.  It was pretty good, definitely had the tartness of the cranberries and a hint of rum but not much and while they describe it as semi-dry it seemed straight up dry to me.  I nursed it while waiting on my poutine and about halfway through I got the call.

What pray tell is Southern Poutine you ask?  Well let me tell you it’s not quite the same as Canadian poutine.  It consists of a heaping helping of crinkle cut fries topped with some chunks of smoked pork shoulder, some light brown gravy and pimento cheese.  When I picked up the container I knew by weight I wasn’t going to finish all of it and when I popped it open and saw the mountain of food that just confirmed it.  Wow this was a tasty and truly filling meal.  The fries were cooked so they were crisp enough on the outside to aid structural integrity but still could soak up some gravy.  I was initially disappointed at what seemed like a paltry amount of the smoked pork but it was just spread out over and under the fries and hiding in the gravy.  The pork was diced into about half inch chunks and had a great smokey flavor.  The brown gravy was light and I’m not sure if it was the gravy or the pimento cheese but one of them had some spicy heat.  Not too much but you knew there were peppers involved.  The pimento cheese just melted into the rest to make a gloppy mess that was a pleasure to dredge fries through.  Just a few bites in and I needed a liquid refill so ran back inside to grab another of the specials.  This time the BBA Buckled Clover Mead.

This was outstanding.  The BBA stands for bourbon barrel aged and the buckled clover mead is a sweet clover & buckwheat honey mead.  The first thing you notice is the smell which you might think would be bourbon heavy but it was a deep honey smell with a faint whiff of the bourbon.  The taste is sweet as advertised and the first thing you notice followed rapidly by the bourbon taste without the alcohol burn and then it finishes with what I would have to call a bit of a floral cinnamony taste.  That stuff was good enough I bought a 1 liter growler I’ll be sipping on for good long time because a little does go a long way.  The mead did go better with the Southern Poutine than the cider.  The sweet and the heat played off one another nicely.

My interaction with the folks from Almost Homecooking was limited but they were very nice and one of them did come over and ask me how I liked the poutine and thanked me for giving them a try.  The Good Road people were also really friendly and helpful.  If they don’t know you they ask if this is your first time and give a quick explanation of the products and provide you with a menu that gives the characteristics of the various ciders and meads.  The one disappointment was that because they expected to be so busy they weren’t doing flights today and I really had hoped to try several different ciders.

I have a feeling I’ll be over in that neighborhood again.  From my seat out front at the picnic table at the ciderworks I could see two breweries and a distillery at least two of which had tasting rooms and possibly restaurants, I didn’t stop to check.  I also know there is at least one more cider place and a couple of other breweries within a couple mile radius of the area.

Overall a very successful outing on a fantastic spring day to dine al fresco.

C Food Saturday

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Asian Fusion

This rainy Saturday was brightened with family sharing lunch for the second weekend in a row. We were in search of a culinary-passport lunch to prepare us for some Dave & Busters later and the Akahana Bistro looked like a good option.

They are located in Baxter Village in Fort Mill just off the interstate. Fortunately for us we found a couple of parking spots on the street close to the restaurant so we didn’t get too wet on the way in. There weren’t very many people there when we arrived and I think the employees outnumbered the patrons most of the time we were there. There is a bar, some sort of outside seating, as well as a standard seating area with heavy wooden tables and plenty of room.

The menu is a mix of Asian cuisines including; Vietnamese, Japanese, Thai, and Chinese. There are quite a number of options and deciding took us a while so we ordered some salt & pepper calamari to help us through.

I really enjoyed the simplicity of the light salt and pepper coating that was complimented by the plum sauce. The plum sauce was thinner that any other I’ve had but that was quite alright because it didn’t overpower the rest of the flavors. My nephew and I pretty well destroyed that plate. They were served on a bed of light crispy noodles, cilantro, scallions & shallots.

For an entree I chose salt & pepper soft shell crab with fried rice. Good thing I liked the salt & pepper coating from the calamari because that seemed to be the same as they used on the crab.

It may not be obvious but there was a fair amount of crab on the plate and soft shell was right. Again I appreciated the relative simplicity of the coating that allowed the crab taste to come through. I felt like I was taking a chance with this because I’ve had some soft shell crab that was a little more shelly than I would have preferred but this was great. The crab was served with the same noodles as the calamari had been with the addition of some jalapenos to keep you one your toes. I chose fried rice as my rice option and it was just ok but I enjoyed the crab enough to not care.

