DiverXo: A review of Dabiz Muñoz's Madrid Masterpiece

Background:

The first thing you notice when walking through the revolving door into DiverXO (Pronounced Diver-zou) are the flying pigs and giants ants that line the walls and the staircase on the way up to the main dining room. Like most things at DiverXO, everything has a purpose and a meaning. Flying Pigs? This is a tribute to chef Dabiz Muñoz’s ambition. He told his dad when he was young that he would be the best chef in the world. His dad, being pragmatic, told him that it’s more likely pigs would fly. The Ants? They symbolize teamwork, as it takes an entire team running full cylinder in order to pull off the great dining experience that DiverXO delivers.

Thoughtful and deliberate. That’s what I kept thinking in my mind as we progressed through the meal at DiverXO. Each dish was so complex, had so much meaning, that I felt like I was only touching the surface of each dish. I’m a golfer, so bear with me on this analogy, but how great golf courses set themselves apart from good or average courses is their ability to get better each time you play them. You learn the nuances of the holes, understand the progression of the course, and get a greater understanding and appreciation for what the architect was intending when they designed the course as a whole. Of all the famous restaurants in the world which we have been, DiverXO felt the most like this to me. You know when you are experiencing it for the first time that it’s a great restaurant, and for most, including us, this will probably be the only time we ever get to experience DiverXO, but I think if you’re lucky enough to go a few times the experience will only elevate and grow with each passing visit. There are very few restaurants in the world you can say that about.

The head chef, Dabiz Muñoz, grew up in Madrid and from an early age he knew he wanted to be a chef. He was influenced greatly by Chef Abraham García of Viridiana in Madrid, where his father would take him frequently, and where he felt Chef García “turned his own visions and style into a reality. I knew that that’s exactly what I wanted to do one day.” He enrolled in a local hospital school near Madrid post graduation and eventually made his way to London, where he worked at Hakkasan and Nobu. He then moved back to Madrid and opened DiverXO in 2007. DiverXO received it’s first Michelin Star in 2010, it’s second in 2012, and it’s third in 2013, when Dabiz was only 33 years old. He was the second youngest chef ever to receive three stars and brought back to Madrid a third star which the city had not had for over 20 years. It is currently the only three Michelin starred restaurant in Madrid and is ranked #4 in the world on the World’s 50 Best Restaurants List.

Eat This:

DiverXO only has one tasting menu which is titled “La Cocina de los Cerdos Voladores,” or the Flying Pig Cuisine in English. Each dish is served with either a detailed picture of the dish or a written out explanation, so it’s easy to follow along while eating to know what’s going on. The pictures were amazing works of art in themselves, and we have already framed a few for our wall of menus we keep in the guest bedroom. They also presented the pictures before each dish was brought out, which helped with pacing as we were able to read and discuss what was going to be coming out which killed some down time that normally exists at these tasting menu restaurants. Buckle up to your pig with wings and hang on for the ride.

Nigiri Madurado Del Pirineo

The first dish of the night was three main ingredients showcased in one. The first was rice, which is prepared three ways, a crispy rice couscous, as gnocci, and infused with black garlic. It sits next to the Pyrenean trout, which is served raw as well as dry aged for 45 days. Served in a broth is the “river crab”, which looks a lot what we would call a crawfish in America.

TOPSY TURVY WORLD…FROSTY SALAD FROM THE BOTTOM OF THE FRIDGE AND ITS SEA GARNISH

This was a play on a crapy salad that had been sitting on the bottom of the fridge. It was a lettuce granita with tomato heart seeds, creamy sweet-and-sour olive oil dresses, and rocket and steamed edamame. It was served with a side of turbot grilled yakitori style only on the skin side, to create two different textures on the same piece of meat.

Mystery

This was a brand new dish for the menu and they didn’t have a card for it yet, so I don’t know exactly what this was, but it was meant to symbolize Chef Munoz’s first trip with his one year old daughter to Singapore. It tasted good and was served in a fruit which Yvonne knows the name of, but she isn’t around to tell me so it will, for perpetuity, remain a mystery to me.

Drunk Crabs party by Jerez

Blue crab cooked in a traditional Chinese way with kimchi ice cream and a screwer of wild strawberries.

The blue crab is an evasive species to Spain, so DiverXO wants to serve it in order to try and eradicate it from the country. The cold kimchi ice cream pair nicely with the creamy crab.

ASTURIAS AND YUCATAN

Skate wing chop with acidulated parmesan whey and Melipona honey in a chile morita colored mole.

One of the coolest presentations of the night, in a long list of cool presentations. The clear bowl sits atop different colored flower petals, giving it a very South American vibe.

Two Varieties of Caviar

This dish contains one vegetable made of tender peas which are flash fried quickly in a very hot wok and the fish caviar which is cooked in a tandoori oven. It’s served with two Andalusian sauces: the white one is made with macadamia nuts, coconut, and horseradish, and the green consists of pistachios and jalapeños.

I think this dish could be served at any modern restaurant in the world and be the absolute signature dish. What a bold and uniqueness of flavors.

Espardenyas in Wok 8 Seconds

Espardenyas, bonito tartare, Canarian potatoes, in a scorpionfish broth.

Espardenyas are closely related to the sea cucumber. The al dente tenderness of the meat was outstanding.

Minutejo Del Agus

crispy pork skin wrap with pork head fungi, pecorino cheese, and cured goose egg yolk.

This dish is meant to be a play on the sandwiches Munoz’s dad would make for him as a child, except now it’s elevated with suckling pig, pecorino, homemade sriracha, and forest-inspired pesto.

Fried barnacle Thai Curry

Fried egg with puntilla taco, acidulated flowers and fine herbs mojo “tigre que llora”

The only other time we had barnacle was at Enigma in Barcelona. The star of this dish was the taco, which had egg yolk and corn in it, tasting very earthy and refreshing.

Cantabric Icons

According to our waiter, the most rare and hard to get ingredient on the whole menu was the rooster from Cantabria (province in north Spain). It’s served with al dente “pasta” eels, ravioli, and of course fried rooster skin. This was the outstanding dish of the night for me.

Spanish Bull

Ox tail crunchy ravioli and black mole with roasted marrow, sweet chili andniboshi. Soup of sour and spicy galician ox boullon with black vinegar and penja pepper infusion. You drank the soup out of the horn, which gave us the #vikingfeels.

Lobster Rising on the Beaches of Goa

This dish is an ode to Indian Cuisine. A Pani puri is served in an elephant vessel (see below). Lobster is presented on the plate with various indian curries and sauces, as well as beet

The Bottom of the Pot Leftovers

Similiar to the first salad, this dish is meant to emulate the best of a dish with the crunchy, “bottom of the plate” leftovers. Wild boar ribs are served with truffles and the vegetables are “overcooked” to be extremely carmalized.

Toasted Butter Risotto with Tuber Aestivum

Both desserts were amazing, but this was my favorite. Rice pudding is cooked like risotto, creamed with brown butter, white pepper, nutmeg, and beetroot. It was served with ice cream and shaved white truffles.

Blackcurrent Bubblegum

Coconut ganache, black garlic, blackcurrant bubblegum and liquorice, served with coconut ash and yuzu ice cream.

This dish was meant to bring back your childhood with a bubblegum flavor. I am NOT a bubblegum guy, but the flavor was subtle and the mixture of liquorice and yuzu really balanced this dish out.

Japanese BonBons

Spicy Chocolate, Cookies Dunked in Milk, Tiramisu, and Calmansi Curd

To end the night we were given different flavored mochis. All of them were delicious, but I especially liked the spicy chocolate.

Drink This:

Okay we are bad and not big drinkers, so we didn’t partake in any of the wines from Miguel Angel Millán, 2023 Best Sommelier according to World’s 50 Best Restaurants; however, we did have €18 cocktails to start the meal which were good but nothing to write home about.

Atmosphere:

The atmosphere at DiverXO whimsical, fun, dramatic, while still feeling a bit upscale and traditional at the same time. There are white tablecloths, but on the white tablecloths are chain-clad pigs and giant metal ants. Each table is enclosed by a white linens, so you have privacy but you can also look into the main room and still get a sense of what is going on around you. Flying pigs are on the wall, accented by probably the most comfortable white chairs you could ever sit on.

Yvonne loved everything about it and thought it was one of the coolest restaurant setups she’s been to. For me something was missing that I couldn’t quite put my finger on. I think I wanted it to be more bold and wild to even more match the food that was coming out in front of us. It was a little too white for me - maybe a little two sterile? This is very nit-picky, as I thought overall the individual playoff accents really heightened the meal.

The Hardware

Flying Pig City

Ants Marching

The elephant plate

Madrileños Hospitality:

The service at DiverXO is top notch and exactly what you would expect from a three Michelin Starred restaurant. The attentiveness was amazing, and the attention to detail outstanding. I am left handed, and they had my silverware placed on my left hand for the first dish before they even saw me use a untensil. I’m still trying to figure out how they know I was left handed so early - maybe it was the way I drank my glass of water? That was incredible. Yvonne dropped her napkin on the ground at one point and a waiter in one motion while carrying away some dishes picked it up almost as soon as it hit the ground. As they say in show business, 3 stars no notes on the service from these pugs.

Jeff’s Notes:

Madrid is hot as the backside of a Mastiff in the summer - try to avoid at all costs; Flying pigs are cool, but flying pugs? Now we’re talking; We continue to be the only people who show up to 3 Mich restaurants by walking over an hour each way, and this sometimes leads to us not looking our best when showing up, but it does make us hungrier when we get there; DiverXO is right next to the Bernabeu where Real Madrid play, so naturally I made Yvonne go in there which she loved; We found a Spanish brand called “El Pulpo” because who doesn’t love a funky Octopus as a logo? If you are into food, Spain has to be on your top 5 destinations - you literally can’t get a bad meal here.

Rating: 5 out of 5 with 3 Michigan Pugs

Yvonne and I both agreed that DiverXo is a top five meal that we’ve had together since we started on our crazy food journey together back in AD 2015. There was not a miss on the menu, and the stories that were being told by each dish were very unique and you could tell that Muñoz and team have spent a lot of time and energy making each dish perfect. There is also a passion and genuine-ness that comes through the plate to the dinner. Some places you go and you can kind of tell that the head chef has moved on and the restaurant is just playing the hits, but not at DiverXO, which even though it’s approaching 15 years is still improving and getting better each year. It’s a must visit if you’re in Madrid, and a restaurant that should be on your short list to plan a visit around in the next few years, as I can only imagine it will climb to #1 restaurant in the world over the next half decade.

 

Noma Kyoto: A Review of Rene Redzepi's Japanese Pop-Up

Background:

A lot has happened at Noma over the last year and a half. Rene Redzepi and his team got best restaurant in the world again, a third Michelin star, announced that it’s “shutting down” - more on that later - and moved the whole restaurant to Kyoto, Japan to do one of their famous worldly pop-ups.

Noma’s pop ups have always intrigued me. Their previous iterations, Tokyo, Sydney, and Tulum, seemed to inspire the best out of Noma by forcing the team to be creative with local ingredients while utilizing the techniques perfected in Copenhagen. I wondered if the wow factor that we experienced at our first meal at Noma in 2018 could be replicated seven time zones away.

Yvonne and I were originally supposed to go to Japan in April 2020 as our “pre-baby” trip. We had the whole thing scheduled, bags almost packed, and then Covid happened. Japan completely shut down for foreigners at that time and didn’t reopen until October 2022. It had been rumored for a while that Redzepi wanted to do another pop-up in Japan, and that it was planned for a few years but because of Covid kept getting delayed. When the Kyoto pop-up was finally announced, we had a one year old baby, so we turned our pre-baby trip into a post-baby trip.

Because of the exclusivity of the pop-up, we had to book a four-top table. I don’t have a lot of friends who want to travel halfway around the world to spend $810/person and eat (let alone I don’t have a lot of friends), so I turned to The Hungries, which is an online food community started by Anders Husa & Kaitlin Orr. It’s a great community of people who travel to eat and generally like the finer things in life. Joe from San Francisco and Katherine from Copenhagen ended up joining us, making our table a worldly representation of The Hungries. It also added a nice mix up for Yvonne and me, allowing us to have new conversations with like minded food people. Case in point - don’t be scared to dine with strangers. Sometimes it can be bad, but most of the time it makes the experience better.

Eat This:

Noma’s meals always tell a story, the dishes are always so layered, that I half joking said during this meal that I’m going to have to wait for the book to come out in a few years to understand half of what I was eating and what it meant in the context of the meal, Japan, the wider culinary scene, and maybe even humanity as a whole.

My general strategy when going to special restaurants is I try to not see the menu beforehand, which in this day in age is almost impossible. Noma is normally pretty good about not posting current menu items, but for this pop-up they were a little fast and loose, so I basically avoided instagram posts and stories, trying to keep the surprise alive. I prefer to enjoy the meal not knowing what is coming next. I find that makes the meal more enjoyable.

That being said, the anticipation for this meal was sky high. Would Noma live up the hype?

Hassun

1. Fresh Yuba and wild greens
2. Koji and red ginger
3. Dried tomato and roses
4. Cherry leaf with black garlic
5. Pollen and tomato

The first dish was a series of small bites meant to be Noma’s play on Hassun, which in a traditional Kaiseki meal would be the first bites served to represent what is currently in season. In Copenhagen this would have probably been presented at 5 separate dishes, but having them all on one plate and to experience at once really set the fireworks in place for the meal.

