If you are looking for a pretty backdrop for family pictures, might I suggest this mill? While we were there, we saw a bridal session in progress. This picturesque setting is in Catawba County, on Balls Creek. The Mill itself, originally built in 1913, is still working, and can be toured for a mere $3.
There is also a cool little general store that sells the Mill’s wares and refreshments. I enjoyed the lovely porch swing out front.
If you have a free weekend, this is a nice little Saturday activity!
Are you looking for the *best* hamburgers in Charlotte? Look no further than Bad Daddy’s. It used to be called Big Daddy’s Burgers, but for some legal reason they had to change it. Whatever. The delicious food is still the same.
Bad Daddy’s has 2 locations. The one I visited was in Dillworth and is a hopping place. And parking sucks. But you have to go. The only time I’ve ever been dissatisfied with my food was when we sat outside in November (covered area with big heaters) and my food got cold before we could eat it. Next time in winter we will be patient and wait for an indoor table.
This is my standard order. I never deviate from it, I feel you shouldn’t mess with perfection. It is a build your own burger, well-done (but you can get them cooked any way you like!) with cheddar cheese, lettuce, pickle, crispy onions, mayo, ketchup and mustard.
I opt for the tater tots as my side and they come with this amazing Bad Daddy’s dipping sauce that tastes like a smoky/spicy BBQ sauce mixed with mayo. My husband brilliantly asks for them to be fried extra crispy (I know what you’re thinking, but look, this isn’t health food anyway.). I did not do that this trip, but they were plenty crispy for me. Who needs mushy tater tots? Napoleon Dynamite?
I’m setting you up for my next admission by this picture and showing you how Bad Daddy’s “well-done” looks. My husband decries my choice saying that my burger is dry, but it just isn’t so. Plus, I have a terror of e-coli. Now, the real reason I show you this is to prove I cut my burger in half and ate only half because I ordered THIS MILKSHAKE for dessert:
When it arrived, I was reminded of the scene in Pulp Fiction where John Travolta was complaining about the $5 milkshakes. Which this was. And worth it! Thick and creamy, and you can even get adult versions with some liquor if you desire! Our waitress was kind enough to separate ours into 3 small cups for sharing.
We love this restaurant. It is a cheaper choice in Charlotte, but don’t expect it to be 5 Guys cheap. But do expect it to be delicious.
Are you someone who loves seafood, but doesn’t make it at home? This recipe may just change all of that. I hate making it at home because it is never as good to me as it is in a restaurant. But that was until I tried this recipe. The fish I used was frozen and thinly filleted so I didn’t expect much. I was pleasantly surprised at how tasty and tender the fish was. It isn’t diet food, but it is delicious. I’ve put it with mashed potato puree on the bottom and topped it with roasted asparagus and mushrooms. Heaven.
MaMa’s Supper Club Tilapia Parmesan
ingredients
2 lbs tilapia fillets (orange roughy, cod or red snapper can be substituted)
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
4 tablespoons butter , room temperature
3 tablespoons mayonnaise
3 tablespoons finely chopped green onions
1/4 teaspoon seasoning salt (I like Old Bay seasoning here)
1/4 teaspoon dried basil
black pepper
1 dash hot pepper sauce
directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In buttered 13-by-9-inch baking dish or jellyroll pan, lay fillets in single layer. Do not stack fillets. Brush top with juice.
In bowl combine cheese, butter, mayonnaise, onions and seasonings.
Mix well with fork.
Bake fish in preheated oven 10 to 20 minutes or until fish just starts to flake.
Spread with cheese mixture and bake until golden brown, about 5 minutes.
Baking time will depend on the thickness of the fish you use.
Watch fish closely so that it does not overcook.
Note: This fish can also be made in a broiler. Broil 3 to 4 minutes or until almost done. Add cheese and broil another 2 to 3 minutes or until browned.
Bonterra first came onto my radar when Groupon offered a deal for $50 worth of food for $25. I looked at the website and was less than impressed. It wasn’t bad, just…amateurish. Plus, once I arrived, I found the menu they have posted online was actually much more abbreviated than what they actually offer. In fact, if not for that Groupon, I don’t know that I’d have even given Bonterra a chance. And what a mistake that would have been.