My nephew got sesame chicken that he put a good dent in but couldn’t finish due to quantity.

My brother-in-law got the sushi deluxe lunch platter and it looked amazing and based on the clean plate and satisfied comments he made I believe he enjoyed it. We did all agree his was the nicest presentation of the lot and it was a good value too.

My sister did apps for lunch selecting spring rolls, Asian summer rolls and fried dumplings that she freely shared. All were deemed tasty especially the dumplings. Visually the Asian summer rolls with the see through rice noodles were the most interesting and I did have a bite and can vouch they were not bad at all.

The service was good and aside from an issue with the first try at sweet tea being light on the sugar we were well taken care of. Based on experience when a restaurant isn’t busy service can be a crap shoot, either too much attention or they get caught in conversations or other distractions because they’re bored. Our server did a good job of keeping an eye on the table without hovering.

Overall I’d recommend the place to anyone, lots of choices and the food was very good. Fueled up we were ready to take on Dave & Busters. I’d like to thank Dee, Chris & Jesse Mays for spending their lunch with me and treating as well. Hard to beat that deal, family and free food.

Uptown Dog

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Street Food

This week I finally got to try something I’ve wanted to try for a few years now but due to schedules it didn’t work out until today.  Back before I started this blog I spent most of a years worth of Saturdays in search of the best hot dog in the area and while I found some good ones I wasn’t able to get what was reportedly the best chili dog in the Charlotte metro area, nay the whole of the the Carolina’s, Vic the Chili Man .

Vic sets up his hot dog stand on the corner of 4th & Tryon in uptown Charlotte on weekdays when the weather isn’t too bad.  Therein was my challenge trying one of his dogs, it was too far to drive during my lunch break and he wasn’t there on the weekends.  This week though I was taking some time from work and got the chance but even this wasn’t without bumps.  Thursday I decided would be the day to go and, as per usual when I go uptown, I’d park at the end of the light rail line, ride in and walk a couple of blocks.  When I arrived at the parking area the sign was quite explicit that the deck was full but being an optimist I decided to ride around a bit and see, along with half a dozen others folks who never found a spot either.  Curses, foiled by heavy usage of mass transit in a southern city, that was unexpected.  As I did a bit of cursing on the 20+ minute drive home I didn’t realize I’d been done a favor.  Later in the evening I checked the Facebook page to see if he’d be out tomorrow and I saw a note that he had been driven away before even setting up by a wicked wind from the west (actually I don’t know which way the wind was coming from I just liked the alliteration) and wouldn’t have been there if I’d made anyway.  Silver lining.

Friday was smooth sailing, all green lights, good music and 120 free spaces when I got to the light rail.  Pleasant ride in and a short jaunt later I was greeted by a line already at 11:05 but that’s why I came early.  Planning and setting expectations for the win.

Vic moves pretty fast but nobody was ordering one with just ketchup and mustard everyone was ordering multiple dogs (avg was 3 while I was there) and the buns are warmed so he’s constantly refilling the bun warmer.  Vic keeps up a conversation or is telling a story the whole time he’s making dogs so there’s an entertainment element while you wait that makes it not so bad.  He usually has a special dog of the week as well as some named dogs and build it yourself options.  Here is the standard menu.

I went with the special “Eh, Canada” and a Life Changer.  I was good and didn’t get chips and honestly I’d have added another dog before chips anyway.  After getting my chili dogs I just parked it on bench right next to the stand and started with the Life Changer.

One thing I noticed right away, Vic makes neat hot dog and by that I mean tidy.  A lot of places slop the toppings on and you wind up with crap falling all over the place as you try to eat it, not so much in this case.  It was also apparent from the jalapeno headliners I’d be glad I had water.  In addition to the peppers you can see a nice chili plus some red onions.  You can’t see the spicy Reaper Madness mustard or the grilled cheddar cheese underneath but they are there providing a bed for the all beef dog.  I don’t know that my life changed that much but it was a really good dog and woke up the taste buds for round two.

