Oak Steakhouse

Background: 
Oak Steakhouse is a small chain that started in Charleston and now has locations in Atlanta, Nashville, and, as of earlier this year, Charlotte! Charlotte has plenty of chain steakhouses already, from Sullivan's and the Capitol Grille to BLT in the Ritz Carlton. However, we heard from many trusted sources that Oak stuck out among the masses for being unusually delicious and unusually modern for a steakhouse. We checked it out with some friends last month, and we were enamored with the perfectly cooked steaks and delicious side items. Check out what we tried below!

Eat This: 

Salmon Tartare Lettuce Wraps

Rogue farms butter lettuce, preserved lime, sweet sour soy glaze

Grilled Octopus

Sea island red pea salsa, local greens, red pepper caramel

Grilled Salmon

Roasted garlic mashed potatoes, haricot vert, toasted pumpkin seeds, lemon butter

Debragga Of NYC 20oz.

Dry Aged Certified Angus Beef Bone-in Ribeye

Truffle Frites

We also had a most incredible filet mignon, but, alas the photo was too blurry due to #shakymeathands

Dessert: 
Everyone else at the table just picked at this dessert, so I obviously had to do the hard work of finishing this on my own, plus being the only heifer at the table still able to put food away after all that meat. Oh, the humanity!

Apple Crisp

Almond streusel & vanilla ice cream

Drink: 
There is a super healthy cocktail menu, plus plenty of great red wines to stand up to all of that red meat. Jason had the lovely libation pictured below!

Atmosphere: 
One of the things we noticed right away was how far apart the tables in the dining room were, and we liked that. It provided a small amount of privacy and seemed to keep the restaurant from getting too loud. We were also sat in a small side room off of the kitchen, which felt very intimate and lovely. 

Image courtesy of Open Table

Carnivorous Hospitality: 
Oak Steakhouse is part of the same restaurant group that owns the O-Ku chain (Charlotte location in South End), and, on the whole, they offer the same level of fabulous customer service at both restaurants. However, on this particular evening, we felt that our service was a bit rushed--our waiter encouraged us to order everything at once after we told him we were only ready to order an appetizer, and someone took Jason's cocktail away when it was still at least a quarter full! 

Frankie's Notes: 
Our meat shakes often verge on the uncontrollable; How many times do we have to tell you, if you try to take a beverage before it's gone you're gonna be dead to us for one million years; Sorry, not sorry; Sharing dessert is my most difficult first world problem to bear; Jason likes to dress like Fred Flintstone when he eats bone-in meat, and orange is a great color on him. 

Rating: 
4 out of 5 

 

Terrace Cafe

Background: 
Stewart Penick opened the first Terrace Cafe in South Park years ago with his nephew, Jacob, who at the time was a recent graduate of Johnson and Wales. After the success of their first location, they opened another in Ballantyne, and they now have a location in Greenville, South Carolina, with plans for another in Ft. Mill in the spring/summer of 2018. A couple of months ago, Penick and his team invited the Charlotte Food Bloggers out to check out their Ballantyne location and some new menu items. You no doubt have heard of Terrace's legendary fried chicken and red velvet waffle, but read on to check out some dishes sure to become your new favorites!  

The famous red velvet waffle/image courtesy of Terrace Cafe

Eat This: 

Sriracha Deviled Eggs

Smoked bacon & baby arugula

Wild Mushroom & Cheese Crostini

Garlic crostini, three cheese spread, & wild mushrooms
 

Oyster Spinach Salad

Flash-fried NC oysters, fresh spinach, caramelized onions, & warm bacon vinaigrette

Cranberry Apple Pork Tenderloin

Roasted and then sliced pork, sage-scented apples, dried cranberries, cranberry-peach marmalade, potato pancakes, & vegetable medley

Dessert: 
Terrace's dessert menu is absolutely amazing, and includes gems like a coconut cream bread pudding and a mini chocolate waffle stack! I want to go back and try them all, but that night we tried the...

