Mobile
Friday, August 30, 2013
Chicken Recipe: Roast Chicken Salad Sandwiches
Posted By Scott Greenberg on Fri, Aug 30, 2013 at 9:25 AM
I don't believe in making things "healthier."
Now, that doesn't mean I don't believe in eating healthy. If you spot yourself a nice-looking quinoa salad or some roasted vegetables, by all means, point your fork firmly in that general direction. But don't just do it because the calorie counter on your iPhone's going to yell at you if you don't - do it because both those things are damn tasty.
Similarly, if you're gonna eat something filled with cheese and fat and deliciousness, don't sully the recipe by trying to "make it healthier." The reason why someone makes a cupcake the size of your face covered in frosting and caramel is because it's supposed to be obscenely delicious. It's called an indulgence because you're supposed to indulge, not so you can substitute the sugar for rehydrated sweetener substitute or some such nonsense and feel a slightly better about yourself.
Not only is that probably not going to be that much healthier, it's cheapening the recipe. It's making something that should be a heart-stoppingly delicious morsel into something that's just an imitation. Sure, it might remind you of the real thing; it might even resemble it. But in the end, it's not the real thing, just by virtue of you changing it in the first place. It's a phantom.
So if you're gonna eat something ridiculously unhealthy, eat it. Don't hide behind a mask of low-fat or low-calorie or "it tastes just as good, I swear!" Just. Eat it.
This week I'm making Roast Chicken Salad Sandwiches, and it's not going to use any egg whites or low-fat yogurt. It's going to have mayonnaise, it's going to have crème fraiche, and it's going to be real, damnit.
Thursday, August 29, 2013
Liquid Diet Featured Cocktail: Veruca Salt
Posted By Lauren Blake on Thu, Aug 29, 2013 at 8:03 AM
Found: Block and Grinder, 2935 Providence Road
Ingredients: Hendrick's Gin, homemade blueberry simple syrup, homemade sour mix, lavender bitters, mint for garnish.
Block and Grinder boasts a farm-to-table concept focusing on seasonal, artisanal ingredients both in the kitchen and behind the bar. Beverage director Kyle Crabtree perfected the art of the craft cocktail while working at upscale eateries and bars like Soul Gastrolounge (where he worked as an opening consultant). He works to create balanced concoctions inspired by fine cuisine, using fresh herbs, quality liquors and hard-to-find essentials, such as Scrappy's aromatic, handcrafted bitters. "I'm a big fan of nouveau cocktails, but I like to give respect to the classics," Crabtree says. "They're classic for a reason."
Recently, Crabtree turned the craftsmanship over to home mixologists when Block and Grinder held its Summer Sip-Off contest, encouraging enthusiasts to submit original cocktail recipes to showcase in front of a panel of judges. Emily Pederson, whose husband also submitted his own cocktail recipe, created the aptly named sweet and sour cocktail Veruca Salt. The winning drink claimed a spot on the Block and Grinder cocktail list.
Tuesday, August 27, 2013
Events Zip, cruise and sip every Hump Day
Posted By Keia Mastrianni on Tue, Aug 27, 2013 at 11:33 AM
Next to your list of work meetings, deadlines and hellish expense reports, pencil in zip-lining, campfires and booze cruising for your Wednesday tasks. Then, thank the U.S. National Whitewater Center for taking the sting out of your work week. The USNWC offers opportunities for hump day adventuring, including the Zipline & Dine Tour and Microbrews Cruise held every Wednesday evening (and sometimes Fridays).
Guests can choose to fly high on the Zipline & Dine Tour, where guides take you on five zipline runs and two roped bridges before returning to basecamp for a gourmet fireside meal. Or, if you prefer the low and slow route, opt for the Microbrews Cruise, where you can kayak along the Catawba River before enjoying craft beer and dinner by the campfire on Hawk Island. Both tours offer sunset views of the 400-acre facility and dates last through the fall.
Nature plus booze plus food equals Wednesdays that don't suck anymore. Move over, Thursday!
Check the website for dates and details. Tickets for the Zipline & Dine are $75 per person. The Microbrews Cruise is $55 per person.
Wednesday, August 21, 2013
Events Upcoming: Martini Madness @ Label
Posted By Kimberly Lawson on Wed, Aug 21, 2013 at 9:42 AM
Everybody likes a good competition, but add in bar tricks and maybe some fire and you've got the makings for something very cool - or should I say hot?
