Blue Hill at Stone Barns

Background:
Dan Barber’s Blue Hill at Stone Barnes needs no introduction, but if you want to get up to speed watch Season 1, Episode 2 of Netflix’s Chef’s Table or read the reviews by the NY Times, The Telegraph, or GQ. It’s currently ranked #12 in the world and the #2 restaurant in the US, only behind Eleven Madison Park, which, spoiler alert, we believe is a mistake.

Like most top 50 restaurants, Blue Hill is an exceptionally hard reservation to score, especially on a Friday or Saturday night. The reservations open up 60 days out, and literally they were all gone in seconds. I’ve scored reservations at Noma and Osteria Francescana, so it was a little surprising to see all the times gone so fast. I think part of the problem was that they were using Reserve, probably the worst of the big reservation systems on the market. However, last week Blue Hill switched to Tock, which is in my opinion the best system out right now.

A slight aside, but there has to be a better way for these top restaurants to do reservations. For the little guys like us, it’s extremely frustrating that it’s so hard to get a reservation, especially since it seems like people literally write computer programs to score these reservations right as they come out. I’d almost like to see a lottery system in place for a few tables, where a week or two out you could put your name in the lottery, putting everyone on the same playing field.

After a few minutes of trying we ended up getting a 10 p.m. reservation. A 10 p.m. reservation is bad enough, but Blue Hill at Stone Barnes is 30 miles north of the city, and the last train from Tarrytown, the closest train station, leaves at 1:00 a.m. This meant that in order to get back to the city after dinner we had to take an Uber. We were even debating renting a car, as we didn’t know what the Uber or cab situation would be like at that hour in Tarrytown. Luckily, there were ample Ubers available, and it only cost us about $45 to get back to the city. If you have a reservation this late, Uber is definitely the way to go.

The restaurant Blue Hill at Stone Barns is situated on Blue Hill Farms, an 80 acre farm and learning facility. Pulling into the facility, you feel like you’re approaching a palatial country estate in a Charles Dickens or Thomas Hardy novel. The restaurant is located in a castle-like building with a large courtyard. The actual dining room was formerly a cow barn! It’s quite the setting for a meal, even pulling up in the darkness. Although we wish we could have seen the farm in daylight, arriving at night only added to the mystique and charm.

We arrived two hours early, hoping we could eat a littler earlier, but we ended up spending the time in the bar area, complete with cozy chairs and a fireplace. A few drinks make the time pass quickly, and before we knew it we were at our table, which was situated against the back wall and overlooked the entire dining room. It felt like we were sitting in a theater watching a grand show take place on a culinary stage.

Eat This:
At Blue Hill you only have one option, and that’s a $258 tasting menu, including a mandatory 20% “administrative fee.” Tipping is not expected or allowed. Now that they are using Tock, the $258 is paid at booking, so you’re just in for the ride and whatever drinks you order (wines or cocktails by the glass, or you could do the $168 wine pairing) as soon as your table is booked. Each month has a theme based on what’s happening on the farm during that month. We dined in March, and our theme was “charcoal.”

The menu always consists of between 20 and 40 dishes. Many of them small, some of them big. Of all the top tasting menus we’ve done, we left this one the most full.

The food here is meant to showcase the farm, local ingredients, and pure cooking. Barber is most famous for his work with scientists and breeders to produce better tasting, more sustainable products. On the night we went they were highlighting the Badger beet, which was a collaboration with a scientist at Wisconsin (hence the name Badger) to make a beet taste less earthy. If you’ve seen the Chef’s Table episode, you know that Barber is famous for his butternut squash that he bred with vegetable breeder Michael Mazourek.

Blue Hill isn’t trying to do molecular gastronomy, like a lot of the other top restaurants in the world. Their cooking techniques are not high tech (a chef told me they almost never use a sous vide), and you’re tasting the ingredients in their pure form. This is not to downplay the cooking or the wow-factor of the dishes, because they were some of the coolest dishes we’ve ever had. The creativity of Blue Hill’s cooking is second to none.

