SNarolina Foodie 2011 Year in Review.

2011 was the launch of SNarolina Foodie and with random postings and the realization that updating a food blog takes time and effort, if you want quality. I am excited about 2012, with a new camera, new logo and the potential to take SNarolina Foodie to a new level.

Highlights from 2011:

·         Restaurant of the year: HUSK, Charleston, SC, Bon Appetit Magazine’s 2011 New Restaurant of the Year.  A cool restaurant and cool concept that stands apart. A whole posting will be coming in January, in addition to my second dinner there.

·         Restaurant with the absolute best Service: Charleston Grill, Charleston, SC. Hands down, food is excellent, service is absolutely tops. Mickey Bakst, the General Manager has to be one of the best restaurant managers in the country. Watching him work the crowd is entertaining enough.

·         Best Steakhouse Overall: Grill 225, Charleston, SC. Excellent choice in meat and sides and a great atmosphere with old school steakhouse service.

·         Best Steak: Rick Erwin’s, Greenville, SC. I’ve tried some good steakhouses in 2011, including Del Frisco’s, BLT Steak, Chophouse ’47. Erwin’s invests in good steaks. Unfortunately, their service and sides aren’t up to par to their beef.

·         Best Mac n Cheese: Youssef 242, Hickory, NC. Mac n Cheese is my favorite food of all time. Here they call it, Mac n Cheese Loaded, and it certainly is loaded with tons of cheese. Honorable mention and a very close second is, Solstice Kitchen (Columbia, SC)’s Skillett-Baked Smoked Gouda and Bacon Mac n Cheese.

·         Best Fried Chicken: Jestine’s Kitchen, Charleston, SC. If you like crunchy fried chicken, this is the place. I’ve been going to here for over 14 years and the chicken is still excellent. Close second place, Esso Club, Clemson, SC.

·         Best Ice Cream/Yogurt/Gelato: Luna Rosa Gelato, Greenville, SC. They make their gelato every day onsite. I can say without a doubt, this is the best gelato in the United States. More places are now offering gelato, none come close to this place, except maybe Paolo’s Gelato Italiano in Charleston. Paolo’s is good, however he is cash only and sadly, I never carry cash.

·         Best Pizza: Tito’s Pizza, Greenville, SC. There are tons of excellent pizza places, but Tito’s is the best in New York Style.

·         Best Lunch: Dellz Deli, Charleston, SC. This tiny (5 seats) hole in the wall, off upper King Street, quickly won me over in late 2011. I first heard about it, after reading about the rice and bean bowl (excellent). Lately, I’ve been ordering the popular Beach Bum wrap (spicy shrimp  with rice and vegetables and something called da sauce), which I’ve had a hard time venturing away from.

·         Best Beer List: Trappe Door, Greenville, SC. My favorite restaurant in Greenville has the best beer list. Grant it, I love Belgium beer and their Belgium beer list is like most restaurant wine lists.

·         Best Cheeseburger:  Poe’s Tavern, Sullivan’s Island, SC. This is a burger joint that wins the best overall burger category. Great location, atmosphere, beer list and of course large, mouth-watering, flavorful burgers. I personally like the “Tell-Tale Heart” which is a burger with Fried Egg, Applewood Bacon and Cheddar Cheese. A close second is their “The Sleeper”, which is a large burger that also includes Roasted Garlic Blue Cheese and topped with Buffalo Shrimp.

·         Best Italian Restaurant: Wild Olive, Johns Island, SC. I was determined that another restaurant in Charleston was going to be a hands down favorite, then I read about Wild Olive and a dish that some people couldn’t put their fork down when eating. I went, I ate, I loved. The meal that won it all was the “Garganelli with milk braised pork ragu, caramelized onions, rosemary, parmesan.”

I look  forward to sharing much more and really bringing the quality of SNarolina Foodie up a notch.

WILD OLIVE- JOHNS ISLAND, SC

I had heard that Wild Olive was an excellent Italian restaurant on Johns Island, SC (Charleston). Usually when I hear the comments, "favorite" and "couldn't put the fork down" from a couple of resources, that tells me its time to visit!

This evening I met some childhood friends for dinner. The comment which I heard regarding not being able to put the fork down, well, that was me tonight! I will be back soon and look forward to sharing with others. The Charleston area has its fair share of excellent Italian restaurants, I'm adding Wild Olive to the mix.

Reasonably priced, yet top notch quality. For a Wednesday night, I was amazed at how packed it was. But then, that is a good indication for how good the restaurant is.

The menu for this evening was:

Beef carpaccio with parmesan, horseradish aioli, melba toast, arugula, Sicilian sea salt - horseradish aioli was hands down amazing. It made this dish! I love some good raw meat and the carpaccio was tops, however the aioli, my first time with a horseradish version, stole the show!

