Another Super Saturday

Posted on February 11, 2017 by culina23_wp

Korea

Last blog was Super Bowl themed and this one is Super G. There is a Korean restaurant in the Super G Mart food court along with a couple of others so it’s a repeat weekend. It would be impossible not to compare Super G with the previous Korean experience at Pepero. Both meals were at restaurants in a market but the difference was huge. Where Pepero feels like a family owned local place with a great authentic restaurant attached, the Super G Mart is like a prototype for an International supermarket chain that added a semi-fast food Korean eatery in the corner. Both are great for what they are but this is about the Super G so on to the food.

As you can see in the picture they have a pictographic menu plus some items packaged at the register and some dishes in the case under the menu. I decided to try the bibimbap this time, although I was almost tempted to go with the bulgogi since I enjoyed it so much at Pepero but stayed the course and tried the new dish.

The Jethro sized bowl had mixed vegetables and some marinated beef resting on a foundation of white rice and topped with a lightly fried egg. Included was a side of kimchi and some extra heat if you wanted to spice it up. I really enjoyed the mix of vegetables with the rice and egg and the marinated meat was fantastic. The kimchi was not very spicy but there was enough of the side heat to ratchet it up to whatever level you wanted. I kept it pretty mild and enjoyed the whole meal. I saw a few dishes other people had ordered and they all looked pretty good too. I’d definitely eat here again, after trying the other two places of course.

After enjoying the meal I decided to wander the aisles and see what they had and I was definitely impressed. The produce section has more variety than I’ve ever seen anywhere and it is arranged very logically. From there I strolled into the meat department and just past the beef lips and bull fries I came upon these.

That means somewhere out there is a recipe that calls for beef knee-caps. After this I just wandered up and down the aisles checking out the familiar international treats but things I’ve never heard of before. I did wind up buying a couple of packs of cookies, some Korean rice cakes (not the crunchy snack kind), and some fish sausage, just because. Each came from a different country; India, Oman, Korea & Japan. Another thing that set this apart from a general trip to the market was the people. I wouldn’t even begin to guess the number of different nationalities were represented by the crowd but to say it was diverse would be an understatement. It won’t be my last visit to the Super G and if you have need of some odd ingredient, sauce, meat, spice, check them out.

Super Edition

Posted on February 5, 2017 by culina23_wp

Super Bowl

This being Super Bowl weekend I decided to pack away the passport and do a home version.

In keeping with Super Bowl party traditions I’m having finger food for dinner and a suitable half-time snack and either a drink for a celebratory Falcons victory toast or one to drown my sorrows at a Pats win. We’ll see at the end which it was.

For Super dinner the entrée is whole wings marinated in Hunter’s Caribbean mustard sauce from Kingoffoods.com that I picked up at the Charlotte Farmer’s Market just yesterday. Popped them on the grill and enjoyed the last of a beautiful sunny day while they cooked. End result was pretty good accompanied by the requisite vegetables and some dipping sauce.

Of course you have to have a little beverage to wash it down and the choice for that was a localish brew from the Catawba Brewing company. It was their King Winterbolt Winter Ale and as you can see it was a nice dark ale. It’s a higher than average alcohol beer at 7% and it’s also reasonably smooth and paired nicely with the tangy mustard sauce of the wings.

Half time and beyond snacks were corn chip, cheese & sausage nachos. The cheese medley included Carolina Hoop Cheese from Ashe County Cheese and the sausage was hot sausage from Wadesboro, NC based Rayfield’s Meat Center, also picked up at the farmer’s market. I love the ingredient list for the sausage was only four items long; pork, sage, salt & red pepper. Mighty tasty.

And to finish off the evening since my team didn’t get crowned I had to have a consolation Crown.

And congratulations to Jay Verellen for winning the Blogaversary contest.

Blogaversary

Posted on January 28, 2017 by culina23_wp

Peru

This is the one year anniversary of the first culinary-passport blog entry so there is a giveaway to celebrate and a return trip to the first country’s cuisine. Details on the giveaway are at the end of the post.

