I Gar-on-tee That’s Good

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Cajun Food

I was undecided what to do this week for the blog and decided to browse Google Maps along likely routes to see what might be new in the area and came across a new location of an established Charlotte restaurant.  Cajun Yard Dog in Fort Mill was the just what the doctor ordered.  For those anyone who might not know Cajun cuisine has influences from France via Canada plus cross pollination with other Louisiana cultures so it has an international flair as well as the straight out of the bayou ingredients.  The title of the post comes from my favorite TV cook of all time, Cajun chef Justin Wilson.  You should check him out on YouTube.

Anyway back to the food.  Cajun Yard Dog is on a corner of a shopping center and easy to spot from the road or the parking lot.  When I arrived there was only one other table with diners and the waiter was working on table set ups.  He told me to sit wherever and he’d be with me in a minute.  They have a lot of window (heavily tinted) tables being on the corner so I grabbed one that had an awesome view of the bank across the parking lot.  There are a good number of tables in an open area plus a bar.

I was presented with a one page, front and back, menu that actually had a lot of different dishes on it.  It was cool because the guy asked me if I’d been there before and when I said no he spent some time giving me a tour of the menu, pointing out some popular items and explaining the difference between the Crawfish Creole & Crawfish Etoufée (tomatoes vs roux).  He also pointed out the chalkboard wall that has daily specials plus the catch of the day, desserts, wine list, and beer list.  Thorough and helpful.

Since it was lunch time and I had some football watching ahead of me I didn’t want to get too much so I ordered a fried oyster po’boy with jambalaya for a side.  To drink I decided to try one of their New Orleans beers, Dixie Blackened Voodoo Lager.

We’ll start with the main attraction.  The po’boy was served on a warm baguette that was nice and crusty on the outside and soft on the inside.  The fried oysters were atop a bed of lettuce and tomato.  There were four to five good sized oysters on each half that were fried crispy in a light batter.  The first half I ate as presented and the second I gave the oysters a few shots of Tabasco each to spice it up.  The sandwich was quite good and they had a list of a dozen or so different po’boys.  Next up was the jambalaya, which I actually thought was the better of the two dishes.  The jambalaya had a good quality andouille sausage and a generous amount of chicken in the stew of rice, tomatoes, onion, celery, spices.  Interestingly I didn’t see any green bell pepper but I’m also not complaining about that.  It had just a little heat but there several hot sauces at the table to dial up the temperature if you wanted to.  I really liked the jambalaya and am glad I popped for this premium side dish.  The low point of the meal was actually the beer.

The Blackened Voodoo Lager had a nice caramel color, as you can see in the photo, which looked promising.  The first sip was a bit of a surprise.  It tasted almost sour and then got really sweet with a little hops at the end.  The sour taste dissipated as I drank, probably my taste buds just shutting down in self defense.  The sweet was there until the end though and overall it was not an experience I would like to repeat.

So I liked the place, people and food and will definitely go back to try some of the other things on the menu but definitely with some other beverage.

 

Really Southern Breakfast

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Venezuela

Yes all the way to South America.  This is not only a country revisit but a restaurant revisit, which is something I hadn’t planned to do much on the blog.  I mentioned revisiting Me-A-More Café to represent the Dominican Republic as I hadn’t found another place for that cuisine but I later did so I didn’t.  However, I was looking for a breakfast place I hadn’t been to and they popped up with a menu that had some different options reflecting a Latin American theme so I grabbed the culinary-passport and headed over.

To catch a flavor for the place you can check out the previous post Two For One as nothing had substantially changed.  I was the only patron in the place and the staff outnumbered me 4 to 1 but that just meant I got good service.  I ordered the headliner on the breakfast page of the menu, Venezuelan Creole breakfast.  For the record breakfast is served all day and some of the lunch options are also served all day to you can be topsy turvy and eat breakfast for lunch and lunch for breakfast if that’s what floats your barco.

The Venezuelan Creole breakfast consisted of scrambled eggs with tomatoes and onions, shredded beef, black beans, shredded white cheese and an arepa.  This was definitely a breakfast to fortify someone who was planning to do a good mornings work.  I thought it was a bit odd the cheese was a side item rather than on or in one of the other dishes but I guess that just meant you could put it where you wanted it.  I folded it into the eggs.  The eggs were well cooked, more so than I personally would have cooked them but they tasted good especially with the addition of the cheese.  If I were to get this again I’d probably request the cheese be added just before the eggs were taken up so it would melt and meld better with the eggs.  The shredded beef is the same shredded beef you get with the lunch entrees and is a nice change of pace to the usual breakfast meat options around town.  I like black beans so even though it’s an oddity for breakfast in these parts they certainly went well with the rest of this breakfast.  The arepa was a fried flat cornbread disk that reminded me very much of the fried cornbread my Grandfather use to enjoy with his collard greens.  It is more dense than the baked cornbread that is common in the US and not as crispy on the outside as a hushpuppy.  It made a serviceable substitute for a biscuit and a handy scoop for those last few beans in the bowl.