We’ve been to Noma now five times, and this was by far the strongest start to any meals we’ve had there and probably ever. Each sub-dish was so good and different from the next that it made the 10 minutes were eating these dishes a true experience. The outstanding bite for me was the koji and red ginger. The ginger was muted to just get the flavor and the koji’s umami made the bite unforgettable.

Shabu Shabu

various seaweeds, konatsu citrus, seaweed ponzu

This dish was a play on shabu shabu, which is normally made with meat. We were instructed to dip the seaweed into the broth and allow them to cook for 5 seconds. Then we were supposed to dip in the ponzu and eat.

The seaweed immediately changed color when put into the water, which made the dish look cool; however, this one to me just didn’t taste that good. The coolest bite of this dish was the konatsu citrus, which we were instructed to eat with the rind on. It was a mild citrus that wasn’t overly sour, making it easy to eat and enjoy.

Cuttlefish

The cuttlefish sashimi was served on a top of beautiful block of ice, appearing as if floating on top of the rocks of the sea. This was a great bite, delicate and subtle.

Bamboo

with black pepper and squid sauce

This one was also a slight miss to me - I love the concept but the bamboo was a little too “al dente” for my liking. But i’ve never had bamboo so who am I to judge.

Swordfish belly

with kombu butter and caviar

This was just fatty, buttery, silky excellence. If I could eat this every day, I would, multiple times a day. The swordfish was very meaty, which played well with the rich kombu butter and the creaminess and saltiness of the caviar.

TOFU

with almonds and nasturtium flowers

This dish was a standout to me. It reminded me of a coconut curry, with the combo of fresh grated almonds, the green soy milk tofu, and the spicy nasturtium. I think of all the dishes, this is the one I think about the most for creativity and perfection.

Kinki Fish

with egg yolk sauce

Kinki Fish (rockfish to us gringos) was bathed in a very nice egg yolk sauce and i’m sure some other ferments I don’t remember. This tasted really meaty, but nothing to write home about.

Lotus Root

This lotus root is confit in koji oil overnight and then put on the barbeque for multiple hours while being glazed with different concoctions from the fermentation lab. This dish reminded me of Noma’s famous celeriac shawarma - a way for them to take a pretty hard root vegetable and turn it into something special.

Sansai

lobster head sauce

This started a 3 part lobster progression. First were local, seasonal raw vegetables served on top of a lobster head sauce. This was a polarizing dish at the table. Some loved it, some hated it. I loved the local seasonability of the vegetables, but thought they could have used a little cooking instead of being served raw.

Spiny Lobster

with smoked corn, pumpkin, and sansho leaves

The lobster was served on top of a corn/pumpkin remoulade which was delicious. A great main course dish to highlight the lobster in a very Noma way.

Green Rice

with ise ebi, lobster, and rose petals

The final main dish was a tribute to Kaiseki again, where traditionally rice is served as the last main savory dish. This green rice was served with rose petals and the rest of the lobster. It was unique, as in the rest of the world you normally end with a more substantial dish, however, it made for a nice palate cleanser for the desserts.

Yuzu Shijimi Clams

Talk about a wow, A++++ dish. The yuzu ice cream is made to look exactly like local clams. The taste was sweet, citrusy, and slightest bit sour, and the creaminess and the temperature of the ice cream were perfect.

Desserts

1. Dried Strawberry stuff with Mochi
2. Sweet Potato paste in White Chocolate
3. Egg Fruit custard

We ended the meal as we started, with a series of small bite desserts that were all out of this world. The sweet potato had almost a marapan quality, and was one of my favorite bites of the night. The egg fruit is a fruit that has the texture of an egg yolk, and book ended the meal nicely in comparison with pollen and tomato custard from the first set of bites.

Drink:

The price of the pop-up included either a non-alcholic or alocholic pairing. The alcoholic pairing, which we didn’t do, had a variety of sakes, local beers, whiskey, and Japanese wines that Joe enjoyed. Katherine did something I had never seen and which was ingenius: she asked for a combo of the non-alcoholic and alcoholic. I think that’s a good way to go, especially if you tend to get drunk easy (aka me), as a full pairing can have you forgetting the second half of your meal.

The non-alcoholic pairing was a classic Noma pairing of local fruits, vegetables, and teas. We especilaly enjoyed the iced green tea.

After the meal we were offered special cocktails which we had to pay for. I chose a Paloma that had local hot peppers in it. It was good, nothing insane, and when the bill came it was ¥5,000, or the equivalent of $36. We were wondering what the price would have to be before someone said something about a cocktail being too expensive. It might have been over/under $36.50. But what can we do - YOLO.

Jasmine tea with amazake (fermented rice)

The $36 Paloma

Tomato & Smoked Corn Juice

Melon & Kiwi Juice

Atmosphere:

Noma did an excellent job making the decor feel like we were in Japan but with a Scandanavian vibe that put us all into what I thought was the proper setting for the dinning experience. Noma customized and furnished the entire restaurant for this pop-up, from the plates and silverware on up to the custom chandeliers as part of their extensive research and prep for the pop-up. The staff were wearing the familiar Noma blue outfits and grey aprons that we were familiar with from Copenhagen, and overall the vibe we had was a casual and fun.

The main dining room

Walking up to the restaurant by following the sea shell clues

View of the kitchen from our table

The view from our table

Hospitality:

The hospitality was top notch, with our main server Cornelia being extremely knowledgable and accommodating. This being our 5th trip to Noma, I was not walking out of the restaurant without a picture with Rene Redzepi, so Katherine was kind enough to be the loud American and ask if we could take the picture. It took about 30 minutes to make happen (a million other people had asked and wouldn’t stop talking to him), but we finally got it as we were walking out the door. Mission accomplished - I have a picture with Redzepi doing the Japanese peace sign and Joe looking creepy in the background. The perfect encapsulation of the meal.

FRANKIE/Jeff’S NOTES:

Our other big family news is we have a new pug, who we aptly named Jeff. He is an insane puppy, but we love him dearly; Yvonne during the meal asked Katherine if her earrings had Lizzo on them - turned out it was the Virgin Mary; I wanted to give a 10 second elevator pitch on how I thought that Noma should sell branded chopsticks or some other Japanese tchotchke to commemorate the pop-up, but decided against in and instead put it here to satisfy my introverted ways. I also think they should have a one day food tour the day before you dine with them to take you on a tour of Kyoto to get a better understanding of the place before the meal. And while i’m at it, Rene Redzepi should go around to each table for a 30 seconds each and take pictures with the guests. It would save him time and make everyone happy; We saw guests wearing everything from a t-shirt to kimono, and I think that sums up the world pretty well; Apparently every American has told Redzepi they want to move to Copenhagen, and his response is that Copenhagen is great except the weather could be 10% better.

Jeff aka Jeffrey aka Jeffy aka Geoff aka Poo Poo Jeffy aka El Malo

RATING: 5 OUT OF 5 WITH 3 MICHIGAN PUGS

I did a lot of nitpicking above, but overall the whole meal was amazing, thoughtful, and mind blowing. It brought us back to our first meal at Noma in Copenhagen, where we left shell shocked, not understanding what had just happened to us, and wanting more. There was so much to meal to unpack, so much meaning in each dish, that it’s hard to even know in the moment what was going on other than what we were eating tasted really good. I think the sign of a truly amazing meal is that when you come back to it in your mind you keep uncovering and finding new meanings and levels to the dishes and the experience as a whole. There is no doubt that Noma Kyoto was that type of meal.

Since the news that Noma as we know it is shutting down, and everyone knows that we are obsessed with Noma, we have been asked 100 times what our thoughts are on the news. You know it’s a big deal when People Magazine writes an article on the closing with the title “World’s Best Restaurant Noma, Which Often Served Reindeer Penis, Will Close.” My take - Redzepi accomplished what he wanted with Noma 2.0. He got best restaurant in the world again, got his third star, and now wants to move on to the next thing. If there is one thing we know, Redzepi is not one to sit on his laurels of past success. I think that the worldly pop-ups really stimulate him, and I think we’ll see a lot more of those in the future. I think we’ll see Noma do a lot of collaborations and pop ups in Copenhagen as well, just not as defined of menus as we saw with the three season restaurant. You’ll see a lot more products being sold from the fermentation lab, more books, and I think a more subscription based model like their current Taste Buds.

Whatever is in store next for Noma, you’ll know we’ll be first in line to sign up for the experience. There is no other restaurant in the world that has had a bigger influence on us and probably the rest of the culinary world then Noma, and we’re excited to see what the team decides to do next.

 

Jordnær

Background:

In recognition of Jordnær landing at #38 on the World’s 50 Best List for 2022 I decided i’d dust off my fingers and write a proper review of what was probably our top meal of 2021. With the birth of our first masculine child, Samuel, and some complications he has had in his early life, we have taken a pretty long break from the blog. We’ll try and write as much as we can, because we started this blog to document and memorialize the great meals we have had, but can’t promise when we’ll be back. Just know that we’re still out there eating in the ether, even if its not documented on the internet.

When visiting Noma a few years ago we dined with Kirstens Jepson (check out her instagram @kirstenjepson), a local Danish artists who specializes in food photography. We asked her what other local restaurants we need to check out, and she told us that we needed to go to Jordnær in the outskirts of Copenhagen in a town called Gentofte.

Jordnær (roughly translating to down to earth in English) is not flashy. It’s in a 3 star hotel in a quiet suburb that looks more from the outside like a you’re going to an Applebees than a 2 Michelin starred restaurant. If it wasn’t for the Jordnær tree on the glass door to the left of the hotel lobby we probably would have wandered around Gentofte trying to figure out where we were going and wondering what mess we got outselves into. Luckily Tina, who we would find out later is Chef Eric Kragh Vildgaard’s “better half,” found us looking bewildered and assured us we were in the right place.

The next three hours were filed with excellent food, wonderful service, and the most caviar I believe is legally allowed to be served in one setting.

Eat this:

King Crab, Sake, Coriander

The first bite was a beautiful tart that reminded me of Botticelli’s Primavera. Hope sprung eternal, and this dish encapsulated what would be ahead in the night - a seafood heavy, fresh ingredient driven experience.

Tart of lobster, yuzu, & Trout Roe

One of the most beautiful dishes, maybe ever. The dish it is served on makes it look like the tart is literally floating, which reflected the light, airy flavors of the dish.

Hamachi Sunazuri, Caviar, & Aged Soy

This was our first of many, many caviar dishes. The caviar flowed like cocaine flowed at a 1999 Prince concert. Leading to the question - can you have too much caviar in a meal? Jordnær challenged this notion, but at the end I think its safe to say we were left wanting more.

Japanese waffle, Fjord Shrimp, & Caviar

Probably the signature dish of the restaurant: the crispy waffle is filled with shrimp and then topped with, you guessed it, caviar. It is an ode to a Michelin star? I don’t know, but it tasted and looked magnificent.

Takoyaki - Elegence Ostra Classic Caviar

Now the truffles start! Hide your kids, hide your wife, because this is not the last time we’ll see considerable amounts of truffle either. Also we’re seeing a theme here - a very Asian influence with Danish ingredients.

Mushroom Tea, Walnut, White Truffle

I mean come on now - mushroom tea with shaved white truffles. This dish tasted like you were foraging with your truffle pigs in the forrest.

Scallop, Pear, & green gooseberries

This dish reminded me of a dish at Eleven Madison Park, which was a a squid tartare. The look and the feel of the dish were similar, with the stark white of the dish giving off a vibe of refreshment and subtle flavors.

Langoustine Bouillon with Tomato Water

Yvonne loves her a tomato soup - especially while pregnant. What was her weirdest pregnancy craving? It was, and a quote, “a flat white fish” which I procured from her at Vana.

Plants from Chris Elbos Garden, smoked mussels, Dashi

Do I remember anything about this dish? Nope - so probably wasn’t the best dish we had that night.

Smoked Cheese, Nettles, Kalix Pike Roe

Anything smoked is right up my alley. This was what I would call as sophisticated fondue - subtle flavors and of course more roe.

Limfjords Oyster, Wasabi, DILL

A wasabi + dill combo is a great combo you would never expect and was a great mixture of a classic Nordic flavor with a classic Asian flavor. A great symbolism for the meal as a whole.

Caviar, Miso, Black Currant Branch

The caviar is back with a vengeance. Maybe the perfect caviar dish?? The creaminess of the caviar mixed perfectly with the tea broth.

Hamachi, Sesame, Ponzu

When Chef came out and spoke to our table we asked him what was the secret to his restaurant. He said it was the ingredients - that he would go out of his way around the world to bring in the best raw food, because without that you are starting from behind the eight ball. I think this hamachi highlights this - getting the best fish is imperative to make this dish the best.

Bread & Butter

If I remember this correctly, this bread was a half Japanese milk bread and half Danish brioche. Obviously Yvonne is the bread course connoisseur and was willing to share a small sliver of the bread with me, of which i was forever grateful for. It was a heavy, buttery, delicious tasting bread.

King Crab, Blue Mussels, Vadouvan

Our first “main dish” was king crab. Again showcasing the fresh king crab with a nice slight curry broth.

Turbot, Langoustine, Tuber Melanosporum

This dish has been on the menu I believe the longest and is considered by many to be the signature. Who doesn’t love a black truffle encrusted fish dish? That was a rhetorical question.