To represent Peru this time I went for the Machu Pichu restaurant in Pineville, NC. With that name they’re kind of in your face with Peru so I thought I’d see what they brought to the table, literally.

The restaurant is in a well established shopping center on S Polk St, named after the presidential Polks. They weren’t that busy so when I wasn’t greeted and seated right away I hoped that wasn’t an omen of how the visit would go and fortunately it was not. After I got seated the server brought over their equivalent to chips & salsa, popcorn or peanuts at some other places and that was choclo.

At first I thought it was peanuts (it was dim in there) but when I picked one out of the bowl it was lighter than a peanut would have been. Turns out it is a giant kernel of Peruvian corn that was roasted and salted. The outside was crunchy and chewy and the inside was starchy and you better have something to drink as the starch will dry your mouth out in a hurry. It’s definitely not sweet corn but it turned out to be a nice snack to munch on while waiting for the main course. For a drink I tried one from the chirimoya fruit which they make to order judging by the length of time it took to get to me.

I have to say I liked it quite a bit. It was a little sweet and had a very subtle flavor that is hard to describe. It was a bit like a melon and apple cross and very refreshing. It paired well with my entrée, Tiridito en Tres Salsas.

I’m going to quote from the menu here so you understand what I was working with when I ordered. “Thinly sliced fish marinated lightly in lime & covered with Peruvian yellow pepper cream, rocoto peppers cream & a classic white cream; served with sweet potatoes & corn.” All of that was very true but I was surprised as I went for the first bite and the dish was cold and oh so uncooked. I got over the surprise and just went with it because the sauces were all very tasty. They were each tangy so the sweet potato went nicely and chirimoya was a great contrast. And as you can see from the photo they work to present a plate that’s appealing to the eye as well. So in spite of the surprise that I got the Peruvian version of sashimi the meal was enjoyable and the portions were not too much.

I had a good chuckle when the young lady who was acting as hostess came over and asked me how I liked the dish and when I said I like it she said “Really?” in a surprised tone and made a little face, “I don’t like it. I don’t like raw fish.” I would definitely recommend this place and will try them again. Having said that I have two caveats for anyone going. First, they are moderately priced, not a cheap meal but not overly priced either. Second they are very friendly but not fast so if you are in a hurry head to the BK just down the road but if you want a leisurely meal it’s a good place. In fact even though I was clearly through and she had bussed the table the server didn’t bring the check until I caught her eye and asked for it. It wasn’t because she forgot either because she checked on me to see if I needed more water or drink, she just wasn’t going to rush me out. A win on the blogaversary.

Giveaway Contest

The rules are pretty simple. The contest is open from Jan 28th, 2017 through Feb 3rd, 2017 and open to anyone who can legally receive the prize. I know, blah blah blah, “What can we win?” The prize is a $25 Amazon gift card to a single winner (’cause I ain’t rich). “Well how can I get in on this amazing prize” you ask? In the spirit of bloggery and the pretext that the audiences should be expanded you will get an entry for each Like, Comment, Share, Retweet, etc. and I’ll use random.org’s random number generator to find the winner. Each type of action on a single social platform will get an entry so for example if you comment multiple times on FB it’s a single entry but a like on FB and Instagram and Twitter would be 3 entries. Winner will be announced in next blog post. Thanks for reading this far.

Sushi Saturday

Posted on January 22, 2017 by culina23_wp

Japan

It felt like a seafood weekend so a little sushi seemed to be in order. Representing Japan for the Culinary-Passport was Red Bowl Asian Bistro in Rock Hill. To be precise they are an Asian fusion restaurant and have multiple cuisines represented on the menu so they aren’t solely a Japanese place but they do have a pretty extensive sushi menu as well as hibachi options. There are at least 4 Red Bowl restaurants in the area so their offering certainly provided a level of success. I’m pointing this out because my experience wasn’t the kind a culinary empire is built on.

