charlotte – Page 10 – Fervent Foodie

HOLY.HOT.DOG.

July 20, 2011 18 Comments

I’ve been doing A LOT of eating lately. It’s not my fault, really. How can a gal not fall victim to sensory overload in this food-filled city of Charlotte? Every street, every corner, every nook and cranny of this beautiful city is buttered with interesting restaurants to try–from fancy schmancy steak and lobster grilles to down-home-country barbecues to fabulous food trucks and every single flavor combination in between.

Let’s just say I’m in glutton heaven, and I’ve made it my personal goal to try each and every restaurant in the city. I’m dedicated to this cause.

As I try more and more places, I’ve started picking up on some of the soap-operaesque back stories of the local establishments. One that is particularly intriguing is the story behind The Penguin Drive-In in Plaza Midwood.

In the past, the Penguin was just one of those places you had to go. If you were a true Charlottean (yes, that’s what they call us), you’d been to the Penguin a hundred times and you’d eaten your fair share of their famous fried pickles. Newbies in town didn’t know what they were missing as they walked right by the Penguin’s dilapidated building and awfully awkward parking.

But then Guy Fieri stopped in at the Penguin for his show Diners, Drive-in, and Dives, and all hell broke loose. I’ll admit, I love the show, and I love seeing places I’ve visited on TV. It’s almost like for that millisecond when the image flashes across the screen you are actually a part of something famous. As if your emotional investment in the place somehow makes you a part owner, and you burst with pride when you see your baby on the big screen.

What, just me?

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Anyway, due to some disagreements, two of the four guys who ran the Penguin left to open Pinky’s Westside. The remaining two owners couldn’t come to an agreement with their landlord, so they were forced to abandon the Penguin. The landlords of the building then decided to run the Penguin themselves, and the other two guys opened up the Diamond Grill, literally a block away from the Penguin. I think I’ve got that straight…

Interestingly, all three restaurants serve hotdogs and all three have fried pickles on the menu. The newly-owned Penguin has the “famous Penguin fried pickles,” Pinky’s has “Greg’s pickles,” and the Diamond has “classic fried pickles—the neighborhood’s first and best original recipe.” Can you smell the rivalry brewing?

Of the three restaurants, I’ve only been to the Penguin so far, which many other Charlotteeans are boycotting in favor of the Diamond. Let’s hope this post doesn’t get me blacklisted.

The Penguin had a TON on the menu that I wanted strike that NEEDED in my belly.

But as I perused the menu, one item made my heart sing.

The Ma… the Meatloaf Hot Dog.

Chili. Onion. Slaw. Seriously?!?!

Seriously?!

Let’s make brief note of the MONSTROUS side salad that came along side with a balsamic dressing was to die for.

But really, chili, onions, and coleslaw on a hotdog?! My world was officially rocked. Hands down THE BEST hot dog I have ever consumed.

Now that I know the backstory I feel it is my moral foodie obligation to give all three of the brawling restaurants an equal tasting. I MUST go to the Diamond and to Pinky’s to give their Weiner Wonderlands an equal shot. Seriously, it says Weiner Wonderland on the menu… get your head out of the gutter already.

Nutritional stats on the hotdog: 1 clogged artery, 1 full belly

Restaurants

Holy crap, that was a lot of food.

July 11, 2011 12 Comments

Have you ever been in conversation with a new person and thrown out the obligatory “so, Bill, what do you do for a living?” and had Bill come back with “well Mary, I’m a psychiatrist”? Confused smile

When a person discovers they’re in the midst of conversation with someone who analyzes people for a living, they are immediately scared. (What the heck have I said in the last five minutes? … Does he think I’m a basket case… Why am I suddenly sweating profusely?!) All of this fear and anxiety is followed by near immediate curiosity.

Oddly enough, that’s a similar reaction to the one I get when I first tell a person I’m a food blogger. People get oddly weirded out, followed almost instantly with excited curiosity. I try to explain that I am not a food critic, but a food enjoyer. I’m not professionally critiquing food, but rather honestly sharing my experiences with the food with friends and fellow foodies.

Isn’t sharing food with others what makes a good meal great, anyway?

Ramblings, Restaurants

It wasn’t THAT good, actually.

July 6, 2011 10 Comments

As a foodie, I’m sure it comes as no surprise to you that my world revolves around food. I spend countless hours each week reading about it, researching it, cooking it, exploring it, talking to strangers about it, sharing it… you get the point. From the 5:30am pre-body pump peanut butter toast to the hot fudge brownie bowls I’d like to cap every night off with, food is the thread that links the pieces and parts of my days together. It’s what brings passion to my eyes during conversation. It’s what brings a smile to my face at the end of a trying week. It’s what intrigues me, and challenges me, and nourishes my body and mind.