The “Eh, Canada” was topped first with the inspiration for the name, a homemade beer cheese and browned Canadian bacon fondue.  This tasty sauce was overlaid with Vic’s chili some french fry sticks and a sprinkle of green onions for color.  Compared to the first one this dog was mild but the beer cheese and Canadian bacon sauce was really good and the crunchy potato sticks added some great texture.  And just in case you’re wondering he didn’t use Canadian beer in the cheese as he didn’t want to go to Canada to get the good stuff because what he can get here is swill.  He might have used a different word but I don’t get a chance to use swill often.

I’m glad I finally made it to meet Vic the Chili Man and try his famous chili dogs.  If opportunity presents itself I’d suggest you try one or three yourself.

 

St. Patrick’s Day

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Ireland

This is the second time for Ireland and was only fitting since it happens to be St. Patrick’s Day.  Not only was this a holiday weekend I had the privilege of sharing the lunch with my sister, two nieces, a nephew and the boyfriend of one of the nieces the lot of who had stopped in to see me.  And my pot of gold was a free lunch (thanks Sister).

I decided we’d give Tyber Creek Pub a shot to be the Irish representative for St. Pat’s and it turned out to mostly be a great choice.  They are on South Blvd in Charlotte in an area that has a lot of reasonably new apartments / condos.  This meant a fair amount of traffic but they have onsite parking to service their two story business so we didn’t have to do any searching for street parking.  Today they had a tent outside in part of their parking lot to handle the crowds which was nice except that made the parking more problematic than it would otherwise have been.  We did luck out and find spots without having to circle and wait for someone to leave.  There was a tight squeeze or two, figuratively and literally because many people are deficient in the skill of parking completely between two lines.

The hostess was outside right by the patio area which was full since it was a beautiful spring day.  We did get seated immediately upstairs though so again the luck of the Irish was on our side.  It didn’t take long for us to make our food choices and we got a varied selection so there are bonus pictures this post.  One thing they do differently than most restaurants is they bring some small glasses that look like overgrown shot glasses and then bring a big glass bottle of chilled water so you can serve yourself.  Water’s nice and all but I opted to have a Magners Irish Cider to drink while we waited and another with the meal

The cider was very smooth, not overly sweet and had a nice crisp apple taste which went well with the meal selection I chose, corned beef & cabbage.

There was a ton of food in this bowl plate.  In addition to the corned beef and cabbage there were carrots and parsnips plus mashed potatoes.  The corned beef deserved its lead billing in the title.  It was so tender it was just about falling apart, sliced thick and the salt and beef taste was excellent.  Honestly I have to say the potatoes were actually better than the cabbage so as I filled up and had to start prioritizing they were in the number two spot.  The potatoes were coarsely mashed so there were small lumps that let you know these were made from real potatoes and I think they had a little Kerrigold butter in the mix.  The cabbage was good, they weren’t overcooked like is common in many places, these were soft but had resistance as you bit them.  I can’t remember the last time I had parsnips and they were better than I remembered but a solid number 5 in the pecking order.  The carrots were ok too but honestly most of them got abandoned along with the parsnips.

The others with me had bangers & mash, fish & chips, shepherd’s pie and a tavern burger.

From all reports the each of those selections were tasty and worth trying.  The house made tartar sauce got a really good review.  You’ll probably have noticed there was no burger picture and that’s because it was the one thing that was not done right the first time.  It was ordered with only ketchup and onion but someone in the kitchen thought it needed cheese too.  While I personally agree with that sentiment it is not what was ordered.  They took it back to the kitchen and scraped the cheese off and brought it back.  That was deemed acceptable but just barely and if it wouldn’t have taken so long for them to make a new one it would have almost certainly been sent back again.  One other culinary point of discussion at the table was the Irish soda bread.  I tried it just to so I could mention it and I swear it was so dry all the saliva in my mouth was sucked into it.  To be fair they did serve it with a big pat of butter sitting right on top and the flavor was actually good once I go a sip of water to provide some additional moisture since my salivary glands were insufficient to the task.  After heeding my warning a few others tried it with the butter and the reviews ranged between “meh”, “it taste like bread” and “it’s good”.

One thing I can say is no one left hungry.  It was a great time visiting with family on St. Patrick’s Day, eating good food and snapchatting with some who weren’t present.  Thank you Lynn, Lauren, Jay, Haley & Chris for stopping by and adding to the meal and the day.