Goatmilk, Beetroot, & Black Currants

We’re not in a transition to the desserts with a few “cheese” courses. The first being this goat milk and beetroot combo. It’s nice to have the earthiness of the beetroot to mix with the goatmilk and currents to clense the palate.

Sheep Milk, Sorrel, Rapeseed

Sorrel is the quintessential ingredient for me when I think of new Nordic cuisine. Maybe it’s because that’s one of the first desserts we had in Denmark when we first came, or just the earthy/slightly sour flavor that sorrel has. Also sheep milk is about as traditional Danish dessert as you get. We loved this combo.

Leatherwood Honey, Chamomile, & Lavender

The Tasmanian honey in this dish can only be harvested during a 5 week window throughout the year. I guess that’s the only time of the year you can safely avoid the Tasmanian Devils.

But seriously have you seen a more beautiful dessert? The taste of the honey was something extraordinary.

Friss-Holm White Chocolate, Caviar

This molded taco reminded us of a molded pancake we had first time we went to Noma, except Noma didn’t put a huge mount of caviar on top. You know we had to end with the lump of caviar. It’s the only way the meal could have ended at Jordnær.

Petit Fours

The final bites were a series of small bites to officially end our night. My favorite was the English cream pie which tasted to me like a Boston Creme pie. Maybe the Bostonians stole it from the English. We’ll never know.

Drink:

Jordnær offers a few wine pairings and a non alcoholic pairing. Since Yvonne was preggo and I’m a loser we both opted for the non-alcoholic pairing. It was a series of interesting drinks from around the world, including an alcohol free “distillation” from Australia called Ovant, some teas, kombuchas, and my personal favorite, a non-alcoholic yuzu beer from Mikkeller right there in Copenhagen. They also had an herbal tea service at the end of the meal where they would cut off living things from pots and put it in your tea, very similiar to our infamous tea at Kitchen Table in London. You could tell they took a lot of time in curating the non-alcoholic pairing to balance the food we were eating.

Ovant non-alcoholic gin

Mikkeller non-alcoholic yuzu beer

ATMOSPHERE:

The vibe here feels like one of those movies where you are wondering around the desert for a few days and then you stumble upon, out of nowhere, an oasis with a bar and good looking people hanging out like its Paris in the 1920s. One minute you’re walking along a suburban road seemingly in a nothing town on the outskirts of Copenhagen and then you’re in a 2 Michelin starred restaurant. We asked Tina why they chose Gentofte as a location, and she basically said it was was cheap and the only thing they could afford.

There is something pretty romantic about seemingly discovering a thing in a place that said thing probably shouldn’t be - like a secret that only a few people know about. It almost makes the experience feel like a dream. Were we actually in a nice restaurant there? Did we have a million grams of caviar? Was Yvonne pregnant? All questions that left us reflecting post meal that made the meal that much more memorable.

Eric & Tina

View of the dinning room

Signed, sealed, and delivered

Tea service

Gentofte Hospitality:

Jordnær is about as mom and pop as a Michelin starred/Top 50 restaurant can get. You’ve got Tina, the wife, leading front of house and Chef Eric, the husband, leading the back of house. Both of them could not be nicer. They both spent lots of time at each table, talking to us, bringing out dishes, and answering our dumb American questions. Also they have like 5 or 6 kids that they somehow manage (asking for a friend how to manage one). They are truly a remarkable couple. What was the most important to me was their LOVE was emanating from Jordnær - the love of good food, the love of great company, and their love for each other. It truly made for an exceptional experience.

FRANKIE’S NOTES:

Since our last blog post we had to say goodbye to our puggle Ollie, and we said goodbye to Frankie a few years ago. So we are currently pug-less; but fear not! Jeff is currently on the way from Puglicious Cuddled Pugs in Greenville, SC and should arrive to our home very soon. The good news is Frankie still calls us on the avocado phone from beyond the rainbow bridge to give us his notes on his dining experiences.

Showing up to a fancy restaurant by public transportation/bike/foot is way cooler than showing up in a fancy limo/car; If you have a sleeve tattoo and don’t run a Michelin starred restaurant are you even living, bro?; to answer the question - NO, you cannot have too much caviar in one meal; Not to come out and say it, but Copenhagen has the best pug weather and mom and dad should move their permanently.

Ranking: 5 out of 5 with 3 Michigan Pugs

On this trip to Europe we went to Noma, Alchemist, and Mirazur, but to us Jordnær was clearly the best of them all. From the first bite to the last sip everything was executed to perfection. We were so happy to see them land on the the World’s 50 Best List and we hope you all have the opportunity to visit them on your next trip to Copenhagen.

 

Noma: A Review of the Game and Forest Season Menu

Background:

We have done what few mortals have done - we’ve completed the holy trinity of the three Noma seasonal menus (Catch up by reading our reviews on the Vegetable season and Seafood season).

Getting to Noma this time was a year and a half process. We had originally booked a table for last summer, but then our friend Covid-19 hit and Denmark, like most of the world, shut down their borders. We kept pushing off and pushing off our trip until finally Denmark opened up and we were able to secure a table for the Game and Forest season.

During the pandemic Noma, like most restaurants in the world, had to pivot to keep its doors open. While they couldn’t have enough physical diners in their restaurant because of capacity laws they decided to open up a wine and burger pop-up, which now has a permanent location in the former, now deceased 108 spot next to Barr (Noma’s other sister restaurant) called POPL. They have two main options on their menu, a meat burger made from organic Danish cows and a vegetable burger from the famous Noma fermentation lab. The veggie burger is legitimately one of the best “burgers” I have ever eaten. The patty is made of a combination of quinoa and tempeh spores, which is fermented for 24 hours and then lathered with a garum of yeast, fava bean shoyu, and smoked vegan butter. It’s topped off with a slice of cheddar cheese, lettuce tossed in a chervil vinaigrette, POPL’s secret sauce, and a potato bun. The combination of all of those magical ingredients provides you with a texture of eating a meat burger but with much more intense and rich umami flavors. This burger is a great way to experience a part of Noma for $20 if you can’t make it to the main dining room and is a must try if you are in Copenhagen.

Don’t forget to order the fries with chili mayo as a side!

The Noma veggie burger

We visited Noma two weeks after its LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG overdue awarding of its 3rd Michelin star and a week before to 50 Best Restaurant list is to come out, of which Noma was named #1 in the world. It was also the first week of the new menu, which is always a fun time to go as it’s easier to avoid spoilers of the menu on the internet. Noma is famous for not repeating a dish on its menu, although if you have a vegetarian or someone with a food allergy dining with you you might see a reprisal of a dish from a former menu show up at the table. Because they don’t repeat a dish it’s always interesting to see what they come up with next to live up to the highest of high expectations. Most restaurants in the world, if they change their menu, will serve their “signature” dish, think Five Ages of Parmesan at Osteria Francescana or the balloon at Alinea. I think the non-repeating of a menu item forces Noma to be creative and to also throw some dishes on the menu that take some risks. Our first dish of the night, reindeer brain custard, was an example of this. The custard was topped with a gel made out of chestnuts, and the dish left us wondering if it was a good dish or not, mainly because neither of us are familiar with the taste of reindeer brain. But that’s how Noma goes - you’re going to try some shit that you’ve never contemplated trying in your life and 95% of the time you’re going to wonder why you don’t eat that ingredient every day because its so delicious, but of course we don’t have Noma to cook for us every day.

After three visits to Noma i’ve noticed a few recurring themes to how the team likes the structure it’s menu. For one, the first dish and the last dish normally have something in common. At our first visit during the vegetable season it was a potato soup served in a flower pot for our first dish and a cake shaped like a flower pot. For the seafood season it was a raw scallop to begin and a chocolate seafood cod to end, and finally for the game and forest it was reindeer brain custard to begin and a reindeer caramel to end. They also like to have a milk dish to start the desserts instead of a cheese course, which we’ve had berries and cream, sheep’s milk with dried berries, and buttermilk and scoby. There are also some ingredients that Noma likes to showcase - there is normally some sort of insect dish (grasshoppers, ants, etc), there is also the most delicious small pine cone somewhere in the meal, and they like to use quince instead of lemon to help flavor a dish or two. The Noma fermentation lab is always very involved in the dishes, whether it’s overt or not. There are garums, sauces, juices and whole dishes that the fermentation team works on and show up through out the meal.

Eat This:

The end of September through December is game and forest season, which is the only season which meat plays a predominate role (or really a role at all) at Noma. There is one menu, and it’s a whirlwind so hang on for the ride.

Reindeer brain custard

The first dish was served in a reindeer skull. We were asked to turn the skull over the reveal the reindeer brain which was covered in a chesnut gel. The reindeer brain tasted and had the texture of a pate, while the chesnut custard was like of like a weird jello experiment. This was a dish where we couldn’t quite figure out if it tasted good or bad, because it was so different than anything we’ve really ever had. Normally I like the first dish to be outstanding and set the tone, but what I think this dish did was let us know we were going to try some stuff we’ve never tried so be ready for it.

hipberry stuffed with Pollen

This dish and the next were focused on the bee, with this hipberry being stuffed with sweet bee pollen. The hipberry was very sour and reminded me of the fruit leather from past Noma meals. Noma did a very similar dish with this same combination for the first rendention of the Game and Forest menu in 2018.

pluM with bee larvae

One thing that Noma excels at is presentation. The plating of this dish inside of a honeycomb accentuated the fact that we were eating bee larvae. The plum’s sweetness and texture complimented the stuffed larvae on the inside perfectly.

Pickled Quail Egg

The pickled egg was served on with seaweed and truffle spread. The seaweed added a nice balance to the egg and heartiness of the truffle.

Oregano Sandwich

This was one of the best bites of the night. The Mexican oregano leaf was stuffed with chopped up truffles, and the oregano provided a buttery, umami texture to combine with the truffle.

Wild Board Speck & Chestnut Paste

This was, for both of us, the best tasting dish of the night. The boar meat was so juicy and tasty and combined with the chestnut paste it was so damn good. It was also served with quince, which we were to squeeze over it like a lemon.

Grilled Mushrooms

Served alongside the boar was grilled hen of the woods mushrooms. The Hen of the Woods is a huge mushroom that can be upwards of 35 pounds each. We were served a piece that was smeared with a garum from the fermentation lab. An amazing, earthy bite.

Apple Salad

This dish continued another theme of the night, which was turning over the vessel to reveal the edible portion of the dish. We were served a cut out apple (see below) which we turned over to reveal cubes of apples and ants in a sweet broth. You know the dish is good when you drink the remaining broth out of the cup, which we did.

Yellow Beet Sashimi

The yellow beets were cut sashimi style and served over cloudberries. The earthiness of the beet mixed well with the sweetness of the cloudberries. I think this is obligatory time to bring attention to the beauty of each dish which Noma serves. Noma has a serving style unlike any in the world. They combine the intricacy of the dish with the earthiness of the plate, and pay homage to the season and theme I think the best of any place in the world. There aren’t too many restaurants where you can show a picture of a dish and immediately guess where it came from, but Noma is one of those places.

Reindeer Ragout

The warm reindeer ragout salad was served in a huge leaf which you ate with a spoon. Three days after we dined at Noma, Eric Ripert of Le Bernardin went to Noma and his dish was “reindeer penis” served with caviar on top. Did we have reindeer penis? God we hope so.

Pumpkin in Koji Butter

The pumpkin was wrapped in a cabbage and served with a froth of koji butter. What was subtle and nice about this dish was that the chefs cut up the cabbage to make each bite each to eat. Too many fine dining restaurants serve dishes that are physically difficult to eat, which almost always takes away from the enjoyment of the experience, especially when you’re trying to cut something and the juices are flying everywhere.

Bear Dumpling

This is, as Adam Carolla would say, a classic rich man, poor man situation. The only people in the world who have tried bear are rich people who go to Noma and poor people who hunt bear in Appalachia. I think we’re pretty much right in the middle of that demographic now that we live in South Carolina.

The bear was served in a warm dumpling, and we were given a spoon of bear caramel so we could get an understanding of the flavor of the bear. I don’t think my palate is sophisticated enough to recognize the quintessential bear flavor, but this dish overall was very balanced and tasted delicious.

Wild Duck

The duck was served with a truffle sauce, very reminiscent of the sauced celeriac shawarma served during vegetable season 2018. It was served with different plays on leaves and feathers, which were all edible.

Having duck a few days earlier at Mirazur, which was pretty underwealming, this duck was well seasoned and cooked perfectly. The star of the show for me though were the leaf and feather sides, which balanced the duck and showed the amazing talents of the Noma chefs.

Foraged Things

This one didn’t have a title, so I’m going to call it foraged shit you find in the woods. The pine cone, a Noma staple and one of the most amazing things you’ll ever eat, showed up here, along with various nuts, pickled fruits, and leaves.

Mushroom broth with Sumac

Next we were served a mushroom broth with a piece of the sumac bush. We were told to soak up the mushroom broth with the sumac and then suck the sumac. Sumac by itself does not taste good, but sucking the juices from it added a subtle sweetness and bitterness to the mushroom broth which accentuated its flavor. Probably one of the more unique dishes we’ve ever had.

Buttermilk and Scoby

We are now transitioning to the desserts, and our first was a buttermilk ice cream with a kombucha scoby on top. This was the one miss of the night for us - we thought the ice cream was served too hard that it almost hurt when biting in, and the scoby didn’t add much to the non-flavored ice cream.

Saffron Ice Cream with Poppyseeds

The saffron ice cream was layered between rich dark chocolate from Mexico. I thought the chocolate counter balanced the saffron nicely, and it was also nice to have the layers of chocolate to dig into.

