Ollie's Bites: Charlotte's Best Bar Eats

Bee sting wings from Selwyn Avenue Pub

This article first appeared on Localeur's website--check them out for travel recommendations! Localeur features in-the-know locals giving food, drink, and recreation recommendations from all over the world!

Selwyn Avenue Pub

Pizza so good that MJ orders it

Selwyn Avenue Pub is a Charlotte institution. Located in the heart of Myers Park, this part indoor/part outdoor bar and grill has plenty of large-screen TVs and shady trees and is packed on beautiful fall game days. They are famous for their transfusion drink--vodka, grape juice, and sprite--and for their delicious pizza. The pizza is so good that local Michael Jordan is known to stop in often for a pie. Other solid menu items include their chicken wings and sliders. Parking can be a beast here, so an Uber is highly recommended.

Lebowski’s Neighborhood Grill

Wangs//Image courtesy of Charlotte Agenda 

Tuesday night trivia at Lebowski’s in Dilworth is the best Charlotte trivia in terms of the quality of both food and trivia questions, but in order to keep it possible to get a table, let’s keep that between us, okay? This bar with Buffalo roots does all of the Upstate New York favorites justice, like roast beef on ‘weck and the very best chicken wings this side of the Anchor Bar. Wash it all down with The Dude’s favorite--a White Russian. Be mindful that if you are going on Tuesday, for trivia or just to eat and imbibe, reservations are a must. And that’s not just like, my opinion, man.

The Cellar at Duckworth’s

Truffle fries//Image courtesy of Loop Charlotte

Below sports bar Duckworth’s in Uptown Charlotte lies a hidden speakeasy gem. The Cellar has a variety of seating from high tops to cozy booths, but I always choose a spot at the bar. Here you can watch the master mixologists craft inventive cocktails like my favorite, the Cellar Smash, which is essentially a grown up “slushie” with ginger, citrus, and elderflower. To soak up all of those delicious drinks, you can’t go wrong with the tuna tartare with wonton crisps, truffle fries, or the truffle mac and cheese. The Cellar also offers full entrees, but the shareables and small plates are the way to go here. The Cellar is a decidedly more upscale locale for bar bites--if you are looking for a more traditional bar experience, Duckworth’s upstairs has tons of TVs and great food, as well.   

VBGB Beer Hall & Garden

Giant pretzel//Image courtesy of Charlotte Agenda 

VBGB, located in the AvidXchange Music Factory, is a playground for grown-ups. Fun happenings include life-size games like Jenga and Connect Four, a covered patio, trivia on Thursday nights, and a DJ on Friday and Saturday nights. The food is not your typical bar fare, in that most of it is homemade and much of it is somewhat healthy--like the nitrate-free brats or quinoa salad. However, my favorite menu item is the biergarten classic: a jumbo pretzel with a side of homemade beer cheese. Don’t forget to sample all of the varieties of mustard lined up in the condiment station, too.

Dandelion Market

What's this color called, because I love it?//Image courtesy of Dandelion Market

Dandelion Market Uptown is a great bar to get a little bit of everything. Earlier in the evening, the bar is laid back and rather quiet (especially downstairs), but come 10pm or so, this place gets bumping--literally: the floor upstairs shakes a little when everyone starts dancing, but that just adds to the fun, right? The food here is a cut above for bar bites--don’t sleep on the potato croquettes with cheddar and bacon, prosciutto crostinis, or the brussels sprouts. And although I’ve never done it, but have always wanted to, you can even order the entire menu for $295.

The Barcelona Burger & Beer Garden

Once upon a time, in a beer hall in Mooresville

Background: 
The Barcelona Burger and Beer Garden was opened in Mooresville in May of 2017 by Michal Bay, who also owns the wildly popular Aliño Pizzeria, which is located right next door. Basically, Bay is going to have all of your food desires covered in one square block. Bay developed the menu with chef, writer, and TV personality Jenny Brule, and together they have really hit all of the flavor bases on Barcelona's menu. When we were invited the other week to check out this relatively new spot, we jumped at the chance. All of our über-cool blog buddies had already told us how rad it was, so we couldn't wait to see for ourselves. 

Love the font

The kitchen team hard at work

Eat This: 
The offerings are hearty, healthy, and everything we tried was a full-on flavor bomb. My mouth is watering just thinking about all of it again! The main choices are between the burgers and the rotisserie chicken, and for vegetarians and/or people concerned with fiber and things, they offer a killer-sounding black bean and quinoa burger, as well as three yummy sounding salads. 