 

 

Aubergine or Eggplant?

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Jerusalem

I normally pick a country for the title but in this case I chose to use the city name that is also the name of the cookbook I used for this blog entry.  This week I decided instead of going out to a restaurant I’d make something.  The road to this decision was short but winding.  I was looking for new places for new countries and was searching for Israel and all I was getting were a couple of delis.  I remembered I had a cookbook in my Kindle library called Jerusalem: a Cookbook that I bought when it was a $1.99 deal.  I’d heard the authors on some radio show, one Jewish and the other Palestinian, both from Jerusalem and they discussed the similarities and differences in the food they grew up with and the other influences in the cities cuisine.  Plus it reminded me of the short 1 day tour of Jerusalem I got to enjoy a few years ago.  Add to this that some of my friends are currently observing Lent and going meatless most of the time and I thought hmm…I bet there’s a vegetable main dish in here that might be worth trying.

I flipped through and found several interesting possibilities but settled on the Chermoula Eggplant with Bulgur & Yogurt.  This sounded like would be filling if nothing else.  There is a link to the actual recipe on the Tell Me More page.  I had most of the spices to make the chermoula paste and almost all of the other ingredients were easily picked up at a local grocery.  There were a few things I had to modify though.  I didn’t have and couldn’t find the preserved lemon peel (there is a recipe for it in the book) but I did have some lemon infused olive oil I’d received as part of a Christmas gift so I used that and some lemon zest.  I also couldn’t find bulgur without going further out of my way on a rainy day than I wanted to so I settled for buckwheat as a substitute.  The last change, I wasn’t feeling the cilantro so I left that out entirely.  Oh and since there is just the one of me I halved the recipe.

Here’s the eggplant or aubergine if you prefer after baking with the chermoula.

The chermoula was easy to make and by itself is very flavor packed and I can see where it would be good on other vegetables and some meats as well.  Here is the final product with the buckwheat and some baked pita bread with za’atar and olive oil.

The eggplant and chermoula were good and would be a good central element for a meal that included side dishes other than bulgur or buckwheat.  As mentioned the paste has a great flavor and the citrus plus heat from chile flakes pack some tangy heat to the meal.  The buckwheat I substituted for the bulgur thickened up during cooking but the olive oil and lemon juice cut the pastiness a bit.  There were raisins, olives, & mint all added as well that ramped up the tastiness of the buckwheat and the whole was topped with Greek yogurt and toasted almond slices.  The toasted pita with olive oil allowed me to try another spice mixture, za’atar, mentioned in the book and which I happened to have on hand thanks to the Christmas gift mentioned earlier which had 12 spice blends from around the world.  Za’atar has a bold flavor and I’d say is a blend you to be used liberally on whatever you choose to sprinkle it on.  The mixture I have is a common variety using thyme instead of the original hyssop or za’atar which gives the mixture its name.

I enjoyed the meal and it was quite filling so if you want to skip the meat for a meal and like bold flavors give this a go.  I’m glad I did.

 

Fry Fry Again

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USA

This weekend I took the culinary-passport on the road to enjoy lunch with friends in West Columbia, SC.  The McGehees have been with me for several blog lunches and this time we were going to try a Jamaican place they’d not been to before.  Wait, you say, the title clearly says USA.  And so it does.  Our plans got derailed when we got to the Jamaican restaurant and it was closed.  When we saw the neighborhood I don’t think any of us was that sad it was closed.  I don’t feel like I’m being elitist or anything when I say this was a sketchy neighborhood because there were bars on all the windows and not the decorative wrought iron kind.

So we regrouped and decided since Jamaican wasn’t in the works and we were hungry, Jackson’s Southern Kitchen would provide the comfort food we’d need to console ourselves.  I was also promised they had some of the best fried chicken ever and what decent Southerner would turn down great fried chicken.

Aside from the assurances of my friends this was a good place to eat the number of cars in the parking lot was another give away that the place was popular.  Jackson’s is a buffet style restaurant with a salad bar (I saw maybe half a dozen people get something from it), a hot bar (where the good stuff is), and a dessert and bread bar (where more good stuff is).  The restaurant is broken up into several large rooms with plenty of seating but Saturday afternoon at the buffet is a busy time which meant tables were at a premium.  We got one in the room with the buffet bars so it was convenient but on the other hand there were so many people and it was loud.  But when the eating started it didn’t really matter.