They have a few more things on the breakfast menu that are not staples of the local breakfast scene so if you’re looking for something other than the norm and you’re in the Rock Hill area give them a shot.

Also if you missed it the first time check out the Tell Me More page for some Venezuelan culture.

 

Grand Strand-ed

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Litchfield / Pawleys Island

Hold on this is a long one.

This weekend I packed up the Culinary-Passport and headed out for a late beach trip.  I got a good deal on a couple of nights at the Litchfield Beach & Golf Resort.  I arrived early, as is my nature, and couldn’t check in.  Since it was lunch time I wandered over to Murrell’s Inlet and drove down Business 17 where I picked out the Marshview Seafood Kitchen & Bar from the multitude of restaurants on that stretch of road.  Definitely a casual place.  You walk up and order at a window and they give you a pager that will alert you when to visit the Pick Up window.  There’s a bar if you want something other than water, tea or soda.  You can sit inside or outside and you have a nice view of the marsh as the name implies.  I was intrigued by the crab cake and pimento cheese sandwich so that’s what I got.

The crab cake was good and the pimento cheese was also good but honestly didn’t add much to the sandwich.  The fries were hot and dusted with seasoned salt so they did their job.  Overall the sandwich was good but the main recommendation for this place as far as I am concerned is sitting on the deck enjoying the view.  After dining I still had a few hours to kill so I decided to check out Huntington Beach State Park.

The park was part of an estate that has a really cool house on it called Atalaya.  Google it, it’s cool.  Turns out it was a special weekend when they have the Atalaya Arts & Crafts festival so after a walk out to the beach to see if there were any good pictures to take I checked out the festival.  The house is arranged around a courtyard which had artisans filling it and inside the three wings were more craft folk and in a separate little courtyard were some food vendors.  I was still full from lunch but decided to try out a muscadine cider slushie from one of the vendors.  I liked it enough to buy a bottle.  I also picked up a Christmas present so it was a good side trip.

After the park I got the call that my room was ready so I moved in and then walked the property to familiarize myself with the resort until dinner time.  Because I didn’t want to take any chances on missing a minute of the UGA football game I ate at the on site restaurant, Websters.  They had a prime rib buffet but I wanted more seafood being this close to the ocean so I ordered the Webster’s seafood medley.

It came with a house salad served on a tile so that was different.  The real food was a nice piece of flounder, a couple of shrimp, a pair of scallops, whipped potatoes and parmesan green beans.  The seafood had a light, seasoned coating that tasted the same on all three but stood out most on the shrimp.  The flounder was nice and mild and the shrimp were some of the best fried shrimp I’ve ever had, even if they did cut them oddly before frying them so they looked almost like Siamese twins joined at the tail.  The scallops though were my favorite. They had a really nice salt water taste and were as tender as you could ask for.  The potatoes and green beans were nice and complimented the seafood.

The next morning I wanted to find a breakfast place that wasn’t a chain or chain wannabe.  I drove until the Litchfield Restaurant caught my eye.  It looked like a locals kind of place that had been around a while.  When I walked in there were only two guys sitting at the counter and three employees.  Folks were chatting real friendly like and I made my way to a choice table with a stunning view of the highway.  The guy running the place came over to welcome me and bring a menu.  Right behind him was a smiling young lady who made sure I had coffee before coming back with more smiles to take my order.  They’ve got a few interesting things on the menu that I might have tried like the Fish & Grits or the Crabby D but I was looking for something pretty standard this morning.

The sausage & cheese three egg omelet with hash browns and a side of smoked sausage did the trick.  The omelet wasn’t fluffy but there was plenty of sausage and they used real cheddar cheese not that fake cheese nonsense.  The smoked sausage was nothing special but did fit nicely into the biscuit for sausage biscuit appetizer.  The food was good but the service and friendliness of the people had to be the reason there were at least 30 people in the place by the time I left and they were a mix of locals and tourists.

After breakfast beach time transitioned into lunch at Moe’s Original BBQ.  I thought getting a sandwich and two sides might not be too much since I knew I wanted to be done in time to catch the Carolina Panthers game.

The pulled pork sandwich had to have had half a pound of meat and the sides I got, spinach casserole and red beans and rice were both generously portioned.  I’m not going to lie I knew I would be prioritizing right off the bat and the sandwich had first dibs on my appetite.  It had a lightly smoked flavor and the sauce was a sweet, tangy sauce that was somewhere between a NC vinegar and a KC thick sweet sauce.  A dash of the hot sauce and it was very good.  The spinach casserole was ugly but tasty.  It was creamy with plenty of spinach plus mushrooms and onions in small amounts.  The red beans and rice were initially a disappointment because I like my beans and rice to cook together for a while and this was clearly ladled over minute rice.  Having said that though it did have a nice flavor with plenty of beans, tomatoes, celery and onions plus some bits of smoked sausage (low grade) and chicken.  I didn’t mention it earlier but this is another place where you place your order at the counter and leave your name and they bring it out to you.  You have a choice of inside seating, screen porch seating, or outside next to the corn hole pit.  Folks were nice, portions were plentiful and the food was decent.