What really surprised us is that not only is the menu each day different, each table in the restaurant got different dishes depending upon the availability of ingredients. The table next to us got a potato ceviche which we never got, and we got a squash burrata which only a few tables got. Normally, if a restaurant of this caliber changes the menu daily, everyone at the restaurant gets that set menu that day. It is extremely difficult to produce such a varied menu by table. Not only do the chefs need to be spot on with everything, but the front of the house has to be synchronized and in-tune with what’s coming out, so they can be sure they’re delivering the proper meal to the proper table. It is so easy to screw this up, and the ingenuity and creativity that everyone on the team has to have to execute each seating is something we have never seen.

What we had on this night no one else will have again, although there are some staples that seem to stay on the menu, like the liver and chocolate and, of course, the Barber wheat bread. So, even though on your visit you’ll get a different menu, rest assured that you, dear readers, were there with us, especially since we’re always eating for more than two (more like two dozen, if we’re being honest).

Vegetables from the Farm

A classic. They serve fresh picked vegetables from Blue Hill on some nails. No one got tetanus, but if we did, it would have been an honor. A great first few bites.

Flower Delivery

Right after we finished the vegetables, then the fireworks started. It was small dish after small dish all in a row and on top of one another other. We couldn’t even take a picture before the next two were out. For the flower delivery, a chef runs out and says “Flower Delivery,” and hands us a cup and instructed us to each pick out one of these carrots to eat whole. You don’t know carrots until you’ve had one of these carrots.

Beet Jerky

This really reminded me of Noma’s Vegetable Season. It was a dried beet jerky that tasted like a beef jerky. You’ll notice that beets played a heavy role in our entire meal,.

Needles in a Haystack

How fun is this! There were two breadsticks in here to eat. Yvonne couldn’t find them, so I had to do her work for her. Typical.

Chufa Milk and Sassafras

At this point, so many things were coming out I lost track of what I was taking pictures of, so this is the only one I got of the chufa milk. Chufa is apparently mentioned in the Bible (sorry, I only read it in Hebrew and didn’t know what I was reading, so we’ll take Blue Hill’s word for it). This was one of my favorite dishes, as the milk was so tasty, especially with the shaved sassafras. It tasted like a better-than-you’ve-ever-had almond milk.

Fermented sweet potato and stone barns lonza

Olivia Wolff from Updog Kombucha is the only other person we know that’s been to Blue Hill, and this reminded me of her saying soppressata like a Jersey girl. Lonza is a distant cousin of soppressatta, two times removed.

Sweet Potato and Fermented Leaves

The sweet potato was warm and savory. This bite was fantastic, and one of the sleepers of the early dishes.

Bresaola and Lettuce

Another house cured meet, first cousin to soppressata and second cousin to the Lonza. So much was happening at this point that we were thoroughly overwhelmed in the most wonderful way. Each bite seemed to be better than the next.

Lion’s Mane Nuggets and honey mustard

It looked like a freaking Chick-fil-A chicken nugget, yet it tasted 100 times better and was made from a mushroom. This dish could bring peace to the Middle East, it’s that good. I pushed it away from Yvonne to clear room for another plate and she almost chopped my hand off to get more of the honey mustard.

The wintermelon that wanted to be a watermelon

Wintermelon is much closer to a squash than a watermelon, so the texture was much more meaty than a watermelon. This one we thought was one of the disappointing bites of the night. Also, we’re not sure if it’s a nod or plagiarism, but this is very similar to the name of a dish at Athens’ Funky Gourmet, “The Feta that Wished to be a Beetroot.”

Liver and Chocolate

Duck liver, you sexy, underused liver. This tasted more like foie gras to me than liver. The sweetness of the chocolate added a perfect balance.

Cabbage Sushi

We forgot to mention that so far each dish had been eaten by hand, with no utensils in sight. When this one came out I was a little skeptical, because cabbage sushi doesn’t inherently sound appealing, but boy, was I wrong. They literally tried to take the plate when there was a grain of rice left, and that was a mistake on their part. I was still eating that, bro!