Reindeer Marrow Caramel

The last bite started like the first, with us flipping over the bone to reveal the caramel marrow and dried berries. The caramel was sweet and had a perfect, not too sticky, texture. This was an outstanding dish that left us wanting more.

Drink This:

Both Yvonne and I did the juice pairing this time, which are always amazing. My favorites were the bee pollen and the cloudberry and pumpkin. At the end of the meal, I asked if I could have a schnapps, which is a traditional Nordic way to end a meal. I was brought out an apple schnapps from the Sydfyenske region, which is a large island that separates the main part of Denmark that connections with Germany to the region where Copenhagen is. The story goes that 100 years ago most workers would take an apple on the train for breakfast as they went to work. Once they were done, they discarded the apple pit off the train. Flash forward to today, and now there are thousands of apple trees of various varieties all over this park of Denmark. The schnapps I had was made from these apple trees in a direct collaboration with Noma and is called “Jernbaner”after the railway company which still operates there.

Bee Pollen

Apple Schnapps

Seaweed Lemonade

Cloudberry and Pumpkin

Atmosphere:

The vibe at Noma always feels like a fairytale. From when you approach the gate, to the long walk down the path past the greenhouses, test kitchen, and garden, the approach to the main dining room door which is always decorated for the season, and then the parade to your seat always feels like you are entering a world which you never want to leave. I’ve always felt it was hard to take it all in at Noma, because there is so much going on and everything seems so magical that you don’t want to miss anything, from the decorations to the kitchen, to Rene Redzepi roaming around. When you walk out after your meal is done, you look back and it almost feels like a dream. I never went to the old Noma location, but the current location is hallowed culinary ground to me.

Main kitchen

The alley of antlers

Long path to the entrance

Main dining room

Noma Hospitality:

One of my only complaints about Noma is that the hospitality can come off, at times, as cold. When we were first seated our waitress said “I understand this is your first time.” That right there tells you that there is a miscommunication somewhere, or they don’t have a good system of knowing when there are repeating guests, or worse yet they don’t care. We also have noticed that the team plays favoritism to certain guests, whether its Rene Redzepi delivering dishes to certain tables and not others, or certain tables getting special dishes. This creates a feeling, for those of us who don’t receive that treatment, that we aren’t special enough to receive these special items from the team. And maybe we aren’t special, but on a night where you go to a place that you love you want to be treated that way. It’s like when you go to the big dance and see your crush making out with the high school quarterback. This has never set well with me, especially for someone who cares about what Noma means to the culinary world and how important I believe what they are doing with fermentation, foraging, and their work as a whole. I just want them to pretend to care about me as much as I care about them. And maybe that’s not possible, but I don’t think its too much to ask to know that we’ve traveled to Copenhagen three times just to visit Noma that this isn’t our first time at the restaurant.

Also a few other things I’ve noticed that have changed, and for me not for the better. Noma used to give you a menu with the date on it. Now the date is missing, which is a small thing, but just makes me think that they print the menus out a week ahead of time. The date added a personal touch that let you feel like that day was your day at Noma and was special. They also didn’t give us a little trinket for the season, which they used to do for each guest. They also brought us the same dish twice, which I’ve never seen happen at any three Michelin star restaurant. They were nice about it, and let us keep it and eat it, but still that is a mistake that shouldn’t happen.

The front door, with dead ducks and all

The front door at night

The top of the apple and ants dish

The view from our table

Frankie’s Notes:

Sam Hart, chef at Counter-, told us that his friend Alex was working at Noma. Before we went, we DMed Alex on Instagram (@reunionparkpopup) to tell him we knew Sam and that we were dining at Noma next week. He said to say hi, so we told our waitress when we arrived at Noma that we wanted to say hello to him at some point in the meal. Keep in mind, we’ve never met him, just DMed him on his food-based Instagram, so we have no idea what he looks like. After our meal is over, Alex shows up and we talk for a bit. He was a little quiet, but we figured we took him from his job, so we didn’t think anything of it. The next day I DMed him and just said how proud we were of a local guy from North Carolina working at Noma. He then writes back and says sorry he didn’t have time to come by and say hi to us the night before. SO WHO DID WE SPEAK TO? Turns out there is another American Alex from Virginia who we came and spoke to us and pretended to know who we were. Sorry Virginia Alex, we didn’t mean to freak you out by asking to speak to you, we were just asking to speak to the other American Alex. A classic case of Alex mix-ups.

Rating: 5 out of 5 with 3 Michigan Pugs

Putting all the hospitality qualms aside, Noma still dazzles with its unique, amazing food and fairytale atmosphere. It remains my favorite restaurant in the world and a place that any fine-dining lover should visit. Comparing it to the other seasons, we both enjoyed the menu slightly more than the seafood season and slightly less than the vegetable season. The vegetable season was our first visit, and I think that will always be number one for us since it was such a revelation for us as far as what a meal could be, so it will always be hard to top that, but Game and Forest lives up to the hype and then some.

 

Counter-

For those of you looking back at this picture in 50 years - Covid-19 was a special time for everyone

Background:

Counter- is the brainchild of Sam Hart, a Charlotte born and raised chef who trained at CPCC in culinary arts and worked at some of the best restaurants in Chicago, including Alinea. He came back to Charlotte in 2019 with a mission of opening a fine-dining establishment in the Queen City to rival the best restaurants in the world - he’s told me multiple times he wants to be on The World’s 50 Best Restaurants list in the next five years. That’s quite ambitious for any chef, and more importantly quite ambitious for a city which has not received much national or international recognition. But that’s the point - Chef Hart wants to put Charlotte on the world’s culinary map.

Hart started by doing pop-ups around Charlotte under the name Anomaly in 2019, honing and testing his concept. After proving popular, he opened up his brick and mortar on Thrift Road in September 2020. Counter- serves a ten course, fixed price tasting menu Tuesday through Saturday that starts in price at $105 but goes up depending upon wine pairings and add ons.

What makes Counter- unique is it’s showmanship. Each course is paired with music to make a full immersive dinning experience. Chef Hart also has wears a microphone and story tells through each course, explaining the dish and how it relates to the theme of the meal and the music. Of all the fine dining restaurants we’ve been to, it is the most “showy” of any of them. You are here for an experience which just happens to serve you dinner. This is not a place to have an intimate meal or restaurant where you should go to catch up with a long lost friend. This is the high end, broadway show version of a Medieval Times. You are here to be entertained, but also enjoy and amazing meal, and somehow Counter- tends to pull off the show every time while still maintaining a Michelin level food and wine program. Charlotte ain’t in Kansas anymore.

Eat This:

At Counter- there is one menu and you’ve got to buckle up and enjoy the show. The menu changes seasonally with a new theme. Each theme is completely different from the next. Counter- also does pop ups a few times a season are normally a weekend. Some recent themes have been A Tribute to John Williams (where each course is themed after a movie score), Kanye West’s My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy Album, and F*ck the Stars (a menu to make fun of Michelin starred restaurants). I tend to enjoy the seasonal menus better, as the team tends to hone in on the dishes and improve them over the course of the season. That’s why we always try to go at the end of each season, so we’ve given the team time to work out all the kinks and provide us with the best menu possible.

We’ve been six times since they opened, so instead of going through each meal i’m going to highlight some of our favorite dishes we’ve enjoyed throughout our visits.

Autumn

bruleed kombocha squash, cured sea bass that is poached in an acorn/squash dashi and then wrapped in a corn square.

Counter- loves to showcase local ingredients. This sea bass was highlighted by squash, which is abudent in the regions around Charlotte. The presentation on this dish is one of the best presentations of fish you can get in the world.

Foie Gras emulsion

Foie Gras, Orange, Hennessy, Caraway

The sphere emulsions pop up on a few of Counter-’s menus, but the best one showed up on the Beethoven tribute dinner with this foie gras mousse emulsion. The bite was rich, creamy, and decadent while still highlighting the liver flavor.

Pastarami Carrot

This was a collaboration dish with Ian Jones during the F*ck the Stars dinner. Anyone who can make carrots taste amazing is a winner in my book, and this pastrami carrot brought me back to having hot pastrami at Katz. It’s one of the top vegetarian dishes i’ve ever had, and it could easily show up on a restaurant like Noma’s menu and fit right in.

Sweet Potato Makhani

This is a southern version of butter chicken, with the chicken being replaced with sweet potatoes and collard greens.

A delight for me always is when a chef takes a classic dish, uses local ingredients, and makes it their own.

Oh and we need to mention Chef Elinn Hesse’s laffa bread. Hesse is making some of the best bread in Charlotte, and we look forward to her concoctions each trip to Counter-.

Hawaii

36 hour braised pork shoulder, lusty monk mustard, grilled pineapple, Hawaiian slaw, bacon fat mayo, bacon fat roasted gold potatoes with moa sauce.

This dish was served during the fire menu, and was a tribute to a Hawaiian luau. The different textures of pork, from the pulled pork to the crispy bacon bits made this dish stand out.

Blumenthal

Duck liver mousse, duck leg confit, caramelized onion soubise

This dish was a tribute to Heston Blumenthalfrom the Covers menu. The duck liver mousse with chocolate created a multi-sensory experience with the rich duck liver, cherries, and sweet/bitter chocolate.

Truffle Cream Puff

Pate a choux with pastry cream of foie gras, egg yolk, freshly grated white truffle, sugar, cream topped with black truffle and powedered sugar.

To me this is the signature dish of Counter- and maybe the best dish in all of charlotte. The foie gras/truffle cream on the inside of cream puff is so good it could be considered gold currency in some countries.

Kaiserschmarrn

pancake ice cream with a sugar twill and rum soaked cherries

Chef Elinn Hesse’s take on a traditional German smashed pancake dessert.

Not only was this dessert stunningly beautiful, but the maple tasting pancake with the rum soaked cherries left us wanting more.

Foie-cicle

foie gras, lemongrass, sea salt

This was another collaboration from the F*ck the Stars dinner.

I guess the foie dessert, maybe started with David Chang a decade ago, is becoming a trend. Cold and foie gras go together, and it tastes delicious with a little lemongrass added in.

Adria

Strawberry yogurt explosion, strawberries multiple ways, thyme gel, coconut snow, shortbread cookies

The strawberry explosion is a tribute to El Bulli’s famous olive emulsion. I love an explosion like this, but the highlight for me on this dish was the soaked strawberry jelly in the middle. The intense strawberry flavor made for a refreshing end of the meal.

Drink This:

Counter- has a fantastic wine program, offering one of the best value wine pairings you can do at a fine dining restaurant; however, we tend to stick to the non-alcoholic pairings, and Chef never disappoints us with unique and fun spirit-free concoctions.

Lavender butterfly pea cream soda

Of all the non-alcoholic beverages served at Counter-, this one stood out as the best. The drink tasted like a mix between a milk shake and a botantical, with a delicious, light floral flavor mixed with the cream.

Cheerwine Manhattan

with burnt sage

Chef Hart loves Cheerwine, as do I, and he tries to incorporate it into most of the non-alcoholic pairings. This Cheerwine manhattan with burnt sage was a nice way to mix the sweetness of the cheerwine with the smell of the sage added for a refreshing drinking experience.

ATMOSPHERE:

Counter- is a 16 seat “counter” that encircles a prep-table with the main kitchen looming in the background. For each theme the decorations change, including the artwork which Chef Hart curates from local artists and then sells at the end of the season, with the profits going back to the artist. The team’s clothing also matches the themes, always in a fun and whimsical way.

Counter- is not your typical sit-down dinner. Don’t come here expecting an intimate meal. You are here to be entertained, eat well and learn something. In a way, Chef Hart is giving you a behind the scenes, in your face look at how a Michelin-starred restaurant runs. Instead of just sitting at a table and the food coming to you, the veil of secrecy is lifted and the diner is shown under the hood of how everything works. Do we see it all - of course not, we don’t see the hours of prep-work that goes into each meal, but the diner is explained the thought process of the meal and why the chefs did what they did to exacting detail. The education aspect is very important for Hart, and comes through in each meal.

The meal is choreographed to music and lasts about 2 hours, with two seating each night. So everything is timed out to perfection, leaving just enough time at the end to hang out for a few minutes without feeling rushed to leave. It also allows for a compact dining experience that leaves you satisfied and not bored.

Chef Hart showing us the truffles

View of the counter seating (hello Danny!)

View of Counter- from the outside

Charlotte Hospitality:

Counter- offers a Michelin Star hospitality experience, with each member of the small staff trained on all aspects of the meal, from each dish to every wine pairing.

Our one quip is the up-charging during the meal of “add-ons,” such as the truffle course. Allow diners to choose an up-charge when you make the reservation or don’t have them at all. Doing an up-charge sell in the middle of service is a little tacky and makes people feel uncomfortable. Also we’ve never liked it when people around you are getting different courses then you, especially in such a shared experience.

FRANKIE’s NOTES:

Putting a dash (-) at the end of your name is a little pretentious, and if you do it don’t expect anyone to actually spell out the name with the dash; How much do we have to pay to have the truffle cream puff delivered to us at our house each morning?; We are still waiting for the Tenacious D tribute diner, and we will patiently wait until 2026 if we have to do for this - I Love you baby, but all I can think about is…Kielbasa Sausage.

