First time ever to Ruth's Chris.

Saturday night in Charlotte can be a long wait for anyone interested in a good meal.  In fact, even the quick sit-downs like Salsarita's and Chic-Fil-A are packed.  How on earth do you get into a Ruth's Chris on a Saturday night then?  Well reservations silly.

Okay, I am sure that sounds easier said than done.  They are wise to use a computer-pased system that not only can we reserve online and integrate, but they use it for all calls and walk in.  This doesn't allow for someone to guess or add randomly.  This is quite an accomplishment in the field of food service.  Being concerned (ie: not knowing how good it worked) we arrived at 8:15 for our 8:30 reservation.  Good planning/good manners.  Your choice.

 

While we waited and conversed, they came around with complimentary Champagne.  That was a very nice touch indeed.  Minutes later we were seated.  They were almost exact in meeting the reservation.  When I tell you that this place was packed, I mean it.  The occupancy fire notice shows a capacity around 250 and they sure had that there.

 

So, how does that picture look by the way.  The waiter came over to tell us about the specials and the meat - and what you see there is the Filter Mignon that was on my plate.  No "choice" cuts here.  It's all Prime Aged beef and it shows.  Those little onion strings on top are a nice garnish, but that sizzling butter is what people know so well.  The meat is placed in a 1000 degree broiler and served on a 500 degree plate.  You can hear that butter sizzle from 10 feet away.  Don't miss the HOT PLATE warning from your server or your fingers will pay the price (ask my wife). 

 

One thing I thought was curious was the recommendation to all order different sides.  I am used to a scoop of this or that next to my beef.  Since they operate in an a-la-carte fashion, the side portions were extremely "generous".  I used quotes for generous because the reference is for the amount.  Price now, not so generous.  Good... YES.  Low cost... Not on your best day.

 

I had the Crab and Corn Chowder for my starter.  Crab was present and nice.  Corn was the real feature.  A nice bisque-style base made it a joy.  It was a cup size portion leaving plenty of room for the real star of the show - the Filet.  Now they have all cuts and sizes, but we came for Queens Feast and the choice was the Bistro Filet, Stuffed Chicken, Salmon or Portobello Mushroom (for the vegetarian option).  Now it is my thought that you eat steak at a place made famous for steak.  The couple behind us had the chicken.  More power to them, more meat for me please.

 

I am a medium rare guys on this steak anywhere else.  That 500 degree plate made me think that rare would be in order.  It makes sense to think it will cook a little as it rests on the plate.  I was wrong.  That's okay though.  The sear was great, the inside was cool, the meat was rare and stayed that way.  It cut like butter and you could see how impressive the Prime aging was on the cut.  For rare meat, it was did not bleed onto the plate.  It was thanks to that great aging.  That alone is worth the price of admission I tell you (and may tell you one more time later).

 

The sides chosen were creamed spinach, sauteed mushrooms and garlic mashed potatoes.  The one we didn't pick was the creamed corn.  Not really exciting, especially after Crab and Corn Chowder.  Two people could easily enjoy one side.  4 people = 4 sides and we were stuffed. 

 

Oh wait, there's a dessert coming.  A great cupcake-sized cheesecake with some creme fresh and berries on top.  To the side was some house-made chocolate and nut bark.  Unlike M&Ms it does melt in your hand.  Not an issue though.  Finger licking was not frowned on apparently. 

 

They may be best known for their steaks.  I get that.  I will talk about this for a while, as well as plan my next visit.  The service was insanely good.  Our waiter balanced humor with efficiency.  One table next to us was rather needy in the ordering process, but he made short work of it as he could.  They have folks helping with water, bread, cleaning the table with that cool little wand.  Food is expedited out and the server is of course on hand to ensure satisfaction.  I don't think I could have asked for any better service.  Going back I will have something to compare it to.  Until then, all full service have a really high mark to live up to.  I wish them well.

 

Queens Feast was a 3 course for $30 event.  Beverages are not included.  We priced out dinner against the regular menu and this saved us around $12-15 per person.  I love this promotion, but understand, I will not feel bad paying the additional $ to have this experience again and again.

 

   

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HEIST Brewery is a NoDa gem!

It took me way to long to discover the great brewing scene in Charlotte's NoDa district.  The best comparison is like a mini Asheville right here in our area.  After many 2 hour trips to Asheville it was time to stay closer to home.

HEIST has done a great job of converting the the Highland Mills factory into a fun throwback to a time long lost.  The story is that one of the masterminds behind this place is a distant relative of Baby Face Nelson.  Considering my Great Uncle was THE Melvin Purvis (yes, the man that caught Baby Face), it serves well that I would review this place to make sure it was legit.