Perhaps one of my favorite things about Barcelona is that all of their burger offerings are grass-fed, and their chicken is antibiotic and hormone free, which is always something I look for in the meat I buy at the grocery store, but it remains elusive when dining out. We wanted to try both a chicken dish and a burger, so we could be thorough and responsible food bloggers. Or heck, maybe a salad! Soup! However, when it came time to order, well...we both just wanted a burger. We each tried to talk the other into getting the chicken, but no dice. Neither of us would bend on our burger dreams. So, here are our two beautiful burgers, but I promise the chicken was seen and noted as looking most delicious. Get the chicken, people! Live your truth. Our truth just happened to be two burgers and fries, gosh darn it. 

Madrid burger

American cheese, caramelized onion, roasted tomato, spicy pepper sauce

Gibralter Burger

American cheese, avocado, peppadew peppers, lettuce, onion, salsa verde

Bird's eye view (check out that side of Spanish beer cheese sauce and truffle sauce

Loving you is easy 'cause you're beautiful

That cheese melt though

America, America, God shed his grace on theeeeee

The whole spread 

Now with 50% more booze!

Truffle Fries

Classic french fries topped with a creamy white truffle sauce

Everything was to die for. The burgers were upscale, but they were still easy enough to eat with your hands (super important), and they tasted recognizable as a traditional, crave-able burger--sometimes I feel like fancy burgers, while tasty, are so fussy that they cross burger territory into something else entirely. The flavors were straightforward and not muddled. 

And those fries. Wow. They were perfectly crispy and equally good with or without the truffle or beer cheese sauce, although, let's be honest, a little sauce never goes unappreciated (they also offer a brown gravy option). Barceona also offers sweet potato *waffle* fries! I know. We were almost swayed by the waffle fry siren song, but ultimately decided to stick with OG white potato. Other side options include fried pickles, onion rings, baked mac and cheese, kale salad, roasted veggies, and Spanish chicken soup. I swear I almost got the kale salad. I had the intention. But then when I ordered, the phrase truffle fries tumbled out of my mouth, unbidden! I was bewitched by the truffle pig gods. They are always watching. 

Dessert: 
Barcelona offers tons of delicious looking dessert options, some of which are pictured below. However, as we had not yet visited Aliño, we popped over there for a cannoli and gelato, both of which are made in house. You can actually get the same cannolis over at Barcelona, but not the gelato, so it was worth the five step pilgrimage. Does that count as working up an appetite? 

Torte, torte, torte, goose

Chocolat

Crostada nation

Revolving container of gelato dreams

cannoli

gelato

The cannoli and gelato, like everything else, exceeded expectations. The pistachio gelato was so nutty and fresh. As the gelato is made daily, the flavors will rotate. The sweet gal who helped us said her favorite was tiramisu, which they didn't have that night. Just one of many reasons why we will be back to Barcelona and Aliño soon! 

Drink: 
Bay told us that we had to try their El Jefe, a tempranillo wine that pairs beautifully with a wide variety of cuisine. This is also the wine they use in their sangria. I am just now getting (back) into red wine--for many years I abstained as it triggered my migraines. However, I tried a glass a few weeks ago with a delicious Italian meal (had to), and with just one glass I suffered no ill effects. Hoping this is a trend that sticks, because I truly love a good glass of red with a meal. 

The boss (not Springsteen)

Jason, teetotaler that he is, enjoyed the ever-living heck out of this coke freestyle machine! Viva America! 

The dream of every eight year old (and Jason)

Atmosphere: 
Barcelona is so chill. The food hall vibe and long cafeteria-style tables make this a very relaxing environment. We saw many couples on double dates who were splitting a bottle of wine and chatting, and also lots of families with kids enjoying a quick bite. If you feel like sticking around with a beer or a glass of wine, there are lots of TVs (if there is an international soccer game on, they will be showing it) you can watch while you sip. 

Mooresville Hospitality:
The gal we ordered from at the counter was beyond helpful, and told us all of the most popular menu items and was super patient as we had our "who is getting the chicken" debate. There were lots of employees helping to keep all of the tables wiped down and the condiment area clean. The cool folks in the kitchen even gave us a wave! So nice. 

Decorative bikes feeling oh so European

Frankie's Notes: 
We don't always have fights at the ordering counter, but when we do they always end in the death of one more cow at our expense; I am writing this in a vegan café in Kansas City and feeling very guilty for the meat-eating sins of yester-week; Truffle pig gods actually rule everything around us, you just don't know because they are very secretive and good at their jobs; Frankie once applied to be a truffle pig, but they said flat-nose dogs are not helpful in that field; I wouldn't say Frankie handles rejection poorly, but he hasn't gotten off the couch in weeks; Oh wait, that's just how a twelve-year-old pug lives his life; Decorative bikes are cool and all, but I would really like to take that mint green Huffy for a spin around the block, you know? 