I was greeted by a nice lady who directed a young lady to seat me. She didn’t sigh but it sure felt like I was interrupting her leaning time. The waitress was Jenny on the spot and was at the table and ready to take my drink order before I even got the menu open.

I decided to start with a crispy chicken egg roll and for the entrée went with the lunch sushi which is a “pick two” from a limited selection of rolls or 3 pcs of chef’s choice nigiri plus either miso soup or salad. I chose the Fantasy Roll, the nigiri and miso soup. The egg roll arrived so fast my Kindle app had not even loaded yet. It was warm and tasted pretty decent, nothing exceptional.

So next my sushi came and I had to mention I was supposed to get miso soup and was told “oh, it’s on the way”. I guess the soup comes after the entrée here. I waited the couple of minutes it took to get the miso and really shouldn’t have bothered.

The soup was mediocre and I didn’t bother finishing it. The fantasy roll (crab, roe, spicy mayo) was good but I’ve had better from a Publix grocery store. The nigiri was the high spot as the fish and shrimp looked good, had nice textures and tasted fresh.

Overall this was a disappointing experience and I couldn’t recommend them based on this visit. Even my fortune cookie arrived broken and the fortune was something about how great my wife was. Having said that, a number of years ago I went to the Red Bowl in Fort Mill and it was excellent so I might give them another try once the memory of this trip fades.

If you didn’t visit it last time check out Tell Me More – Japan

Polska

Posted on January 14, 2017 by culina23_wp

Poland

After a couple of weeks off due to holidays and the snowstorm that wasn’t, it was time to grab the passport and head out. Destination this week was Taste of Europe in Matthews, NC that specializes in Polish cuisine. The restaurant is kind of small and has a split seating area. The front has 4 tables and there is another area in the back that I didn’t venture into but it wasn’t huge either so it doesn’t take long to fill up. I don’t know about the back but the front was noisy even with so few tables so if you want a quiet meal keep driving but if you just want some good food park and head in.

I didn’t see anything on the menu I wouldn’t have tried but in the interest of my waistline and wallet I just went with the Polish Sampler that came with a cabbage roll, a piece of grilled kielbasa, and a few pierogis in your flavor choice. My choice was sweet farmer’s cheese.

The cabbage roll was stuffed with seasoned meat and rice and had a nice mild tomato sauce over it and was quite tasty. The polish sausage was pretty much the same you could find in any grocery store. I’d never had sweet farmer’s cheese pierogis before but now that I have I would recommend them. The farmer’s cheese is a soft white cheese as you can see from the second photo. It has a consistency that reminded me of ricotta cheese, is really mild and they added a bit of sugar to sweeten it. You can get the pierogis either boiled or pan fried. I opted for boiled as that is the more traditional. Interestingly, according to the lady who was the lone server talking to another patron, most Americans prefer the fried. That might just be a southern thing but I’m sure they would have been good fried too.

I was disappointed they didn’t have potato pancakes but that was probably for the best anyway since the sampler plate was enough to fill me up but not leave me stuffed. Overall I’d rate this a great comfort food kind of meal that felt like authentic Polish. I think I’ll be going back at some point to try the hunter’s stew and pork cutlet.

If you like cabbage rolls, Polish music or random trivia stop by the Tell Me More page.

A final note, the one year anniversary of the blog is coming up in a couple of weeks and there will be a giveaway to celebrate so stay tuned for details.

Revisiting SE Asia

Posted on December 24, 2016 by culina23_wp

Vietnam II

Earlier in the week Yelp thought I should know about a new hot restaurant in the area, Be’s Noodle & Banh Mi. Since I have other plans for the weekend this seemed like a perfect suggestion for a Friday lunch and a use of the blog scheduler.

This little restaurant is in a popular little shopping area off North Community House road in Ballantyne. I went during a less busy time of the day but there was still a bit of traffic in and out while I was there. The place is very new and clean and the staff was friendly and welcomed everyone that came in the door.