- Will Montague
Creative Loafing is partnering with Label for Martini Madness, a contest that pits six bartenders against one another to see who has the most flair, tricks and skill with a shaker. In addition to sampling bites from area restaurants, we're asking you, dear readers, to taste the martinis and help us decide which concoction should be deemed the official Creative Loafing martini. And yes, this is a bit of shameless self-promotion. $20 (for food and four mini martini drinks; additional martinis are $3). Aug. 23, 7 p.m.-10 p.m. Label, 900 N.C. Music Factory Blvd. For more info or to purchase tickets, visit www.clclt.com/events.
Tuesday, August 20, 2013
Recipe Recipe: Arnold Palmer Cupcakes
Posted By Scott Greenberg on Tue, Aug 20, 2013 at 9:21 AM
I usually don't like "fake" flavor. If I order a lemonade, I don't want some fake-ass powdered nonsense in a plastic bottle; I want lemon juice that comes from an actual lemon. I want it to taste like I just got it from the backyard, not the back of a factory.
And if I order a tea, I want something that tastes like tea, not a glass of sugared-up, watered-down crap. I want a little piece of stationary attached to it that tells me the name of the British guy who yelled at a group of other British guys who didn't get exactly the right breed of Burgamot for the Earl Grey.
But, like most things (most - if you ever try to give me a bottle of Lipton's Lemon we're going to go outside and have a little chat about how you're an ignorant clod) there are exceptions.
I decided to make Arnold Palmer Cupcakes this week, largely because Arnold Palmers are a goddamned delicious beverage and the best possible example of "I like these two things so I'm going to shove them together into one."
I could've just squeezed some lemon into cupcake batter, infused any old tea into the frosting, and called it a day. But I didn't. I didn't because my Arnold Palmers weren't made with hand-squeezed lemons and real tea, which means yours probably weren't either.
They're made with fake-ass lemonade and Luzianne black tea. You got your lemonade from a bottle (if you're smart it came from Publix), and you made your sweet tea in a stained, old, plasticky pitcher. So that's how I'm going to make my cupcakes, because even though it's fake, that's the flavor. And sometimes that ain't a bad thing.
Monday, August 19, 2013
Liquid Diet Featured Cocktail: What's Up Doc
Posted By Lauren Blake on Mon, Aug 19, 2013 at 11:14 AM
Found: e2 emeril's eatery, 135 Levine Avenue of the Arts, #100
Ingredients: 1.5 ounces Wild Turkey American Honey, 1.5 ounces carrot juice, 1.5 ounces lemon juice, 1 ounce ginger syrup, 1 ounce lemon juice and mint leaf for garnish.
Like most of e2's cocktails, the What's Up Doc was born out of the desire for a challenge. "The reason why it came about was because we had a few regulars challenge us that we couldn't make a drink with just anything," says bar manager Miki Nikolic. "'How about carrot?' they said. The next thing you know, they're sipping on this one."
Nikolic thrives off of challenging cautious, finicky drinkers to enjoy their "least favorite liquors." If you claim you're not a bourbon drinker, you'll soon be sipping on Wild Turkey under the impression that it's anything but whiskey. Later, he'll fill you in, at which point, you won't even mind. You'll be converted.
Nikolic, an old-school bartender, isn't a fan of new titles and crazes in the industry, and hates the word mixologist. Still, he's crafty when it comes to creating drinks at the fresh-forward bar at e2. His sought-after recipes are simple in execution, and Nikolic lives by a five-minute time limit for cocktail crafting. The Serbian legend is brimming with stories spanning international locales and the kitchens of famous chefs, and you'll most likely hear about them. He knows the recipe for a good bartender requires equal parts craftsmanship and conversation.
Tuesday, August 13, 2013
Liquid Diet NoDa Brewing's SIPA is international, baby
Posted By Kimberly Lawson on Tue, Aug 13, 2013 at 4:23 PM
The folks at NoDa Brewing Company are so cool.
Today's NoDable series release is SIPA, a social IPA. Social in the sense that they joined other breweries around the world to brew this beer on the same day, the process of which was broadcast live on Google+.
They're so fancy, huh.
So basically, if you go to NoDa Brewing tonight and try the NoDable release, you're sipping on a SIPA that's been internationally sipped.
