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Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Store Wars Store Wars 2010: Vote for your favorite grocer!
Posted By Priscilla Tsai on Tue, Jul 20, 2010 at 9:22 AM
Coinciding with this week’s "Store Wars" feature — CL’s annual guide to Charlotte’s best (and worst) grocers, we’re giving you the chance to vote for your favorite store. Simply select your top food shop from the list below (or write in a store name in the comment field), and we’ll calculate the winner.
Monday, July 19, 2010
Food News Pinkberry grand opening Thursday, July 22
Posted By Priscilla Tsai on Mon, Jul 19, 2010 at 3:59 PM
Great news for tart frozen yogurt fans in Charlotte: Pinkberry is opening at Philips Place this week with a grand opening party on Thursday, July 22.
The event, which will include Pinkberry yogurt, music and giveways, is free to the public and will run from 6 to 10 pm.
You can find the store located next to the theater.
6908-C Philips Place Crt
Charlotte, NC 28210
Smorgasbord Brunching at Bistro La Bon
Posted By Priscilla Tsai on Mon, Jul 19, 2010 at 3:17 PM
Bistro La Bon, located on Central Avenue, serves up a delectable brunch buffet every Sunday from 11 am to 3 pm. The restaurant's buffet, dubbed Sunday Smorgasbord, isn't your typical Southern brunch fare – they have potatoes au gratin, salads, smoked salmon, biscuitty scones, carrot cake muffins, braised beef roasts, and so much more. There wasn't a single hash brown, grits, or sausage link dish to be found.
Here's a tip: They offer chocolate waffles and French toast as part of the brunch, but you have to order them from your server. These hidden goodies are made to order so they are served fresh.
The brunch buffet is perfect for those who normally can't choose between sweet breakfast items and savory lunch dishes at brunch time – here you get the best of both worlds. Oh, and those of you who hate waiting to eat, Bistro La Bon accepts brunch reservations.
The buffet is $14 for adults and $5 for kids. They also have $3 mimosas and $4 bloody Marys.
Bistro la Bon
1322 Central Ave,
Charlotte, NC 28205
704-333-4646
Smorgasbord / Queen's Feast - Charlotte Restaurant Week Charlotte Restaurant Week: The Liberty
Posted By Priscilla Tsai on Mon, Jul 19, 2010 at 2:37 PM
After perusing the menus of all the restaurants participating in this summer's Charlotte Restaurant Week, which started last Friday, July 16, I decided to go back to The Liberty Gastropub again.
Their winter CRW menu was a hit, so why not go back to ol' faithful, I figured. The Liberty is comfortable, unpretentious, nice, yet not dressy, and always serves up interesting dishes that go beyond the ordinary. Check out their $30 restaurant week menu below.
Appetizer (choice of one)
- Split Creek Farms Goat Cheese - heritage tomatoes, Vidalia onion salad
- Sweet Maine Shrimp & Peeky-Toe Crab Cake - curry, new dug potatoes, English peas
- Crispy Black Berkshire Pork Belly - radish, Puy lentils, local figs, Red Mountain honey
- Salt-Roasted Heirloom Beets & Carrots - grilled Burrata, jamon serrano, aged balsamic
Main (choice of one)
- Griddled Maine Diver Scallops - fresh field peas, Silver Queen corn, lomo embuchado
- Roast Free Range Goosnargh Chicken - Benton's bacon, potato dumplings, baby carrots, young leaves
- Roasted Wild Scottish Salmon - littleneck clams, melted leeks, "chowder" sauce
- Roast Rib of Black Angus Beef - Yorkshire pudding, fingerling potatoes, rosemary, creamed spinach, horseradish, Coleman's English mustard
Hot & Cold Puddings (choice of one)
- Raspberry, Bramley Apple & Almond Crumble - with Welsh custard
- Bitter Valrhona Chocolate Pot - vanilla thin biscuit
- Blueberry & Lemon Curd Tart - buttermilk ice cream
- Potted Cheddar Cheese - with fig chutney
What we ordered: Pork belly, crab cake, scallops, roast rib, apple and almond crumble and the blueberry and lemon curd tart.
Thoughts: The appetizers were both good, but the crab cake was probably better than the pork belly, which was extremly crispy, but a bit dry.
The three scallops were ginormous and were cooked to perfection, though the succotash-like corn/bean mix was heavy on the butter. The roast rib was decent and the Yorkshire pudding was interesting, but nothing memorable.
The blueberry and lemon curd tart was definitely not what I expected. I was hoping for a pastry dough tart crust filled with a lemon curd custard and fresh blueberries – what we got was an upside-down mini blueberry pie type thing with runny lemon filling between whole blueberries. I'd say pick the crumble dessert over the "tart"... it's served warm with a giant scoop of vanilla ice cream on top. Anything with ice cream makes me a happy camper.
Somethings to note: The online menu isn't exactly the same as the menu in the restaurant. The online menu lists potted cheddar cheese as a dessert option, but the item wasn't listed on the printed menu. Also, instead of the Bitter Valrhona Chocolate Pot, they offer a cake version instead.
Recipe / Priscilla Tsai Hot-and-Spicy Chicken Cones
Posted By Priscilla Tsai on Mon, Jul 19, 2010 at 8:00 AM
Thanks, Food & Wine procuring and printing this amazing recipe. While flipping through a copy of F&W, I stumbled upon these Hot-and-Spicy Chicken Cones. These chicken wraps are famous to The Mighty Cone food trailer in Austin, TX, and I can see why. Meet my new favorite chicken recipe.