This is another order at the counter and they bring it to your table kind of place. They have a limited menu and it looks like pho is their star player followed by banh mi and some rice dishes. The pho looked good but that’s what I had at the last Vietnamese place and as much as I loved it I decided to try something else just to expand the experience. I went with their “original” banh mi sandwich and I got the grilled pork belly skewers appetizer just because. The appetizer actually came out just a few minutes behind the sandwich but close enough that I still started with it.

The first thing I noticed was they jammed those skewers pretty tight so there was a decent amount of pork belly on each one. The next was they did use real flame grilling as you can see from the little bit of char. So let me just say this is pork belly and if you don’t like fatty meats you need to bypass this. Don’t get me wrong it’s not all fat but hey, it’s pork belly. Now that we’ve gotten past the caution, on to the taste test. It passed. There was a mild sweetness added to the flavor of the grilled pork and the sauce it came with added a little bit more smoky taste plus some spicy heat. Nice start to the meal.

The banh mi I got was the original cold cut version and had three types of pork; pork roll, ham and pork pâté. Along with those we had some cucumber, carrot, daikon radish, jalapenos and cilantro all on a 10″ baguette. As far as I’m concerned they could have put just about anything in that baguette and it would have been good. It was wonderfully crusty on the outside and properly soft and slightly chewy inside. The sandwich as a whole was good. The meats weren’t outstanding but the pâté was interesting, in a good way. I think I’ll try them again for the pho at some point in the future but I’m not rush to have this sandwich again. Overall I think this is a good addition to the area and wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it for a quick bite.

Российские пельмени

Posted on December 18, 2016 by culina23_wp

Russia

This weekend I had the good fortune to find a couple of new restaurants representing countries I hadn’t done already. A few months ago I searched for Polish restaurants because I was in the mood for pierogis and there was nothing to be found. This morning I decided to just search for pierogis and I got two hits, one for a Polish restaurant I’ll be visiting later and a Russian place called Babushka’s Pierogi that was just 20 minutes away. For the record the title says “Russian dumpling” if Google Translate did its job.

The restaurant has only been open a month so everything is new and shiny. It’s a bit of a hybrid in that you order at a counter then seat yourself and they bring it to your table using plates and silverware instead of paper & plasticware. They’re also a mini-market with foodstuffs with a Russian theme right down to caviar.

This place doesn’t just seem to be Russian the lady running it is certainly from the area and speaks Russian because she was conversing in what I’m going to assume was Russian with the family who got there just before I did. Apparently it was their first time at Babushka’s as well because they asked about every single item on the fortunately limited menu. Once I got my shot at ordering I went with the Siberian pelmeni and a cup of the solyanka soup.

I thought the soup was worth an “as presented” and an “after stirring” photo. The soup has a touch of tomato giving it the color and as you can see from the first picture a lemon slice, some dill weed and a dollop of sour cream. Once stirred up you can see the kielbasa and ham as well as olives, potatoes, and onions. It was quite tasty and is the soup of the day on Saturday & Sunday so if you go in on the weekend do yourself a favor and get a cup.

Now on to the pelmeni.

The Siberian pelmeni are essentially steamed dumplings with a beef and pork filling. You can get it served with sour cream or butter & chives. I chose to go with the butter & chives. Pretty simple fare but there were 20 pelmeni on the plate and it was filling as well as good. I was trying to get a feel for how the meat was seasoned so I tried some by itself and it tasted just like salted beef & pork mixture, no big deal. It was kind of the same with the butter, there just didn’t seem to be much there. Of course the outer part was just as plain as you would expect. However, when I had a bite of the combined product with some chives clinging on for dear life it was much better than you would have expected from the sum of all the parts. The light touches on the seasoning and butter really helped the whole. Definitely would have those again.