RATING:

The most admirable trait of Counter- is the ability of the restaurant to take risks and not be afraid to fail. Chef Hart is willing to throw out a controversial dish to see if it works or not. Most restaurants will keep a menu pretty stagnant, but Hart charges menus almost too much. He was the first to have a true upscale tasting-menu restaurant in Charlotte where many more seasoned chefs around the city said it was not possible. His success has paved the way for other restaurants to follow suit and believe that the Charlotte dinning scene is ready for the big time.

Every city needs a restaurant like Counter-: a restaurant that isn’t afraid to bring something great to a city hungry for greatness.

5 OUT OF 5 WITH 2 MICHIGAN PUGS

 

The Catbird Seat

BACKGROUND:

Nashville is perhaps the epicenter of the Southern food scene. And arguably, one of Nashville’s best is The Catbird Seat. Catbird opened in 2011 and was designed as a culinary laboratory with constantly changing chefs. Currently, they are on their fifth head chef, Brian Baxter, who previously worked at McGrady’s, Husk, and Bastion.

I stumbled upon Catbird while talking to a local Charlotte chef, who said that Catbird was his favorite restaurant in America at the moment. That’s high praise for any restaurant, especially one not in Chicago, New York, or San Francisco. I was going to Nashville in November on a work trip, so I convinced my work colleagues to pony up some money and try the restaurant out.

Going with work people, not food people, was quite an adventure. There were eight of us, and six of the eight had never been to a tasting menu restaurant. This brought me back to my first tasting menu experiences at the original Momofuku Ko. It was a whirlwind, and I wasn’t quite sure what happened, or if what I had was good, but I knew it was an experience. A tasting menu is not a traditional meal, and in a lot of ways it’s the opposite of what a lot of people typically think of as a “nice restaurant”: you don’t order, the plates are small, you don’t share, it’s new flavors that are meant to get you out of your comfort zone, not necessarily heavy on meat, etc. A tasting menu is an experience that, for most people, necessitates some education and training. It was interesting to me to see this dynamic play out in front of my eyes, with some people hating the experience and others loving it. It was a good reminder to me that there are “live to eat” and “eat to live” people, and to reach the “eat to live” people at a tasting menu restaurant is a tough ask. If I were to do it again, I would have explained what a tasting menu was beforehand and make everyone swear an oath on a stack of Guy Fieri’s Trashcan Nachos that if they came, they were going to give it a chance and not complain the whole time that everything was too salty and the servings were too small. When you go to a dinner and people are outwardly not enjoying it, it brings down the whole mood and experience for everyone. Did I enjoy the meal? Yes, but definitely not as much as I would have if everyone knew what they were getting into.

EAT THIS:

Catbird offers two seatings with a 10-12 course tasting menu for $145/person. The late seating offers an extended course option for an extra $50/person. Catbird offers four distinct seasons running three months each. We attended Fall, which runs from roughly October to the beginning of January.

Fall Vegetable Crudité

with black chesnut hoisin

The first two bites were plated on a wood plank, letting us know, if we didn’t already, that it’s autumn time. First bites are so important, because if they suck it is hard to recover, as you always remember the first bite. Both of these were light and refreshing palate cleansers but also delicious bites.

Lion’s MaNE Mushroom

Dressed in nasturtium kosho, shisho

A beautiful looking bite and a tasty one - who doesn’t love a lion’s mane mushroom?

Royal Red Shrimp & Collard Green Dumpling

with the pot liquor and toasted nigella seed oil

The next small bite was the collar green dumpling - a clear homage to local ingredients being prepared with Asian techniques.

Oyster Pie

with pickled dulse and beer cream

Multiple people asked what to eat on this plate. Note to my fellow diners: you probably can’t eat an oyster shell. But the question did bring up a good debate - should you plate dishes with inedible features on them? I personally lean toward “no.” I think you should plate a dish exactly how you want people to eat it and leave all the crap off.

Crispy Grits, preserved horseradish, swordfish “Ham”, green garlic tamari

As Scarlett O’Hara might say, I have NEVER thought of having grits with horseradish and ham, but my gawd this southern lady has felt things eating this bite that she has never felt before. Get my fainting salts.

Spiny Lobster, tiger’s milk, maypop

I am a SUCKER for dry ice food. Dippin Dots - love. Tiger’s Milk - love. The cold of the bite with the melting and creaminess once it’s in your mouth. Chef’s kiss. Who doesn’t love that?

Coal Roasted maitake mushroom

with uni and rose bearnaise

The uni flavor really shined through on this dish - the rich umami flavor really highlighted the subtlety of the maitake.

Charred Brassicas

with fermented tomato and preserved lemon

If you don’t do a charred cabbage/lettuce dish on your tasting menu are you even doing a tasting menu, bro?

Hakurei Turnips

with turnip top butter, smoked trout roe

This one was special. The trout roe with the turnips and butter just tasted amazing with so many levels of complexity flavors and textures.

Fairy Tale Pumpkin

makrut lime from our garden, red curry

Tropical flavors added a special flare to what most people think of as a winter gourd. I loved the contrast of flavors and where this dish took me in my mind. Perhaps to someplace in India on the coast on the one day of the year they get snow.

Spot Prawn

green apple, chrysanthemum

The transition dish to the protein heavy portion of the menu. I am a big fan of raw prawns/shrimp. Always have been since I was six years old and we would go to Nakatos and my mom would let me order the shrimp off the sushi boat menu.

Scallop

Pumpkin butter, preserved gooseberry

Berries seemed to be the connecting theme of the meal. So many dishes contained variations of berries in unusual presentations that it was clear the kitchen wanted us to know about the berries. I’m a big berry fan, and I loved the sweetness that they added to the scallops.

Octopus

parsley root, sauce grenobloise

I mopped up that sauce like an octopus crawls around the bottom of the ocean looking for food. I guess that was the point of the dish.

Barbecued Pork Ribs

butternut salad

LOOK AT THE PEANUTS ON THIS FATTY PORK RIB AND IMAGINE YOU ARE BITTING INTO THAT JUICY, SAUCY, FALL OF THE BONE BEAUTY. Just try not to cry tears of joy.

21 Day Dry Aged Duck

porcini, pickled huckleberry, and sauce chevreuil finished with a paste made from blackberries

This was a two-parter, with the dry aged duck with blackberries (thematic element alert) and then the duck pie. 1. Lamb. 2. Duck 3. Pork (belly specific) are my current ranking of meats. Happy to discuss my rankings over a rack of lamb.

Duck Pie

This new iPhone really does great pouring pics. Kudos Tim Cook. The only problem with this duck pie was it was meant to be shared with another person, and I didn’t want to do that. At this point of the meal the newbies were too full to eat it anyway, so more duck for me. Thank you.

Killed Lettuce

You hand dipped the lettuce in the dressing. This one was clunky and hard to handle. The only miss of the night for me.

Yeast donut

foie gras, cherry

This was my favorite dish of the night. The foie really balanced the sweetness and tartness of the cherry (thematic element alert) to make for the perfect bite.

Stewed berries

chamomile, burnt vanilla

THEMATIC. ELEMENT. ALERT.

Burnt Brioche

peanut praline, saba

This was a grown up PB&J sandwich. For those of you who love peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, this would have been your dream dish. I’m not the biggest fan of grape jelly, so it wasn’t my favorite but it was perfectly executed so I’m not going to let my crap palate ruin this for all of you.

Beef Fat Butterscotch

Chocolate & Hazelnut

Two perfect bites to end the night. Homemade caramel and a homemade Ferrero rocher were the perfect sweet bites to leave us wanting more.

DRINK:

There are a few options. You can do a wine pairing, non-alcoholic pairing, or drinks by the glass. I opted for the non-alcoholic pairing, because I’m the first pregnant man in the history of humanity, and ps my wife is tired of people asking every time she goes out and doesn’t drink if she’s pregnant. As a veteran of non-alcoholic pairings, this was one of the most inventive and enjoyable i’ve had. Here are a few of my favorites:

Tea

This tea was given to everyone right after our first bites. The tea had been seeping before our eyes on the way into the dining area.

Red Whyne

hibiscus, pinot noir verjus, beet, cherry, cranberry, black+green+white peppercorn, mint

This was a kombucha that was meant to taste like red wine to be paired with the duck and pork belly, and by golly if they didn’t pull it off.

Ps that camera and the guy wearing a baseball hat in the restaurant is my good friend Scott Scarano. He wants you to know that his previous best restaurant was Applebees.

Root

sassafras, sarsaparilla, wintergreen, vanilla, birch + maple syrup, apple cider vinegar.

I love root beer – it’s one of my favorite flavors. So, a root-beer flavored kombucha is just for me.

ATMOSPHERE

My ideal dining experience is a small counter surrounding the kitchen where you can see all the action. The setting took me back to Kitchen Table in London, the original Momofuku Ko, and our very own Counter- right here in Charlotte. I can watch the show of the cooking and plating all night, plus the constant interaction with the chefs make the night even more personal and fun.

Always say it’s someone’s birthday, even when it’s not (aforementioned Scott)

That’s it folks - the kitchen and chef’s table surrounding

The head of the beverage program - I don’t remember your name but you were amazing

NASHVILLE HOTSPITALITY:

Every server/chef/bartender/hostess at Catbird deserves a gold star for putting up with our crew, who I am pretty sure experienced their exact definition of a “nightmare” that they fear as far as a party of eight going to a nice restaurant. So bless them, and thank you for putting up with us. I promise you that when I come back it will be just me and Yvonne and we will not scream at you.

Frankie’s Notes:

The ven diagram of people who do CrossFit seven days a week and people who understand a good tasting menu is very small if non-existent; Nashville is so hip in the national restaurant scene that it almost seems like not enough people/pugs are talking about it; Hattie B’s has the best hot chicken I tried and I tried them all. They may not be the original but damn it’s good; Accountants know how to party, just not this accountant because I am a true A-type like the Jerry accountant in Soul.

Rating:

A sign of a great restaurant is that even if your company is kind of weird, and you’re having a strange dining experience, the restaurant and food will still shine through. Catbird is a top restaurant, and if it were in a New York or Chicago it would have a lot more notoriety. If you are visiting Nashville, it’s a must visit if you can score a table.

5 OUT OF 5 WITH 2 MICHIGAN PUGS

 

Casa Tabachin

Background:

Back in November, we had the pleasure of staying at Casa Tabachin, an amazing, eight-suite home with a full-time staff, chef, and concierge service in stunning Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. Neither of us had visited Puerto Vallarta or Mexico before, and we were blown away by the beauty and walkability of the area.

Our chef, Luis, created so many amazing meals for us during our stay. Sometimes we would give our input, like when Jason was craving quesadillas, but most of the time we told him just to cook whatever he was feeling. This method never left us disappointed, from chile rellenos to huevos rancheros to grilled meats and vegetables, we ate so well at Casa Tabachin. 

The wonderful House Manager Lala and her team made sure we had a never-ending supply of the best margaritas we’ve ever tasted in addition to keeping our rooms tidy and even running a load of laundry for us before we flew off to Mexico City.

We also had the pleasure of having Vallarta Tequila Tasting come to the house for a mezcal tasting! We learned so much, and I even bought a bottle to take home so I can remember my Casa Tabachin vacation for months to come.

Another great part about Casa Tabachin is their partnership with Mexitravels. Through their service you can book activities to help bring another level to your stay. We booked glorious in-house massages and a super fun day trip of ziplining with Vallarta Adventures. 

We can’t wait to return to beautiful Puerto Vallarta and Casa Tabachin someday soon!

 

Pujol

Background:

Enrique Olvera opened Pujol back in 2000. 20 years later, it is considered by many as the best restaurant in Mexico, and it consistently makes an appearance on the World’s 50 Best Restaurants List (currently #12). He also has a sister concept, Cosme, in NYC, which is always on the top 50 list as well. Some credit Olvera and Pujol with putting Mexican food on the world map, where today it is hotter than the hottest chili pepper out of Oaxaca. Chefs from all over the world flock to Mexico, Rene Redzepi of Noma being the most famous, to get inspired, find themselves, learn more about God, and maybe to adopt a chihuahua. Speaking of Redzepi, Olvera is definitely part of the Noma gang – a cult of like minded chefs who see the the world of food as an expression of culture, modernism, and anarchy from the traditional, white table clothing fine dining establishment. Scallionpancake definitely follows this train of food thought as well, and will happily drink Kool Aid and wear Nikes with the rest of the Noma-ites.

Growing up in the US, but in the part of the US that is not close to Mexico (South Carolina), I’ve always thought of Mexico in the stereotypical ways that most white Americans think of Mexico – either a dangerous and drug lord infested or a place where teenagers go on spring break to lose their virginities. Obviously, this is borderline racist, wrong of me, and couldn’t be further from the truth. Puerto Vallarta and Mexico City couldn’t have been more fascinating and beautiful, and it’s filled with the nicest people, the most delicious food, and rich history. And even better, Mexico is so close to us – a quick three-hour non-stop flight from Charlotte to Mexico City and you’re a 20 minute Uber ride from eating delicious tacos. What this trip to Mexico taught me was even seasoned travelers like Yvonne and myself have stereotypes of places that are untrue and embarrassingly ignorant. That’s what makes travel so magical and so important, because as more people travel to places where people don’t look like us, or share our same culture backgrounds or heritage, we realize that we’re got way more in common then we have differences.

Now that I’m off my high horse, let’s talk food.

