Tag: Eating Out

I’m Sporty…I Mean REALLY Sporty

This little blog is supposed to be about the BG and I cataloguing our adventures, both in and out of the kitchen.  Well, if I didn’t have a mini-adventure on Saturday, I don’t know what it was.

Earlier this week, I told you the BG got me a bike for Christmas.  Since we live in NC and spent the holidays in Mississippi/Alabama he couldn’t actually give me my bike on Christmas morning.  We had to go pick it up from Bike Source when we got back in town last weekend, really only giving me Sunday afternoon to play with it.  So we’ve been plotting all week to make time for a ride today.  While it wasn’t actually cold in the Queen City last weekend, there was enough of a chill in the air to give the wind a bite when I picked up any kind of speed.  So, my stipulation for any further winter riding was that I would get what I deemed a “wind shirt.”  (In my mind this is some sort of wind minimizing shirt to help cut back on stinging headwinds, not just a fleece.)

It’s Saturday, so of course BG and I slept in a little later than we really intended.  Once up and running, we headed out to R.E.I. to see what kind of wind-minimizing cycling gear they might have in stock.  I found the PERFECT shirt/jacket!  (I was going to share the link, but I can’t find my jacket on the website.) It’s called the Novara Headwind Bike Jacket.  It blocks wind up to 35 mph, has a detachable hood that can cover my ears but won’t block my peripheral vision, has 4 pockets – two of which are zippered for holding my phone, etc. while cycling, and is extra long in the back so it won’t ride up and leave my lower back exposed to the elements while I’m leaning over towards the handlebars.  Oh, and the BEST part is it’s grey and purple – so it matches my bike. 🙂

What?  Sporty girls need to coordinate too.

Now, I mentioned that it wasn’t cold during our brief ride last weekend, just chilly when we caught wind as we picked up speed.  That same statement was NOT true of Charlotte today.  The high today was forecasted to be 37*!

We got home from shopping around 11:30a.  Excited to play with my new bike and put my new jacket to good use, I ran upstairs and immediately changed into my biking gear.  I was ready to go within minutes.  I can not say the same thing for my man.  I’m not sure what he was doing, but I had time to do all the dishes in the sink before he was ready.  About 45 min later we were BOTH finally geared up and ready to go.  So we ran downstairs, grabbed our bikes, open the garage door, and what do we see…

SNOWFLAKES!  Big, fat, chunky snowflakes falling from the sky.

I looked at him.  He looked at me.  “Are we really gonna do this?” he asked.  “Well, I do have new shirt,” I replied.  So off we went.

I’m pleased to report that my new Novara Headwind Jacket worked brilliantly!  I am especially pleased with the hood that kept my ears so warm.  If the jacket had not had that option I would not have been able to stand it.  My ears always hurt really badly in cold wind.  But not today!  The one little chink in my cold weather cycling armor – fingerless riding gloves.  Within the first half mile, my fingers were SO COLD that they hurt.  Not just pain.  That weird freezing, burning kind of pain.

Since we were headed towards East Blvd, BG suggested that we swing in the Alpine Ski Center and see what sort of gloves they might have that would be appropriate for cycling. Thankfully they had a suitable pair and, like my new jacket, I think they’ll come in handy when we head to Park City, UT next month.

By this time, it’s after 1pm and my breakfast has long since worn off.  I suggested to BG that we take a small break for lunch and defrosting.  We agreed to pop into our favorite burger joint, Big Daddy’s Burger Bar, for just that since we knew we could sit on an enclosed and heated patio, keeping our bikes near by.

(Please excuse the helmet hair and poorly lit pic taken with my iPhone camera.)

This place has a great beer selection and even better burgers.  The downside to that is it is ALWAYS hopping!  We’ve never been there when we didn’t have some kind of a wait.  (That being said, it is a MUST if you are in Charlotte and craving a good burger. ) The wind may have been blowing while we were riding, but at least we were generating body heat.  I thought I would turn into a grape popsicle before we were seated.

We split a Western Burger since we didn’t want to ride home with overly full tummies.  He had some Tater Tots and I had about half a serving of sweet potato fries.  Not very healthy but so, so yummy!