Before leaving perused the market and the bottle of kvas drew my eye. It was obviously a drink of some sort and it had a monk on it and they have a good reputation making drinks like beer & wine so I figured what the heck let’s buy it and try it.

As you can see it is a dark drink and it has some carbonation as well as a very slight alcohol content. That content is so low it’s considered non-alcoholic but it is there. I’ve subsequently learned this is basically a fermented drink made from rye bread and the color would depend on the color of the rye bread. Apparently there are often other things added for flavor and I’d guess, based on the taste, this one used raisins which according to my little it of research is common. To me this particular kvas tasted like liquid raisin toast with just a hint of fizz. I liked it but it was kind of weird.

I’d definitely recommend dropping in and supporting this new addition to the Pineville culinary scene. If you’re a fan of potato pancakes check out the recipe on the Tell Me More page.

I Cried Tio

Posted on December 11, 2016 by culina23_wp

Honduras

Image result for honduran passport stamp

The weekend started bad for the Culinary-Passport. My first choice was going to be a repeat country but when I rolled into the parking lot there was a sign in the door that they were closed due to a power outage. With this setback I had to get of my lazy behind and find someplace else. OK I didn’t really get off my behind but I did some furious Googling, Binging & Yelping to find some restaurant that represented a country I hadn’t already done. Success! I found Restaurante Lempira which had Honduran food. They have multiple locations in Charlotte and I opted for the one nearest me on South Boulevard.

I got there a bit after noon and the parking lot was already just about full so that was a good sign. I walked in and immediately saw the clientele was heavily weighted towards the Latin American end of the scale. Another good sign. I was seated quickly and had my drink order taken immediately. FYI they don’t do unsweet tea. Since I didn’t know what I wanted in the first few seconds I suffered the one dip in service for the day. The young lady who was supposed to be my server got involved in other things including an involved conversation with a coworker.

The standard chips & salsa were delivered rapido. The salsa was a little thicker than some with chunky bits of onion and cilantro and a bit of heat. I munched on those sparingly since my intended entrée looked like it was going to be a good deal of food. My order was eventually taken by a different lady that had an air of authority and a different uniform so I’m guessing she was a boss of some sort.

The menu has a lot of different options from the standard Mexican American fare to items from other Central / South American countries weighted just a bit in favor of Honduras. I went with the Platillo Hondureño. Boy was I right it was a gracious plenty.

Let’s start from the bottom left and work our way up. We have cubed grilled steak that was lightly seasoned so you got the full taste of the beef and it was very tender. The yucca was just a filling starch and didn’t have much flavor and by itself would have needed salt but in concert with either of the meats was just fine. The next row had pico de gallo, cabbage salad and an avocado, onion and vinegar combo. All of these were good in their own right and a nice way to add a little something to the meats. The back row had an empanada and what they called fried pork skin. The Honduran empanada was filled with a ground meat and rice combo with a few stray bits of other vegetable matter. It was deep fried and deeply fried and didn’t have a lot of flavor of it’s own, at least not compared to the other foods. The fried pork skin was an unexpected surprise. I expected something akin to crackling or fried fatback and while this was definitely close it was at least 80% meat. Now it was fried to within an inch of its life which kept the fat from being…well, fatty. There were a couple of wedges of lime to squeeze on whatever you thought needed lime.

There was easily enough food for two here and I called uncle and dropped the fork before this plate was clean. The food was good, the price reasonable and the supervisory lady checked in on me several times during the meal so aside from the one hiccup the service was good. I’d definitely eat here again.

Be sure to check out the Tell Me More page for a quesadilla recipe like you’ve likely not seen before as well as music, facts & top Amazon searches.

Naughty or Nice?

Posted on December 3, 2016 by culina23_wp

Christmasville

Image result for Vintage Christmas Tree Clip Art

This weekend I had visitors who joined me on a visit to Christmasville to grab some lunch off a food truck. Christmasville is kind of like Brigadoon in that it’s only accessible for a short period of time, in this case 4 days once a year in downtown Rock Hill. My visitors were my youngest sister, niece and nephew. I’m not going to spend much time talking about the festival as you can click the link and see all the details on their website. I will say it was a pleasant way to spend the afternoon with family and it had food trucks!