Peanut Butter Brownie Cheesecake
 

Rich peanut butter and brownie chunk cheesecake layered over a chocolate brownie crust, topped with chocolate ganache and peanut butter cup pieces

Drink: 
All Terrace locations offer a full bar with plenty of options for cocktails, wines, and beers, including many local favorites.

Atmosphere: 
We have been to the Terrace in South Park and now Ballantyne, and both locations were cozy and spacious booths (my favorite) are abundant. 

Ballantyne Terrace Cafe//image courtesy of Open Table

Southern Hospitality: 
Everyone we have dealt with on this visit and previous visits have been lovely and provided top-notch customer service. 

Frankie's Notes: 
If you don't like chicken and waffles down here, they make you move back up above the Mason-Dixon line; We love potato pancakes no matter the season; A spacious booth makes it easier for Jason to lie down and take a nap after a meal; Frankie loves coconut cream bread pudding, but he's only had it in his dreams. 

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.

 

Geranium

Background:
Scallionpancake has been extremely fortunate to go to five of the top restaurants in the world this year. Geranium makes the list at number #19 under the creative talents of Head Chef Rasmus Kofoed. Kofoed opened up Geranium in 2007 after working at a fancy hotel in Copenhagen, and it quickly climbed the ranks of all of the "best" lists; it's the only restaurant in Copenhagen to have three Michelin stars (yes—it's hard to believe, but Noma only had two before it closed for renovations!). Fun fact about Kofoed, according to the Top 50 list, "Kofoed is the only chef to have ever won bronze, silver and gold at the prestigious Bocuse d’Or cooking competition in France." Impressive!

Round of applause for Kofoed

Eat This:
You only have one choice here, and that's the Universe tasting menu. This is a three hour experience, so buckle up ladies and gentlemen, and get ready for the ride.

Danish Lobster covered with milk, carrot juice, and sea buckthorn oil

And we're off! The signature first dish is lobster. This was almost like a gelatin, with the buttery lobster contrasting with the cool, earthy carrot. We also loved the presentation with multiple dishes on top of each other.

Jerusalem Artichoke Leaves, Hazelnut Oil, and Rye Vinegar

Dip the artichoke leaves in the hazelnut oil and rye vinegar mayonnaise.

Razor Clams with Minerals & Sour Cream

The signature dish of Geranium. The rumor is this took Rasmus over six years to perfect. In his book, One Day at Geranium Restaurant (which we absolutely purchased), Rasmus calls this the, "perfect abstract illusion of a razor clam shell." The shell is edible and painted with algae and charcoal to make it look like an actual razor clam shell. In the middle is a creamy razor clam tartar made with sour cream.

Tomato Water, Ham Fat, & Aromatic Herbs

We love eating flowers with our tomato soup. We also love ham, and we especially love fat. Mix them all together and you've got a Scallionpancake trifecta. The sourness of the tomatoes and the warm, saltiness of the ham mixed great with the aromatic herbs.

"Dill Stones" Mackerel, Horseradish, & Frozen Juice from Cucumber & Dill

This was one of our favorites. The mackerel dill stones were plated on real sea stones, to blend in as if taken directly from the sea. Of course we love dips, and why not dip your mackerel dill stones in a frozen juice of cucumber & dill with a spicy horseradish cream?

Salted Hake, Parsley Stems, & Finnish Caviar in Buttermilk

Our favorite dish of the day. Cold flattened and salted hake covered in a warm buttermilk filled with Finnish caviar. Is there anything better in the world than warm caviar on a great fish? I don't think so.

Crispy Grains, Bread with Old Grains, & Gluten Free Bread with Seeds

We always love the bread course. This bread was okay, but nothing we really need to talk about.