Lunch down, we now had to brave the 35* temps, sans snowflakes, for the ride back home.  The temp had dropped a couple of degrees since we left our house.

All in all, we were only out in the frigid temps for about 2 hours.  If that’s not sporty, I don’t know what is!  There was a time in my life when I wouldn’t have even considered going biking on a sunny, but freezing day like today.  Get me, I’m growing as a person.  In fact, BG told me that with the “mini-camping” I did for my Susan G. Komen 3-day Walk, my new found love of cycling, and my plans to go skiing for the first time next month, he thinks I’m in the midst of a “sporty revolution.”

You know what?  I think he may be on to something!

Cheers, y’all!

Wine Girl

Permanent link to this article: https://kitchendoesnttravel.com/archives/627

Shootin’ Sushi

So I mentioned that I was taking a photography class, right?  I may also have mentioned that I am totally a Penelope and nerdy with anything resembling school.

I had my first class last week. As with my actual schooling, I positioned myself front and center at the head of the class with my clean new notebook and brand new pen ready to jot down all the pearls of photography wisdom spun forth by my instructor.  Despite the fact that my brain really does work in outline form, my class notes looked like pages of indecipherable scribble…just like in high school, college, and grad school.  Therefore, just like in high school, college, and grad school, I spent time this week recopying my notes.  While it may seem redundant, it actually helps me learn to recopy them because I am a visual/tactile learner.  In fact, the more I see it written or do it with my hands, the more it sticks.  So, to help me retain more of what I’m learning, I going to share it with you.

My first class primarily focused on the 3 components of good exposure:

  1. aperture (the amount of light let into the camera)
  2. shutter speed (the length of time the shutter is open/the image is exposed to film or media)
  3. ISO (degree of film or digital sensor sensitivity)

This can all get a little long.  So since my homework this week was about aperture play, I’ll focus on that for this post.

Aperture is measured in f-stops and is one of the key components in establishing the depth of field for your shot.  What do I mean by depth of field?  It basically refers to how much of your shot in focus.  In a shallow depth of field the photographer is basically telling the audience what it should attend to in the shot.  Only the subject is in focus.  For example:

By contrast a greater depth of field means that pretty much everything in the picture is in focus. There’s a lot of detail to take in.  While Ansel Adams was a master at this, here’s my example:

So how do you achieve one type of shot versus the other?  One way is by adjusting the aperture. Here’s where things can get a little confusing.  Remember I said that aperture controls how much light the camera lets in and is measured in f-stops.  The SMALLER the f-stop number, the MORE light is let into the camera, and the more shallow the depth of field.  The LARGER the f-stop number, the LESS light is let into the camera, and the greater the depth of field.  Totally counterintuitive, right?

I know, I know.  The only way that is going to stick in my head is by rote memorization.  So say it with me:

smaller f-stop = more open = more light = shallow depth of field
smaller f-stop = more open = more light = shallow depth of field
smaller f-stop = more open = more light = shallow depth of field

Conversely, you could say:

larger f-stop = less open = less light = greater depth of field
larger f-stop = less open = less light = greater depth of field
larger f-stop = less open = less light = greater depth of field

If you are interested in some additional reading about all this, check out what the Pioneer Woman has to say about all this here.

Here was my homework for week 1:

“With your camera in Aperture Priority and using a long lens, gather several objects together or one object against a busy background and shoot it using EACH different aperture/f-stop your camera allows.”

Now HERE’s where things get really delicious!  I decided that the ideal subject for this project would be sushi.  It’s delicious, colorful, and has multiple textures.  So the Beer Guy and I packed up the D90 and headed out to our new favorite Charlotte sushi spot – Cyros Sushi.

Cyros is a tiny little sushi place inside an unassuming strip mall.  This place is getting more popular and it IS tiny.  So if you go on a Friday night, you may end up eating in the atrium of the strip mall. Not cool or fun.  So we suggest going in the middle of the week or at least not at prime dinner time on the weekend so you don’t run that risk.

