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Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Smorgasbord / Priscilla Tsai Newk's Express Café
Posted By Priscilla Tsai on Wed, Aug 4, 2010 at 12:21 PM
I ventured down south to Blakeney Crossing to check out Newk's Express Café.
According to their menu, Newk's will provide you "an express casual dining experience in a refreshing and stylish atmosphere." I'd say I have to agree. My salad was huge and packed with fresh ingredients., it came to our table in a timely manner, and the restaurant is bright and inviting with bright colors and fresh flowers.
At Newk's you order and pay at the counter and your food is brought out to you. It's DIY drinks and their condiment bar is full of pickles, roasted garlic, bread sticks, and more.
On the menu, they've got 9 types of fresh tossed salads, pizzas, toasted sandwiches, and desserts. On the kid menu, they offer dishes like grilled cheese sandwiches and pizzas.
Check out these pics.
Newk's Express Café
Blakeney Crossing
704-846-5909
Friday, July 30, 2010
Food News / Smorgasbord / Priscilla Tsai Patron Secret Dining Society in Charlotte
Posted By Priscilla Tsai on Fri, Jul 30, 2010 at 1:04 PM
Patron tequila has put together the national Patron Secret Dining Society which hosts dinners created by local master chefs and mixologists. Guests are treated to elaborate multi-course meals paired with Patron cocktails.
These dinners are secret because seating is limited and the dinners occur under a veil of mystery. Diners aren't told what or where they will be eating, and often have to first pass through riddles or other gateways to get to their final destination.
I, along with twenty lucky Patron enthusiasts from the Charlotte area, took part in a very secret meal last night, Thursday, July 29, when Patron hosted a SDS dinner in Charlotte. By registering on Patron's website, guests were selected though a lottery system this past Tuesday to attend the free dinner. The selected people were contacted by phone Thursday afternoon and told to arrive at the Customshop restaurant at 7:15 pm.
Upon arrival, the only people greeting us were the waitstaff at Customshop. They seemed clueless as to what we were supposed to do next. They handed us a napkin with an address handwritten on it, and a computer-printed map to The Palmer Building.
With napkin and map in hand, we jumped in our cars and searched for our next destination. We arrived at The Palmer Building off of 7th Street and were welcomed into a dark reception area scattered with high-top tables with hazy liquid nitrogen centerpieces. Waiters floated around the room passing out "Sangrita" cocktails and hors d'oeuvres, which included cold cucumber gazpacho, eggplant caponata bruschetta, and grilled proscuitto wrapped figs stuffed with mascarpone.
Finally after 30-40 minutes of slight confusion as to what was to happen next, the Patron representatives introduced Chef Brett Mckee, of Oak Steakhouse and 17 North Roadside Kitchen fame (and who is opening 15 North in Charlotte next month), and mixologist Chip Townsend, from Customshop, who were creating the delightful dishes and cocktails for the night.
At dinner time, black curtains were drawn back and we were ushered into the dining area. Name cards for each guest were set at the candle-lit linen-covered banquet tables. The event looked as elaborate as a wedding banquet. Impressive. The spectacular dinner consisted of four courses and cocktails:
As you can see from the menu, we all ate and drank a lot ... probably too much. But what can you do when the food and drink is so good? Luckily, I didn't need to utilize the "transportation service" that Patron had so considerately arranged for guests.
To get in on future Patron Secret Dining Society events and news, check out patronsocialclub.com.
Monday, July 19, 2010
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.
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?
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Smorgasbord Making pizza at Villa Francesca
Posted By Priscilla Tsai on Wed, Jun 30, 2010 at 5:21 PM
The Uptown pizzeria Villa Francesca features some of the best pizza in town. (And that's why it was stop on our Eat My Charlotte Foodie Tour this past weekend!)
Luciano Suppa, owner of Villa Francesca, invited me over to learn how to make pizza this afternoon. Lui makes everything from scratch in house. From the fresh "grandma's sauce" to the pizza dough.
All their dough is every morning. They make about 200 balls of dough each day.
Check out my adventures in pizza making via photos. (Start with the top left photo.)
Photos by Katie Whittie.
Friday, June 18, 2010
Smorgasbord Experiencing Dining in the Dark
Posted By Priscilla Tsai on Fri, Jun 18, 2010 at 11:15 AM
The foodie group Good Eats and Meets held their first Dining in the Dark dinner at Andrew Blair's last night, June 17. Blindfolded diners enjoyed 5 mystery courses created by chef Blake Hartwick in complete darkness. (Read here for more info.)
