The Dive-N

Laura, Hayden, and I decided to jump in the car and head up to Pineville for some good eats and to take the little guy up to Monkey Joe's. Due to its proximity to the fun place with Hayden, we decided to go to this place called The Dive-N. With a name like that and the size of the place, we kind of knew what we were in for when we walked in through the door. We were actually really impressed with the atmosphere of the place. The staff was very inviting and eager to help us as soon a we walked in and were very pleasant. The menu was posted on a blackboard and a bit hard to read because it was a little cluttered, but I can live with that. The place has the word DIVE in it. Which means meals in a basket with cheap paper or styrofoam cups. I instantly see one of my go to sandwiches on the board. A pimento cheeseburger. If anyone truly knows me, I am actually a very picky eater despite my size. I like fresh ingredients, with great service. Good sweet tea is another must to win me over. I was impressed on all levels by this place. Fantastic food, great sweet tea, good atmosphere, clean, good staff, nice people = great experience. The pimento cheese was rich, sharp, and creamy. It made the burger ooze with decadence. The fries were just simple crinkle cut fries that could have definitely used some seasoning. That was the only thing that kept me from truly loving this place enough to give it more than a 3.5 out of 5. The Dive-In is located on Polk, not far from the intersection with Pineville-Matthews Rd. Definite recommendation for a good lunch.

The Yolk

For the past few weeks, my wife Laura and I had been hearing of this place over on Mt. Gallant Rd called The Yolk. Owner Greg Collier came up with the idea for this place obviously out of the warmest place of his soul. It's breakfast food on southern heroin. The sheer wonderment of the flavors he builds with simple recipes is something to behold. I had a classic combination of chicken and waffles and Laura had a simple cheddar cheese omelet with Tennessee home fries. We also split an order of good old South Carolina ground hambone grits that would make you swear out your Momma. Hayden had something even more normal than that. Pancakes. It wasn't the simple recipes that got me though. It was the love that this man put into the food. All the ingredients he uses are local and fresh. No artificial mess, no fillers, no processed junk. Just fresh stuff being cooked right and cooked southern style. First of all, the waffle. Let me preempt this with the word euphoria. It was a perfectly cooked buttermilk pecan waffle with real maple syrup. No Waffle House imitation syrup here. With home whipped butter, so light and airy, that it was an explosion of happy on my taste buds. Then the three chicken wings. Seasoned with with I don't know what you would call it but it made this chicken taste like a happy dream. And let me go back to the grits. Creamy, buttery, ham jus kissed love in a bowl that would make any redneck shed a man tear in bliss. The Yolk is one place I will visit regularly as I can given that I'm on a very tight budget. The prices are a little bit higher than your typical diner fare. But then again, I don't mind paying a little more for the quality of food. I'd give this place a good 4.5 out of 5. I wish that he would include Eggs Benedict on a daily basis though. Absolutely fantastic food. It's located on Mt Gallant Rd right beside Carswell bakery. Mad props for the chef and owner Greg Collier for the best breakfast I've had in a very long time.

Grumpy Brothers

Had lunch at Grumpy Brothers on Herlong today and I must say that I was highly impressed with what I had on this occasion. I had a pimento chilli cheese dog and what was called a Bad Dog which was a jalepeno bacon wrapped and deep fried dog with cheese. All I have to say is that anyone in Rock Hill should go over there and try out some food if you haven't already. The chilli is a dry beef chilli with a medium seasoning and extraordinarily delicious. The menu is geared to be southern with words like "maters" and "cukes". I also read on the menu that they offer salads, burgers, soups, cold sammiches, hot sammiches, and meals like Shrimp N' Grits and some other favs. This is a local place that serves very good diner food for a very pocket friendly price. The problem that I have in Rock Hill is that there are very few nonchain places to eat that stay open because this is a wagon jumping town that typically doesn't try anything that is out of the normal fast food joint. Grumpy Brothers is clean, with wooden floors, bright colors and very inviting. The food is very tasty and for a hot dog, I put it definitely at the top of the food chain when it comes to getting a good dog in Rock Hill. I've grown tired of the same old same old when it comes to places to get food and this was definitely one of those fresh air type places. Owners were very nice when I introduced myself and told me that they offer new dishes at the request of their guests. Please do yourself a favor and get over there. This is going to be a regular place for me to go and get lunch. I didn't see a bad item on the menu and it was hard to make a choice as to what to eat. I definitely give it a solid 4 out of 5 stars and will post the same kind of review on Urban Spoon, Yelp and my own restaurant blog. I highly recommend