Eight Row Flint Corn tamale and cardamom Leaves

We all know of Yvonne’s corn fear, but she braved this little bite of Blue Hill corn. This corn variety had almost gone extinct, because although it’s very flavorful (people describe it as complex and buttery), the variety does not produce a lot of cobs, so it fell out of favor with mass producers. Barber and a seed enthusiast helped revive the corn at Blue Hill 15 years ago, and it’s still used today in a variety of ways. So many ingredients at Blue Hill have a story like this, and it feels as though you’re eating a history of the American farmer and the renaissance of the humble seed, whose poster boy is Chef Barber.

Last Year’s Preserves

We were then brought a jar of pickled fruits and vegetables. Some of these foods we’d never eaten pickled, including squash, strawberries, and a special red pepper. These were on the sweeter side, and provided a nice transition before the larger dishes.

Koginut Burrata and Malted bread

It’s time for THE squash, the famous Barber mutant squash that has gone mainstream (it’s now served at Sweetgreen locations around the country). This had just hit the menu, and our server said this was the dish she was most excited to try. We ride hard for burrata in any form, so adding the special squash and their malted bread to the equation made this dish one of the best bites of the night.

Badger Beet and Beef

This is our first introduction to the Badger Beet, a beet designed to taste less earthy and be more palatable to the masses. We are weird and like the earthiness of beets to begin with, so we were predisposed to like this dish from the beginning. As you’ll notice, Blue Hill loves to serve sides of meat with their main dishes, as if to remind us that the vegetables are the real stars here.

Winter fruits and Vegetables with Diver Scallops

To me, this was a great scallop with some fruit. It was well-prepared, of course, and the fruit mixed into the scallops was cool, but it didn’t wow me. Moving on.

Red Pepper egg, Nash’s Rye, and Cheddar

A few dishes before this, a chef walks out and says that we are going to play a game. Some of the hens on the farm had been feed grains with red pepper, turning their yolks red. This was done in an effort to prove “you are what you eat.”

Two raw, shelled eggs were presented, and one had red yolk inside and one was regular. We were asked to pick an egg and brand it somehow with a Sharpie to show it was ours. I let Yvonne pick first, because i’m a gentlemen. She ended up picking the regular yellow egg, so I got to have the red pepper one. The flavor of this egg was so amazing, and the pairing with the rye and cheddar just blew me away.

This was the outstanding dish of the night for me and the one that I thought epitomized Blue Hill the best. If you didn’t know the story, you would think this is just an egg, but literally from the hen to the plate, every flavor was beautifully planned to the nth degree.

Whole wheat einkorn bread/
white bread/
Whole Barber Wheat bread

At this point, we were asked if we’d like to go on an adventure. We were taken to the bread room, where all the bread is made not only for Stone Barns, but also their sister restaurant in NYC. We are told that not only do they make their own bread, they grind their own wheat. We were given a sampling of breads, including the famous Barber wheat.

Pheasant, Jerusalem artichoke and hazelnut

Okay so every picture I took of this dish is blurry, so you get a picture of an actual pheasant. Beautiful bird, eh? They brought out a dead one to show the table next to us, but I guess they thought we were too chicken (pheasant?) to handle the truth. This was our one meat dish, and I throughly enjoyed it. The Jerusalem artichoke and crunchy hazelnuts were great complements to the tender pheasant.

Bread and Butter

Our server brought the bread and butter to the table, finished churning the butter, and then plopped it onto the plate with a healthy pour of buttermilk, and said, go at it, young people. Go at it, we did. Is there anything better than freshly churned butter from Blue Hill? I don’t know if there is. Combine that with the Barber Wheat and you’ve got a great bread course. At this point in the meal, we are so full we could barely eat another bite, but we eventually finished it all because we aren’t quitters. Especially not when it comes to bread.

dry aged parsnip and carrot steak with blue hill farm beef

The main dish was a showcase of the farm’s vegetables, served with a side of beef steak. It was also served with “duck” chips, which were actually made from a root vegetable, though we can’t remember which one. Such a fun and unique dish that highlighted the magic that is Blue Hill.

The Stages of Maple Sap Reduction

Dessert time. Maple ice cream with a fermented maple jelly. Yvonne loved this one, but I didn’t care for it. To each their own.