When you arrive, you want a big sign telling you that you are at the right place.  Not here.  One you are inside, you are sure you have arrived.  Stripped and exposed brick walls, large wood beams, great homage to the mill is all over the place.  A large glassed wall has huge views into the tank room.  The bar area is all big wood and a great tap station.  High top tables are the table of choice in this place, so be prepared to sit high.  It's not Chili's, so booths are not the design concept.

The menu is more eclectic than you would ever imagine at a brewery restaurant.  They do have a white cheese dip with pretzel sticks.  The pretzels are of course fresh made soft sticks, and the cheese is insanely good.  They offer bisque but don't ask for a spoon.  It comes in shooters.  Perfect for sharing.  The martini doesn't require you to be 21 since it's Steak and Papaya.  Pork belly corn dogs, duck quesadilla, flat breads and vegetarian options add to this great menu. 

Beer and burgers go well together and they don't miss.  The burgers are insanely delicious.  One even has ground porterhouse and beef brisket.  That 90% fat chuck burger doesn't have any place here.  I even got mine Med Rare.  Yes. - really.  It was great.  Side items are not fries.  Choices are a little limited unfortunately.  Marinated cukes, creamed corn and tater tots are the choices.  I have to admit that the tater tots are the best I have ever eaten.  Fresh shreds of potato mixed with some mashed, speckled with rosemary and flash fried.  Who needs ketchup?!

What makes this even more interesting a place to eat is the in-house baker.  Who does that?  Well, it appears they do, and I saw the guy so he really does exist (like the M&Ms that met Santa).  I have heard of places cross-using the beer ingredients in baking, so that may be the advantage.  All I know is the bread products are really really good.  I had a sandwich with jerk chicken on one of these sourdough-styled rolls and the bread was a highlight for sure.

Okay... should I mention the adult carbonated beverages?  If you insist.  There were 10 to choose from on our first visit.  We had a blast with a couple of flights as our tasting lesson.  The stouts and porters were just what you would hope for.  The I2PA was a great hoppy treat without tasting like a pine cone.  The red, the hefe and the pale ale were all studs in their respective categories.  The only hiccup for me was coming back for the second time and the porters were different.  Same name, same description, more hop and less malt.  They were good, but inconsistent with the earlier batch.  That can be troublesome if you find one you really enjoy and it's never the same.

I can assure you that we will be there several more times in the future.  This place has really opened us up to NoDa and we have had fun recently exploring those neighboring breweries.  I highly recommend a visit (or three) to the area.  Just remember to have a DD so you can enjoy your time there. 

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Joel's Grill and Sushi (also operate JJ Wasabi's) Mooresville

I love when a fOOdie reaches out about a restaurant experience.  Good or bad it's nice to hear that they are paying attention and sharing their experience.  It has been forever since I went to Joels.  My number one reason is that the sushi isn't all they claim it to be.  They use a machine to spread the rice on the nori, and in turn, their roles are thin and underwhelming.  Since I am an extreme lover of sushi - this is a deal breaker.

Please enjoy our first guest post about this very place.  Guess what?  Sushi plays a roll with them too (pun intended):

Worst customer service in Mooresville would be an understatement.  After waiting almost a year to go back and test this theory, we weren’t disappointed.  We arrived around 6:45 on a Saturday night and as expected, they were busy with their dinner rush. We were offered a high top table by the bar with no wait, coincidentally enough the same table we had the poor service at the year before but we thought we’d give it another shot. 

After about five minutes, a lady came by to get our drink order. We ordered a bottle of wine and two waters. She was back promptly with the drinks and said that Edgar would actually be our server for the evening.  We looked over the menu and decided to get crab Rangoon as our appetizer.  We were still waiting for Edgar to come to our table so we also had plenty of time to decide what our entrees would be as well.  After at least fifteen minutes, he finally came to our table. We ordered our appetizer and also gave our entrée order as well, since we weren’t sure when he would come back. 

We were over half way through our bottle of wine and finished with both waters and still hadn’t received our appetizer. So at this point, we had been waiting over 30 minutes, and then our entrees arrived at the table. We said that we never received our appetizer and Edgar said “Oh, ok I’ll go get it.” We let him know that we did not want it now and he walked away.  I had ordered a bento box, which is a sampling of pork gyoza, fried rice, shrimp tempura, and a less than $5 roll of sushi.  For my sushi, I ordered a Cali roll with no roe.  Well, it was covered in roe when it arrived and of course after the appetizer incident, Edgar was no where to be found. So, I started eating my other selections and then he finally showed back up.  We asked to have my sushi switched out to what I ordered and he took it away.  He brought back the new roll a few minutes later with no apologies, and the roll looked terrible. It was rolled so loosely that I had to eat it with a fork.  The cheap china buffet does a better job than that.  And it didn’t taste very good either. 