Restaurant Review: Pinky's Westside Grill

Ok everyone. I'm back and writing the blog back after a brief hiatus. Laura, Hayden, and I decided to go up to try a place opened up by former Penguin chef Greg Auten. We definitely were not let down. We saw on the menu that they had Crab Puppies. Yes I said crab puppies in case your mouth wasn't watering when I said it the first time. They were a deep fried conglomeration of deviled crab and hushpuppies served with a dill remoulade. They are rich with crab taste with some lemon and salty hushpuppy greatness that made me want to smack someone in the face. The sweet tea was awesome. The service was great even though it was extremely busy. Then comes the burger that I wanted first when I saw the menu the first time. The Mammoth Burger served Westside Style. Two, third pound hamburger patties stacked on top of eachother then smothered in homemade chili and a wonderful creamy chile slaw. You also have the option of adding american, cheddar, or pepper jack cheese. This is the first burger that I've ever eaten that I had to eat with a knife and fork. Sloppy, yes. Disgustingly horrible for you, yes. Wonderful and beautiful food served white trash Americana style. Laura had a fried turkey sandwich. The thing was so tasty I literally wanted to order another sandwich, but the mammoth burger was enough to almost give me the meat sweats. Another one of their favorites is the White Trash Burger which includes a burger topped with fried pickle chips and onion rings. With Penguin favorites they sure made a hit and then they added some definitely tasty additions and changes to the menu. The environment inside this place made the trip even better. It is an old filling station that is painted blue and has an American Flag painted VW beetle on the roof. Those of you that miss the Penguin as much as I do, will love this place. I will put up some pics of the food that I ate. Altogether I will give Pinky's a very solid 9/10.

posted from Bloggeroid

Restaurant Review #4----Five Guys Burgers and Fries

July 9th was my wife's 31st birthday and this year she just wanted something simple...a good burger. We heard about how wonderful Five Guy's was and we just thought that it would be a good day to go. Needless to say, we were thoroughly impressed. I'm not a huge fan of well done burgers or well done beef for that matter because you lose the flavor of the meat. However, this burger put me into a state of being like a man possessed. Well let me just premise that I was very hungry when I ate this thing. I paid $5.99 for a burger with a half pound of meat, cheese, bacon, bbq sauce, grilled onions, and grilled mushrooms. Well worth the price. The first bite because of the fat content of the meat they use just exploded with flavor. It was like an eruption of beefy goodness. Every morsel after that one was just as good as the first. Then the addition of the fries. You can either get them 5 guys style or cajun. I chose the cajun and Laura and I split a large fry. Let me just describe this to you. Fresh cut potatoes that have been fried twice and are good and crispy with a homemade spice mixture that you will do back-flips over and the large portion is shall we say...Monsterous!!! They filled up a cup and put into a medium size brown paper sack. Not a lunch bag size but a paper grocery sack. Right side of our bag had burgers and then they topped off THE LARGE PAPER SACK WITH FRIES!!!! AHHHHHHHHHH. Call me Fry Monster if you will, I will eat my weight in them which is not a good thing considering I am what you would consider a big dude. They have many Charlotte locations and if you haven't had one of their burgers, I urge you to. I give them a solid 8.5 out of 10. Like I said before, I am a harsh judge. Anyway though I suggest heavily if you haven't had these burgers before then you should now. Here is their website for location info.

Restaurant Review #3----The Pub House

On Cherry Road in Rock Hill, there is a new place right across the street from CVS called The Pub House. Its definitely a dive bar with a brilliant twist on bar fare food. They serve BBQ and Oysters and some other lovely bar favorites in a funky, weird, and eclectic fashion and it is oh so darn good. Very good price for what you get and the flavors are feverishly on point. They use this Asian inspired sauce that had some hints of soy, honey, hot pepper, and maple somewhere thrown in there that when put into smoked pulled pork made your taste buds do tumbling runs. It is downright freaking unreal flavor in this stuff. I've never had something hit me at so many levels in one bite. Sweet, salty, hot, bitter, salty, hot, sweet, and then the hint of maple syrup somehow comes through and bites you way down the road and it sends you into a state of euphoria. We ate the pulled pork plate with sweet potato fries and onion rings and I got Hayden some chicken fingers for under $17. All of us were very happy with the amount and taste of the food and we will have leftovers. They also make their own beer which I didn't taste on this occasion because they were out. I will go back though if Rock Hill doesn't follow their trend of not supporting local eateries. Great food, atmosphere, and experience for the money. I rate it a solid 7 out of 10 just because of the crazy sauce that I will forever call bbq crack sauce. Try this place out, its fantastic

oh my goodness....New Belgium's Skinny Dip Summer Ale---Beer Review #2

New Belgium Brewery's Skinny Dip Summer Ale was the second craft beer that I wanted to blog about this summer because it was just that danged good. I've had many of their beers and their summer seasonal didn't disappoint. I've always enjoyed their beers and thought, why the hell not. Made sure this little baby was ice cold and cracked it open the other night. To say the least, it was nothing short of beauty in a bottle. Perfectly blended cascade hops are very prominent in this one. Cascades are very rich in flavor and have such a playful bitterness that when blended correctly, offer a very fruity, and rich bitterness that dances on your tongue. Then you get a blast of citrus taste that rocks a smooth finish on this wonderful craft brew for a home run. I give it solid 8 out of 10 and considering that I'm a very tough judge and an outlandish beer snob....that says a lot. I would deeply recommend their "Fat Tire," "Mothership," and "1554" which is an excellent beer to cook with. See my recipe blog for my Black Ale Pork Roast . Here is New Belgium's website just in case you wanted to look around at their beers.