Badger Flame Beet Pie

The beets are back! This time in pie form. It wasn’t too sweet and highlighted the flavors of the beet. It was right on the edge of being savory, yet it ended up being the perfect amount of dessert for this stage of the meal. A beautifully executed dish.

100% whole wheat chocolate cherry bread and milk jam

The last bite, and boy, was it a good one. The chocolate cherry bread was so moist it was basically like eating cake. Yvonne didn’t finish hers, and we should all judge her for this.

Drink:
Before you are led into the dining room you are brought to the bar, which includes a fireplace and fully stocked bar. The cocktail menu is presented as a map, where each part of the farm is made into a drink with ingredients from that part of the farm. How fun is that?! They also make most of their glassware from ground bones from late Blue Hill animals, so nothing goes to waste.

Blue Hill’s Cocktail Map

They had three non-alcoholic cocktails, and I tried all three. My favorite was the Silos, which had corn, quinoa, clove, and cinnamon. It tasted earthy, and carried the sweetness of the corn, the spiciness of the cinnamon, and the crunch of the quinoa flakes. Such a complex and unique cocktail. Yvonne had pink champagne, and two cocktails, the Apiary and the Vegetable Field. The apiary was brought out in jar lined with bees wax which you poured yourself into a glass. The flavor I think best could be described as drinking a potion from the woods. The Vegetable Field was her favorite, with a rich fattiness from the tallow and the siren song of her go-to spirit, mezcal.

Once seated at the table, you are offered a wine pairing for $168 or you can do a la cart wine or cocktails. We elected for the a la cart option, as who can have a full wine pairing at our age at 10:00 p.m.?

Vegetable Field

Herb Garden

The Silos

The Apiary

Atmosphere:
The attire says coats and tied preferred, absolutely no shorts. To me, that says you need to wear a lime green cashmere sweater from Uniqlo, which is about as dressy as I get, unless it’s a funeral. I was the only guest on the property without a tie. At first this scared me, as I thought that the experience was going to be stuffy and too serious, but the meal couldn’t have felt less stuffy. The setting was magnificent, but you could tell that the place had a real sense of humor and playfulness - not only with the activities and games we played with the servers, but also the plating and presentation of the dishes. It’s what we hoped the experience at Osteria Francescana would be like – fancy yet friendly. When you go to a top restaurant, you want to have an experience you remember for a lifetime. You don’t want to feel like you’re visiting a museum of food. Blue Hill pulled off the perfect experience.

The dining room, where the decor changes by the season.

Farm Hospitality:
The service here, as one would expect, is top notch. When you are waiting to be sat in the lounge, one of the heads of service comes and asks you how you are doing and gets to know you for a few minutes. What they glean from you - why you are there, where you are from, etc - is communicated to the rest of the team who continue the conservation throughout the night. There is a frenetic energy to the service, very similar to Noma, where there is constant activity throughout the dining room. The servers sometimes line up with your dish, then notice it’s not quite the right time, and will circle the room like bees until it’s the perfect moment to drop off the next dish. They also would answer any question you had and not seem pissed off that you were asking it. There was no snobbiness or no snootiness - everyone seemed genuinely happy to be working at Blue Hill and supportive of the mission.

Case in point: normally at the end, they print out a menu for you to take home. Their printer was down, so we asked if they could email us one. Not only did they email us one the next day they were open, but they also overnighted us a printed menu on their letterhead. That’s going above and beyond.

Frankie’s Notes:
Having dinner at 10 p.m. is insane and we’re still tired; I hope when I die my bones are ground up and made into Blue Hill bone china; We feel we made a lot of best friends in the servers at Blue Hill, and we hope the feeling is mutual; Bears, Badger beets, and Battlestar Galactica; When we get our palatial estate, our first pet will be a pheasant named Neville; Wearing a sweater to Blue Hill is definitely rich man/poor man scenario.

Rating: 5 out of 5 with 3 Michigan Pugs

Blue Hill is the best meal we’ve had in the US and nowhere else even comes close (we’re looking at you, Eleven Madison Park). The attention to detail, the creativity, setting, and overall experience are second to none (Okay, we still have Noma slightly ahead, but this was the first place we’ve been that gave it a run for its money). It’s tough to get to, but worth the visit. If you ever have the chance to dine at Blue Hill, it’s a can’t miss opportunity.

