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Friday, January 30, 2015
Beer Taking in the Olde Mecklenburg ambience
Posted By Jonathan Wells on Fri, Jan 30, 2015 at 11:51 PM
It’s Wednesday, and the after-work crowd has arrived at Olde Mecklenburg Brewery. Twenty or so folks populate the bar, with another 40ish at long community-style tables. Switch the music from the current Lake Street Dive and feed me some more Fat Boy Baltic Porter, and I’ll have a hard time knowing what country I’m in.
Former carpet-warehouses shouldn’t feel like they’re carved from innenstadt Dusseldorf. Dark-kilned irregular-shaped brick forms the perimeter walls. Rich wood hugs on the perimeter. A soft glow flows overhead from spartan chandeliers and the same lighting temperature permeates through wall sconces. I lack only a fireplace in January.
Tuesday, January 27, 2015
Beer Experts share how to do Queen City Brewers Fest right
Posted By Sara Workman on Tue, Jan 27, 2015 at 2:25 PM
As a girl who would rather drink a vodka-infused cocktail than a thick stout, the idea of hundreds of beer guzzlers huddled in a sports arena brings me back to my semester in Ireland, where I snubbed Guinness and tolerated Bulmers cider.
Kicking off another year of #cltbeer, almost 1,000 beer enthusiasts and hops newbies will unite for the fourth annual Queen City Brewers Festival at the Bojangles’ Coliseum Jan. 31.
With an abundance of local specialty brews at your fingertips, a beer festival can quickly — for folks like me, at least — become a confusing frenzy of novelty ales versus high gravity porters. So we turned to some experts to share insight for drinkers eager to partake in the first beer fest of the year.
- Courtesy Nils Weldy
- Queen City Brewers Fest 2014
Thursday, January 8, 2015
Events Make Queen's Feast your feast
Posted By Alison Leininger on Thu, Jan 8, 2015 at 3:14 PM
Twice a year, Charlotte-area restaurants go completely crazy and start giving away food. Ok, not really, but the semiannual Restaurant Week, running Jan. 16-25, offers diners the opportunity to get a three-course meal for $30 at more than 100 different restaurants, some of them among the city's best. That's a steep discount at places that may normally charge that much for a single, luxurious entrée.
Sounds too good to be true, but there's no catch. According to Chef Blake Hartwick of Bonterra restaurant, the business' focus is driving new diners through the doors. "We get a lot of new customers that come in again after Restaurant Week," he says. While the three-course Queen's Feast special applies to a limited menu, Hartwick affirms it displays the restaurant's typical quality and style. "It's still very Bonterra."
For many, Restaurant Week is a great opportunity to try out prominent local restaurants that may normally stretch the budget. But thinking strategically will help you make the most out of what can be a frenetic week in the Charlotte food scene.
Friday, January 2, 2015
Events Blind Tasting: Dining in the Dark dinner raises funds by mystifying diners
Posted By Alison Leininger on Fri, Jan 2, 2015 at 12:54 PM
As the year comes to an end, people across the globe light up the night sky with blazes of cacophonous fireworks. Cultures around the world have long used candles and bonfires to brighten the depths of winter. Yet one of Charlotte's first food events of 2015 invites to you step into the dark side for a night of adventure.
On Jan. 10, Good Eats and Meets of Charlotte presents Dining in the Dark, "a journey of taste, sound and touch" at Ballantyne Hotel. Centered on a multicourse meal by Executive Banquet Chef Michael Rayfield, the evening seeks to raise funds and awareness for the Foundation Fighting Blindness, by giving guests a taste of the darkness familiar to the visually impaired.
Usually I'd try to tempt you to a meal like this by dropping some ingredients or dish descriptions right about here. But diners will even be kept in the dark about the menu until after the last plate is cleared. Never fear though, Rayfield's team is unlikely to toss sheep eyeballs your way. "I'm giving them free rein," says Richard Gruica, the event's organizer, "but we try to keep ingredients pretty commonplace."
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TESTED RECIPE: Barbecued Chinese Chicken Lettuce Wraps 3
A review of the wraps and a recipe for a fabulous Lemon Cake.
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Dorie Greenspan's Tiramisu Cake
This layered cake is definitely a "pick-me-up" with a little booze and caffeine.
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Japanese-style sweet buns
For a carb-o-holic, this is pure heaven.