Scallop in Juniper Aroma, Filippa Reduction, and Browned Butter

Scallops are hard to get rght. It's easy to overcook them, and then they taste like a chewy bar of soap. Also, a scallop should be on the larger size --if they are too small, you can't get the proper texture throughout the meat. Geranium's scallops were amazing. They were presented first in a bed of sea grass, as if they magically appeared from the sea for our pleasure. The scallops were then plated in a bowl in front of us, and then the waitress poured the Filippa reduction on top. The scallops had a great rich taste, and you could cut them with a butter knife.

Lemon Sole, Onion Herbs, "Vesterhavsost," and Pickled Pine

Let's take a journey to a Danish village, where we walk along the sea and pick flowers. We stumble upon a local fisherman who, as we walk past, catches a sole on his wooden fishing pole. He cleans the fish in front of us and serves it to us lightly cooked over an open fire mixed with the flowers we had picked up along the way. You get it?

Tartlet with Fjord Shrimp, Sol, & Pickled Elderflower

Are you sensing a pattern here? Almost every dish had some sort of flower on it. The Danes love flowers on their food --it provides a pop of color and flavor to the dishes. Plus everyone knows the saying, "When you eat shrimp, you should stop and smell the roses."

Cabbage Sprouts, Chicken, & Hay Beer

A big theme in all the restaurants we ate at in Copenhagen was the lack of meat. This was the only non-seafood meat on the menu, and it was not the focal point of the dish. The Danes love thier greens and seafood! What we liked about this were the sprouts, which added a nice little crunch to the chicken.

A Bite of Beetroot, Blackcurrant, Yogurt, & Tagetes

Like a kiss at the end of the rainbow, more precious than a heart of gold. You know what I mean.

Ice Cream from Beeswax & Pollen with Intense Rhubarb

The winner of winners when it comes to dessert. This ice cream tasted as if a million bees flew to you, spelled out your name in the air, and then presented you with their finest beeswax in the form of ice cream. It was so creamy and had the subtle flavors of beeswax and honey.

Sweets:

Carrot Tree, Cake with Pumpkin Seed Oil, Caramel with Cloudberry and Chantrelle, Chocolate with Oaks and Sea Buckthorn, Marshmallow with Rose Hip, & Green Egg with Pine

Yvonne calls this the fireworks grand finale, where they bring out an onslaught of desserts all at once and then you get to go to town like it's your birthday (and we're going to party like it's your birthday). We were instructed to eat them in any order, except the green egg had to be eaten last, because it had a strong flavor. Our favorites were the marshmallows with rose hips and the cake with pumpkin seed oil.

Drink:
Geranium makes all of their drinks right in front of you. They are known for their gin and tonic, but we didn't try that (we were still in our non-drinking during lunch phase--lame). We ordered tea during the savory dishes, and coffee with dessert. For the tea, they roll out a cart with roots and herbs growing from pots. The waitress then asks what types of herbs you like, and then proceeds to pick them from the pots and make your tea. The coffee is presented in a similar way, with the waitress boiling the water and pressing the coffee right in front of you.

Picking the herbs for our tea

A coffee lover's pour over dream

Atmosphere:
The atmosphere at Geranium can best be described as friendly, yet sterile. Everything about the restaurant was clean and perfect, almost too perfect You didn't feel like you could make sarcastic jokes with the wait staff--but you know we tried to anyway. The restaurant is located on the top floor of the national soccer stadium, which provides great views of all of Copenhagen. You can even see Sweden from across the water on a clear day. The whole staff was very international, our waitresses were from Australia and Martinique, and the chef who took us of a tour of the restaurant, was from Sweden. It felt very cosmopolitan, and you could tell that there was a lot of room for collaboration and creativity in the kitchen.

The kitchen overlooks the stadium-- pretty cool on match day!

Danish Hospitality:
The service here was just as exceptional as you would expect at a fancy-shmancy place like this. What was unique, was that after the savory dishes, one of the chefs gave every guest a tour of the entire restaurant, from the test kitchen to the fermenting room. We even got to see Head Chef Kofoed, who touched me on the shoulder. I havent washed my shoulder since.