 

Legion Brewing Brunch

BEHOLD, MILLENIALS: BRUNCH AWAITS

Background:
The OG Legion Brewing opened in Plaza Midwood in late December 2015 and quickly became a power-player in Charlotte’s competitive brewery scene. While we aren’t huge beer drinkers, we’ve always picked Legion as our favorite brewery because they have a good selection of sweet, fruity beers and a relaxed vibe. Three years after location number one, they opened up a grand South Park location with tall ceilings and an abundance of square footage. We recently checked out brunch at the South Park Legion, and we were very impressed with their offerings. As folks who just don’t drink beer, we both agreed we would come here for the food alone. Chef Gene Briggs runs a very professional kitchen, and we loved everything we tried. Check it out!

Not again, portrait mode!

Hi! We are friends!

Eat This:

The CUre

Roasted pork hash skillet with baked egg, green onions, and Legion hot sauce aoili

This is one of the most popular brunch items, probably because hungover people love potatoes. And really, who doesn’t? This is a classic brunch dish, and we really liked the aioli.

The ABLT Breakfast Pizza

Avocado, bacon, arugula, tomato, eggs, and parmesan aioli

Can you go wrong when breakfast meets pizza? That’s a rhetorical question. I hope you didn’t answer aloud to yourself while you were reading – that’s embarrassing!

I found this dish a bit hard to eat, but structure aside, Legion makes their pizza crust in-house, and wow, it’s a winner. Make this a fork and knife situation and you’re in business.

Baby Spinach & Avocado Salad With Steak

Fresh baby spinach, ripe avocado, Campari tomatoes, pickled red onion, toasted pumpkin seeds with an orange lime dressing

Love the amount of avocados and eggs on the menu. I felt so strong after this brunch, like I could lift a car off a baby (or a baby pug). And now steak! My protein cup runneth over. I would order this again, but I would like to sub out the spinach for another lettuce, because I firmly believe that spinach only belongs in a smoothie and/or out of my life forever.

Pork Belly Grilled CHeese

Collard greens, cheese, and a fried egg

This was a special on the day we went, and they actually kept it on for a while because it was so popular. And yes, it was as good as it looks. They had been making it with pork cheek, but they ran out and were using pork belly. We had zero complaints on this substitution.

Also, it was super nice of that alien to drop in and pose with this sandwich, but his creepy pink hand is making me uncomfortable!

Dessert:

Caramel APple French toast

Caramel apples, toasted pecans, whipped cream, honey butter, & maple syrup

That’s right: I put French toast under dessert. Because I eat dessert after breakfast, brunch, lunch, elevensies – you name it. I would also just order this on its own, too. In fact, this was my favorite dish of the tasting. FIGHT ME, JASON. Just kidding, he liked it also and we are getting along just fine, thanks for asking.

Drink:
Okay, okay – we don’t drink beer. Seriously, they brought it out and we didn’t drink it. So embarrassing. However, we do indulge in a cocktail, and hot damn, they had one of the best we’ve had in a while. They use (Scallionpancake podcast featured guest!) Farmers First coffee to make a perfect martini. Of course, we didn’t take a picture of it, because we were too busy fighting over it. Jason drank 3/4 of it, for the record. They also had a good “Southern Mary” made with jalapeño bacon and house-made Bloody Mary mix, but seriously, get the Farmers First Martini if you aren’t a beer drinker!

Artsy af bloody

Look at all these beers that starving children could have gotten buzzed on!

No picture of the martini, but plz enjoy this picture of my son and me! Also my weird hairline and the close-up on my leggings digging into my flesh.

Atmosphere:
Again, this location is downright impressive – it wows you as soon as you walk in the door. Three huge taps are the focal point of the bar and restaurant, and they span all the way up to the second floor. Yes, a brewery with two stories. The decor has a very similar vibe to Asheville’s Sierra Nevada (granted it’s a heck of a lot smaller) in that it’s brewery with a touch of upscale class.