Disclaimer: This meal was provided free of charge in exchange for an honest and unbiased review. All opinions are our own, and we were not compensated for this review. 

 

Bad Daddy's Burger Bar

Background: 
Frank Scibelli, Charlotte restauranteur extraordinaire, opened the first Bad Daddy's on East Boulevard in 2007. In 2015, Scibelli sold the prolific local chain to Colorado-based restaurant group Good Times. There are already a ton in CO, and pretty soon there will likely be locations all over the country. If you have ever visited a Bad Daddy's then you likely are not wondering what all the hype is about--it's freaking delicious! For years, the OG location in Dilworth has been Scallionpancake's favorite place to grab a burger and tots. A few weeks ago, we were invited in to try some of Bad Daddy's finest so we could share them with you all. Read on to check out what we sampled! 

Eat This: 

Fried Pickles

Served with traditional ranch dressing

Bad Daddy's is known for their fried pickles. They are unusual in that they are long slices instead of chips like you see at most restaurants. The breading is slightly spicy and holds up well on the pickles. We had never tried these, and we loved them! Definitely a new go-to order now. 

Nick's Patty Melt

On rye toast with Swiss cheese, grilled onions, mayo, and Dijon mustard

A patty melt is such a classic burger joint order, and this iteration does not disappoint. I ordered mine medium, and it was cooked perfectly--such a pleasant change from most burger places that overcook their patties. What puts this melt over the top is the inclusion of the sweet and savory caramelized onions. 

We must take a moment, however, to talk about the side: TOTS. Hands down, Bad Daddy's has the very best tater tots in town. We will come back again and again just for these. 

Bad Ass Burger

A massive 10 oz. beef patty with house-made American cheese, buttermilk fried bacon, horseradish mayo, lettuce, tomato, and pickle. Lives up to its name in every way!

The Bad Ass Burger is the ultimate on Bad Daddy's menu. When you have the meat shakes and nothing else will do--you've gotta go Bad Ass. Jason switched out the buttermilk fried bacon for regular bacon because he really is the picture of health. This one simple swap basically makes the order a dry salad, calorie wise. The burger is juicy and savory, and satisfies that craving you get when you need a big fat burger and nothing else will do. 

And again: tots = life. If you get the fruit on the side, well, we will need to talk about that, okay? 

Oh yeah, and see that Bad Daddy's sauce? Dipping your tots into that goodness just takes everything to a whole 'nother level. Bad Daddy's sauce is made with mayonnaise, BBQ sauce, and a blend of spices. Seriously, so good. I dip my burger in it, the tots, my fork--basically everything in reach. 

In addition to their speciality burger options, Bad Daddy's also offers create-your-own burgers, chili, and salads. When I don't feel like going full-on, I like to do a create-your-own salad with a grass-fed burger patty. Another thing I love about Bad Daddy's is that they are one of the few restaurants that offers grass-fed options and unusual protein options like buffalo burgers 

Dessert: 
We didn't get dessert because we were stuffed. However, Bad Daddy's offers soft serve with toppings that we have had before, and it's fabulous. 

Way too full to even think about dessert

Drink: 
I love love love the milkshakes at Bad Daddy's! I went with the Oreo shake, because that's a flipping American classic, you know? 

If you aren't a five year old like me, Bad Daddy's also offers tons of local draft beers and a full bar. 

Oreo Milkshake

Heaven

America's favorite cookie, amiright?

Atmosphere: 
We have been to this location in Dilworth, as well as one in Ballantyne. At both locations, the atmosphere is family-friendly and clean. When the weather is nice, we like to sit outside on the patio--there are lots of fans, so it's usually lovely in the Charlotte heat we get 9 months out of the year 

Also, one of the best parts of the Dilworth location is the door to nowhere. Seriously, it's half connected to a wall, so instead of going through it, you can just walk right around it. It's a mystery to us, but we like to walk through it instead of around, just in case it turns into a magical door to Narnia someday. 

Shady & green patio

Hello. Is it me you're looking for?

Medium Rare Hospitality: 
The servers at Bad Daddy's are always polite and efficient. We have never had any issues with service on any of our visits. 

View of the bar

Frankie's Notes: 
Maybe we would eat more salads if we used Bad Daddy's sauce as a dressing; What if exiting through the door to nowhere made all of the calories from tater tots disappear?; What is it about putting potatoes in a cylinder shape that makes them taste like unicorns prancing through fields of pugs?; How many different ways can you cut a pickle?; Jason and I prefer drinks made from Oreos to drinks made from grain alcohol; Bad Daddy's cured all my meat shakes, and it was glorious. 

Disclaimer: This meal was provided free of charge in exchange for an honest and unbiased review. All opinions are our own, and we were not compensated for this review.