Where:  Fran’s Filling Station

Who Recommended:  Charlotte Magazine’s Take a Bite

For What:  Thanksgiving Every Day (Rated 10/10)

Other Items: 

Cold Meatloaf Sandwich: 7/10

Croque Monsieur: 5/10

Warm Potato Salad: 9/10

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.

Who recommended?: Charlotte Magazine

For What?: One of Charlotte’s best sandwiches

Where?: Zada Jane’s

This article focused on finding sandwiches in the city that broke out of the traditional mold.  And you know girls, we love a frou-frou sandwich.  Zada Jane’s is near my sister’s house, and after getting my new cast the other day we picked her up for a lunch at this hipster hangout.  I quickly realized that 1. Charlotte magazine isn’t always right and 2. I am way too uncool for this place.

I’m told that Zada Jane’s is a popular brunch and breakfast spot, and on the weekends the outside eating area fills up in nice weather.  The inside is funky and everyone who works here is, too.  As we sat down in our casual clothing, I began to look around and realized that while I wasn’t cool, neither was everyone else in there.  We sat amongst hipsters, artists (I assume) and even a few suits.  It was cozy!

The waitress we had was a little on the surly side, but I noticed she was a bit friendlier to the artsy types in there.  Were we too vanilla or am I overly sensitive?  No matter, she was very efficient and met all of our needs.  I opted for the Druther’s Clucker as recommended by Charlotte Magazine.

The Druther’s Clucker is a grilled chicken sandwich deluxe.  It comes with grilled chicken, fresh basil, caramelized onions, mozzarella, and sun-dried tomato mayonnaise on rosemary foccacia.  It is also served with a side of your choice: chips, black eyed pea salad or a green salad (for $2 more).  I opted for the green salad, hubby opted for the black eyed pea salad.

The sandwich, much heralded by Charlotte Mag, was just ok.  I mean, I ate all of it, but it was really no better than any grilled chicken sandwich I’d had anywhere else.  It wasn’t packed with flavor like all of those bold ingredients would lead you to believe.  I think if they would take better care in seasoning the chicken breast itself, and not just piling on ingredients to the sandwich, the outcome would have been better.  Both my husband and I agreed we’d get something different next time.

The green salad was delicious.  It was full of delicious fresh veggies like peeled cucumbers, tiny diced tomatoes, sprouts and sweet shredded carrots.  The greens were a mesclun mix and it was topped by homemade croutons.  Served with a homemade dressing of your choice: I chose Ranch.  I tasted my hub’s black eyed pea salad, and found the black eyed peas to be a little underdone for my taste.  Also, it was in a sweetish vinegar dressing that desperately needed some acid.  I smirked because mine was clearly better.

Now, the “Winner Winner Chicken Dinner” was my sister’s order.  She got the grilled chicken nachos and if she weren’t carrying my niece, I might have smacked her and stolen in, like in our childhood days.  These nachos were served in a bowl, so you could have eaten it like a salad, but the crispy chips lined the bottom of the bowl instead of lettuce.  The chicken had a yummy chargrilled taste and it was loaded with cooked veggies.  Homemade salsa, guacamole and sour cream topped all.  Perfection.

If I’m perfectly honest, I was a tad disappointed by Zada Jane’s.  Maybe I had too high hopes for a humble chicken sandwich?  Next time, if there is one, I’ll get the nachos.

Recommended to me by: Charlotte Magazine, Voters Choice

Original Pancake House: Best Breakfast (Voters Choice)

I have been meaning to go to the OPH for YEARS, but good lord, who gets up early enough to drive an hour to go have breakfast in Charlotte?  It just so  happened that I had an early appointment with my surgeon, and my mom and I decided we needed breakfast after that painful experience.  OrthoCarolina Foot and Ankle Institute happens to be right around the corner from this joint, so it was a no brainer.

When we walked in, I noticed immediately the high ceilings.  It makes me feel like I have plenty of space around me, even in a crowded restaurant.  We were seated immediately at a booth and a waitress came by quickly to take our drink order and drop off the menus.  They also sat down crayons for my little one, for which I was grateful.

The menu had so many things I wanted to try, namely that Dutch Baby everyone talks about, but I just broke right down and got the mushroom omelet with a side of pancakes.  I must tell you that they were both just pretty average.  Breakfast is not that big of a deal to fix, but the sherry/mushroom sauce that accompanied my omelet was just wrong on top of that omelet.  The omelet itself was enormous and very fluffy and actually cooked well.  So there’s that.

The pancakes were just alright.  Nothing special, and I had the buttermilk pancakes with the plain old maple syrup, nothing fancy.  Sometimes going with the basic dish is a beautiful thing, an unspoiled classic; this was not so with my pancakes.  They lacked flavor and the syrup was just..there.  I would go for that Dutch baby next time, or maybe even a blintz if I was feeling really crazy.

OK, so I’m being a little snobby.  The fact is my mother and little girl loved their food.  Mom got a sausage omelet with the pancakes and loved them.  My little one got a grilled chicken sandwich and hashbrowns, and gobbled it all up!  I stabbed one of the potatoes, which turned out to be  more like homefries than the shredded hashbrowns she is used to, and sprinkled with Cajun seasoning.  They were tender and delicious!

I will return.  We had fantastic service and weirdly enough, the Coke was fab..really strong.  Burn your nose kind of strong.  I adored it.  Next time, however, you know..the Dutch Baby.  I’m beating a Dutch Horse, aren’t I?