Let me apologize immediately for the quality of the photos. I brought my decent little digital camera, but decided against the flash in this fancy little place. What looked good on my display translated to dark blurry images once downloaded. How disappointing!
I’m sorry the photos don’t show it, but the food was amazing. Simply delicious. The service was just as good, possibly. Our waiter was not as knowledgeable as he could have been, but he made up for it in kindness and attentiveness. In fact, I asked a few questions (in preparation for writing this blog post) and he had to run off and go ask the chef (presumably) about every one of them.
To start off we enjoyed the Chef’s Choice of Charcuterie and Fromage (meat and cheese) with these yummy little accompaniments : honeyed pecans, thinly sliced pears, baby vegetables and one grainy mustard and one smooth mustard. It also came with house made crackers and bread. It was amazing.
Like idiots, we both ordered seafood for our entrees. We just couldn’t help it. In fact, we both wanted the scallops, but there was NO WAY I was going to get the same exact entree, so I quickly swapped my choice to the Grouper. And I am so glad I did. It was so juicy and tender. It was so full of flavor and cooked perfectly. It sat on a bed of kale and bulghar, which I never knew I loved. Huh.
My hubs got the seared scallops. Lord have mercy, they were good, but not quite as good as mine. The scallops were properly seared and you’ll notice the same sauce (not honey mustard) is under both seafood dishes. The only difference is that this dish had a parsley spaetzle. Those were doughy and not that great to me, but my hubs liked them, so there ya go.
Yep, even after all of that food, we had to get dessert. Once again, I was foiled when my hubs chose the creme brulee’, but I kindly deferred to my second choice, which was simply heavenly. The creme brulee’ though….yummmm. Just like that other thing men love so dearly, creme brulee’ is good, even when it’s bad. Creamy custard topped by scorched sugar. What’s not to like? It was perfect.
So, I got the chocolate hot lava cake. I wanted a souffle but didn’t want to wait, so lava cake it was. Again, always good. This one was yummy and melty in the middle, like you’d expect. Notice the sauces swirled alongside: creme anglaise, raspberry coulis and some chocolate shmear. The real star accompaniment was the pistachio ice cream. Fresh and tons of flavor…not like the nuclear green ice cream Breyers puts out.
So, the food was brilliant. The most awesome thing was that this restaurant is in an old church and is absolutely stunning inside. And it was packed. You don’t hear a lot about Bonterra when combing the “Best Of” lists, but if you don’t go, you are sincerely missing out.
Wellll…we’ll file this under better late than never. But come November/December, you’ll be glad this is here. You can thank me then if you wanna, too.
I’ve been wanting to ride up to the moutains and cut my own Christmas tree for as long as I’ve lived here. So, 11 short years later I got my chance. I can’t believe I waited so long, it makes me sad, actually.
OK, so you go just past Boone a ways and you’ll see the signs guiding you to the magical RRR Tree Farm. From there you park and take a wagon ride up the mountain to pick out your “still growing in the flipping ground” tree! When you find the perfect tree, tag it and saw it. Or, you know, they’ll saw it. Anyway, it’s about $50-70 for a normal-sized tree. Here’s the best part…that tree stayed fresh until the day we took it down. In fact, if I’m truthful, it’s *still* green in the backyard on February 9th. I’ll never get my Christmas tree at a Walmart lot again.
Roll into balls and press down with a fork dipped in sugar or flour.
Bake for 10-12 minutes on ungreased cookie sheet (I usually grease my cookie sheet anyway). Ovens vary so your baking time may be less. Just keep an eye on them.
I feel that cooking sometimes means stepping outside of your comfort zone. Oddly enough, this recipe is me doing just that. We had a delicious canellini bean spread at Luce in Charlotte and when I saw this recipe, it reminded me of that. I have to tell you that while it doesn’t look like the most appetizing thing on Earth, it is rather delicious! I’m going to tip-toe outside the comfort zone more often.
Bruschetta Cannellini (The Olive Garden Recipe)
0.5 (15 ounce) can white cannellini beans , drained
MIX drained beans, lemon juice, mustard, vinegar and sour cream in blender or food processor until smooth. Add olive oil slowly with blender or processor on. Add salt and pepper to taste. Refrigerate approximately one hour.