Eat This:

There are two dining options at Pujol. You can either make a reservation in the dining room where a seven course tasting menu is offered (a choice either of either sea (2554 pesos) or corn (2227 pesos), or you can eat at the taco bar and indulge in a 10 course taco menu. We chose the main dining section, and we were each allowed to pick a different tasting menu, so Yvonne went with the corn, and I went with the sea.

Earlier in the day, we had eaten at Quintonil for lunch, which was amazing, but was also a three-hour tasting menu. So, we were still pretty full from that experience; however, we are not quitters…we are Pancakes. And as a Pancake, sometimes you book two tasting menus in a day. Last time we did this was in Lima, where we did Maido and Astrid & Gaston in the same day. We vowed after that to never do that again, but that was two years ago, and how bad could it really be? Plus, we really only had one day in Mexico City, so we had to squeeze both of them in, no matter how uncomfortable our stomachs might feel at night.

Street Snacks

Both tastings started with street snacks, which consisted of this crunchy, fried tortilla with salsa. I believe this little bite changes frequently based on the season, unlike the elotito below.

Elotito

with ant mayonnaise

This is Pujol’s play on the traditional elote, which is a staple Mexican snack traditionally made with grilled corn, chiles, peppers, cotija cheese, sour cream, and lime. Pujol’s twist is taking the topping and making a spicy, tangy mayonnaise from ants. This dish was served warm, and it was so good I could have eaten 4,000.

Chayote Squash

with scallop pico

When you look at this dish, you’d think the bottom layer was the scallop, but it’s actually the opposite. The chayaote squash is flown in directly from Oaxaca, where it cooks in low temperature water for a few hours. Then they are “laminated” and covered in lime juice.

Tlayuda

with black beans, cheese, tomato, grasshopper

Tlayuda is a traditional Oaxacan dish. You can tell that Pujol really cares about highlighting traditional Mexican dishes and cooking, as well as showcasing the amazing diversity of ingredients that make Mexico so special. This dish is simple, yet so tasty.

Kampachi Ceviche

cacahuazintle juice, celery, yuzu

Cacahuazintle is an old variety of corn prized in Mexico. You don’t normally think of a ceviche made from corn, but we are in the land of corn so why not? The Kampachi was, as you’d expect, lightly cooked and served to perfection.

Huitlachoche

with black truffle

Huitlachoche is fungus that grows on corn, and to me has the deep, umami flavor of a blue cheese. Put some black truffle on that and you’ve got the makings of a delicious little taco, or two, or three.

This is the time in the meal when the tortillas start flowing to the table, and they are so good it’s hard not to keep eating them, but if you want to survive the meal – pace yourself, as there is a lot more to come. The easy way we’ve found to do this is just stick the tortillas in your purse for a late night snack down the road (always carry a special tortilla purse for these occasions).

Octopus

The octopus is marinated in a paste made from chilis and grasshoppers that is then grilled. This was the best dish (other than the mole) of the night to me. The chili paste added a unique outer texture to the octopus that made this dish complex and delicious.

Plantain Tamal

hoja santa, mushroom barbacoa

The plantain is made from roasted bananas and served with a side of barbecued mushrooms. The mushrooms are mixed with an adobo and left to sit overnight. Then the tamale is wrapped in a “holy leaf” and served together.

Striped bass

mole verde, fava bean, kosho

Look at that piece of fish! The skin was so crispy and delicious, yet the meat was almost rare beneath. Delicate, tasty, magical.

Wild herb open Papadzul

quail egg, chiltomate

The papadzul is an ancient Mayan dish that is said to be the precursor to the enchilada. This dish is made by dipping a tortilla in sauce made from pumpkin seeds and then serving it with hardboiled eggs.

Mole

Mole madre 2,057 days, mole nuevo

This the THE dish of Pujol, and boy did it live up the hype. On the day we were there, it was the 2,057 day of the mother mole (black), which had the richest, most savory taste. Mixed with the new, fresher mole, this dish was complex and just out right delicious. You could eat this all day, every day, and never get tired of it.

At this point in the meal we are brought outside to their extensive patio, where we were told we would be served our desserts. It’s important to note that we are so full at this point, that we literally wanted to get out of there as fast as possible, not because the meal was bad, in fact it was amazing, but because we thought we would embarrass ourselves by throwing up on another patron. But we stomached through, because we’re not quitters, and because we love dessert.

Corn Cake

rum, vanilla, cacao

You’ve got to finish the corn menu with a corn cake. I ended up liking this dessert more than my matcha, because this is a classic, sweet, delicious dessert. Nothing super fancy, but something you want to eat over and over again.

Matcha Nicolatole

soursop, shiso, basil

This was a dessert made for Yvonne. Not too sweet. Contains soursop. Green.

Congrats!

almond cake, passion fruit, raspberry sorbet, gold powder.

Pro tip: always say it’s your birthday/anniversary at a Michelin-starred restaurant, because they almost always have a special dish waiting for you. When we went to Pujol, it was legitimately a week before our anniversary, so we didn’t feel like we were cheating, but we may also celebrate our half-year anniversary and also maybe our dogs’ birthdays. This cake was worth it – who doesn’t love an almond cake with raspberry sorbet and gold dust on top? Happy third anniversary, big tuna!

Churro

We were DEAD at this point, literally couldn’t put anything else in our mouths, but then they bring out this churro and dear lord how could we say no? It was so good, I kept eating and literally thought i was going to have to call an ambulance. The outside was on the edge of crunchiness, and the inside was soft and moist like a baby’s bottom. It’s the best churro I’ve ever had, hands down.

Drink:

We are in the land of mezcal, tequila, and all varieties in between. You really haven’t had proper tequila or mezcal until you’ve been to Mexico, as there are hundred of varieties based on the type of agave plant, distillation process, and area of the country that the liquor is being produced. Probably the most interesting thing we learned was that you eat oranges with tequila, not lime. Lime is too acid and takes away all the flavor of the tequila, while oranges provide a more proper balance. It’s also traditional to dip the orange in salt, normally made with grasshoppers.

At Pujol we each got some mezcal to sip on during our meal, and I ordered a tamarind cocktail. Tamarind is one of my favorite tropical flavors, as it’s sweet and sour at the same time. Pujol had a variety of cocktails and liquors to choose from. All of which sounded and looked amazing.

Tamarind cocktail

Oranges served with our mezcal

Atmosphere:

Pujol feels like a place in one of those Dos Equis commercials, where you’ve got the Sultan of Brunei playing darts with Matthew Damon and the most mysterious man the world juggling balls of fire in front of women in long dresses. It’s got that kinetic, cool energy that makes you want just hang out and be a part of the action. The decor is pretty spartan – wood and concrete with simple, bold art on the wall, yet the vibe feels cozy and lively. That’s a hard combo to pull off, and I think it works because of the density of people and the movement of the waiters and staff. It’s got that “buzz” that only a few of the top notch restaurants in the world pull off.

The taco bar

Entrance

A portrait of a modern Mexican man (also the reception area)

The outdoor patio

Mexican Hospitality:

The staff great and attentive as one would expect at a high-caliber establishment like this. If your tortillas were running low, or you needed a drink, there was always someone there for you. It was the type of service that looking back six months later, you don’t really remember too much, which is normally a good thing. You want to remember the food and atmosphere, and normally if you remember the service it’s either really good or really bad. This one was on the good side, and went off without a hitch.

Frankie’s Notes:

Seriously kill us again if we try to do two tastings in one day. Don’t do it people. It’s not worth it; We pooped weird for a month after our Mexico trip, probably because we ate everything possible from street markets. Was it worth it? Yes - we’d do it again; Don’t be scared of the markets, this is where the magic happens, and it’s worth a little weird pooping for a bit; We saw one pug our whole trip to Mexico, but a ton of chihuahuas, go figure.

Rating:

Pujol lived up the hype and was definitely worth a visit. It’s clear that Pujol is trying to deliver the modern take on the traditional Mexican dishes, and they pull it off with a fervent intensity that even your Mexican grandma would appreciate. Next time we will try the taco bar, as it looked like there was a lot of cool stuff going on there, but we’d definitely do the tasting again too. If you’re in Mexico City, get yourself a reservation.

5 out of 5 with 2 Michigan Pugs

 

Quintonil

Background: 

We dined at Quintonil in November of 2019 on a woefully short trip in Mexico City. However brief our stay, we made it a point to visit both Quintonil and Pujol – unfortunately, we were only able to get reservations on the same day, which resulted in another overeating situation like the Peru incident of 2017. Never forget. Nevertheless, we made the most of it and decided to stuff ourselves silly for the opportunity to eat at two of the World’s 50 Best Restaurants in a single day. We absolutely vowed we would not eat ANYTHING at all before our lunch at Quintonil which would lead quickly into dinner at Pujol with only time for a short nap in between. OH WAIT. We ate both the torta and the tacos you see pictured below. This day was guaranteed to end in gastrointestinal upset as early as 9:00 a.m.

Chilaquiles in a sandwich. Magical.

We found out after we took this picture that we were definitely not allowed to take this picture. Sorry.

Yeah. That happened. Anyway, we roll up to Quintonil about 15 minutes prior to opening, not as hungry as we should be, but definitely as excited as we should be. We were also the first to arrive, which has never happened before. Got our first ever calm exterior pic (usually we are running late, it’s raining, dark, or we just plain forget this step):

Hell yeah on time!

Nothing to see here…

Not only were we first, we also witnessed Chef and owner Jorge Vallejo and his daughter come outside to open the door and greet the guests. She was wearing an adorable chef’s hat, and it was the most precious thing we’ve ever seen. Jorge and his wife and co-owner Alejandra were even dining at the same time as us! It looked like they were having a business lunch with a few other folks, and we definitely stared at them in wonder and made it awkward for all.

Of course, we opted for the tasting menu despite our full day of eating ahead! We would never let you down. However, our explanations of exactly what was in each dish are surely lacking, because although the servers came out and explained every dish in great detail, they said so many things that we had never heard of before and couldn’t catch it all to write in our notes (much like our experience in Peru). We also didn’t want to keep them there while we asked them to repeat themselves. So there was a lot of nodding and then just going for it. The servers even brought out visual aides for some dishes, which was so great and helped somewhat.

Anyway, without further ado, here’s Quintonil’s tasting menu from Tuesday, November 26, 2019:

Eat This: 

Welcome Home

I will only be welcomed home with a stack of freshly-made warm tortillas from now on, thanks. We loved that our meal started with this Mexican staple. The sauce on the left was super spicy and made with ants, which we saw (and tasted) frequently on our trip. The brown mixture in the middle was topped with huitlacoche (the fungus that grows on corn) which brought a truffle-esque kick that just took everything over the top.

It was also fun to build our own tacos while we perused the drink menu – suffice to say, we really loved this course.

Jsaon’s art! I wish I could hang it on the fridge

Milpa Alta

This course was named after one of Mexico City’s 16 alcaldías, and Milpa Alta is known for their agriculture and food – especially cactus. Once you opened the lid, dry ice smoke slowly dissipated to reveal a nopales ceviche with a crisp bite and a strong acidic finish. This was Jason’s favorite of the whole meal!

The big reveal!

Mone with Wild Mushrooms & Blue Crab

This little blue corn crab tostada was the perfect bite, and my favorite course. It was so simple, but there was a ton of flavor and mushroom umami in this tiny pocket of goodness. There was a hint of lime and chili mayo, and lest we forget that generous bite of crab! Yum.

Lobster Cocktail with guava & Coconut Foam

This was essentially lobster ceviche covered in a creamy foam. This was a light, flavorful, and visually impressive course.

Cured Trout from

Zitácuaro in Yuzu “Aquachile,” infused Oil of flowers & horseradish and an emulsion of oysters

Gah, what a fresh and colorful course! It was just bursting with flavors from the fatty trout and roe and fragrant oils.

Charred Mamey Tartare with “escamoles” and “crema De Rancho” infused in Melipona Bee Honey

Our server brought out some mamey (pictured below) for us to see. It’s a very high-sugar fruit that grows in Central America and the Caribbean, and here the sweet fruit was paired with ant eggs (escamoles), a tangy sauce, and a kiss of honey sweetness.

Mamey!

Fish “A La Tumbada”

This course was a play on a traditional stew that’s popular in the Mexican city Veracruz. Made with rice and seafood, this version included a perfectly cooked fish filet topped with the crispy skin. One of Jason’s favorites of the meal!

Atocpan-Style & a Selection of Wild Mushrooms in an Emulsion of Butter & Pitiona

We felt blessed to have two of the best moles in the world in a single day! Pairing it with buttery mushrooms and a tangy sourdough made my heart sing more than I ever thought possible, though. I am torn – I may have even liked this one better than Pujol’s?! So hard to say. But it was fan-bloody-tastic.

Roasted Cabbage, Scallops, & Artichoke Cream with “Chile Ancho”

Simple and flavorful, this dish was a great bridge between the mole and the final savory course. I’ve never had cabbage that tasted this good.

“Pibil” Duck “Panucho,” Oven-Baked Onions, & Fried Almond Puree

We loved this course. Super meaty and rich, this was another traditional dish with a twist. The tangy pickled onions put it over the top.

Dessert:

CACTUS SORBET

Not a lot of places still offer a palate cleanser, and I am always down for one. It’s an extra dessert. Just a bite or two of this barely-sweet cactus sorbet got me even more excited for the main sweet event.

Jerusalem Artichoke

With apple & buttermilk ice cream

The presentation was obviously stunning, and I loved trying Jerusalem artichoke in a sweet dish for the first time. I liked the texture play with the sugar shards, dried apple, and dried artichoke.