Ok, so it loses a couple cool points for location, but it’s really what’s inside that counts.  The decor is elegant and modern, but not so mod that it’s cold and uncozy.  The sushi is FAN-TAB-U-LOUS.  We generally have the same friendly server every time we go.  She knows us, we know her and that makes us regulars!  We love being regulars.

We ordered the Pork Shumai appetizer.  But before we could dig in, I had to whip out the D90. Remember we came here strictly for homework purposes (wink, wink).  I had to take a shot of this at each f-stop my camera would allow.  Since the D90 rocks that means I took about 20 shots of everything we ordered…but I’ll just give you the highlights:

Here it is at f5.3 with a shallow depth of field (i.e. yummy appy in crisp focus, BG’s beer fuzzy in the background)…

now at f14 with a slightly greater depth of field (i.e. appy still crisp, BG’s beer getting more focused)…

and again at f25, even greater depth of field (i.e. all the objects in the pics are basically equally in focus)

Yes, I know that everything in that last shot is slightly fuzzy.  That’s what’s called camera shake.  The longer your shutter is open, the more still your camera has to be.  This is apparently where tripods come in handy. But I was shooting in hand…and getting really hungry.  Growing faint and weary may be a better description.  I blame the camera shake on low blood sugar.  I took pics at 3 larger f-stops but I was basically foaming at the mouth at that point and the shots are complete blur! You get my point with the pics, right?

Good.  Let’s move on to the main course.  Ladies and gentlemen, meet Cyros Sushi’s Avant Garde Roll…

Did you just have to stop yourself from licking the computer screen?  Or was that just me…

Let me spell this out for you, people.  Tuna.  Avocado.  Cream cheese.  Covered in spicy aioli sauce and  – wait for it… fried garlic and shallot slivers.  OH – MY – GAH!!  Whew, I’m gonna need a minute…

Where were we?  Oh yeah…photography.  Just because the more you hear/see it, the more likely you are to remember it the above pic was take with an aperture of f5.3, giving a shallow depth of field (i.e. freaking awesome Avant Garde roll in focus in the front, fuzzy sashimi tuna and untensils in the background).  Here’s the same shot at f14, with a still somewhat shallow but greater depth of field than the last shot.

Notice that the sashimi tuna and utensils are still somewhat fuzzy in the background, but getting to be a little less so. And just for good measure here’s the same shot at f36…

Aaaannd, I’m spent.  I’m not lying to you, people.  I dream about that roll at night.  I lose focus at work thinking about it.  Did I mention the fried garlic and shallot slivers…

Huh?  What happened?  Oh yeah, and the last pic…generally equal focus throughout…unfortunately also with a little bit of camera shake.  Again, I blame low blood sugar.

And THAT, folks, is your first lesson in aperture.  And if you are a sushi lover, live in Charlotte, or are passing through town do yourself a favor.  Go to Cyros Sushi.  Order the Avant Garde roll.  I promise you –

IT. WILL. CHANGE. YOUR. LIFE.

Cheers, y’all!

Wine Girl

Permanent link to this article: https://kitchendoesnttravel.com/archives/484

TAP

So, as WineGirl mentioned, we were in Atlanta last weekend, where she did a Very Good Thing. Of course, her exertions left her famished, so thanks to OpenTable, we found a delightful restaurant — literally right around the corner.

And when I tell you that the name of the place is TAP, the following should come as no surprise. The beer menu was longer than the food menu. Draft beer, bottled beer, and Reserve Beer (Oh My!)

Continue reading

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A Farmer Chic Lunch

We left the DC area in a bit of a fog this morning, literally…

Doesn’t it look like we are about to drive out into an unknown void?  Crazy! But, thankfully, it was not a “void.”  We had a very specific destination today. Well, two actually.  Ultimately we were headed for Colchester, CT to spend some time with dear friends.  But from the moment I awoke this morning my mind was focused on one thing and one thing only – LUNCH!