After the game I did some additional walking around to burn off lunch and a bit of driving to check out some of the other parts of the Grand Strand area of SC.  Feeling a bit peckish I dropped in at the Anchor.  They have a very limited menu because their main thing is their seafood buffet so that’s what I went with.  I got there an hour before they closed and the only folks I saw who weren’t employees were some who were leaving (I saw them go in when I was parking) and one lady at a booth.  I wasn’t sure what kind of omens those were but figured what the heck.  The buffet was a three sided affair with salad and the start of the vegetables on one side, more vegetables and grains on another and the seafood & chicken plus desert on the last side.  I tried not to be a pig but I did make two trips.

You’ll notice all the seafood was fried.  If you wanted grilled that was on the limited menu.  I powered through though and managed to try some flounder, scallops, shrimp, oysters, clam strips and catfish. I supplemented those with some mac & cheese, butter beans and something new to me, collard green rice.  Oh and some hushpuppies.  The seafood was all good and lightly breaded but my favorites were the oysters and the catfish.  The catfish was really mild and had an almost chicken taste to it.  The mac & cheese was nice too because it was simple with a high cheese to noodle ratio and not loaded with fillers and liquids and junk.  Now on to the new things and I’m classifying the butter beans as new too because they were cooked with okra plus some smoked meat.  I enjoyed them and they made me wish I could have shared them with my Grandfather because he would have loved them.  I’m pretty sure he would have dug the collard green rice as well.  There was nothing complicated about the rice, it was just what it sounded like; rice mixed with finely chopped collards.  It happens that those collards were seasoned with smoked neck bones and other smoked pork.  I know because I found vertebrae and pig skin in with it.  Aside from being skinny & boney I liked the rice quite a bit as you can see I got some both trips.  Oh and the hushpuppies were cold but not bad.  As I was leaving I talked to the owner a little bit and heard him earlier interacting with another patron who came in for a take out run at the buffet and he was a really nice guy.  Personally I loved this place even though it looked a little dumpy from the outside.

The last meal before heading home was at the Applewood House of Pancakes.  They are a bit like an upscale IHOP.  I was greeted by a very pleasant lady who let me know about some of their specials and let me know I was still in time for the early bird specials.  As a nod to Fall, in spite of the fact that it was 76 degrees and as humid as, well the South, I ordered the pumpkin pancakes.  At the little smile of delight the lady taking my order got she thought I’d made a good choice and it was.

You may have noticed there is no bacon or sausage in the picture.  I certainly did when she dropped off the plate with just pancakes.  I didn’t realize it was only the pancakes and couldn’t believe she wouldn’t have tried to upsell me and I started to ask for some but I figured it probably wouldn’t kill me to have one meatless meal.  There were three dense pancakes in the stack topped with that quarter stick of butter you see in the photo and dusted generously with cinnamon sugar.  I decided to taste them before adding any syrup and I’m glad I did as the syrup would probably have just detracted from the experience.  The cinnamon sugar plus the pancakes sweetness and pumpkin spices were more than sufficient.  The lady who was waiting on me was a petite lady who had to be in her late 60s but when she came over to check on me one time and asked “don’t they remind you of Thanksgiving & Christmas?” she had a smile on her face and a sparkle in her eye like a little kid.  They did have a nice taste of fall about them and I almost didn’t miss the bacon.  After that it was time to hit the trail.  I was happy with all the culinary choices I made during the trip and wouldn’t hesitate to go back to any of them.

 

Crabby Patty

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Food Truck Friday

I am a big fan of Friday’s. Food Truck Friday’s are like superstar Friday’s and this week was an FTF.  I already had the truck I was going to hit picked out so all I needed was a parking place and a beer to nurse while I waited to order and then get my food.  Plenty of parking…check.  Live band pumping out Day Tripper, not on the list but…check.  Wristband acquisition…check.  Beer selection & purchase…check.

This month they had free tapered koozies to fit the beer cups which was very convenient and the folks who work the stations were still awesome.  If you’re not sure about a beer they will give you a sample so fast it’ll make your head spin.  I was intrigued by the Shiner Peach and had to try it out.  It’s a wheat ale made with peaches and it was a really nice beer for a warm evening waiting in line.  I got a great whiff of peach as I brought the cup up to sip and the peach flavor permeated every aspect of the beer from the first taste to the aftertaste.  So with beer secured it was time to stand in line at my chosen truck.

