Food Views and Brews

Restaurant Review: Pinky's Westside Grill

2011-01-24T01:25:00.001-05:00

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

2010-07-11T13:58:00.004-04:00

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

2010-07-01T00:33:00.002-04:00

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

2010-06-26T23:41:00.003-04:00

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.

Review #2---Carlo's Cafe

2010-06-20T23:41:00.002-04:00

I went to Carlos Cafe in Rock Hill the other night which is one place I've always enjoyed in town. My wife had never eaten there and she had never really tried Cuban food. I've had a couple of the sandwiches in this delightful small bistro type establishment. My favorites being the pork sandwich and the cuban sandwich. There isn't much to these sandwiches but some shredded roasted pork on a pressed roll. The pork is marinated in citrus juices and just bursts in flavor. You add some cheese and that fresh bread and you have something truly delicious. They also do Cuban style espresso which is very sweet and strong; a perfect compliment to the joyous flavors going on in the pork. Another thing to go into the mix is to try their rice with black beans. I can't put into words how wonderful the food, atmosphere and the people are at Carlos Cafe. I've always wanted to have some of their desserts but have never been able to make it to eating one. They have home made Flan and Molten Chocolate Lava Cake on their menu ad well as the loving sweetness of caramel filled churros which I did partake in as a sinful snack one day. I promise that you will enjoy everything about this place as it is true authentic Cuban cuisine. I give it a solid A+ for taste, authenticity, and atmosphere. Here is their website.

Restaurant Review #1----Sonny's Dutch Mill

2010-06-12T15:38:00.002-04:00

My first review is going to be for the cheeseburger enthusiast who doesn't want to leave Rock Hill to get a top notch burger. I like to separate styles of burgers in two ways....truly grilled burgers(open flame) and ones that are cooked obviously on a hot griddle. You can't compare the two. Two distinct tastes separate these styles of sandwiches and Sonny's Dutch Mill has the griddle burger on lock down in Rock Hill. While I have definitely had better burgers in my lifetime, Sonny's is truly a great place to eat and always has been. The greatest thing about the double cheeseburger basket as the Mill is the natural cut home cooked fries. Skin on sticks of evil greasy goodness that are the cherry on top to compliment a very good burger. The bun is nothing fancy and neither is the burger itself. What makes this burger outstanding is the chili. The chili sauce that they put on the burgers there is great enough to bring any man to shed a tear of happiness. It is greasy, spicy, dry, meaty, and goes great with just mustard and onions. Just the mere thought of these burgers is enough to make Homer Simpson start to slobber. The atmosphere is also one that is a good touch. Its some tables, a red and white checkered floor, and a couple of soda stand stools at a lunch counter (aka DIVE). That is what I like and live for. No fancy upscale crap. You don't need it. It is a dive with a good christian base atmosphere that is both family friendly and filled with really nice people. I just wish that I could live on the Wimpy payment plan every now and then. Anyway, also try some of the other favorites they have there like their hot dogs. Everyone reveres the Ebenezer Cafe for their dogs, but I find the Dutch Mill dog to beat it hands down. Call me crazy if you want but that is the way that I feel about it. The only downside is the price at the Dutch Mill is not that great and that is its only flaw. I give the overall quality of the dining experience there to be a solid 7.5 out of 10.

Thomas Creek River Falls Red Ale

2010-06-11T23:58:00.003-04:00

Here we go with my first beer review in my new venture. Tonight's choice was a local craft brew from Greenville, SC known as Thomas Creek River Falls Red Ale. This was a pleasantly good red ale with a lot of burnt caramel flavors of a typical ale of its color and bouquet. It had a slightly sweet frontal taste with a good hoppy middle and a kiss of caramel of the baked malt that it uses on the end. Surprisingly tasty and refreshing at the beginning of the bottle but once it warmed a little and settled...it was a different story. A truly great beer will taste very well slightly chilled as it does ice cold, but this got a little flowery once it warmed and not in an overall great way. Not too bad though but I would rate it somewhere around a 5 out of 10. If you want to check out their website it is thomascreekbeer.com Check out some of Thomas Creeks other beers. They are done surprisingly well for a small brewery and they are getting much better.

Starting a New Blog

2010-06-09T23:47:00.003-04:00

I'm going to try to add a new place every week and add some reviews intermittently on places I know of and frequent. If anyone has any suggestions for me to go to, let me know. I love writing about my own food but going to places and loving other kinds of food is also one of my passions. I will also review beer on this blog as well as my cooking blog.