Crush them like ants hahahhah

That’s a scary mask, bro

South Park Brewery Hospitality:
Since this was a media tasting, we can’t rate the service, but we really loved our server, Brooks, and we have had good service whenever we’ve visited the Midwood location on our own. You tell us, have you had good service here? We’re really trying to get our comments section bumping. If you’ve never been to Legion, then comment anyway and tell us your favorite type of muffin!

Pretty bar!

Frankie’s Notes:
What’s it like being the jerks who go to a brewery tasting and don’t drink beer? We’ll never tell, sorry; Frankie doesn’t want to go into great detail, but in all honesty beer makes him bloat up like a little pug balloon; Has anyone ever tried to fly by jumping off the second floor of Legion onto the ant people? You should try it!; Just kidding, don’t sue the Pancake; You know who’s my favorite muffin? YOU.

Don’t say it, don’t say it…ugh fine: YOLK PORN

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.

 

Meat & Potatoes: Redefining Charlotte's Stereotype

Background:
We were so honored to receive an invite to Unpretentious Palate’s Meat & Potatoes Dinner back in February. At the time of the dinner, we had just recently heard about the fabulous Kristen Wile on NPR, and we were so intrigued by this amazing rockstar food journalist who had just struck out on her own. Of course, now we are BFFs with Wile, who recently joined us on the Scallionpancake podcast!

Wile held this event at Uptown’s Stoke, one of our favorite places, which only made us more excited. However, this day we had TWO other food events, so by the time we got to this one we felt as though we were taking part in an extreme eating competition.

An aggressive day of eats

The premise of the event was simple and brilliant: to redefine Charlotte’s stereotype as a “meat and potatoes” town by creating dishes with unusual preparations of meat and potatoes, and also to showcase different cuts and varieties of meat in an effort to build a more sustainable dining scene. We ate beef tongue, liver, venison, and more – and we loved every second. Wile invited our city’s premier culinary minds to each create a dish for the event, and the menu showcased a true “who’s who” in the Charlotte food scene. We got to geek out over Chef Alyssa, Chef Jamie Barnes, and other chefs we got to know by name after sampling the evening’s delicacies.

Graphic design on point

BISCUITS!

Eat This:

Off-Cut Grillade

With a sweet potato grit cake

Chef Matthew Krenz

This was our “opening bite,” and it really started the night off strong with bright flavors and a richness that didn’t translate into heaviness. The grillade in this instance was made from beef brisket, which is one of Jason’s favorites. Krenz was the Executive Chef at The Asbury until November, and as of right now he is a stay-at-home dad, so we were lucky to taste his food at this event! Krenz also emceed the event along with Wile, and we enjoyed his humor and personality just as much as the food.

Venison Tartare

With coriander, gin gastrique, and potatoes

Chef Ben Philpott

Chef Philpott is from The Stanley, and if you’re familiar with Paul Verica’s restaurant, you know that this dish’s artistic style has The Stanley written all over it. We loved the color and the flavor the romanesco brought, and we’re always game (get it) for a tartare. I’d never tried venison tartare, and it was at once lean and full of flavor.

Beef Tongue Marmalade

With tallow and potato biscuits and potato peel “cracklin’”

Chef Jamie Barnes

We hadn’t actually tried Chef Barnes’ popular What the Fries food truck until after this event (Jason has gone since!), but we were already huge fans of him on Instagram (welcome to modernity, am I right?). This dish was hands-down my favorite of the night, and I have that opinion in common with our recent podcast guest, Ashley Boyd, who sat next to me at this event. #blessed #touchedbyanangel

I had seen Barnes post about these biscuits on social media prior to the event, and I was drooling. Anything made with potato and beef fat and I am SO there. I had never had beef tongue anything, but spooning the sweet and savory mix on top of the biscuits just made my night, honestly. The crispy potato on top was the icing on the proverbial cake.