The Maryland Crab & Co truck is the first truck I pass each FTF and I’ve never stopped until this month.  The line was long but I already had my mind set on seeing what they could do with crab.  I got the crab cake sandwich with some Old Bay fries.  The crab cake was made with real crab and was overwhelmingly crab, in a good way.  A lot of crab cakes are mainly binder & filler but not this one.  There was so much crab it fell apart fairly easily but I wasn’t going to complain.  It was served on a toasted bun and you could get it with hot sauce or tartar sauce.  I chose to go with tartar and they give it to you in a cup so you can control how much to use.  I went light on it because I didn’t want to overpower the crab flavor.  It was a mild tartar sauce anyway so it was not a problem.  The sandwich was great.  The fries were basically just shoestring fries that had Old Bay seasoning sprinkled on them just before being served.

While I was dining at a table with some other random Rock Hill residents we were treated to the sounds of Liverpool, a Beatles cover band while the fountain did its thing.

I walked around a bit more and found myself with another beer.  This time a Stone Brewing Tangerine Express, and yes I’m counting both those beers as a serving of fruit.  This was an IPA and boy was it hoppy.  I know that’s a characteristic of IPAs but this was almost over the top.  Part of that was probably the citrus taste from the tangerine.  Initially I didn’t get much tangerine but as I drank it the flavor seemed to become more pronounced.  It was interesting but I wouldn’t have another. After a bit more walking and listening I figured a stop by the Art of Baking truck to procure a late night snack wouldn’t be out of line.

The chocolate salted caramel cupcake was the one that got the call.  The cake was a moist chocolate, the icing was a whipped topping that tasted a bit oily but it was also the salt delivery system and of course the caramel drizzle topped the whole thing marvelously.  It was a nice finish to a great day.  Only one month until the next FTF.

 

Kaaaaahn!

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DragonCon Edition

I guess that should have been Connnn!  Well, nerds gotta nerd.

This past weekend I carted the old culinary passport to DragonCon 2017.  In addition to all the great pop-culture, geek, gaming, educational, art and cosplay available there is no shortage of food options in downtown Atlanta.  In the host hotels and at the Americas Mart buildings you can’t swing a dead Pokémon without hitting a pizza or sandwich stand.  If you walk a bit further the Peachtree Center food court offers a ton of variety all jammed together and offers plenty of opportunity to make new friends as any empty chair at a table is gold and sharing tables is pretty much obligatory and sitting in the floor, back against the wall is not unheard of.  If you want to enjoy a bit of downtime from the crowds you can find some of the restaurants that aren’t totally overwhelmed with con goers.  I visited three while I was there.  One was a revisit and two were new.  They are truly international in theme as one was Italian, one Turkish and one a Pacific rim themed restaurant.

The first of the trio was Amalfi Pizza on Andrew Young Int’l Blvd.  The entrance opens to a wide set of stairs in a decorated foyer that take you into the restaurant proper.  There was plenty of seating and I was shown to a table by a smiling young lady.  I decided to have one of their house specialties, Pizza Amalfi and a Jekyll Brewing Hop Dang Diggity to wash it down.

The pizza was great.  First off it’s from a wood fired pizza oven so you get that little bit of char that adds that extra touch to the pizza.  The pizza itself had fresh mozzarella, spicy sausage, crushed tomato sauce, peppadew peppers, caramelized onions, and their own bacon jam.  The toppings weren’t piled on like a lot of franchise pizzas so the flavors might vary from one bite to the next.  When you got a bit of the bacon jam it gave the pizza an almost barbeque sauce flavor with the sweet and smoky flavor.  The sausage wasn’t very spicy in my opinion but did have a good Italian sausage flavor.  The beer was an IPA, nothing special amid the glut of IPAs in the craft brew world.

Next up was Truva for lunch.  I did a blog entry for Truva last year that you can find in the archives if you choose.  Truva is a Turkish restaurant and is a dimly lit place on a second floor and out of the way enough that only the people from the con who truly want Turkish food show up so it’s a great getaway spot.  This year I decided to have a couple of their appetizers instead of an entrée as I figured it might be a little less heavy.  I got the Etli Borek and Karniyarik.  I loved the menu description of the etli borek, cigar shaped meat pastry.  Karniyarik is stuffed eggplant.  While I was waiting for the apps I was provided with a metal basket of warm bread with black sesame seeds and olive oil & balsamic vinegar to dredge it through.

That bread was worth the trip.  Trying to be mindful of the calories I only ate a couple of pieces and felt like that was showing heroic restraint.  Fortunately my meal of starters showed up.

The stuffed eggplant was partially peeled in sections to provide a decorative presentation and it was stuffed with a ground, spiced lamb and beef combo.  It was ok but honestly I think it could have been spiced up a bit more and the eggplant was a little rubbery.  Not my favorite dish from Truva to date.  The cigar shaped meat pastries were better although it was essentially the same meat mixture.  It benefitted from the pastry dough and the yogurt sauce which tasted like it had some mint in it.  They could have doubled the sauce and made the dish twice as good as far as I’m concerned.  I wrapped it up with a Turkish coffee.  I was a bit disappointed that I didn’t get the fancy cup like I did last time but the coffee was good.  I’d have to give this visit only 4 stars.  I’d have gone as low as 3.5 but the waiter was very good so that kept in the very good range.  Oh yeah and the bread, I finished that basket before I left.