How is that different from any other day, you may ask?  Truthfully, not much.  The difference today was that I was fixated on WHERE I was going to eat lunch, not WHAT I was going to eat.  We routed our trip through Westport, CT specifically so we could have lunch here

I saw the chef, Bill Taibe, on The Martha Stewart Show months ago and have been plotting this lunch ever since.  This is me being SUPER EXCITED about our lunch plans…

Le Farm is what I like to call “Farmer Chic”… and this is one of my FAVORITE vibes!  BG asked me to define exactly what I mean when I say “Farmer Chic” and I had a hard time doing so.  I may not be able to articulate it, but I know it when I see it.  This was it and I LOVED it!

The first thing that I loved about Le Farm, a point that was discussed in depth on The Martha Stewart Show and one of the main reasons I wanted visit, is the philosophy behind it.  As listed on it’s website the restaurant’s goal is

“to support our local farmers here in Connecticut as much as possible, but sometimes we may have to cross state lines to find what we need.  One thing we can promise is that your dinner with us will be meticulously sourced and simply prepared.”

It is a farm-to-table restaurant, which www.wisegeek.com defines as

“a restaurant where the ingredients are sourced as locally as possible, which means that they tend to be very fresh, and they have been through a minimal series of middlemen, if any, literally going directly from the farm to the table. The farm-to-table restaurant trend is part of a larger movement to eat as locally as possible, taking advantage of seasonally available fruits and vegetables and focusing on the environmental and cultural impacts of farming.”

The restaurant is tiny. It only had 12 tables in the whole place.  Upon stepping inside my first thought was “This is perfect!”  No detail was over looked.  The interior and provisions were all a distinct farmhouse style, but elegant.  So very, very elegant.  You know… “Farmer Chic.”

The gorgeous neutral grays color palate (neutral, but not boring), the rustic tables and chairs, the cheesecloth table runners, the dishtowel napkins, the utensils situated in a jar of dried beans, the table water in old fashioned milk bottles… Perfect!  Just take a look.

Sorry for the weird angles on the pics. We were trying not to be complete tourist dorks.  I mean, this lunch was “Martha Approved.”  I needed to be cool about it.  Plus, in such a tiny place, we were bound to draw some attention whipping out the D90.

Dorkiness or not, it all made me so very happy.  See…

But more important than the ambience was the menu!

It was hard to choose.  Ultimately I went with the Pork Shoulder Braised in Milk

and BG had the Stommington Scallops

We shared, of course, and washed them down with these…

also shared.  I love that they served the beer in stemless wine glasses.  Lunch was SUPERB on both sides of the table, but it didn’t hold a candle to dessert…at least for me.

The dessert menu.

Any guesses as to which one I chose?

If you guessed the Warm Cornbread, you were right.  I ordered it because, as I told the waitress, how often do you get to have BACON in your DESSERT?  It sounds so weird, but it was so good. I’m really not a “sweets” eater, but I will almost never turn down cornbread… or bacon for that matter.  This had just enough sweetness to call it dessert, but just enough saltiness that it totally hit the spot.  It was such an interesting combination of flavors.

BG had the Vanilla-Lavender Pannacotta

You’ll have to ask him about that.

I have to say that lunch at Le Farm was, hands down, the best lunch experience I have ever had. What else would I expect from a lunch that is “Martha Approved?”  Nothing less than “Farmer Chic,” of course!

Cheers y’all!
Wine Girl

Permanent link to this article: https://kitchendoesnttravel.com/archives/320

All’s Well That Ends Well

I apparently can’t blog and travel at the same time.  That will definitely go on my list of skills to improve upon as part of this blog is supposed to be about investigating the world around us a little more. We took plenty of pictures and made plenty of notes, but some how never got around to putting them in coherent posts on our travel.  So what we’ll do is post on our travel over the next several days in order, as if they were currently happening.  You dig?

Good. Here goes…

So we headed north of Charlotte in search of fall. We went as far as Alexandria, VA today and I can definitively say that fall has NOT made it’s way here. It’s stinking 91 degrees! ARE-YOU-KIDDING-ME? Needless to say, I am not happy about this and here’s the pic to prove it.