Most of the containers here are not the huge square ones that seem to be standard at most buffets but about half that size.  The line goes down both sides so this along with the tray sizes means they are constantly bringing out fresh food and the popular items are always hot from the kitchen.  For my first trip I decided the hyped fried chicken would be the primary meat item.

In addition to the chicken I got some BBQ, hash and rice, mashed potatoes and green beans.  If you aren’t familiar with this part of South Carolina let me tell you they are a mustard based bar-b-cue sauce people and they also put mustard in their hash.  It’s not my favorite of the regional sauces so I enjoyed the smoked meat plain just fine.  The hash and rice was meh and the green beans we good.  The two best items on this plate were the mashed potatoes and chicken.  The mashed potatoes were made with red skin potatoes and were some of the best plain old mashed potatoes I’ve had at a restaurant.  They had a good potato taste with just the right amount of salt and butter that you didn’t need to add anything.  The chicken was as promised some of the best I’ve eaten from a restaurant.  We had some discussion about whether your Mama’s or Grandmama’s chicken counted when judging the best chicken ever as they were likely default winners.  We ended up with me stipulating that as purchased fried chicken went this was probably top two.  What they have going for them is the chicken is always hot and cooked just right down to the bone.  Not overcooked or undercooked but just like the baby bear’s porridge, it’s just right.  The coating is fairly light and the seasoning is simple but very tasty.  Plate 1 was a winner overall.

One reason I tend to avoid buffets nowadays is the almost mandatory second trip and I succumbed to that peer pressure from the hundreds of not skinny people around me.  I did get only ribs plus a couple of sides to help calibrate Jackson’s against other buffets and oh yeah more potatoes.  The baby limas were good and the mac & cheese was also very competently done but nothing to stretch a blog out over.  The ribs though do deserve a line of appreciation.  They weren’t fall off the bone tender like you get some places but what they were was meaty and smokey with a good sauce.  The smoked flavor went beyond just the surface and permeated the meat entirely.  The meat was tender and was easy to cut or tear from the bone depending on your caveperson proclivities.  The sauce was a little sweeter than I would make it but still very good and as I said there was plenty of meat on each rib.  Plate 2 was a winner as well.

The dessert bar was loaded down with staples of the southern buffet and each of us got something different.  I went with the banana pudding and it was ok but I’d probably have been happier with something like the strawberry shortcake or some peach cobbler.

Final verdict is Jackson’s is a great place to go with friends and family to enjoy a mess of comfort food that on the whole is made by people who know what’s what in the kitchen.  So while it’s too bad we didn’t get a chance to try something new we finished lunch more than satisfied with the backup plan.  Thanks to the McGehees for sharing the meal and their company.

Ghana Be Leftovers

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Ghana

Image result for ghana passport stamp

It has been quite a while since I’ve taken the culinary-passport to the African continent so today seemed like a good day to remedy that.  Mama Gee’s had been on my radar for a while and since their Ghanain cuisine isn’t something covered before they fit the bill perfectly.

Mama Gee’s is a takeout place and while they have a counter with a few stools it’s for sitting and waiting not eating.  When I walked in there were 3 other people there waiting on food and one guy running the counter.  I could see some folks in the kitchen through a window.  Overhearing the conversations of the staff and customers that came and went while I waited it was clear that the majority weren’t “from around here” and I’m guessing were from Africa.  I figured it was a good sign for authenticity of the food.  The guy working the counter was friendly and offered to answer any questions about the menu or food several times.  The first thing on the men was jollof rice which I’d already had at another African restaurant so I just moved to item 2 on the menu, waakyea plate.  It didn’t take long for them to get it together and I also picked out a drink I’ll address in a bit.  Since it was takeout I had to smell it the whole 25 minute ride home and it smelled good.

If it’s not apparent from the picture there is a ton of food in this container.  I actually weighed it because felt so full and it came in at 2 and 3/4 pounds of food.  As the title suggested there would be leftovers.  So let’s talk about what was included in this generous plate of food.  The centerpiece, covered in a tomato stew was rice and black eyed beans.  Surrounding this were a boiled egg, some gari foto (a casava root based dish), fried sweet plantains, spaghetti, more rice and beans with shito sauce and finally a fried chicken leg.