Last but certainly not least was the Pacific Rim Bistro on Peachtree Center Ave.  It covers a wide span of Asian cuisines including sushi.  This place was packed with con goers so I was seated at the sushi bar and even though I didn’t order any I got to watch them make it as I waited for my food.  In addition to seating at the sushi bar they have tables inside as well as outside and both high tops and regular tables.  The staff is also very attentive.  I was checked on by at least three people aside from my server but it wasn’t annoying.  I was torn between the Malaysian curry chicken and the Lamb stew in coconut curry and my server was helpful enough to let me know the lamb stew had been extremely popular so that tipped the scales.

The stew came with big chunks of vegetables; peppers, broccoli, potatoes, and cauliflower, all sharing the coconut curry bath with a healthy portion of bite sized lamb.  The menu indicated it would come with black and jasmine rice but they only had jasmine by the time I ordered mine.  That wasn’t a problem though as this was fantastic.  It was one of the best things I’d eaten all week.  I even like the cauliflower, which is a vegetable I’ve never really cared for.  I’d definitely recommend this dish to anyone that didn’t have an aversion to something a little spicy.

Overall I was quite happy with my international dining experiences while enjoying DragonCon.  If you’re in downtown Atlanta don’t hesitate to check one of these places out.

 

Mofongo? Sure

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Dominican Republic

Image result for dominican republic passport stamp

This weekend I was feeling like I needed to hit the Caribbean scene and specifically the Dominican Republic since they were on my “not yet done” list.  As the surrogate for the DR I found Punta Cana in Charlotte.

It’s easy to find from the road as it is a stand alone building of good size.  Inside is a large main seating area and also a sort of sun room area with more tables.  Dominican maps, flags and other memorabilia adorn the walls including these interesting masks.  There were two more on the other side of the TVs.  I forgot to ask the significance but they were pretty cool.

They’ve got several flat screens mounted on the walls and a poster for live music so there is certainly an indication of a busy evening spot.  When I entered I was greeted with a smile and seated quickly as there were only a couple of other tables occupied.  By the time I left though the place was three quarters full.

Once I’d had a chance to look over a pretty extensive menu I had a couple of questions and the waitress patiently answered them.

Sidebar – Kudos to the wait staff for continuously circulating and answering questions with good grace.  I overheard the conversation between the server and a lady behind me and the server had to explain this was not a Mexican restaurant and they didn’t have burritos and tacos and then patiently asked the lady some questions and made a couple of recommendations to her that totally worked based on more overheard conversation.

Anyway I settled on the mofongo with chivo (goat) after my Q&A with the helpful young lady waiting on me.  She did kind of look at me and asked if I’d had goat before and liked it and was satisfied when I assured her I had and did.  As the “keep them busy” course they provided a basket of garlic bread.

Thin sliced, lightly toasted and fairly garlicy. I had one piece while I was waiting because I had a feeling this was going to be a substantial lunch and I wasn’t wrong.

As you can see it came in two separate dishes and my first instinct was to ladle the goat over the mofongo but I figured I’d ask so I didn’t commit some culinary faux pas that would get me banned for life from Dominican food.  When I asked the waitress if you were supposed to eat them separately or combine them or what she went politician on me “however you want is OK”.  She was a bit more definitive when I asked “How would you eat it?”.  “With the gravy all over” the mofongo (that’s just fun to type) was the answer so I felt good about my instinct.

Okay by now if you haven’t Googled it or didn’t already know you’re probably saying to yourself, “What the heck is mofongo?”  Well what it is happens to be fried green plantains with butter (oil is also apparently acceptable), garlic, salt and little bits of crispy pork mashed into a dome shaped mound.  They use this as the base and have a lot different partners to serve it with.  As I said I got the goat because I like the rich taste of it and you don’t get it just anywhere.  The goat stew was bony, as it can be, so I made sure to take care when spooning it on the mofongo.  The mofongo had and interesting texture, in a good way, and soaked up the gravy like a good starch.  The chivo was cooked pretty tender but did require a bit of chewing.  It had a great flavor being cooked with just a few onions and peppers plus spices.  The combo was really very tasty and oh my goodness so filling I couldn’t quite finish it all.

The waitress asked me how I liked it and seemed to be genuinely pleased I enjoyed it so much.  It’s nice when the staff seems invested in the success of the dishes.  I’ll say the Yelp ratings are just above average for this place and I don’t understand why.  My experience was way above average in quality of food and service.  I’d say they were a good proxy for the DR and would definitely recommend them.

If you are interested in know more about the Dominican Republic check out the Tell Me More page.