Actually, at that point in the afternoon I was not happy about much of anything.  The day started off well.  We left Charlotte on time (which is a rarity in any of our travels), had no significant traffic problems, and got to Alexandria around 2:30p.  Here’s where things start to break down…

I’m trying to be a little more adventurous which meant not planning out every minute detail of the trip and being a little more open to the “go with the flow” and “see where we end up” mentality.  (Have I mentioned that such a mentality is in direct opposition to my OCD/Type A sensibilities?) As such, I didn’t make hotel reservations or even decide that we would stop over in Alexandria en route to Connecticut until two days before we were scheduled to leave.  I did a little (emphasis on the word LITTLE) research and found out that Old Town Alexandria was supposed to be pretty cool and a haven for foodies. Since I was basically making last minute reservations, all the hotels in the Old Town part of Alexandria were charging about $100-$150 more per night than we had budgeted to pay. So we made the decision to stay a little outside the Old Town area and save some money.  I have since come to regret that decision.

Wine Girl’s Travel Tip #1 – Always pay the extra cash to stay in the “cool” area of your destination city.  The ease and convenience of having attractions in walking distance are priceless.

With the money we spent on cabs and Metro tickets, plus the frustration factor, we would have come out even just ponying up the extra cash and staying in Old Town proper.

Don’t worry.  I don’t intend to bore you with the minutia of all the situations and happenings that conspired to irritate me today.  But here’s a general list for your amusement:

  1. Let’s just say I was nonplussed with our Alexandria accommodations from the minute we entered our room.
  2. I wanted to go on one of these food tours but failed to notice that we needed to be there by 1 pm…it was now 3:30 pm.
  3. Decided to walk to the Metro from our hotel under the pretense that it was “less than 1/3 of a mile” away.  This was a colossal miscommunication particularly in 90+ degree heat when all I brought with me to wear was an early fall wardrobe.
  4. The aforementioned attempt to “go with the flow” and “see where we end up” resulted in basically not being sure about where to go or what to do once being spat out of the Metro station a few blocks outside of Old Town.
  5. More extensive walking in 90+ degree heat.

Wine Girl’s Travel Tip #2- Do not resist all your natural tendencies simply because you are on vacation.  If you are a planner but wanting to be a little spontaneous, don’t neglect planning altogether.  At least have some general idea about directions, attractions, or activities you’d like to see or do.  This will cut way back on wasted time.

We finally made it to a major Old Town thoroughfare.  At this point, all I want is an ice cold beer in a well air conditioned facility…preferrably a quaint establishment with character, but I’ll take what I can get. We wander up King Street looking for such an establishment, but the first 3 bars/restaurants we came to closed for lunch at 3 pm not to open again until 5pm.  So…we kept walking and finally landed in Red Rocks.

Apparently, I was too irritated and thirsty to bother getting a shot of my beverage (or focusing the camera), but here’s what the BG had

(I’ll let him tell you about that later) and we snacked on this appetizer of asparagus and prosciutto salad upon the recommendation of our delightful bartender.

Our friendly bartender also informed us that there was a free King Street Trolley that ran every 20 min and would take us back to the Metro station when we were ready to head back.  Satiated, cooler, and generally appeased I was up for a little more wandering around before going back to the hotel to shower before dinner, especially in light of this new information.

Well we wandered and took a few pics but the only trolley we saw was “off duty.”  So guess what…

more walking in the heat + feet hurting, shoes rubbing +  sweaty/sticky/smelly = I’m irritated all over again.

We found a cab but it wouldn’t take us to our hotel because it’s “a DC cab, not a VA cab.” Then why on earth are you driving around VA and stopping to pick people up in Alexandria?!?!  More walking…all the way back to the Metro station!  Yep, still irritated!  Thankfully, BG had the wherewithal to call the hotel and have them send a shuttle to pick us up at the Metro station and take us back to the hotel.

I’m feeling about 200% better after a shower and am ready for a dinner date with my fella at The Majestic…also upon recommendation of our Red Rocks bartender.

The food was great, but the service was a little meh.  Our waiter was a tad slow getting these to us

and just wasn’t generally forthcoming with information about the restaurant or the menu.  He wasn’t unfriendly, per se.  It was more like he was overbooked, preoccupied, or just not too worried about us.  The hostess was really nice, though.