DRIZZLE both sides of bread with extra virgin olive oil. Grill bread on both sides.
RUB grilled bread with cut half of garlic to infuse with garlic flavor.
PLACE bowl of chilled cannellini mixture in center of large platter. Stagger grilled bread slices around bowl. Garnish with tomatoes and parsley.
I prefer my bakeries to be in a quaint little house with the smell of vanilla wafting out of the door when each customer leaves with their bags of delicacies. Polka Dot Bake Shop isn’t like that. It’s in a strip mall, but I can forgive that because the cupcakes were so yummy!
Inside is a smallish space with the baked goods case front and center, as it should be. They had a modest offering the day we were there, but that’s just fine. You don’t want a lot of mess just sitting around getting stale. We went on a Friday about 1:30 and we had a line behind us out the darn door. People love this place!
We sampled 3 varieties on our visit. The first was a salted caramel cupcake. The cake was moist and delicious, the buttery frosting just sweet enough to balance the little bite of salt from the caramel. Topped with a dollop of caramel and a salty cashew makes it the perfect dessert. This one has very little that isn’t perfect. We gave it 9/10 stars!
Next up is the chocolate cupcake with chocolate buttercream frosting. This one was good, but my least favorite of the three. The cake itself was a little on the dry side and the buttercream, while rich, was pretty overpowering. A nice contrasting vanilla buttercream might have been a better choice. And I could have done without the sugar crystal sprinkles altogether. Don’t mess up my creamy dream. 7/10 stars
Back to the good stuff…Red Velvet cupcake was moist and delicious and we loved the bite from the cream cheese icing. Surprisingly, it wasn’t too sweet. Red Velvet cake can be either Ronald McDonald red or cloyingly sweet and be messed right up, but not so with this cake. It was perfect. nearly. I gave it 8/10 because it just wasn’t as luscious as the salted caramel. I’m the customer, I can do that.
If you love cupcakes, and nice people, stop by Polka Dot today.
Fran’s Filling Station is another restaurant resting in a strip mall, but what a little gem it is! They have a handful of tables outside, but the view is of the parking lot, so I elected to sit inside with my party. The eclectic art hanging on the walls and the funky furniture made me glad I did. I will note that the handicapped access is pretty poor here. It is to the right of the front door, and people park right up on the ramp. Also, as you can see, the tables are crammed onto the narrow sidewalk, so good luck getting a wheelchair through there without asking diners to move.
We visited for lunch and was it ever crowded! Of course, we were there on a Friday at noon, so that can’t be that unusual or unexpected. Our waiter was a bit overwhelmed and not as attentive as I’d have liked, but the other staff members were pleasant and perky.
Behold the reason for our visit! The Thanksgiving Everyday is possibly the best turkey sandwich I’ve ever come across. This overstuffed sammie is full of goodness: house roasted turkey (not from the deli!), cranberry, stuffing, and sage mayonnaise on house-made bread. Just look at this house-made bread; nutty and substantial. Nothing is escaping, not one scrap of turkey. That darn thing was so big it was held together not by toothpicks, but by dowels. It was heaven. I have to rate it 10/10. No way to make it better. Yep, it’s that good. If you’ll have a look at the tiny cup of potato salad, you will see hunks of potatoes mixed with creamy, perfectly seasoned mayo. It was wonderful, and I’m not even a potato salad fan. I give it 9 out of 10 stars.
I got the worst of our sandwiches, the real Croque Monsieur. I make my own, so maybe I’m a snob, but the bechamel sauce tasted like wallpaper paste. It was terrible, and fraught with nutmeg. The ham and Gruyere were perfectly fine, and I should have just asked them to leave the bechamel off, which I would surely do next time. I got mine with chips. Out of 10 stars, I’m going to give it a 5. And that is being nice.
My sister got the Cold Meatloaf sandwich. It comes with marinated onions, russian dressing, lettuce & tomato. Now, if you like cold meatloaf, this is the best cold meatloaf sandwich I’ve had. The dressing and onions make it sloppy and delicious, and give it an unexpected tang. This was served with homemade potato chips that were crispy and salty.
barenakedchefsaidso.com 