Bottom line: food brings me joy.

Of course, with all this love and warm fuzzies there is a dark flip side: the food flop. Nothing is more disheartening than experiencing a food flop. Perhaps it’s a new dish that’s lacking in taste or worse yet a new dish that straight up makes you ralph. Either way, a food flop is like a sharp nail on a chalkboard. It brings a party to a screeching hault in a matter of seconds.

It’s no secret that trying out new restaurants is one of my favorite pastimes. I love the excitement of experiencing something new and the opportunity to have ALL of my senses blown away by a fabulous dining experience. When I try a new restaurant and that restaurant doesn’t rock my socks off, whelp, it’s downright depressing. It feels like a waste—not only a waste of money, but more importantly a waste of time that could have been used to try out a different much more fabulous establishment.

Does anyone else feel this way? Maybe I’m a foodie extremist.

Speaking of trying new places, after my Ladies who Lunch post last week I headed to lunch with a lady (Jamie) at King’s Kitchen uptown. I was thoroughly excited for the opportunity to lunch with a new friend AND to try out a new restaurant that I’d passed so many times but never stepped foot inside.

While perusing the menu, I was pretty pumped when I saw “macaroni and cheese” as a vegetable. That HAD to be a good sign.

Another plus were the free biscuits we were brought:

Then the meal came—grilled chicken with macaroni, broccoli, and collard greens:

And that’s where the plusses stopped.

The chicken was dry – so dry that it was difficult (and awkward) to cut through even with a knife.

And the mac and cheese?

Whelp, it was oily and lacking flavor… As were the collard greens… and the broccoli.

Even with this disappointment, at the end of the lunch I put my hand on my belly and said almost robotically “that was so good!” As soon as the words left my lips, I thought to myself “ummm Mary, no that was NOT good.” But what didn’t come to me until later that day was that it was OK to admit the food wasn’t good. It’s not always rainbows and chocolate ganache. Sometimes it’s dry meat and oily side dishes.

Despite the food flop, Jamie and I had a great time getting to know each other. Some might think it’s crazy that I invite random people I’ve never met to lunch. But if you want to be a Lady who Lunches, sometimes ya just gotta do what ya gotta do 🙂

Ramblings, Restaurants

It wasn’t THAT good, actually.

July 6, 2011 11 Comments

As a foodie, I’m sure it comes as no surprise to you that my world revolves around food. I spend countless hours each week reading about it, researching it, cooking it, exploring it, talking to strangers about it, sharing it… you get the point. From the 5:30am pre-body pump peanut butter toast to the hot fudge brownie bowls I’d like to cap every night off with, food is the thread that links the pieces and parts of my days together. It’s what brings passion to my eyes during conversation. It’s what brings a smile to my face at the end of a trying week. It’s what intrigues me, and challenges me, and nourishes my body and mind.

Bottom line: food brings me joy.

Of course, with all this love and warm fuzzies there is a dark flip side: the food flop. Nothing is more disheartening than experiencing a food flop. Perhaps it’s a new dish that’s lacking in taste or worse yet a new dish that straight up makes you ralph. Either way, a food flop is like a sharp nail on a chalkboard. It brings a party to a screeching hault in a matter of seconds.

It’s no secret that trying out new restaurants is one of my favorite pastimes. I love the excitement of experiencing something new and the opportunity to have ALL of my senses blown away by a fabulous dining experience. When I try a new restaurant and that restaurant doesn’t rock my socks off, whelp, it’s downright depressing. It feels like a waste—not only a waste of money, but more importantly a waste of time that could have been used to try out a different much more fabulous establishment.

Does anyone else feel this way? Maybe I’m a foodie extremist.

Speaking of trying new places, after my Ladies who Lunch post last week I headed to lunch with a lady (Jamie) at King’s Kitchen uptown. I was thoroughly excited for the opportunity to lunch with a new friend AND to try out a new restaurant that I’d passed so many times but never stepped foot inside.

While perusing the menu, I was pretty pumped when I saw “macaroni and cheese” as a vegetable. That HAD to be a good sign.

Another plus were the free biscuits we were brought:

Then the meal came—grilled chicken with macaroni, broccoli, and collard greens:

And that’s where the plusses stopped.