We walked the main street checking out the camels, polar bears, gnomes, the Grinch and listening to Christmas music from some local choral groups. After scoping the situation I opted for Spoon’s BBQ and my nephew joined me. I got the Jordan hot dog and he got the BBQ cheese fries.

The Jordan dog is a grilled jumbo hot dog with, bbq pork, chili, onions, cole slaw and bbq sauce. I chose mac and cheese as the side. As you might imagine it was quite filling and pretty good as well. You really get more texture than taste from the bbq pork because of the other strong flavors. The mac & cheese was also good but would have been even better with just a couple more minutes in the oven. I’d definitely try Spoon’s again. My nephew was quite pleased with his fries. They came with a generous amount of bbq and cheese plus some bacon bits and there was plenty enough to fill him up.

My sister and niece, Paige, picked the Plated Palette (say that three times fast) truck. They got the London broil cheese grill and southwest chicken quesadilla respectively.

Both dishes were well received and per my niece the quesadillas were “soooo good”. They both got the red skin potato salad that looked pretty simple but according to my sister was loaded with garlic. I did have a bite of the London broil and I can confirm it was as delicious as it looked.

After a quite filling lunch it was time to stroll and after Jesse Spidermanned his way up a rock wall check out the arts and crafts. We studiously avoided temptations like red velvet funnel cake, kettle corn fresh from the kettle, fried Oreos and some drink in an actual pineapple. It was a tough gauntlet to run but we made it. And to answer the title question the verdict would have to be Nice and I would definitely recommend Christmasville if you’re from or in the area next year.

I’d like to thank Dee, Paige & Jesse for joining me this week and thanks Dee for taking the picture of me with the kids.

Plea Deal

Posted on November 27, 2016 by culina23_wp

Brew Pub International

This week the Culinary-Passport visited a local brewery / restaurant, Legal Remedy Brewing. I’d had a couple of their brews before at the Friday Food Truck events downtown in Rock Hill and it was recommended by a random guy I struck up a conversation with at the Korean food truck.

The place is in an old auto dealership building and they use the space well. Lots of seating both inside and out as you can see in the following photos.

Since I was at a brewery and they had such a good selection of brews I opted for a flight of 4. My selection were: Deposition Dulce de Leche Porter, Sequestered Blueberry Saison, Sequestered Saison & Scintilla Sweet Tea Ale.

I’ll start with my least favorite and that was the tea ale. It had a vaguely tannic taste added to an ale and just was not my deal. The Sequestered Saison is a Belgian Saison with a citrusy taste and a hint of spice. The Blueberry Saison is also Belgian style with a distinctly blueberry taste that was quite refreshing. My favorite was the Dulce de Leche Porter. It had all the body of a porter with the addition of a creamy caramel flavor.

As for the food I went with the recommendation of the Korean food truck patron who was effusive in his praise for the schnitzel. The menu calls it the Pork Schnitzel Holstein and wow that thing was the size of a cow.

Along with a schnitzel that was pounded to fork cutting tenderness there was a very thin slice of country ham and a fried egg on top with a mustardy brown sauce and pickled onions topping the lot. The green beans I believe were roasted and were crisp but fully cooked with some light seasoning. What you can’t see is underneath the huge schnitzel is a pile of skin on mashed red potatoes. I know the country ham and egg seem a bit odd but they actually went well with the whole dish. The only thing I would have liked is a little more of the sauce. This was such a ton of food and drink I didn’t get to try a couple of menu items I had my eye on. I guess I’ll have to try the Recess Break Root Beer (non-alcoholic) and the fried Moon Pie another time.

Aside from requiring a post lunch multi-mile walk to reduce the impact of such a big lunch I have to give this place a big thumbs up both on the beer and food.