Drink:

I don’t know what came over me at this meal, but I was in the mood to drink. Jason had the first cocktail pictured below, and I had the next three. ALLORA. Each one was better than the last, so zero regrets. I neglected to take a photo of the cocktail menu, but know that the drinks below were all super delicious and artfully crafted, as you can see.

Jason’s Single Drink

Drink #1

Drink #2

What’s My Name Again?

Had three drinks, ready to party

Atmosphere: 

Quintonil’s light, natural wood walls and high ceilings gave us major Noma vibes. Their aren’t too many tables, but they make the most of the space while still achieving an open and airy feel.

Two Tasting Meals in One Day Hospitality: 

We had impeccable service at Quintonil. The way the servers bring around the ingredients to educate you during your meal is above and beyond, and we really felt that we were in someone’s home with the level of hospitality we were shown. One of the best service experiences of any of the Top 50 restaurants for sure.

Best friend!

Frankie’s Notes: 

I wish I could tell you that we won’t do two tastings on the same day ever again, but we can’t make any promises; I don’t always have three cocktails at lunch, but when I do I get pretty weird; At least we walked back to our hotel from Quintonil to offset all of that eating; We’ve never eaten so many ants in our life as we did this trip, and we’re not mad about it; I hope that if Jason and I ever have a restaurant, Frankie will greet patrons at the door in a v small chef’s hat.

Rating: 5 out of 5 with 2 Michigan Pugs

 

How Roots is Giving Back During COVID-19

Background:

Here at Scallionpancake, we hope you are all safe, healthy, and holding it together through the craziness that is COVID-19. If you’re anything like us, some days are better than others, and you find yourself eating more than usual because why the hell not? So many of our local restaurants are doing amazing things to help the community while they struggle to stay afloat themselves, and with that in mind, we wanted to give a shoutout to Roots Cafe in South End. Owner and Chef Craig Barbour is currently running a campaign with Feeding Charlotte to help provide freshly prepared meals to those in need, which in turn keeps many of our Charlotte chefs employed. All you have to do to pitch in to support this great cause is purchase a gift card through their website and list the recipient as Feeding Charlotte. Click here to donate.

Also, when you order a meal from Roots’ Lunch Box menu for carry out , Roots will donate an additional meal to Feeding Charlotte. They also have an awesome Easter menu available for Sunday’s social distancing holiday needs. Click here to order online.

If you’re looking for something to fill your extra hours, listen to Episode #96 of the Scallionpancake Podcast with Barbour that we recorded in July of last year, and continue reading below to see a great brunch we had at Roots early last summer.

Eat This:

BELT

My favorite B(E)LT in Charlotte.

Reuben

Corned beef and chill.

Avocado Toast

Toppings change seasonally.

Potato latke

With sour cream and chives.

Drink:

Iced Coffee

What the world needs now is coffee, sweet coffee.

Frankie’s Notes:

COVID-19 is the pits, and that’s all Frankie has to say about that; Barbour is an amazingly kind human who makes great food; Charlotte chefs will be back on top again in no time, and that’s straight from the pug’s mouth.

 

Peppervine Shines in SouthPark

Background: 
Peppervine opened last February in Piedmont Row shopping center to much fanfare, as owners Anita and Bill Greene were already loved by many Charlotteans for their Banner Elk restaurant Artisanal. Since we are trying to be more Kathleen Purvis in our review style, we waited until July to visit Peppervine to give them some time to get their service and menu sorted out, and we went in on two separate occasions to make sure we were getting an accurate representation to present to you fine folks. 

Eat This: 

Pimento Cheese Scones

Sorghum butter, pepper jelly, baked to order

These scones are the stars of the show. Definitely get two orders if you’ve got any more than three people. Or even if you’re by yourself. You won’t regret it.

Vadouvan Cauliflower

Cucumber, raisin relish, labne

A slightly spicy and flavor-packed rendition of my least favorite vegetable. It also inspired me to go and buy a bag of golden raisins.

Tuna Tartare

Shoyu, yuzu gelée, Fresno chili

To quote Vicki Gunvalson, tuna doesn’t fill my love tank. So I let my table-mates enjoy this one, and everyone said it was a top dish of the meal.

Shrimp & Grits

N.C. shrimp, Farm & Sparrow grits, maque choux, tomato jus

Every bite of this was bursting with savory and rich flavor. A very well done take on the Southern favorite.

“Fried Chicken”

Thai flavors, papaya, burnt lime

This was our favorite of the savory dishes. Peppervine’s Thai fried chicken puts traditional fried chicken to shame.

Carbonara

Pappardelle, truffle cauliflower cream, Nueske’s bacon, 62 degree egg

Although our server told us this one was a customer favorite, we weren’t blown away by this carbonara. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t noteworthy either.

Halibut

Warm quinoa salad, corn & kaffir lime emulsion

The halibut was fresh and perfectly cooked, and the succotash-style mixture that accompanied it was very well seasoned.

48-Hour Short Rib “Pastrami”

Giardiniera, smoked bearnaise, potato mousseline

The short rib and potatoes had all of the flavors of traditional comfort food with an elevated flavor profile. I loved the freshness the herbs and tomatoes brought to what could have otherwise been a heavy dish.

Drink This: 
The cocktail menu here is pretty tempting, but they also stock my favorite Espolon tequila, so you know I had to go with that, straight up. I also enjoyed my first-ever glass of Fernet at Peppervine, which, safe to say, is an experience I’ll never forget. It was terrible at first, then palatable, and then four or five sips in I downright enjoyed it. Not much of a shock, as I live for bitter flavors. Which is one of the traits I have in common with serial killers. Cool.

Dessert: 
The dessert menu at Peppervine is just winning, winning, winning. Normally, we can’t choose just one dessert, so we get two or three. Here we couldn’t resist four on our first visit. Yes, we finished them all. And no, we didn’t regret a single bite. The creativity on each and every offering was just too irresistible to pass up. 

Cherry Dessert

Cherries. Meringue.

Heaven help me, I can’t remember what this dessert was called, and I can’t find it online. It was, however, my favorite of the night. It was only barely sweet and the cherry chutney had a very bold flavor for dessert.

I think this one was perhaps too out there for many diners, but it was everything I look for in a dessert: fruity with varied textures and moderate sweetness. I want it again.

Peach Cobbler

Vanilla creameux, pear butter, gingersnap streusel, and blueberry dumplings

I will never in a million years not order a dumpling when it’s available. This was great, but I did feel like there were so many flavors going on that some got a bit lost, making this my least favorite of the desserts.

Vanilla Cake

With corn ice cream

Can you tell I’m getting over my corn fear one kernel at a time? Pre-corn fear, corn ice cream was one of my faves, and this dessert was light and summery with ample toasted, caramel notes.

S’mores

Chocolate mousse & graham cracker ice cream

I am not a huge chocolate dessert fan, but everyone we dined with was loving this. And it was quite a stunner to boot.

Atmosphere:
Peppervine is massive, and if you ever visited the restaurant formerly in this spot, AZN Asian Cuisine, you know that the space boasts stunning tall ceilings and towering glass wine cellars. Peppervine is much brighter and lighter than AZN was, and they’ve added a lot of lovely artwork, like a paper chandelier hanging from the high ceiling and a giant wood installation. 

The entire effect feels very earthy, and gives the restaurant an upscale farmhouse vibe. Plus, there is a window to the kitchen, which we always love (I can’t remember if that was there when AZN was open, but it’s a lovely touch either way).  

SouthPark Hospitality: 
We had white tablecloth service on both of our visits to Peppervine, and we didn’t experience a single snafu. Top notch. 

When you’ve had three glasses of Espolon you recreate American Gothic with your pug.

Frankie’s Notes: 
Your first taste of Fernet has more ups and downs than an episode of This is Us; Could someone loan Ollie and me a pitchfork to complete this classic lewk? We just want to say that AZN was underrated, but Peppervine is still an upgrade; Three glasses of Espolon = my sweet spot; I want to marry Peppervine’s pastry chef, whoever he or she may be; Trying to be more Purvis-like is a tough job, but we’re up to the challenge.

Rating: 5 out of 5

 

Where to Eat in Plaza Midwood

Don’t get lost in a sea of hipsters! Let Scallionpancake be your approachable spirit guide to the fabulous eats of what’s arguably Charlotte’s favorite neighborhood, Plaza Midwood.

This article first appeared at Localeur. If you haven’t checked out Localeur yet, you totally should. It’s an awesome resource for travel recommendations.

Dish

If you’re looking for some stick-to-your-ribs southern food, then you’re looking for Dish. Every entree comes with a deviled egg and a fluffy biscuit, and they offer southern staples like country-fried steak, biscuits & gravy, fried green tomatoes, and pimento cheese.

My personal favorite is the meatloaf! The prices are very reasonable, and the vibe is casual. Dish has been a Plaza Midwood staple since 2002, and you’re sure to feel at home here on your visit to Charlotte.

Soul GastrolOunge

My favorite date-night option in Charlotte, Soul Gastrolounge has great energy and awesome food. The menu is huge, which I usually dislike, but here they manage to do it all right. Their watermelon pork belly tacos are famous in Charlotte, so don’t skip them!

I also highly recommend the sushi, all of the skewers, and literally everything on their daily special menu. Make sure you get one or two of their craft cocktails to wash it all down – the drinks are among the most creative and best executed in town!

Cilantro Noodle

Vietnamese joint Cilantro Noodle is a newcomer to the Plaza Midwood dining scene, but the quality of their ingredients quickly made this spot a stand-out for carryout or a quick dine-in option.

Their build-your-own bowl with lemongrass beef is my favorite, but the pho is not to be missed, either! For the make-your-own, you can choose from a base of white, brown, or fried rice, vermicelli noodles, a Banh-Mi sandwich, or a fresh spring roll.

The Diamond

Sometimes you just need a classic diner, and this is Charlotte’s best since 1945. Of course, you can get breakfast anytime, but no matter the hour, you need to start with an order of their famous fried pickles. From there, I love the Grecian mezze platter, but I know a lot of people swear by their hamburgers and the meatless loaf.

I love sitting outside on the patio when the weather is nice, as Plaza Midwood offers best-in-class people watching.

YAFO Kitchen

YAFO isn’t your typical fast-casual joint. Chef Shai Fargian makes everything here from scratch, from the pillowy laffah bread to the creamy mac and cheese.

I recommend an Israeli hot chicken sandwich to put an end to the chicken sandwich wars once and for all, or a chicken salad-stuffed avocado if you’re looking for something a bit lighter. YAFO offers something for everyone, so if you need to please a crowd in a hurry, this is your best bet in Midwood.

The Porter's House: Not Your Traditional Steakhouse

Background:
The Porter’s House is owned by the Rare Roots Hospitality Group, and it was brought to our attention by its current chef, Rob Clement, who reached out as a fan of the pod and graced us with his presence one fine Sunday afternoon as a guest. After his pod appearance, we could tell this guy meant business, and we knew we needed to try his food ASAP. We decided to take my dad here when he was in town, as we know he likes a good steakhouse. 

After being blown away on that first visit, we knew this would be a regular spot for us. We went back for our anniversary recently, and there’s no denying that The Porter’s House is a true contender in the Charlotte restaurant scene, and it runs laps around every other steakhouse in town.

Eat This: 

Grilled Peaches

With burrata, sorghum, pickled banana peppers, and oregano

This is a seasonal menu item, but if it’s offered on your visit, you need to order it! Rob’s pickled peppers are a revelation in themselves. Add burrata to that, and you’ve got yourself a damn fine time.

Pimento CHeese Beignets

With bacon aioli

Maybe Jason’s favorite thing on the menu. Pillowy, tangy, cheesy…do we have your attention yet?

Shrimp Cocktail

Cocktail sauce, lemon horseradish gremolata

An elevated classic.

Filet Mignon

I always order the filet, and every steak at TPH is cooked to perfection. No overdone meat here!

RIBEYE

Look at that bone marrow butter melting its way into your heart!

TPH serves its steaks with fresh vegetables and herbs, which is a lovely addition that lightens up the meat. They also make their own in-house sauces – our favorite is the horseradish!

SCALLOPS

Cauliflower, bacon, Sunchokes

Another seasonal option that blew us away. So many textures at play here!

Halibut

Spaghetti squash, peppers, and aji dolce coulis

TPH offers a seasonally-rotating fish option, if that’s more your style. We personally can’t see ordering it over a steak, but you do you, boo.

DUCK

With okra

We hope this seasonal dish makes it back on the menu, because not enough restaurants offer duck, and Rob knows how to do this cute yet delicious animal justice.

Cowboy RIBEYE Filet

A steak that will cure what ails you.

Scallops

With field peas, peppers, lardons, and tomato-corn dashi

More scallops! We liked the version above even better than this first scallop dish we tried, but both were top notch.

Lobster Mac & Cheese

Bechamel, chives

Creamy, dreamy, and a menu staple at TPH. And really, what goes better with steak than mac and cheese and mashed potatoes?

Bucatini

With clams and chorizo

One of Jason’s top dishes of the past six months. He couldn’t stop raving about this one, and I agree – it was a deliciously unusual flavor combination that hit the high notes.

Gnocchi

I can’t remember exactly what all was going on here, but I can tell you 100% that we loved it.