The rice, beans and tomato stew were really good and quite filling and will be good at least two more meals.  The gari foto was odd to me.  It didn’t have much taste and had the look of coarse bread crumbs but a soft consistency.  It was a starch so it fit in with half the other items.  The plantains were sweet and a nice contrast to the other foods.  I’m not sure why the spaghetti was there but the tomato sauce went well with it.  The shito sauce is the darker stuff in the top right of the picture and as I learned is made with spicy peppers.  It was not too bad on the heat front but it did get my attention.  The chicken leg had a very light coating on it and was fried enough to be done but not so much that it was dried out.

I ate until I felt full and it looked like I’d barely put a dent in the contents of that to go container.  For $10 I’m not sure I’ve had a better value while doing this blog and it was tasty as well.

Now lets talk about the drink.

They had several non-standard options to chose from and I asked what bissap was and the helpful counter guy said it had hibiscus petals, ginger and other stuff.  That sounded different enough that I had him ring one up.  Notice I went for the low sugar option because you gotta cut those calories somewhere.  In addition to the hibiscus and ginger there are “spices” and cinnamon and “flavours” on the ingredient list.  It had a floral smell and the color was a very dark purple / red color.  The taste wasn’t bad but it’s not something I want more of.  The various ingredients are distinguishable but for my palate they didn’t mesh in a pleasing way.  I’m glad I tried it but I’ll be perfectly content to never have it again, even the full sugar version.

As I was leaving the gent who I’d been dealing with made sure to give me a menu and invited me back soon.  They have some other items on the menu I might want to try in the future.

If you’re interested in the waakye or Ghanaian music and stuff check out the Tell Me More page.

 

 

Winter Bowling

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Korea III

With the winter Olympics going on in Pyeongchang it really isn’t that surprising that I had a hankering for Korean.  Doing a bit of internet research to find a place other than the two I already know, I found Bulgogi Box in Charlotte that looked promising.

I found the restaurant and then a couple of blocks later a parking spot.  The restaurant has a wide front but the dining area isn’t very deep at all and the kitchen looks to be twice the size of the area with tables.  I was greeted by a couple of the staff behind the bar and they invited me to sit wherever I liked so I grabbed a spot at the end of the bar.  One of the ladies who greeted me asked if I’d been there before and when I said I hadn’t she welcomed me again and said she hoped I’d love the food.  That made two of us.

The menu isn’t extensive but varied enough to offer something for most tastes.  The didn’t have any Korean beers on tap so I ordered a Dragon’s Milk from New Holland Brewing to give me something to sip as I mulled my options.

Well that turned out to be a good choice.  It was obviously a stout and the first sip was a surprise.  It had a very smooth vanilla flavor and another strong taste it took me a minute to figure out and another moment to confirm it was a bourbon barrel aged stout.  The bourbon taste was quite distinct and not bad along with the vanilla taste.  Good start to the meal.

I was torn between the bulgogi box namesake of the restaurant or the bimbim bowl.  The waiter was helpful to let me know the bulgogi had more meat and was a bit simpler where the bimbim bowl had a bit less meat but vegetables.  I decided the vegetables wouldn’t kill me and I could get the bimbim in a sizzling pot.

I got the spicy pork version of the bowl and since it was the weekend it came with a choice of side and I selected pickles.  This was maybe the best meal I had all week.

The bimbim was presented in a very hot bowl that had rice in the center topped with the spicy pork and an egg.  Surrounding the rice and meat were sliced cucumbers, collards, shredded collards, radishes, corn, onions and mushrooms.  The pork was spicy but not too bad, just enough to cause a tingle across my scalp and a bit of light sweat on the brow.  The sizzling pot cooked the rice right at the bottom to a little crunch which added even more to the overall texture and taste.  When I ordered the pickles I expected to get a mixed vegetable pickle mix but instead it was all cucumbers, thinly sliced and a bit sweet in vinegar.  Judging by the slices and ones in the bowl these were pickled in house and complemented the spicy pork quite well.

That was a ton of food and I managed to finish it off but not without working at it.  It was a great meal for a rainy mild winter day.  I’ll definitely be going back to try the bulgogi box.