Thursday, August 8, 2013
Food News Sow Much Good urban farm opens this Saturday
Posted By Keia Mastrianni on Thu, Aug 8, 2013 at 9:48 AM
The generous, infectious and evergreen thumb of Robin Emmons, founder of Sow Much Good, continues to grow good things in Charlotte with the grand opening of a brand-new urban farm on Sunset Road this Saturday, Aug. 10. The nonprofit organization, which grows healthy, pesticide-free produce for low-income populations, broke ground on SMG's third and largest plot of land to date earlier this year and hopes to further its mission by bringing more food to folks living in urban food deserts.
According to a 2010 Community Food Assessment conducted the Mecklenburg County Health Department, nearly 73,000 people in Mecklenburg County live in food deserts, areas with limited access to fresh, healthy foods. The Sunset Road Urban Farm intends to use the space not only for charitable growing, but for educational purposes and a community center where, as Emmons says, the "haves" and the "have nots" can come together for the common good.
- Photo Courtesy of Sow Much Good
The Urban Farm Stand & Market, located at 3400 Sunset Road, will open at 8 a.m. to the public this Saturday with a variety of produce and local honey for sale. Chef Brent Garrison will be on site with cooking demonstrations at 10 a.m., 12 p.m. and 2 p.m. to show people how to cook with local and seasonal ingredients. The event will last until 3 p.m. on Saturday. For more information, visit Sow Much Good on Facebook.
Wednesday, August 7, 2013
Recipe Recipe: Grilled Cheese with Goat Cheese, Chorizo and Pepper Jelly, and Tomato Basil Soup
Posted By Scott Greenberg on Wed, Aug 7, 2013 at 4:49 PM
Maybe it's a symptom of having not one, but two food channels sludging their way through the airwaves 24/7, but it seems like we've developed an obsession with making sure food's as goddamned seasonal as humanly possible.
And yeah, most of the time that makes sense. Lemons taste better in the summer because they're light and summery; potatoes taste good in the winter because you can make them into a stew that keeps you from freezing to death and dying. That's how nature gets down.
But that doesn't mean you should lock yourself in food jail and refuse to eat pumpkin pie just because the leaves outside are the wrong color. You want some ice cream on Christmas Eve? Do it. You know Ina Garden is going to be making warm bread pudding on the TV and staring at you semi-disapprovingly, but do it anyway, because your love of ice cream far, far supersedes the elements. Rocky Road beats snowstorm every time, people.
Similarly, I like grilled cheese sandwiches. A lot. So even though it's roughly a million degrees outside and I'm sweating just typing this, I'm gonna make some Chorizo and Goat Cheese Sandwiches with Pepper Jelly. And also some Tomato Basil Soup.
Weatherman be damned.
Monday, August 5, 2013
Food News Now showing: Best of Charlotte's FOOD & DRINK ballot
Posted By Kimberly Lawson on Mon, Aug 5, 2013 at 11:10 AM
From now through Aug. 18 midnight, CL's Best of Charlotte FOOD & DRINK category will be live for you to access. Last year, the critics chose Fern: Flavors From the Earth for Best New Restaurant, while you dear readers chose 5Church.
Here is the list of categories you'll be voting on:
Best New Restaurant (Opened In Last 12 Months)
Best Splurge Restaurant
Best Cheap Restaurant
Best Late-Night Eatery
Best Soul Food Restaurant
Best Gourmet/Specialty Food Store
Best Breakfast
Best Lunch
Best Brunch
Best Barbecue
Best Local Coffee Shop
Best Steak House
Best Seafood Restaurant
Best Pizza (Specify Location)
Best Asian
Best Sushi
Best Italian
Best Mexican
Best Middle Eastern
Best Caribbean
Best Vegetarian-Friendly Restaurant
Best Cupcake Shop
Best Place to Get Dessert
Best Hamburger
Best Hot Dog
Best Wings
Best Frozen Treat
Best Food Truck
Best Local Brewery
Choose your favorite chicken spot, food truck and other restaurants to reflect the best of what the Queen City's food scene has to offer.
PS: Save the date, folks. CL's annual Best of Charlotte issue will hit stands on Oct. 3. And ... (insert dramatic pause for effect)... there will be a party.
-
Dorie Greenspan's Tiramisu Cake
This layered cake is definitely a "pick-me-up" with a little booze and caffeine.
-
Braised Chicken with Shallots 2
I don't think I'll be making this again, but hey, if you like shallots more than a fat kid likes cake, then go for it.
-
Crockpot Arsenal: Pork Tenderloin with Chunky Pear Sauce 1
When standing over a hot stove sounds an awful.