Chicken-Fried Liver

With potato crust, marinated fennel salad, oxtail and mushroom gravy, and potato puree

Chef Alyssa Wilen

Chef Alyssa, as she’s known in Charlotte, is just that: known in Charlotte. Everyone loves this fabulous lady’s brunch and cooking classes, and she is a Queen City staple. Everyone at our table, us included, just lost it over this dish. Who knew liver could be such a hit? I found out this night that Jason apparently grew up eating liver, but this was another first for me. I don’t know that I’d love just anyone’s preparation of liver, but the potato crust and fennel salad on top made this liver-nirvana. I’ll eat liver every night if Chef Alyssa is making it.

Smoked & Braised Goat

With whipped chèvre, spiced crispy boniato sweet potato, herb verde, and petite greens

Chef Chris Coleman

To quote my husband and Borat: “GOAT.” We are huge goat fans, so its deliciousness wasn’t new to us, but man – the spices in this dish were so unreal. Very Mediterranean-inspired, and the texture of the potatoes and greens with the tender meat just blended together perfectly.

Chef Coleman works at Stoke, so it’s no surprise that we were fans of his dish. He has a way with making just a few ingredients pop. I also loved the plating on this one – it was even prettier in person.

Dessert:

Potato Truffle Tart

Porter & pork fat butterscotch, banana crémeux, hazelnut crumble, potato crisps

Chef Sam Allen

Meat and potatoes in the dessert? To quote our lord and savior Sarah Palin: You betcha. We had somehow made it to this event without hearing about Chef Allen, who formerly worked as the pastry chef at The Fig Tree and is now full time at her own business, a “dessert camper” named Wentworth + Fenn.

This dessert was not only a chocolate vision, it tasted heavenly, too. The butterscotch was richly complex with the added pork fat, and I loved the crunchy potato chip on top.

Mignardise

Pine nut tassie with foie jam

Chef Sam Allen

Chef Allen: I love you, can I purchase 1000 of these from you? I actually liked these bites more than the main dessert, because I am just a foie gras monster, I guess (according to some overzealous PETA Instagram ambassadors who like to follow Scallionpancake, ahem). The buttery cookie with the jammy sweetness of the foie jam? HEAVEN.

Drink:
There were amazing cocktail and wine pairings provided by Stoke’s sommelier Todd Brinkman. We didn’t get the pairing, because they are usually lost on us because we can’t keep up with the pace of one drink every one to two dishes without vomiting (not great etiquette, vomiting at the table), so I stuck with a glass of “Pink Belly” rosé (the wine paired with the venison) and Jason had unsweet tea. However, I fell in deep, deep love with Brinkman, who came around and poured me a second glass when he had just enough left for one glass in his bottle after everyone who had the pairing had been served. He came around and simply said: “Because I can” and poured me another. Hat’s off to you, Brinkman. A gentleman and a scholar.

Atmosphere:
We have waxed poetic about Stoke and its interior on another blog post, but this was really just a perfect spot for this event with the open kitchen and abundance of family style tables. It also has a great warm, glowy light that I think makes any evening that much more special.

Forever rapt when it comes to food slash SITTING NEXT TO ASHLEY BOYD

Meat & Potatoes Hospitality:
The night could not have been lovelier or filled with better vibes. Being in a room of people who care about food and sustainability is like Disney World for Jason and me. Being hosted by Wile and Krenz provided a great mix of friendliness, humor, and information that made this more than a meal – it was a well-rounded culinary experience. We can’t wait to go to more events hosted by Wile and Unpretentious Palate. We highly recommend that everyone reading signs up to become an Unpretentious Palate member. You’ll get access to unbiased food reviews, breaking culinary news, and VIP invites to great events like this one.

Up-close on that grillade

Frankie’s Notes:
Going to three food events in one day is a sure-fire recipe from a stomach ache, FYI; I am going to start making beef fat arts and crafts: beef fat caftans, beef fat paintings, etc.; You do not want to get too wild at an event and throw up on Ashley Boyd; Mr. Brinkman is the magical wine genie we all need but don’t deserve; I also have a “dessert camper,” but it’s just me eating Trader Joe’s snacks in my Toyota Corolla – does that count?; If you haven’t already signed up to be a UP member, Frankie wants you to know he isn’t angry, but he’s certainly disappointed.

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.