Having never dined in the dark before, I found the event to be quite an interesting experience. For most of the dishes, I nixed utensils and went for it with my hands. Though losing one sense by being blindfolded, you gain another by actually touching your food. Through touch, you could feel and almost taste the fatty pieces of the braised short ribs before placing it in your mouth.
Here's what went down:
Darkness. Our pre-dinner cocktails were poured into plastic cups to avoid any glass casualties as blindfolded diners groped for their drinks in the dark.
Blindfolds are the newest fad, didn't you know? These stylish eye masks were worn throughout the dinner. We only knew when there was a new course in front of us when we heard the clink of plates or smelled the food. If a bathroom run was needed, we were instructed to raise our hands and a waitstaff would come escort us to the restroom.
This was our fifth course. Cold, salty, bacon-y. What was it? I was so perplexed by this dish, I had to take pic for later. (This picture was taken while blindfolded ... not bad.) It was fun discussing each dish with our dinner-mates to figure out what we were eating.
After the meal, the menu was unveiled to us. Ah...so that's what we were eating! That pic above was the "Deconstructed B.L.T." Very creative.
If you missed out on this Dining in the Dark event, don't worry – there's more to come. More dinners like this will be held at other Charlotte restaurants throughout the year. Stay tuned.
Monday, June 14, 2010
Smorgasbord / Events Party pics from Taste of Charlotte
Posted By Priscilla Tsai on Mon, Jun 14, 2010 at 11:15 AM
Did you go to Taste of Charlotte this past weekend? If so, see if you are in our album of party pics here.
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Mouthful / Smorgasbord Spicy Chicken Sandwiches from Chick-Fil-A
Posted By Priscilla Tsai on Tue, Jun 8, 2010 at 2:26 PM
Mmmmm! Chick-Fil-A launched their Spicy Chicken Sandwiches nationwide yesterday, Monday, June 7. This is a big deal for Chick-Fil-A because the Spicy Chicken Sandwich is the first new sandwich to hit menu boards since its Chargrilled Chicken Sandwich, which was introduced in 1989.
The SCS is hand-breaded, seasoned with a blend of peppers, and pressure-cooked in peanut oil. It comes on a toasted bun with dill pickle chips.
CFA was nice enough to drop of a bundle of goodies for us to sample here at Creative Loafing. Check out the spread.
The sandwich did live up to it's name – it was pretty spicy. Some tasters in the office thought it was too spicy to eat, but as someone who enjoys spicy food, I thought it was delicious. After eating 2.5 sandwiches, one taster broke out in a sweat and suffered a slightly runny nose, but still claimed it was very tasty. For those who don't like spicy foods, stick to the original CFA chicken sandwich.
I think we might need to call the fire department... Here's a compilation of comments heard around the office:
"I feel like there's still a small fire burning in my tummy."
"I couldn't finish it ... it was too spicy for me."
"I heard two people say 'Wow, this is hot!' after the first bite and that was enough to scare me off..."
And from spicy food lovers:
"Spicier than I was expecting... way better than the Spicy Chicken Sandwich from Wendy's! I liked the spice."
"The spicy was good. Perfect combo with some cole slaw."
The SPS starts at $2.99 and weighs in at 450 calories and 17 grams of fat. The plain sandwich is more substantial than I was expecting with a nice thick piece of chicken. But if you want more, for $3.59 you can get the deluxe version with lettuce, tomato and Pepper Jack cheese.
Thanks, CFA, for the lunch!
Click here to find a Chick-Fil-A near you.
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Smorgasbord America's unhealthiest chain restaurant dish
Posted By John Fraser on Wed, Jun 2, 2010 at 3:33 PM
In the American tradition of throwing caution to the wind, going out to eat typically means diners getting a tasty, indulging meal, while sacrificing some of the healthier culinary options.
If you like to spoil yourself when you dine out, but are interested in avoiding those riskier palatable pitfalls offered out there, check-out Riddhi Shah’s recent article that plates-up some of the unhealthiest food dishes offered by national chain restaurants. Shah writes:
What's the fattiest, most heart attack-inducing dish you can get at a restaurant chain in America? It isn't KFC with its much-talked-about Double Down, or Burger King with its Triple Whopper, and it isn't even TGIF with its heavily loaded nachos. The most unhealthy restaurant chain dish in America is brought to you by the Cheesecake Factory.
To read this entire article click here.
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As fall approaches, local chefs prepare for a culinary battle in Germany.
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Recipe: Pomegranate Gingerbread Granola
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