 

TGIFTF

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Thank God it’s Food Truck Friday

Almost everyone looks forward to Friday and I’m no exception and when it’s Food Truck Friday in Rock Hill it’s just that much better.  It was another hot one but a quick stop at the adult beverage station to pick up a Windy Hill Orchard blueberry cider made sure I was properly provisioned to peruse the prolific parade of possibilities.  Wow that was a lot of P’s.  Anyway, after careful deliberation I decided to see what Ruthie’s of Charlotte could offer.

What they could offer was a some dinners with a meat and two sides plus a variety of “melts”.  I decided to try their Best Melt sandwich because it was the best, it says so right in the name.  It was a half and half sandwich; half pulled pork & half meatloaf.

The right side that you get the peek of in the photo was the pulled port half and the left side was the meatloaf side.  Like most of the food trucks this was not fast food but it was good food.  In addition to the two meats the implied cheese part of the melt was actually mac & cheese.  Mac & cheese on a sandwich?  Yep, and it was gooood!  The pulled pork was kind of saucy but that just allowed it to meld nicely with the creamy mac & cheese that was clearly made with real cheese.  The meatloaf side I was initially disappointed in because of the thin slice of meatloaf but it turned out to be just enough to give a great taste to compliment the rest of the sandwich and not make you feel overstuffed.  When they grilled this thing they did not skimp on the butter either which  didn’t detract at all.  I chose to try the okra as the side instead of the chips so I could call myself eating vegetables.  They were ok but nothing remarkable.

After enjoying my meal and listening to live music courtesy of the Flatland Tourists I wandered a bit more and found some coffee entrepreneurs offering some cold brew coffees and a couple of their own varieties of coffee beans.

After some conversation with the enthusiastic couple from Knowledge Perk I decided to give their bourbon barrel aged cold brew a try.  I wasn’t sure what I was in for but it was quite good.  It wasn’t as dark and robust as I like generally like my coffee since it was made from a medium roast but that allowed the subtle bourbon taste to ride the coffee wave across the taste buds.  One of the proprietors mentioned he liked to have it with a pump of caramel syrup which really kicked up the bourbon taste and sweetened it.  I also bought a couple of packs of their beans and was amused by the interaction.

Him: (Face looking kind of sad that he’s got to ask this question) Do you need this ground?

Me: (What am I, a barbarian face) No!

Him: (Smile like a proud father) That’s great! Do you use a French press?

Me: (Less superior) Well, actually I grind it and use it in reusable K-cups.

Him: (Mild disappointment accompanied by visible deduction of cool points) Ok, well um, sometime you should really try a French press.

The coffee smells great and I can’t wait to try it.

Overall another good experience and I hate that I have to wait a month to attend the next one.

BBQ Time

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American South

Not finding any restaurants representing an untried country and with food trucks on deck for next week I decided to add another variation to the theme and look for restaurants that represented regional American cuisines.  So I might not need a passport to visit their home area (unless SC doesn’t update their drivers licenses then I’ll have to use my passport card) but it’s still from outside the area.  Figured it made sense to start on the home turf with some pork BBQ from a local establishment.

In this case I decided on 521 BBQ in Tega Cay just up the road from me.

There are in a little strip mall and don’t have an outdoor pit or big smoker outback with guys shoveling in coals or anything but I understand they do smoke their own meat.  When you go in there are some tables and the bar up front and then down the left side of the restaurant there is a fair amount of additional seating.  The bar area has a few flat screen TVs showing sports and a nice selection of craft beer.  As a side note it amused me that the bartender had to go look in the back to see if they had any Michelob Ultra when someone asked for it.  Since it was right there in my face that’s how I started my visit, with one of the craft draft beers.  Specifically it was a DuClaw Sweet Baby Jesus.  I know that might sound like a questionable name and it didn’t provide salvation but it was tasty.

As you might have noticed this is a darkish beer.  That’s because it is a chocolate peanut butter porter.  When I picked up the beer the foamy tan head gave off a distinctly peanut butter scent and the first sip backed that up with a peanut buttery taste.  I didn’t get much chocolate from it but the slight bitterness expected from a porter was there along with the peanut butter.  It was smooth and delicious but really kind of heavy for the lunch I had planned.

I ordered a combo tray that came with two meats and two sides.  Chopped pork and ribs were the meat selections while baked beans and collards were the sides I settled on.  While I waited on the entrée they provided a complimentary basket of hushpuppies to keep me occupied.

They came with some honey butter spread that I’m sure would have been good but I just ate a couple plain.  They were slightly sweet with just a vague hint of onion.  Not my Granddad’s hushpuppies but acceptable.  It was just a few minutes though and the main attraction was delivered.