The chicken was dry – so dry that it was difficult (and awkward) to cut through even with a knife.

And the mac and cheese?

Whelp, it was oily and lacking flavor… As were the collard greens… and the broccoli.

Even with this disappointment, at the end of the lunch I put my hand on my belly and said almost robotically “that was so good!” As soon as the words left my lips, I thought to myself “ummm Mary, no that was NOT good.” But what didn’t come to me until later that day was that it was OK to admit the food wasn’t good. It’s not always rainbows and chocolate ganache. Sometimes it’s dry meat and oily side dishes.

Despite the food flop, Jamie and I had a great time getting to know each other. Some might think it’s crazy that I invite random people I’ve never met to lunch. But if you want to be a Lady who Lunches, sometimes ya just gotta do what ya gotta do 🙂

Restaurants, What I ate

Time to eat your face off

July 4, 2011 13 Comments

I’m all for healthy eating, but I believe there’s a time and a place for eating a brownie the size of your face. Case in point: when your very first visitors come to your new town, you are obliged to eat your face off during the length of their stay.

So I ate. And I ate. And I ateeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.

One of the added perks of having my first visitors was that it provided the swift kick in the butt I needed to get the rest of my crap unboxed from the big move.

The new home is FINALLY nice and clean and box free.

Never underestimate the joy a clutter-free home can bring Smile

Ok, so maybe it’s a little sparse… But you know, I actually prefer it that way. Less to clean, less to worry about, less things to absorb my energy.

And more room to just be.

I feel relaxed already. How about you?

One of the MANY foodie stops I made with my friends Tim and Jaci this weekend was Pike’s Old Fashioned Soda Shop.

Pike’s is tucked away in a little nook off of South Boulevard in South End Charlotte. The brightly colored umbrellas lining the patio, low strung lights, and old fashioned soda shop sign made me feel like I’d been transported back to the 1950s.

Once we walked inside, we realized Pike’s really lives up to being “old fashioned.” The walls were covered with old advertisements, the wait staff was incredibly friendly, and the faint smell of ice cream and homemade baked goods lingered throughout the entire place. Add to this a menu overflowing with dozens of old fashioned tasty treats, and I’m sure you can imagine the serious salvation that was going on in my mouth.

Jaci was a little bummed she didn’t bring her poodle skirt with her, but she and Tim were still able to force smiles for the picture Smile

It took us an exceptionally long time to order because each of us were going back and forth debating our decisions. Philly Cheese Steak? Onion Rings? How about the meatloaf? Ooohhh the homemade chili sounds really good. Blue cheese potato chips?!?

Tim went with an unpictured buffalo chicken sandwich—I snagged a bite of the crispy chicken on the sandwich and was a big fan of their buffalo sauce.

Jaci and I both decided on Burgers in Bowls. She created her own bowl with lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, and avocado:

I went with my new obsession (meat chili and coleslaw) and got the appropriately named Carolina Classic. It had a homemade meat chili, coleslaw, mustard, and onions:

This was pure heaven. I’m in love with this combination of the hot slightly sweet chili against the cool crunchy coleslaw. Pair that combo up with the smoky char of the fresh ground chuck and it’s a match made in heaven, I tell ya. I was never a fan of coleslaw until I moved to North Carolina and tried this combo for the first time. Now I cannot get enough!

Each of the three of us downed our meals with gusto. The waitress let out a little laugh when she came back to three near-sparkling empty plates. Full is an understatement, but we still felt obliged to try out one of Pike’s desserts. We took a quick peak into the dessert case, and even though the Key Lime Pie, cupcakes, and blueberry cobbler looked amazing, we were all drawn to the giant brownies on the top shelf. These brownies were large and in charge. Several inches thick and big enough to surely require two hands to eat. They looked just too darn good to pass up, so we agreed the hot fudge brownie bowl was the way to go:

I haven’t had REAL ice cream in AGES. I’ve found Charlotte to be a hard-core Frozen Yogurt town, and I’ve been searching high and low for some good old fashioned ice cream. This ice cream hit the spot—dense enough to eat with a fork, creamy, and perfectly sweet.

30 seconds later, we declared ourselves champions.

After our large lunch, we thought it would be nice to take a stroll in Freedom Park. A little sun, a little nature, and a little jump start on digestion Smile

This was my first time visiting Freedom Park, and I was pleasantly surprised by how large the park was and by how peaceful and serene it was. I can see myself coming here, sprawling out in the shade, and reading. Or napping. One of the two Smile