Garganelli with milk braised pork ragu, caramelized onions, rosemary, parmesan - this was the dish that set the stage for me to come and visit! I read a quick blurb about it and was hooked. I couldn't put the fork down once I started. The same went for a buddy of mine that also ordered it as well. Generally, any meat that is braised is worth trying in my book.

Birra Moretti La Rossa - excellent dark Italian beer. Can be hard to find at times. Well, maybe not hard to find, but hard to keep in stock.

PANE E VINO - Speaking of good SC Italian food!

Talking about great Italian food in New Jersey, I want to give a shout out to my favorite Italian restaurant in the Carolinas! Pane e Vino, lies within the Design District of North King in Charleston and in my opinion, it has the best Italian restaurant experience one can have in the Carolinas. At least that's what I've had thus far.

Pane e Vino makes for an excellent restaurant to enjoy a long meal shared with friends. What is your favorite Italian restaurant?

REAL HOUSEWINES OF NEW JERSEY - SNAROLINA FOODIE TRAVELS NORTH

This week, SNarolina Foodie headed to Jersey for a marketing meeting. Fortunately for me, I work for a great company full of foodies, especially our president. Now, I realize we have some great italian restaurants here in the Carolinas, but I think many of you will agree, much of the best are going to be up north where there is a heavy Italian population. With that, I must say that I had the most amazing Italian meal ever!

Eric,company president, scheduled for our group to have dinner at da Filippo's in Somerville, NJ. Apparently, Eric is a regular as Filippo himself came out to give us the menu. Now as Filippo spoke in his native heavy Italian accent, I could gather that there would be a lot of choices for dinner. As he spouted off what seemed like everything on the menu, I soon had come to realize that Filippo was giving us a list of everything that we were going to have. Our CFO, Neal, a true wine connoisseur provided us with 3 separate wines to go with dinner, A red (2007 Vietti Italian (Piedmont) Red "Scarrone - Barbera d'Alba), a white and a bubbly. I don't recall the names of the white or the bubbly, though they were Italian and delicious.

The menu for the evening is as followed:

Per Cominciare
La Rustichella
Grilled round flat bread filled with mortadella provolone cheese tomatoes arrugula & onions - If I saw this on the menu, I probably wouldn't order it. The combination of flavors was pretty awesome! This could be a meal in itself.

La Bruschetta della Casa
Italian bread topped with ripe tomatoes garlic extra virgin olive oil fresh basil & parmigiano reggiano cheese - hands down, the best bruschetta that I've ever had. Also, the freshest of ingredients.

Antipasti Freddi
Mozzarella e Pomodori
Fresh mozzarella & tomatoes dressed with extra virgin olive oil and fresh basil - fresh mozzarella, I've had many times. Sometimes can be bland, but this gave me hope that fresh mozzarella can be excellent.

Antipasto Misto
Imported prosciutto di Parma sweet soppressata fresh mozzarella peppers grilled zucchini - I'm a huge fan of charcuterie and it was good. Filippo stated that this version of prosciutto was pretty special.

Antipasti Caldi
Frittelle di Rughetta
Batter dipped arrugula pan fried & dressed in a garlic anchovy & parmigiano reggiano cheese cream sauce - In the south, we fry everything. Apparently, Italians think the same way. Fried arrugula? Yes, and it wasn't anything that I would expect.

Le Paste
Ravioli al Filetto di Blu Grancio
Ravioli filled with ricotta blue crab - some pasta dishes with crab can very much disappoint. Then again, some pasta dishes made with "crab", aren't serving crab. I could eat this all day.

La Carne
Filetto di Baccala`fresco alla Michelina
Domestic fresh cod fish fillet dressed with a touch of garlic anchovies and hot pepper - the one menu item that we had a choice. Chicken or fish. I asked what was recommended and our server said the chef was known for fish. Glad I did.

I Dolci
Millefoglie Calda
Warm puff pastry filled with orange custard - I am not a fan or orange flavored deserts, but this was what was chosen. Very good indeed.

Finally, being in a true Italian restaurant, I finished with a personal favorite, a double espresso.

I realize that most of you don't have a reason to head to NJ. But if that rare chance happens, I suggest heading to Somerville and enjoying this gem.

Finally, a list of their acccolades:

The Luigi Veronelli dining guide " One of the Best Italian Restaurant in North America "

Star Ledger " 3.5 Stars "

Zagat Survey "Award of Distinction"

The New York Times " Very Good "

New Jersey Monthly Magazine " Best Italian Restaurant Critic Pick "