So, we were pretty fed up at this point and politely asked to speak to the manager. When he came over, my husband calmly explained our bad experiences last year and that we had waited that long to come back and then proceeded to discuss our night thus far.  The manager was only interested in what we wanted out of it, as if getting a free meal would make it all better. My husband told him that we didn’t want anything for free but just to make him aware of these poor experiences and that we would never be back again.  The manager simply said “ok.”  No sir, that is not ok. 

Joel’s Asian Grill and Sushi and JJ Wasabi’s in Mooresville, NC are owned by the same people and they both have offered less than terrible customer service.  We will never return to either one of these restaurants since they clearly don’t care about their customers.

Jeffrey's LKN - Queens Feast

So on a night where we didn't want to cook, we land at Jeffrey's for the first night of Charlotte Restaurant Week/Queens Feast.  Any normal Friday night will certainly be fairly busy there.  Add a 3 course $30 deal, mob scene comes to mind.  We were greeted fairly quick considering we were the 3rd party that walked in the door at the same time.  They had our table ready and we were sat within about 2 minutes of walking in.  GREAT START!

Our waitress (Courtney) was enthusiastic from the start.  This was great to see.  We have been to Jeffrey's a bunch and will typically sit in the bar area for the stellar service.  She knew a thing or two (or more) about wine and went above and beyond.  One selection I made was not nearly what I hoped for.  She didn't hesitate to change it for me.  I can see where that might be frowned on.  Not here.  Guest satisfaction was definitely the focus.

The first course selections were the Crispy Goat Cheese salad for her and Scallops with pork belly for me.  The salad came with a thick slice of goat cheese that is breaded and deep fried, placed on a nice spring mix salad.  The scallops were a few thin slices sauteed with vidalia onion (caramelized) and a couple chunks of pork belly.  Both were very well prepared.  The salad with goat cheese was a fair portion, where the scallop dish was a little too delicate and petite for a hungry man.  Taste was great though.

We both ordered the same for the second course of Filet Mignon with Lobster Tail.  Now who on earth serves those two together for anything less than $30 as an entree, let along include it in a $30 three course offering?  That's nuts.  The filet was ordered medium-rare, and on a 6oz cut, that can be easily overcooked (hello Bonefish!).  This was right on the money.  Not closer to medium, I mean perfect, exact, awesome, well executed.  How's that?  The 6oz lobster tail was de-shelled and battered/fried.  There was a light sweetness to the batter, but came across buttery.  Really great and a surprise.  I used to broiled or boiled.  I liked this.  The only flaw was using a thick skewer to keep it straight and not telling the servers.  The first cut through made me worry there was a shell on it.  Once I saw the skewer, we were all good.  *Mashed potatoes were the veg on the plate.

My wife had the Peach Kutchen for dessert and I ordered the chocolate cake.  The peach kutchen was tart-like with lots of fresh peach slices, served with ice cream.  A great summer dessert without being overly sweet.  The chocolate cake I ordered was what you would expect for a nice multi-layered cake.  Enough frosting for the sweet tooth in all of us.

So if this is how good a meal can be on a slammed night, you are in for a treat on a regular night.  Queens Feast has several days left - get there!  Worth the $30 and then some. 

Bonefish Grill Birkdale

So you must have known it was going to happen.  Bonefish opens in the Lake Norman area - and I would have to wander my way in sooner or later.  It was in fact last night.

Sat nights anywhere can be busy, but coming off a holiday week with a lot of travelers, I gambled on "how" busy.  Considering the wait for an inside table was 80-90 minutes, it was a bad bet.  It was about 95 degrees outside and that wait was only 20-30 minutes.  Since I don't melt like ice, outside it would be.

The outside area had been just 7 tables at one time.  The fastest way to handle a busy restaurant is add more tables (outside in this case).  It was a little crowded but not terrible.  I really wanted the food and service anyway.  If I agreed to sit in the warm outdoors, I was not after the posh and convenience of inside.

Our server (Jeremiah) was extremely exuberant.  He asked if we had been there before.  With the answer being NO, he was exceptionally informative about the menu - from beverages through entrees, fish and sauces.  I am a pro at that menu now myself I think.  There was no lack of training given to this staff.  They really seemed to know their stuff.  The exception initially came in the beverage department.  My wife ordered an Angry Orchard cider.  It's really gaining popularity and has a nice apple taste with enough sweetness.  Another server came out with a Crispin.  Higher end product by drier taste.  The bartender didn't ask, just sent already opened as if he knew it would be okay.  We noticed, as did out server, and it would be okay enough - just surprising. 