BG and I shared the best crab cake I’ve ever had for an appetizer

then these entrees, respectively.

The waiter messed up my order and did not substitute the whipped potatoes for the fries as I requested.  I brought it to his attention and promptly received a bowl of these

Too full to consider dessert, we decided to pass, and head back to the hotel. We were presented with this “parting gift from the chef” before leaving.

It’s a Chocolate and Ricotta Truffle with Coconut Shavings.  All’s well that ends well, huh?

Off to bed now. We’ve got a lot of ground to cover tomorrow…including SUPER EXCITING lunch plans!

Cheers, y’all!
Wine Girl

Permanent link to this article: https://kitchendoesnttravel.com/archives/319

Feel Free to Hate Me

because THIS is what I had for dinner last night:

One of the doctors that I work with is retiring.  So the six of us that work with him most closely  took him out for a celebratory dinner at The McNinch House Restaurant in Uptown Charlotte.  And, no, your eyes are not deceiving you.  That’s SEVEN courses you are seeing on the menu.  There were three different entree options, everything else was a Prix Fixe menu.  I had the Moorehead Estate Coffee Rubbed Grass-Fed Beef.  (This is where you should hear the Hallelujah Chorus ringing in the background!)

Sorry, I was too busy enjoying and eating to take pictures of all the food.

Oh, and there was a different wine to compliment each course, hand picked for our menu by the sommelier.  Small pours, of course.  (Otherwise, none of us would have made it home!) The vino hailed from France, Spain, Chile, California, Oregon and Italy.  SOOOOOOO YUUUUMMY!!! (Heaven…I’m in heaven…)

The meal lasted for 4 hours!  Did you notice details in the menu pic like “White Truffle Oil,” “Chevre Mousse,” “Praline Peppered Bacon,” and “Housemade Buttermilk Ice Cream?”  SHUT. UP.

There are no words!  (I wonder if they’d let me move in?  What?  It’s a house.)

Go on, admit it. You hate me just little bit, don’t ya?

Cheers, y’all!
Wine Girl

Permanent link to this article: https://kitchendoesnttravel.com/archives/184

Now THESE are Shrimp & Grits…

Y’all remember how I lamented the  Shrimp & Grits I had last week from Charlotte’s Bite Your Tongue, right?  I can’t help it, though.  You see, I’m spoiled…but let me back up.

I told y’all I went to Ole Miss, didn’t I?  Ole Miss is located in a town I love like no other – Oxford, Mississippi.  For a small Mississippi town, Oxford has a lot of culture and virtually nothing embodies local culture like food!  So it almost goes without saying that Oxford, the quintessential Southern town, is bursting with restaurants full of great Southern food.  During my tenure at Ole Miss and in the years I’ve returned to visit, I’ve seen many Oxford restaurants come and go, but there are a few that were there long before I got there and will probably still be there long after I’m gone.  One of these Oxford staples is City Grocery…and she makes some mean Shrimp & Grits!

Loving City Grocery’s Shrimp & Grits is actually how I learned to like grits period.  (Forgive me for I am about to speak, um write, Southern blasphemy!) I actually didn’t like grits until I got to college, fell in love with Shrimp & Grits, then decided I’d try them one day minus the shrimp.  Since I had never heard of or had Shrimp & Grits anywhere before City Grocery, I just assumed that this was a creation unique to this Oxford eatery.  It wasn’t until I moved to North Carolina that I discovered that Shrimp & Grits is actually cuisine straight from the South Carolina Low Country.

Nevertheless, I first came to love this dish at City Grocery and never eat it without thinking of my beloved Oxford.   So like any self-respecting Ole Miss girl, there will always be a soft spot in my heart (more like tummy) for City Grocery’s Shrimp & Grits.  It shouldn’t surprise me, then, that my Ole Miss friend and fellow blogger, Carmen from Keeping Up Klapper, left this comment on my Supper from N’Awlins post.

“It’s nearly impossible to find shrimp and grits as good as they make them at City Grocery in Oxford, right?! “

Little did she know…

I HAVE CITY GROCERY’S RECIPE FOR SHRIMP & GRITS!!!!  And here’s the proof:

The recipe is included in this cookbook put out by the Yoknapatawpha Arts Council.