 

Flour Shop

Background:
Flour Shop opened early 2018 under Trey Wilson, the owner and chef of Customshop in Elizabeth. Jason and I are big fans of Customshop (although we haven’t been in forever), so we were super excited when Flour Shop came to the Backlot of Park Road Shopping Center. We like Flour Shop so much that it made our Top 25 Restaurants in Charlotte list last year, and we can’t believe we haven’t given you a more detailed run down before now! Read on to get the scoop on what we deem the best pasta in Charlotte.

Eat This:
The star of the show at Flour Shop is the house-made pasta, but the other offerings on the well-curated menu shouldn’t be ignored.

House-made Foccacia

I wish they brought out this bread in unlimited quantities. That’s my only complaint.

Grilled UGF Mushrooms, January ‘19

Caesar-style, with radicchio

I love, loved the bitterness of the radicchio with the whole mushrooms. This version was better than the previous iteration below.

Grilled UGF Mushrooms, March ‘18

Caesar-style

Good last March, but definitely much improved in the latest version.

Barbecued Spanish Octopus

With stewed corona beans, house-made chorizo, & grilled ciabatta

So rich and savory. Perfect for a cold night.

House-made Burrata

Butternut squash and burnt-honey vinaigrette

This dish has to be a top-seller for them––it’s all over Instagram, and I always see it at nearly every table. And for good reason: it’s fabulous. This one looks a bit different these days (this photo is also from the March visit), but I am confident it’s just as delicious.

Butter Lettuce Salad

With Granny Smith apples & pickled onions

This salad inspired me to go out and buy butter lettuce. Why is butter lettuce so good? The most refreshing salad I’ve had in a while.

Benton’s Ham Croquettes

with Manchego fondue

These have been on the menu since the beginning, and we can see why. Whenever we see Benton’s ham, we go for it. And with hot cheese? Oh dang.

Ricotta Stuffed Ravioli

With mushrooms & squash

Little pillows of flavor perfection. The sweet squash purée added such a lovely dimension to the mushrooms and cream sauce.

Ricotta Ravioli

Red sauce, red peppercorns, Marcona almonds, crispy kale and pecorino Romano cheese

I liked this red sauce version of the ricotta ravioli (from March), but I must say the above, more recent version is better. And that’s coming from a girl who nearly always goes red sauce over cream sauce.

Prime Rib

On special, served with a baked potato

Jason’s order. His thoughts: well-cooked, but the sauce was far too sweet and spoiled the flavor of the meat.

Squid Ink linguine

With shrimp & chorizo

Wayne’s order! He said he liked it very much, and I can concur, since I ate his leftovers. Fabulous! Wayne isn’t always easy to please, so you know this one’s a keeper.

Dessert:
The dessert offerings are slim. On our first visit, they didn’t have dessert yet, and the last time we were in they had cookies and a bread pudding.

Bread Pudding

With ice cream

Good, not great. They need a more robust dessert menu, stat.

Drink:
A great wine selection and fun cocktails. On our last visit, I saw a lot of people drinking their Blood Orange Spritz, which looked quite refreshing.

Atmosphere:
Flour Shop is super tiny. There are only about 15 tables, and you can also order the full menu from the bar. The bar is a great place to sit, since you can watch the chefs in action in the open kitchen. The feel is rather fancy and very Myers Park (in the Myahhs Pahhk way), and there are lots of couples on dates.

Image courtesy of Charlotte Agenda

Backlot Hospitality:
Hm. We’ve had great service here, and rather rude service. As in, our server made us feel that our visit was a massive inconvenience. This was on our last visit, and truthfully, it has possibly put us off going back in for a while. As you know, service can make or a break a dining experience, and I hope that our bad one was an anomaly.

Close-up on those croquettes

Frankie’s Notes:
The parking situation at Park Road Shopping Center is a literal hell on Earth, which is rather ironic considering the word “park” is right in the name; Myahhs Pahhk is a state of mind, not an area of Charlotte––if you know, you know; A dessert menu should not be an afterthought, in Scallionpancake’s opinion; Do you think Wilson would be willing to call his next restaurant Pug Shop?

Rating: 4 out of 5