Paula Deen visited Harrah’s Cherokee Casino and Hotel this past weekend for the ribbon cutting of her new restaurant at the hotel, Paula Deen’s Kitchen.
As a Paula fan, I trekked myself there (it’s 3 hours from Charlotte) and spent a fabulous weekend checking out the new hotel additions, eating at the restaurant, enjoying her cooking demonstration and show, and meeting her family and crew.
Unfortunately, I lost my camera at the hotel, so I lost all my photos from said events. I was so excited to share them with you guys. It’s very tragic.
Here’s one photo I took from with my camera phone:
A brief run down sans photos …
Post ribbon-cutting ceremony, Paula Deen hosted a luncheon at her new restaurant Paula Deen’s Kitchen, which offers buffet options as well as the option to order off the menu. For the luncheon, we were offered a three-course meal from a set menu. The bread basket included corn muffins, cheese biscuits, and soft buttery rolls. Thumbs up.
Beware of the wedge salad. It comes topped with about a cup of blue cheese dressing.
The chicken pot pie entree came with a lattice of puff pastry over a big bowl of creamy, delicious chicken pot pie filling. The filling included big chunks of both dark and white chicken meat, and lots of pea and carrots. Another entree I tried, the cheesy meatloaf, was a bit dry for my liking. It came with collard greens and mashed potatoes on the side.
And of course, Paula gets dessert right. The Bag Lady’s Doughnut holes served with vanilla pudding were ridiculous. Soft and tender, each warm doughnut hole is drizzled in honey, and then rolled in cinnamon sugar. The strawberry shortcake served was full of chilled whipped cream and sweet strawberries, but the biscuit itself was cold and dense. This one was a bit disappointing.
For breakfast, we got to try her breakfast buffet, which resulted in me eating a breakfast the size of a cow. Omelets made to order, thick sausage links, hash brown casserole, scrambled eggs, fruit, danishes, bacon, and biscuits and gravy are all available at the buffet. I ate it all. Once again, so bummed I don’t have pics to show you.
Coming soon to Harrah’s this fall is Johnny Rocket’s, Brio Tuscan Grill, and Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse.
This article appears in Jan 18-24, 2011.
I also visited Cherokee this past weekend. To my great pleasure we had dinner Thursday night at Paula’s restuarant and as we sat there Paula and her friends walked in! They were having dinner there, too. She is as friendly as she is on tv, waving and “hay ya’ll’s” allaround. The food was delicious.We had both dinner and breakfast.
Went to the grand opening Jan 22 and the food and service was excellent.
Wow…The Paula Deen Song by Cooper Boone http://www.youtube.com/user/CooperBooneMusic?feature=mhum
My wife and I ate dinner at Paula Deen’s just after the opening. Ribs were not good. Crab Stew was very good.
We ate lunch on June 7, 2011 around 1:10pm. Restaurant almost empty. Short on staff. Food not good. Lettuce wilted. Chicken and meatloaf bland taste. Carver said soup was brunswick stew twice. Turned out to be veggie soup with mostly tomatoes and not good. Peach cobbler was not very good. The pork loin sandwich was good with the sweet dressing on it. Over all disappointed with food quality on both visits. We love Paula Deen. Great personality and sweet person. Very surprised that overall food not good. Cook and mgt need improving.
Paul Deen’s in Cherokee is horrible. The filet migon was so dry (but cooked right) we had to use A-1 sauce. The wedge salad not so fresh and covered in so much dressing. The shrip & crab dip was like sour milk with alot of celery. $92.00 for two and wanted to throw-up. Service OK. People had to wait and only 1/4 of the dining area was being used. Would not recommend to anyone.