As you can see from the cover, it is “A Collection of Recipes from Oxford, Mississippi.”  For my fellow Rebels, not only does it have the recipe for City Grocery’s Shrimp & Grits, it includes several recipes from Yocona River Inn, Downtown Grill, Ajax Diner, and Bottletree Bakery, just to name a few.  It’s also peppered with Grovin’ Tips, recipes for Grove food, Mississippi art, and essays from famous Mississippians.  If you went to Ole Miss, you need this cookbook!

To get one for yourself, just stop by the Yoknapatawpha Arts Council website and get one for yourself here.

But enough about books…let’s cook!

First you cook up some of these…

then mix in butter, sharp white Cheddar and Parmesan cheeses, cayenne pepper, paprika, and Tabasco sauce until they look like this:

Then you take  1 1/2 lbs of these…

and cook them up in some olive oil with some bacon, mushrooms, garlic, lemon juice, and white wine like so:

I should tell you (as if you haven’t inferred it already) this is not a low-calorie dish.  Anything that has this much bacon in it should be eaten sparingly.

But when you do eat it…man, oh man, is it good!  (Side note- The recipe says to cook all that bacon in with the shrimp and mushrooms, but I find that makes the bacon get a little wilty again after it’s already been cooked.  So I reserve a couple crispy tablespoons to spinkle on the top of the finished product.)

I should also warn you that it’s got a kick!  I actually only put in half the Tabasco sauce the recipe calls for when I make it and I still need plenty of this to wash it down

along with plenty of water, of course. 🙂

Now THESE are Shrimp & Grits!

Cheers, y’all!
Wine Girl

Permanent link to this article: https://kitchendoesnttravel.com/archives/155

Surprise Supper from N’Awlins, Y’all!

Beer Guy surprised me by bringing home dinner tonight.  On his way home from getting a haircut he popped into a Queen City eatery called Bite Your Tongue and grabbed some yummies for dinner.

We first heard about Bite Your Tongue from the realtor who helped us find our townhouse 2 years ago.  He had a penchant for showing us as many good places to eat as he did good places to live.  What’s neat about this place is that it is owned by Katrina refugees that relocated to Charlotte.  The owner’s apparently had a similar business in New Orleans.   So when they found themselves in a new city they decided to make this their home by doing what they knew how to do best.

It’s located in a little, nondescript,  hole-in-the-wall building just a few blocks down the street from us.  The only reason we know it’s in there is because of folding sign they sit outside the door.  We’ve tried to go a couple times, but they’ve been closed every time we tried.  They are only open until lunchtime Monday-Friday and, unfortunately, we’ve only tried to go for dinner or lunch on Saturday.  They serve breakfast, lunch, “gourmet to go” take home dinner, and offer catering services.  (Much to my dismay, begnets are not included on the breakfast menu. Of course, that’s probably good for my waistline as this establishment is located just down the street.)

Happily, the sign caught the BG’s eye during their actual business hours today so he seized the opportunity and grabbed us some dinner.

He brought home some Gumbo “Lulu”…

and some Shrimp & Grits…

and picked out a beer with an appropriate Louisiana-esque name to accompany  this Cajun cuisine – the Abita Andygator!  You’ve gotta love that name!

(I certainly enjoyed it, but I’ll let him give you his thoughts on that later.)

Like any good Southern girl, I had some biscuits in the freezer.  So I popped those babies in the oven, divvied up the entrees so we could each have a little of both and… Ta Da!

Dinner from N’Awlins in a flash, y’all!

I LOVED the gumbo!  But, frankly, I’ve had better Shrimp & Grits.  That’s to be expected, though.  Shrimp & Grits is a Low Country thing…not a NOLA thing. (Not to bite the hand that fed me, but if I had been choosing the entrees I would have chosen the gumbo and another signature New Orleans dish like jambalaya, shrimp creole, or crawfish etouffee.  But I’m not complaining…)

Mmmm…Shrimp & Grits.  Oh, how I adore them!  I’d love to expound upon that, but that’s a post for another day.