We ordered a couple salads.  We typically opt for a vinaigrette if I don't see something that's extremely unique.  Sure enough, their vinaigrette is unique.  It's a citrus-based (rather than vinegar) and it's really great.  A typical bread with olive oil comes out to go along.  They replace the overdone tradition of some spices with their own version of a pesto in the center.  Again, like the dressing, a slight twist on something good to make it something better.

I have never had the fish Dory before, but Gordon Ramsey has made it famous on Hell's Kitchen.  You saw "famous" and thought Nemo's friend Dory huh?  Sorry, that's a Regal Tang fish with the name Dory.  Back to the food okay?  Good.  I ordered it with the herbed jasmine rice as the side, and each entree comes with a succotash as well.  My wife is the eternal beef lover and ordered the Filet as she should.  Medium rare of course.

The food arrives, looks great, portions on the smaller side for the money, but I am okay.  My fish looks well grilled, topped nicely, rice was fluffy, succotash was bright and colorful.  My wife's plate also looked good.  Garlic mashed instead of rice (beef and potatoes of course).  She cut in and mid-rare was medium at best.  Half was closer to mid-well.  Jeremiah was all over it.  He offered to bring it back and get replaced.  She said no.  He said if she wanted to start on the sides, he would have another brought out.  We again said no.  Unless you really blow it, we prefer to enjoy our meal at the same time.  Off-temp isn't as bad as having one eat and one not.  Since I wouldn't eat without her, I would have just let me food get cold waiting.  It's always awkward.

His manager came out to check on us.  Very nice guy and he saw the cook on the meat.  He said he would take it off the bill.  I had no issue paying but I am okay with the gesture.  A crazy busy, hot night, things happen.  With the attention to detail and enthusiasm of the server team, he was a little dry.  Not a big deal - but noticeable with a team like that around him.
 
The dessert menu was a cast of regulars so we declined.  All in all it was an okay visit.  I don't think they set out to be just okay though.

** Since posting this, I have been inundated with the same question - Would I go back?  The answer is possibly.  I don't think I would order entrees though.  A lounge visit with appetizers seems more likely.

Tokyo Japanese Seafood & Steakhouse Mooresville

Don't let the name fool you... this is not an overpriced Lake Norman steakhouse.  I almost wish the name said more mom & pop, less Seafood & Steakhouse.  Tokyo in Mooresville is located in a little shopping strip at the corner of Hwys 150 and 115.  The last thing you would think is there is great food in this strip.  You would be quite wrong.

Other reviews will focus on the buffet and I will touch on that.  I wanted to get into the dinner first.  We went off of a restaurant.com certificate deal (the $25 off $35 purchase).  There were 3 of us, so hitting the $35 mark should be a walk in the park.  Whoops.  Not so fast.  With sodas at $1.20, sushi rolls from $3.00, appetizers $3 and $4, and entrees from around $6... it's really hard to eat $35 worth of food. 

I ordered the hibachi steak and shrimp.  The name says seafood and steakhouse so I better see how they do, right?  The shrimp were large.  Not Food Lion "large", but really large.  So the bigger the shrimp - the less you get.  Nope.  There were like 9 or 10 of these on there.  Don't forget there is steak too.  Not burned little cubes of tough meat.  They were cubed, but nice pieces, cooked medium, some pink, not all grizzled and fatty.  This was good steak.  Wait a second.  Inexpensive and good?  That's right.  This mountain of food was $11 and I had a great lunch from it too.

The sushi is not designer it's just sushi.  It's made well, it's made quickly, and it tastes great.  You won't get all of the crazy sauces, kiwi-topped silliness like some lake area places.  This is just the stuff you really like without paying too much. 

So about that buffet?  It's more of a Chinese-style buffet.  It's got rice dishes, noodle dishes, soups, salad, all kinds of chicken, pork and seafood.  It's also only $5.99.  Wait, you want sushi?  Sure... add $2 for the standard rolls.  Not $2 each.  $2 period.  Like the buffet, eat your fill!  Wait... $2 and I can get 3 rolls?  Yes indeed.  This is not a joke.  I now make excuses to get there at lunch so I can eat buffet and sushi (followed closely by a nap).

Listen.  I love glamorous food.  This is not that kind of place.  This is good family eating, great prices and super nice people running it.  This is what a mom and pop place is supposed to be and I will be coming as long as they will have me.