If it looks like a lot of food that’s because it was.  I started with a small taste of each of the sides before digging into the meats.  The baked beans were made with a smoky, sweet thick bbq sauce that was the predominate flavor.  They had some bacon and onion as well to balance the sweetness a bit.  The collards looked great and you could see they had added some pork in with them.  I can’t lie, the first bite had an sort of fishy taste that almost made me quit it right there.  I don’t know if it was just some weird combination of the aftertaste of the sweet smoky beans and the savory collards but man the initial reaction was not cool.  I waited a second and tried them again and didn’t get the same taste so I could proceed.  They were ok, texture was good, not mushy like some and the pork was ok but smoked, salted meat would probably have been a better flavor choice.

The ribs on the other hand were great from start to finish.  There were two ribs in each of the pieces and they were generously coated in the sweet, smoky sauce.  They were not fall off the bone ribs but the meat came away from the bone cleanly as you ate them.  The chopped pork was delivered without sauce just the smoked, chopped meat and you had three options of sauces at the table.  The previously mentioned smoky, sweet sauce, plus mustard based and vinegar based sauces made up the choices.  The pork itself had a mild smoke flavor with salt and was edible plain but much better with sauce.  Being from an eastern NC family I loaded mine with the vinegar sauce after segregating a couple of small portions to sample the other two.  It was a bit sweeter than I prefer but not bad.  The mustard sauce was nice and tangy and the other sauce was ok in the beans and good on the ribs and decent on the chopped pork too.

Final verdict for me is the place is solid but nothing exceptional based on what I had.  After the beer I’d say the ribs were probably the next best thing.  If you’re in the area and feel like getting some BBQ you’ll do okay if you stop in.

Persian Repast

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Iran

This weekend I found a relatively new place just a couple of miles from me that serves Persian cuisine so I had to go check them out.  Nayeb is a restaurant and hookah lounge on Anderson Road in Rock Hill.  It is easy to spot because it looks like a yellow barn.  When I say yellow I mean bright like Tweety bird kind of yellow.  The place has plenty of parking places and lots of seating inside.  Outside there is a courtyard kind of set up the picture below shows a corner of.  In front of this are some outdoor tables and to the side there is what looks like an outdoor lounge with sofa and everything.  I’m guessing the courtyard is the hookah hangout.

I was the only patron in the place the whole time I was there.  The only other person I saw was my waitress, Cindy.  I’m guessing on the spelling since she didn’t have a nametag, it could be Sindee or Cyndi for all I know, not that it’s relevant.  Anyway, she greeted me and I had my choice of seats so I grabbed a table with a window and a view of the hookahs and assorted tobaccos.  The menu was presented and my drink order of unsweet tea was taken without delay.

The menu is limited but the dishes all had Persian names even if they weren’t exclusive to Persia so it felt authentic.  The entrees were mainly kabobs which was cool with me and although I was tempted to get the combo platter which had 3 kinds of kabobs I decided to stick with the koobideh so I could try an appetizer as well.  For the appetizer I selected the dolmeh stuffed grape leaves.  After I placed the order Cindy brought me a pre-appetizer appetizer they serve each guest.

What we had here was warm, almost toasted, flatbread with basil and parsley, feta cheese, a wedge of raw onion and butter.  According to her you take a bit of the herbs (sometimes you might have mint as well or in place of one of the others depending on what’s in the larder) and the feta and put them on the bread and either add some onion or just take a bite of the onion.  I dutifully tried it with some basil, cheese and a layer of onion.  It was ok but the bread by itself was the star of the little quartet.  I didn’t eat much because I didn’t want to be full for my app and entrée.

The grape leaves arrived next.  As you can see there were four grape leaves and what you don’t see is that they were stuffed with rice, herbs & spices.  My first taste caught me by surprise because they were tangier than I expected.  The grape leaves were tender and the filling was almost creamy in texture but you could see the grains of rice.  I have since learned that dill and lemon juice are constituent parts of these stuffed grape leaves and account for the tanginess.  I also tried some spice concoction that Cindy recommended trying on everything.  It was ok and actually acted as a counterbalance to the tartness of the grape leaves.

My koobideh arrived nice and hot from the grill.  Koobideh is ground, spiced meat formed around a skewer and traditionally grilled over hot coals.  I’m not sure if these were grilled over a gas fire or a coal fire but they didn’t have any smokiness to the flavor so the flavor was all from the meat and spices.  Again there was a tartness to the first bite that caught me off guard but it went well paired with the relative blandness of the rice.  I have to say the odd segmentation of the kabobs was unexpected as well.  They were handy places to cut the meat in bite size pieces but didn’t really enhance the visual appeal.  The rice was just about perfect.  There was no stickiness and you could have easily eaten one grain at a time if you were that weird.  The bit of saffron added some color but not much in the way of flavor.  The grilled tomato also was a nice touch.

A last note on the tea.  I enjoyed it quite a bit and could taste something other than teas in it.  I asked and was told it was a Persian tea that included cardamom and it clicked.  I was basically drinking iced Earl Grey.