The front desk, sponsored by Apple

Frankie's Notes:
Frankie also has not washed since we were in Copenhagen; It's nice to have the option to play a soccer game and then go have a three Michelin star meal, all in one block; If Frankie could have tea with anyone in history, he would pick Lassie, and then punch him in the face after; We like to be able to banter with our waiters and make them feel uncomfortable; We have started putting flowers on all of our canned tuna now that we are back in the U.S.

Rating:

5 out of 5 with 2 Michigan Pugs

 

Franklin BBQ

1/10th of the line

Background:
Aaron Franlin opened Franklin BBQ in 2009 in Austin, Texas as a food truck on the side of interstate 35. After a favorable review about a month into opening, Franklin quickly started selling out on a daily basis. It became so popular that people started camping out to be the first to taste the famous brisket--now widely considered the best in the US. Late in 2010, they opened up their brick and mortar location on E 11th Street, where they remain today.

Franklin's popularity is legendary: they have sold out every day since they opened over seven years ago. Even the lines at Franklin are famous; we waited about three hours on a Saturday, which is pretty typical. We were so lucky to get to go to Franklin, as they were closed due to a fire for three months, but they just reopened about a week before our trip to Austin. The BBQ stars aligned for us!

Eat this: 
Franklin has a simple menu of five meats, three sides, and pies. For the meats, they have brisket, pork ribs, pulled pork, turkey, and sausage. For the sides, they offer potato salad, slaw, and beans. You can order the meats in 1/4 pound increments and sides in single, pint, or quart sizes. This was our first time, so we got a sampler of everything. We ordered way too much food for two people, but that's how we live our lives. The two outstanding items are the brisket and sausage. Pro tip--make sure you get the brisket fatty. The other meats are good, but we ultimately felt we could have skipped them and loaded up on brisket and sausage. The sides are good, particularly the potato salad, but Franklin(ly), you could just skip them to focus on the meat--you wouldn't be missing out.  

The brisket was legitimately the best brisket we've ever had. In central Texas they believe that BBQ, if done right, doesn't need sauce as the proper cooking will make it naturally moist, and Franklin lives up to this promise. The saltiness of the rub combined with the juicy, fatty, melt-in-your-mouth brisket hits you like a cowboy wrangling a steer. You'll need to lie down after, but it's totally worth it

Yahtzee

Dessert: 
Franklin offers bourbon banana, pecan, lemon chess, and key lime pie. We didn't order any, because, well, look at all of that meat for two people. Looking at some shots, though, I really wish we had gotten a bourbon banana to go!

PIE//image courtesy of Serious Eats

Drink:
Franklin offers high end soft drinks, sweet tea, and a wide selection of local Texas beers.

Atmosphere: 
The place is basically a hole in the wall and is decorated to make you feel like you are in the back country of central Texas. Of the three hours we were there, we spent most of the time waiting in line outside. The staff make the wait as pleasant as possible, coming out and letting you know approximately how long the wait will be and what meats will be left when you get up to the front of the line. They even offer complimentary lawn chairs, and bring out the occasional meat snack to hold you over until you reach the front of the line. When you reach the front of the line after all that time, your excitement cannot be contained. Here, you will meet your new best friend, the meat man. Enjoy your one minute with him. It's a special moment.

The meat man

Texas Hospitality: 
Everyone at Franklin makes you feel like you are part of their extended family. From the lady who tells you what meats will be available when you get to the front, to the meat man, to the lady checking you out and the counter, to the random fat guy who says hi to you a lot and seems to be a big deal, everyone is there to make your experience special. 

Frankie's Notes:
All of Frankie's exes live in Texas; Was Franklin named after Frankie?; We made a new friend in the Franklin line--shout out to Erik!; Brisket is the new black; Want to hear a sad story? We took our leftover meat back to our hotel, but ending up throwing it out later that night as we did not have fridge; Never underestimate the power of a good sausage

Rating:
5 out of 5