Like the building that houses them, their website leaves a little to be desired.  But who cares what their website looks like as long as they can cook, right? I didn’t love their Shrimp & Grits, but I’ll give ’em props for their Gumbo!  I’m willing to bet that their signature N’Awlins dishes (which, according to the website, change daily) are pretty awesome as well.  So if you are in the Queen City, are craving a little Cajun cooking, and can get there when the doors are open, go ahead and Bite Your Tongue!

Cheers, y’all!
Wine Girl

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Zada Jane’s Corner Cafe

On Sunday, Wine Girl and I were looking for a casual yet yummy breakfast. Usually at this hour, WG is making herself (somehow) even more beautiful, and I struggling vainly to look presentable, so that we can go to services. But on this morning, not so. We were out late Saturday night, showing out-of-town friends around town, and where else to show but bars and restaurants? More on that in a later post.

A good friend had introduced us to Zada Jane’s Corner Cafe (site may be offline), so our mouths were salivating even as we looked for a parking spot. Nope, none available in the lot. Not on the first block. or second. or third. Finally we park, and I test WG’s patience as I take pictures of some lovely trees. I especially enjoy light-dappled tree leaves, and while I was becoming more absorbed in my deciduous delight, other diners were passing us towards the restaurant.

Zada Jane's Corner Cafe

We walked toward the entrance, first hoping that there would be an open table in the outdoor patio area, then hoping that the wait wouldn’t be too long. In the event of a long wait, coupled with a fit of energy on our part, we could play shuffleboard or cornhole outside.

Cornhole at Zada Jane's

Happily there’s a spot for two at the bar, and we’re seated immediately. The surroundings take several moments to sink in. First, it’s the funky and eclectic decor (and staff), replete with albums ranging from Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass to Hendrix to Southern Culture on the Skids. Oh, and a big chicken, too. The columns are covered with art from local artists, and Wine Girl delights over the mismatched coffee cups.

I’m feeling conventional, and I sampled the biscuit with bacon, egg, and cheese. That sounds like something fast food, but instead, I’m greeted with actual food!

Man-sized Biscuit

After our food comes, we break out the D90 and begin the ritual. Our server (who I think is also the owner) stops and asks:

(He) Taking pictures of your food?
(Us) We take pictures of all our food.
(He) That’s cool. Do you write or blog?
(Us) We blog.

Even now, I’m struck by the casual pretension — we blog — this is the first we’ve outed ourselves as bloggers in “real time”. An amiable chat ensued, and he recommended a few food blogs, including RoadFood.com. That’s right, gentle reader, ours is not the first food blog on the Internet. For a more established set of reviews, you should follow the Charlotte Food Snob.

Wine Girl orders the Amaretto French Toast with bacon and orange butter on the side. She declares madly: “French toast made on any other bread besides challah is just wrong!”
Challah French Toast
Now that’s breakfast!

Beer Guy

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Lobsterfest 2010

“Kitchen doesn’t travel.  You must eat it where it’s born.”  I’m taking that seriously these days.  The Beer Guy and I have been at the coast.  Guess what’s born at the coast?

SEAFOOD!

And what is the Mac Daddy of all seafood?

LOBSTER!

So, when in Rome (or Hilton Head, but you get the point)… eat LOBSTER as part of a Surf ‘n Turf special at Topside at the Quarterdeck…

(can you tell part of the lobster is stuffed with crab…and that’s a 4oz filet mignon on the side)

and you eat it in a better round of paella than you made the first time…

and you eat it steamed served with sides of grilled corn and a three potato medley as the evening special at the Surfside Grill.

(I’m in heaven!)

Of course you will need the proper tools for cracking into and devouring said lobster…

and you’ll need to wash it down with something equally yummy…

Then, just to make sure your beach eatings don’t get too homogenized, you round out your week by eating your weight in a Shrimp Boil (that’s a Low Country Boil to all my Carolina friends) that your baby sister made.

(Check out Kath’s  recipe – from Kath Eats Real Food – for a Low Country Boil here if you want to make one yourself.

I told y’all I had a healthy appetite!

Cheers!

Wine Girl

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