I’ll definitely be going back, if not for the weekday all you can eat Mediterranean buffet for 6.99, then at least to try one of the other types of kabobs.  I’m surprised they aren’t busier than they are and they have a lot of tables and parking sitting idle.  The Yelp reviews may be keeping some people away.  The most recent 4 reviews are a couple of one star reviews sandwiched between two five star reviews all within a couple of weeks.   Maybe the money’s in the hookahs.

If you’re interested in how to fix the koobideh or in Persian music or just a random fact check out the Tell Me More page.

 

Balkan Sausage Sunday

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Bosnia

Image result for Bosnian passport stamp

More accurately Bosnia and Herzegovina was the targeted country for the Culinary-passport this week when I visited Euro Grill & Café in Charlotte.  This is a restaurant & market in a former residence on Central.  It’s pretty easy to spot and while there are no parking places in front there are plenty in the back and you can enter from there as well.  You walk into the market portion and while there are only two aisles they have a nice variety of the limited number of items they carry including meats & cheeses in cold cases.

From this area you take a couple of steps down through a door into the small seating area of the restaurant.  It has 5 tables that seat between 2 and 4 people.  There was also seating on the front porch too as I saw later when I was perusing the market, which also answered the question of where those other people who came in and paid for food were dining.  It’s a family run place based on the conversation I heard coming from the kitchen.  The young lady waiting on me most of the time was the daughter of the gentleman running the place.  They were both very nice with genuine smiles when they talked to you.

There were several things on the menu that I wanted to try but since I can’t eat everything in one trip I went for a combo that got me small portions of two of their specialties, the cevapi & sudzukice.  To drink I was planning to have a Croatian beer but since it was 11:30 Sunday in NC I had to alter my plans and try something else.  That something else was a Fanta Shokata.  I’ve given up drinking sodas for a couple of years now but special occasions call for exceptions and a Fanta concoction in a blue bottle seemed special enough.

It was quite different and interestingly tasty.  On first sip it started with a very floral taste that resolved into a citrusy kick as the carbonation rolled across the tongue.  It was pretty sweet but as I said very good and if I still drank sodas on a regular basis I could see adding this to the rotation.  Turns out this is elderberry & lemon soda which pretty much explains my first impression.  This wasn’t fast food but the wait was reasonable since I could actually hear them preparing it.

The specialties were two types of sausages.  The cevapis are small beef sausages that look very much like breakfast links you see in the grocery store.  The sudzukice are the longer, smoother sausages and are spicier that the cevapi.  The bread they were served on is Bosnian flatbread called lepinja and was fanstatic.  There was a side of chopped onions and fries as you can see and the condiments were ketchup, house made sour  cream and roasted vegetable spread.  The cevaps were caseless beef rolls lightly seasoned and grilled and there were 5 of them.  The sudzukice were beef but had more spices including some heat and were about twice the length of the others and there were two of them.  The homemade bread and the number and configuration of the sausages made eating it like a sandwich problematic so I ate some with the fork and some I tore the bread halves in half and made mini sandwiches.  I alternated adding the roasted vegetables and sour cream as I ate.  The roasted vegetables (ajvar) I asked about since I had not idea what it was.  It is made primarily from peppers, eggplant, and tomatoes and interestingly the eggplant was the most distinctive of the three to me.  The fries, while being standard fare were cooked just about perfectly.  After finishing this I decided I’d try some of the Bosnian coffee I’d heard about.

This was an interesting set up.  There was an island of grounds floating on the coffee underneath so when I poured it there was no way it was going to be ground free.  The sugar cubes were dense squares of sweetness whose crystals were not as big as I’m used to but it worked.  It started out very hot but cooled quickly and had a nice strong flavor.  The copper pot held two servings which I finished in less than 15 minutes which earned me a chiding from the owner.  He asked how I liked the coffee and I told him I did and although he hesitated and smiled when he said it he informed me that Bosnian coffee was to be lingered over and enjoyed in small sips over the course of 45 mins to and hour or more.  Ooops, cultural faux pas.  Either way it was good.  The little pink thing was like a Turkish delight.  I wasn’t sure about the flavor at the time but it also had a flowery sweet taste and later I saw they sold a rose version of the candy in the store so that’s what I’m going with.   The water is there for two reasons as far as I can tell; one to give you something else to sip between the lingering sips of coffee and at the end to rinse the grounds out of your teeth, which I think is honestly the most important of the two.

After paying up I checked out the market and wound up buying some Slovenian wood smoked dry cured sausage (that got an approving nod at the register), some sheep cheese from Bulgaria, and some pâtés from Croatia and Slovenia.  I can’t believe I didn’t buy any crackers.

I went deliberately at a time I hoped wasn’t busy but by the time I left I would have expected this place to have more traffic that it did.  The food was top notch and the folks friendly plus a market with stuff you can’t pronounce, how is it not swamped?

If you made it this far check out the link here for a recipe, music, and other stuff – Tell Me More