Flour tortillas wrap together a sweet and spicy mango slaw with strips of super crunchy chicken. The crunch comes the clever breading made of ground up cornflakes, red pepper chili flakes, sesame seeds, almonds, sugar, and salt.
So spicy, so crunchy, you'll forget all about Chick-fil-A's new Spicy Chicken Sandwich. The spice is pleasant without too much burn, and the sugar and mango add sweetness. I think you'll be surprised how extremely crunchy these are. I was amazed.
If you're cooking this for guests, you can simplify things by making the slaw the day before.
Friday, July 16, 2010
Smorgasbord Adios, Cuban Pete's?
Posted By Priscilla Tsai on Fri, Jul 16, 2010 at 2:18 PM
Seems like Cuban Pete's Cafe in Plaza-Midwood has closed. Their phone number is not working and their website www.cubanpetescafe.com has been suspended.
I guess I'll need to drive by some time to investigate. Does anyone know what happened?
Recipe / Priscilla Tsai MIT's Kitchen Chemistry class #3: Pancakes
Posted By Priscilla Tsai on Fri, Jul 16, 2010 at 11:28 AM
Welcome to the third week of MIT's Kitchen Chemistry class, in which we learn about pancakes. After reading the seven pages of assigned reading in On Food and Cooking, I now know all about batters, flours, baking ingredients and maple syrup.
Here's what I learned:
If you are looking for a tender pancake, look for a recipe that includes soured dairy products (ie. buttermilk or yogurt). Due to these ingredients' thick consistency, it will take less flour to make the batter properly thick. With less flour, there will be less starch and gluten, which will result in a more delicate structure.
Another tip to take away: don't over mix your batter. Excessive beating causes early formation and escape of carbon dioxide gas. You want this gas because the little air bubbles it creates are what makes the pancakes fluffy. Another reason to avoid over mixing is to prevent too much gluten from forming, which will make your pancakes rubbery.
Wanna know why real maple syrup is so expensive at stores? The process to extract the sap from trees takes six weeks, and it takes 40 parts sap to boil down to make 1 part syrup. Dang.
The recipe assignment for the class this week is buttermilk pancakes, which comes from Bon Appétit. I'll make these and post pics in a few days, but here's the recipe if you want to make these this weekend.
Buttermilk Pancakes
Makes about 18 pancakes
Ingredients
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons backing powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups buttermilk
2 cups sour cream
2 large eggs
4 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
Additional butter or cooking spray
Directions
Whisk first 5 ingredients in large bowl (the dry ingredients). Whisk buttermilk, sour cream, eggs and vanilla in another large bowl. Add to dry ingredients. Stir until batter is just blended but still lumpy (do not overmix).
Melt 1/2 tablespoon butter on griddle over medium heat. Pour batter by 1/3 cupfuls onto griddle, spacing 2 inches apart. Cook until bubbles break on surface, about 3 minutes. Turn pancakes over. Cook until bottoms are golden, 3 minutes. Transfer to plates. Repeat with remaining batter, adding butter to skillet as needed.
Serve pancakes immediately with butter and syrup.
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Events / Queen's Feast - Charlotte Restaurant Week Restaurant Week extended at Andrew Blair's
Posted By Priscilla Tsai on Thu, Jul 15, 2010 at 9:38 AM
Charlotte Restaurant Week starts this Friday, July 16.
Though it hasn't started yet, Andrew Blair's has already decided to extend their restaurant week specials a bit longer due to a large response during last winter's restaurant week.
The $30 menu, which will include four courses and a glass of wine, will be available through Saturday, July 31. (Charlotte Restaurant Week officially ends July 25.)
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Mouthful Something Classic this way comes
Posted By Priscilla Tsai on Wed, Jul 14, 2010 at 4:45 PM
Something Classic Catering and Cafes has moved its flagship store from The Villa on Providence Road to Dilworth. They relocated to their new store at Twin Oaks Shopping Center on East Boulevard a couple months ago.
With big, bright windows and wooden tables, the cafe is a cozy lunch spot. I felt like I was having lunch in someone's country kitchen.
The store features an outdoor patio seating area ( complete with a fountain), indoor seating, pre-made take-home meals, grab-and-go sandwiches and salads, meals made to order, baked goods like cakes, brownies, cookies and cupcakes, and lots of samples of their food. (Today's samples included banana bread, raspberry cake, and pumpkin bread.)
Sandwich varieties go beyond your regular meat and cheese, and they sell for a reasonable price. It was $6.95 for their Chicken Tarragon sandwich on wheat bread and a slice of carrot cake was $4.32.
"Evenings on the Patio" run every Wednesday through Saturday night from 5 to 9 pm. The event inclues live music, a tasting plate menu of antipasto, dips and salads, and drinks by the glass and bottle.
Sunday brunch is featured every week from 11 am to 3 pm. Their Dilworth Sunday French Toast stuffed with cream cheese and topped with fruit and maple syrup sounds pretty good. ... But what sounds even better is their 95-cent orange pineapple mimosas.
free food Get $1 off a McCafé smoothie or frappé
Posted By Priscilla Tsai on Wed, Jul 14, 2010 at 10:05 AM
After you go eat your free Thai Cashew Chicken at Panda Express, hit up McDonald's for some more discounted food.
Print out this coupon for a $1 off any McCafe real fruit smooth or frappé. Offer valid at participating McDonald's until August 15, 2010.
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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.
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Dorie Greenspan's Perfect Party Cake 9
It looks so sophisticated, this cake's got me feeling like Miss Fancy Pants baker girl.
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Dorie Greenspan's Tiramisu Cake
This layered cake is definitely a "pick-me-up" with a little booze and caffeine.
