Valentine's Day - How About Macaroons Instead of Candy!

Valentine's Day is this week and of course that means dinners, chocolates and flowers. This year, forget chocolates for your Valentine and go for something cool like, macaroons. Grant it, they can be tough to find them, however Charleston has Macaroon Boutique on John Street and Charlotte's Amelie's Bakery serves them as well.




My personal favorite macaroon is the Chocolate Ganache, pictured below:

Also, I recently started enjoying the Rasberry ones as well:

Three New Restaurants Coming to Main Street Greenville Soon!

Downtown Greenville's already vibrant restaurant scene is about to get even more crowded! Three restaurants are slated to open between this month and May.

BREAKWATER RESTAURANT & BAR

The first restaurant, scheduled to open in February, is Breakwater. Breakwater is going to be located where Rio Grille was once, at 802 South Main Street. They are coming to Greenville via Beaufort where the original  Breakwater location has won many accolades.

The food is considered "New Southern Cuisine", and from what I can tell, looks like a challenger to Greenville's ever popular Soby's.  I will be in Beaufort soon, so I  may need to venture in and try the original before venturing to their Greenville location.

MAC'S SPEED SHOP

The next restaurant, slated to open in late March is Charlotte's own, Mac's Speed Shop! A barbecue restaurant with a biker theme. In fact their motto is "Beer Bikes BBQ". Mac's Speed Shop will be located at 930 South Main Street, next to Carolina Triathlon and across the street from Liberty Taproom.

I've been to Mac's and I'm a big fan. Their BBQ is great, the beer selection rivals that of Barley's and just because its a biker themed place, doesn't mean that's the core clientele. I visited Mac's Southend Charlotte location last week during lunch and the place was packed with  business men and women enjoying some tasty BBQ.

Over the years, they have developed a loyal following, which I think will be the case in Greenville, once they open. Garden and Gun Magazine described Mac's Speed Shop as, "
If Disney were ever to open a biker bar—focused on craft beers and barbecue—it would look something like this". Needless to say, I can't wait for Greenville to enjoy what people in Charlotte have been enjoying for years!

A NEW CONCEPT FROM LARKIN'S - NAME TBD

The final new restaurant opening on Main Street in Greenville within the next few months is a new concept from the people that brought you Larkin's on the River. I'm a fan of Larkin's, so I am sure this will be an excellent concept.  According to General Manager Bob Munich on Fox Carolina, "they have not decided on a name for the new place yet, but it will have lower prices and a more casual feel than Larkin's on the River". Based on that, I am thinking that this is probably going to be a gastropub kind of  place, a la, Nose Dive in Greenville or Red Drum in Mount Pleasant.

I'm having dinner at Larkin's on the River soon. While there, I will inquire more about the new place and if I learn anything new, I will share later.

The new location is going to be located in the old Hot Dog King at 209 South Main Street. I applaud any business that will open a new business in a previously closed establishment.

CABO FISH TACO - NoDA (Charlotte)

 I'm in Charlotte every week, sometimes for a day or several days. I need to do a better job in promoting Charlotte. I promise to do a better job  in 2012 exploring and promoting Charlotte. One area within Charlotte that's getting much attention is called, NoDa (North Davidson). This is Charlotte's Historic Arts District. According to the official NoDa website:

"NoDa is now the home to the City's best collection of galleries and performance venues; some of the funkiest full service restaurants including authentic Cajun cooking, Southwest cuisine, a Creative pizza eatery and more."

 Recently , I ended up here to meet a friend at Cabo Fish Taco, his suggestion. I'm a  fan of fish tacos,  therefore  I was looking forward to trying Cabo Fish Taco. For a Wednesday night, this place was packed with hipsters, bohemians and business people a like, all enjoying fish tacos, burritos and a good selection of beers. Thats usually a good sign.




Inside Cabo Fish Taco in NoDa

Of course I ordered the fish tacos. An order of Fish Tacos, comes with two, which you can mix and match different types of tacos.  I got the obligatory Beer Battered White Fish Taco and had our server choose the other one. She chose the ever popular Blackened Mahi Mahi taco as my other choice. Each taco comes with a flour tortilla stuffed with cabbage, tomato, avocado, mixed cheeses, & finished with a white cilantro sauce. Pretty good.

Beer Battered White Fish Tace and Blackened Mahi Mahi Fish Taco

When it comes to fish tacos, California is where they originated. I must admit that it is hard to find a good fish taco in the Southeast. Cabo Fish Taco does a good job, but it's no Rubio's of San Diego, where I consider my favorite fish taco. Since I can't have Rubio's, at leasat I have good east coast choice!

Since I got into NoDa about an hour before dinner, I did explore the area and saw some other places that have caught my attention. I look forward to checking them out and giving a report in the future.

I'm always looking for any suggestions for the Charlotte area that I need to try. Feel free to send them my way.

Charlotte Restaurant Week - January 20-29, 2012

This week is Restaurant Week all across South Carolina! In two weeks, it will beCharlotte Restaurant Week.  There has some outstanding restaurants that I am starting to discover.

If you live in the Charlotte Metrolina area, this is an excellent time to take advantage of great restaurants with excellent Restaurant Week deals.

As I continue to discover Charlotte, where should I be eating?