Where does the time go

Recently my laptop was stolen so I have that excuse for not posting as well as my work schedule being quite busy. Below is a quick round up of some of the new places we have checked out recently.

First was a trip with some friends of The Mrs. to Vida, a Mexican place in the Epicenter. We stopped in before going to see Spring Awakening at the Belk Theater. Which meant the location was good. Pretty much everything else was not. There were six of us in a relatively empty restaurant, whose claim to fame is over one hundred tequilas and sadly I am not drinking at the moment. The menu was exactly what you would expect from an upscale mexican-american place, also slightly overpriced due to location. With an execution on par with a Fridays, it wasn't great but it also wasn't going to offend anyone. There was a mix up on one order, which was taken off the bill, nice, but the missing item was brought out as we were ready for dessert, less nice. Then toward the end, our server tried chatting us up to make up and save her tip. She should have just kept her mouth shut. All in all, I would not recommend unless you are going for tequila. However, I enjoyed Spring Awakening more the second time.

Next we met the Whiskeys' for dinner at The Diamond, in Plaza-Midwood. The Diamond was an old time meat and three diner that was purchased by the former proprietors of The Penguin, who basically moved the Penguin lock stock and barrel down the block, with a new name and larger menu. It's hard to gauge right now since it is a zoo and getting a table in nearly impossible. The food was fine. I had a sloppy joe and the Mrs. a burger. It's all a little "hipper than thou" for me but, whatever.

Third on our tour of food is another place run by a former Penguin business associate, Pinky's. Opened in a former auto repair shop, on the westside, it's less pretentious than The Diamond. But, we were there early so who knows. They do have some parking issues, so be prepared. We started with an order of waffle fries smothered in melty pimento cheese, heaven. I got a fried bologna sandwich with red potato salad, both very tasty, while The Mrs. opted for burger and some sweet 'tater fries. I am so happy the world has figured out that these need to be battered to get crispy. We couldn't even finish after the basket of waffle fries. So we rolled ourselves to the car and headed home.

Finally last night, again with The Whiskeys', we finally had a reason to go to Villa Francesca. We were going to see The Princess Bride as a stage production performed at The Breakfast Club, an eighties themed night club a block down the street. When doing anything in downtown Charlotte you should always check the arena schedule, we did not, so parking was a bit of a thing. Oh well. It could have been worse. Anyway, Villa Francesca is an Italian-American place run by Yankee fans, I will forgive them. The menu hits all the highlights and adds a couple of twists. We got there before the pre-game crowd but it was full by the time we left. My veal parmigiana was excellent as was the Mrs. pasta. Both of the Whiskeys got eggplant dishes that looked great. Thin sliced eggplant, not that thick stuff you usually get that is either not cooked all the way or the outside is almost burnt. The prices were reasonable. And the staff was friendly and attentive even as it got busier. The play afterward was a lot of fun, just plain silly, I needed silly, we could all use more silly in our lives.

A Sia Saide

Kevin

The Dandelion Market and teen angst

On the recommendation of my sister-in-law we made plans for last evening with some friends to see Spring Awakening. It is here, in Charlotte, on its national tour. We made these plans with Mr. and Mrs. Whiskey, so obviously dinner was of grave concern for all parties.

We decided to try the new restaurant from the Tyber Creek/Connolly's group. The concept is vaguely Irish Tapas/gastropub. Gastropub being the new buzzword in our town. The interior is pub all the way, lots of wood and brick, very cozy. It is fairly small and a little loud but not overly so. This is a new restaurant so I will not hold some of the small gaffs against them this time and as you will learn there will be another visit.

We sat immediately with the Whiskeys right on our heels. Giving the menu a quick glance we realized the beer and cocktail menu was no where to be found. On his first visit the waiter quickly got us one and we asked for a couple of minuets. They have four or five specialty cocktails, 24 beers on tap, 4 wines by the glass and a good selection of wine by the bottle; each bottle costing twenty five dollars. I went with the Blue Point toasted lager since it was new to me. It was very good, lager crisp with a hint of caramel. The food menu is a great expanse of everything from fried sage leaves to lamb "lollypops". Their true contribution to Charlotte food culture, however, is the idea that you can order everything on the menu for $200.00. There are 32 items so a very good value indeed if you can round up a couple of friends to go with. We, unfortunately had neither the time or the requisite numbers to pull off this feat. So the Mrs. and I started with a coarse of potato croquettes and sausage bites. Both were delicious. The Croquettes were grilled perfectly with hidden bits of bacon inside and the sausage came in a crock full of kielbasa pieces in their own juices and a dollop of mustard floating in the center. This was all very tasty but staring across the table at the duck confit flatbread made up our minds as to what our next round would be. So we put in the order. When Mr. and Mrs. Whiskey got there beer cheese fondue we figured our pizza was right behind it. We were wrong. Luckily they were kind enough to share and it was very tasty. As our waiter came back around we politely asked the whereabouts of our pizza; he politely excused himself and quickly returned with the obligatory "It will be right out". It had obviously gotten lost in the melee. It showed up fairly quickly though and it was totally worth the wait. Duck bits, Brie, rosemary, yum. To finish we had a rhubarb crisp with buttermilk ice cream. The ice cream seemed homemade and was very tasty but I have a real soft spot for rhubarb anything. It was the perfect end to our meal. So we got our check and dashed across the street for the show.

My basic conclusion is that Dandelion market will only get better as the staff, especially the kitchen, gets used to the small plates concept. The menu is perfect and the staff was very friendly and eager to please. Go support a great new restaurant.

The second part of our evening was the broadway touring show of Spring Awakening. It is a re-telling of a banned play from the late 1800's told in a mash up of then and now with a soundtrack that was obviously written by someone who owns every Dashboard Confessional record and comes out of the late nineties, early two thousands emo scene. It is a very well told coming of age story with nudity and cursing and emo hair. I enjoyed it quite a bit. It was nice to see something edgy come around again. The sad thing is we have plenty of great alternative theater all over the city but few people see it. Unless it has the broadway stamp of approval most Charlotteans won't give it a chance. Oh well, their loss.

until next time.