Dessert: 
On our first visit, the desserts were your typical steakhouse options – cheesecake, brownies, etc. However at our anniversary meal, we got to try some of Chef Clement’s new and creative ice cream flavors that he was testing out, including taro sprinkled with dehydrated carrot, pomegranate chocolate chip, and peppercorn and lime leaf. We loved them all!

Ice Cream Trio

Taro with dehydrated carrot, pomegranate chocolate chip, and peppercorn and lime leaf

Dessert Trio

Brownie, cheesecake, and carrot cake

Drink: 
The Porter’s House boasts an amazing cocktail program. We especially dig the inclusion of whiskey-based margaritas. 

Mel’s Campfire

Vida mezcal, passionfruit, amaro nonino, tajin-pineapple oleo, sea salt, lime

Atmosphere: 
The Porter’s House is located in the Waverly shopping center, which is massive. I always love coming here because they have the best Whole Foods in Charlotte, and Whole Foods is my mecca. The interior boasts high ceilings and a more modern and lightened up vibe compared to more traditional steakhouses. They offer valet parking if you’re not down to fight the Ballantyne crowds.

Carnivorous Hospitality: 
Shoutout to server extraordinaire Zack for taking great care of us on both of our visits. No complaints here. 

Frankie’s Notes:
Typical steakhouses put us to sleep; Wayne is now the finest connoisseur of fine dining after his experiences at El Celler de can Roca and Enigma; On our first visit, Rob tried to kill us with food – he served us enough for 12-14 people, and we tried to take on that challenge and barely lived to tell about it; On our second visit, I was getting over my post-Mexico trip stomach issues that continue to linger to this day. My apologies to all of the servers and chefs for my 10+ bathroom breaks; If you don’t get Zack as your server, you should ask for him. We think he would love that.

Rating: 5 out of 5

 

Sweet Lew's, It's You

Background: 
Lewis Donald opened Sweet Lew’s in late 2018 in the Belmont neighborhood of Charlotte. Learn more about Donald’s background on this episode of the Scallionpancake podcast. He’s a real mensch! We love Sweet Lew’s, and we think it’s the best BBQ in town.

Eat This: 
I always go for chopped pork, but Jason swears by the brisket. All of the meats are smoked in-house in Donald’s giant smoker. I also freaking LOVE the man’s ribs.

Dessert: 
You get the option of banana pudding or dirt pie! YUM. See the banana pudding pictured above with the sides.

Drink: 
Enjoy beer, wine, or do it right with some of the south’s finest: Cheerwine and RC Cola.

Atmosphere: 
At Sweet Lew’s, the approach is simple: it’s just good BBQ. Nothing fancy. Order at the counter and carryout or eat inside in front of the TV or outside on the patio. There’s a sauce station in the dining room, so make sure you LOAD. UP.

Pitmaster Hospitality: 
Nothing but good, old-fashioned southern hospitality at Lew’s. Top notch. 

Frankie’s Notes:
If you don’t think of Lucille Ball singing “Sweet Sue, It’s You” when you read the title of this blog, then that’s on you, bud; Frankie tried smoking brisket once, but he nearly charred his perfect curly tail right off; I hope to god you also get double banana puddings for dessert; Cheerwine is the nectar of the gods if the gods in question lived in the Holler and married their cousins; It’s fun running into friends like Laney JP at Sweet Lew’s!

Rating: 4 out of 5

 

Best Coffee Shops for Chilling in Charlotte

Because sometimes “work from home” means working from a coffee shop for a change of pace and a (small) dose of human interaction. I work from home a couple of days a month, and these are the coffee shops I choose to lug my laptop to because they have great coffee, tea, and food, and they don’t play music at one million decibels, which is my number one complaint with most coffee shops.

This article first appeared at Localeur. If you haven’t checked out Localeur yet, you totally should. It’s an awesome resource for travel recommendations.

Undercurrent Coffee

Undercurrent has two locations in Charlotte, one in Plaza Midwood and one in Optimist Hall. Both offer ample seating, but if you want to hunker down, I recommend the Midwood location. There are tons of outlets to plug in your devices, and the seating is super comfy.

They make all of their menu items and baked goods from scratch and serve amazing coffee. The seasonal drinks in particular are always worth an order, and their iced matcha is second to none.

The Batch House

The Batch House is home to THE BEST baked goods in Charlotte. If you want some of those, however, you’re going to have to get here early. Batchmaker Cristina Rojas-Agurcia opens at 7 a.m., but she’s often sold out of treats by mid-morning.

However, the shop itself stays open until 3 p.m., so you can sip your coffee, read a book, and enjoy the adorable, tea party-esque decor (oh, and the Golden Girls-themed restroom). This place is a gem!

Lincoln’s Haberdashery

I love hanging out at Lincoln’s, and it’s my go-to spot when I work from “home”. The playlist is amazing (and offered at a reasonable volume so I can still concentrate), and they have some of the best food in Charlotte, coffee shop or otherwise. Everything is made from scratch, and you really can’t order wrong.

The coffee is great and pairs perfectly with their signature GIANT chocolate chip cookie, The Louisiana Purchase. It’s the best cookie in the city in my book.

Coco & The Director

Coco & The Director stands out for their unique seating options. Whether you want to lean back on a pillow on the floor in the stadium-style seats or sit like a grown-up in a chair with a back, Coco is here for you.

They offer smoothies, freshly-carved sandwiches, great baked goods (including cronuts!), and their coffee options are solid. If you’re looking to chill in Uptown Charlotte, Coco is the coffee shop for you. My favorite order is a black coffee with their house-made banana bread.

Hex Coffee

Hex doesn’t have the best seating compared to other places on this list (it’s ample enough, but not super cozy). However, the coffee is top-notch and probably the best on the list. They roast their own beans, and they also serve seasonally rotating cold options like draft vanilla lattes.

The food options are limited, but they usually have something on offer from a local bakery or sandwich shop. If you find yourself in South End, Hex is worth a visit!

Top 25 Restaurants in Charlotte: 2019 Edition

We know you’ve all been waiting in major anticipation of the Pancake’s Top 25 Charlotte restaurant ranking to drop like it was the latest Star Wars, or, for you Bravo fans, Southern Charm season four million. We had to let 2019 come to an almost-close to give you our 25 best restaurants of the year.

Let's review the rules. First, we only ranked restaurants located in Charlotte proper. This means no Kindred, no places in Gastonia, etc. If you’re looking into Israel from Jordan, you are not in the promised land. Secondly, we didn’t rank any chains with locations outside of Charlotte. This means no Indaco, Hawkers, etc., but somewhere like Yafo can make the list because they only have Charlotte locations. Finally, we had to have eaten at the restaurant. We still haven’t been to Barrington’s, so unfortunately it’s still not going to make the list this year. Maybe we’ll eat there in 2020, who knows?

Without further ado, we present Scallionpancake's Best Charlotte Restaurants of the Year:

1. Bardo

Congratulations to Bardo, which is still the best restaurant in Charlotte, and nowhere else comes close. It remains the only restaurant in town to receive a coveted Michigan Pug. Everything on Mike Noll’s menu is excellent, and Amanda Britton’s cocktails are perfection. Also, how about 20% off on Mondays and Tuesdays at the bar? See you pancakes there.

2. The Stanley

The Stanley moves up to #2 on the list for 2019. Everything on the Verica’s menu is stellar, but if you haven’t tried their burger, which is hands down the best in Charlotte, then you haven’t lived. We are also very hype about Alex’s special brunch donut.

3. Haberdish

Haberdish is Jeff Tonidandel & Jamie Brown’s love note to Charlotte, and it serves up the best quintessential “Charlotte” food around. If we’re taking an out of town guest to one restaurant to give them a feel for Charlotte’s food scene, this is it. Of course, don’t you dare sleep on brunch or Colleen Hughes’ magical cocktails.

4. Peppervine

A newcomer to the Charlotte scene, Anita & Bill Greene (of Banner Elk’s Artisanal) opened up Peppervine in the spring and it has quickly become one of the best restaurants in Charlotte. Pimento cheese biscuits? Yes, please. Vadouvan Cauliflower? Meet you there in ten minutes.

5. Soul Gastrolounge

Soul has a special place in our hearts. It’s where we had our first date. It’s where we fell in love with peacocks as wall decor. It has everything, from sushi to pork belly tacos, and they pull every dish off spectacularly. The most fun hang in Charlotte, and still one of the best restaurants in town. Make sure you order something off the daily special menu!

6. Dot Dot Dot

Chef Daniel Wheeler took over the helm at this Park Road speakeasy, and the food has never been better. Chef Wheeler does a great job of gently introducing you to unique meats such rabbit and foie gras.

7. Uptown Yolk

Greg Collier moved his breakfast joint from Rock Hill to 7th Street Market, and dear lord baby Jesus is it incredible. Chef Collier’s Tennessee fries are the best potatoes in town, and where else can you eat James Beard nominated food out of a tin foil bowl?

8. futo Buta

Years ago, Chef Michael Shortino was one of the first chefs to show us all that Charlotte was ready for good food. Futo Buta serves up some of the best ramen in the Southeast. Our favorite is the Fire and Ice.

9. Kabab Je

Ever since Kabob Grill closed (RIP), Kabab Je holds the title of best Mediterranean food in town. The pita. THE PITA. It’s the best. Get the lamb kebab and lots of sides (especially the Batata Harra).

10. The Porter’s House

We’re always wary of steak places, but Chef Rob Clement is putting his mark on this Ballantyne chophouse. Get a steak for sure, but don’t sleep on his delicious smoked pasta, pimento cheese beignets, and creative ice cream flavors.

11. Lincoln’s Haberdashery

Chef Shortino did it again when he opened up Lincoln’s Haberdashery in early 2018. It’s one of the coolest hangouts in town, and everything on the menu is good. Our go-to is the 13th: house-made mozzarella, La Quercia prosciutto, fresh basil, and extra virgin olive oil.

12. 300 East

Ashley Boyd handed over the pastry duties to Laney Jahkel-Parish at the beginning of the year to focus on improving the savory side of the menu. The desserts are as top notch as ever, and the main menu improves every day. A classic Charlotte institution which is reinventing itself as we speak.

13. Sweet Lew’s BBQ

I judge a BBQ place based on its brisket, and Sweet Lew’s has the best brisket in town. This hole-in-the-wall, get-it-until-it’s sold-out joint has the best smoked meats you’ll find in Charlotte. Also, if you see bacon on the menu as a special, get it. It’s fantastic.

14. Crepe Cellar

Another gem from Jamie Brown and Jeff Tonidandel, Crepe Cellar serves up consistently delicious scratch-made dishes including pasta, burrata, ice cream, and more. It’s not just crepes at this NoDa staple (however, you should order Crêpes Suzette for good measure).

15. Yafo Kitchen

This isn’t your typical fast casual restaurant. Israeli Chef Shai Fargian makes everything from scratch with so much love, from the laffah bread to the chicken schnitzel. His Israeli hot chicken sandwich took Charlotte by storm and put any talk of “chicken sandwich wars” to rest for once and for all.

16. Lang Van

Lang Van is Charlotte’s best Vietnamese restaurant. The service is incredible. We’ve gone six months without eating here and they still remember our orders. The menu is huge, but there’s not a misstep in the bunch. Every order is a good one.

17. OmAGGIO

Daniel Siragusa has poured his heart and soul into this Midtown eatery, and his passion is evident in every bite. Our lives were forever changed by the pepperoni pizza with honey and espresso, not to mention the chestnut soup, tiramisu, garlic rolls…need we say more?

18. Fig Tree

The Fig Tree is a traditional yet solid choice for fine dining in the QC. We are particularly fond of Molly Coen’s inventive dessert offerings. The ambiance is romantic and the service is top-notch.

19. Flour Shop

The best pasta in Charlotte is at Flour Shop. Go sit at their gigantic bar and watch the chefs do their thing. Their house-made focaccia and burrata is a must order.

20. The Asbury

Putting Yvonne’s hatred of The Dunhill aside, The Asbury always has unique and fun plays on traditional southern cooking. They also have an excellent brunch and the second best burger in Charlotte after The Stanely. It’s our family’s go-to before a Panthers game.

21. Noble Smoke

Politics aside, we really dig the food at Noble Smoke. The ribs are incredible, and there’s no stopping the fried hand pies. We also think their selection of sides is standout, even though the brisket is still a second place finish to our sweet, Sweet Lew’s.

22. Angeline’s

Angeline’s has become our favorite upscale Uptown spot this year. From the pasta to whipped ricotta, we’ve never been disappointed. This is also a great pre-Panther’s game option.

23. Capishe

Capishe was the biggest surprise of 2019 for us. How could a fast casual Italian place be so delicious? Because it’s all made from scratch, and Chef Cavalier isn’t afraid of seasonings. Praise be the San Lorenzo pasta!

24. Flip-A-Lo’s

Flip-a-Lo’s is a hidden gem tucked away in an unassuming strip mall. With their homemade dough for breadsticks and buffalo pizza sticks and fresh-not-frozen wings, there’s no better caloric splurge in Charlotte.

25. Laurel market

Laurel Market has the Charlotte breakfast sandwich game wrapped up, and they are all between 4-6 dollars. We especially love the Mercado, which is bacon, egg, and pepper jack cheese with spicy chipotle spread.

Top Five Dishes of 2019

The happiest place on Earth is at the Carolina Renaissance Festival

Scallionpancake Top Dishes of 2019: 
In addition to our top five restaurants of 2019, we decided to spice things up and rate our top five dishes of 2019, like we did last year. Sometimes, we really love a particular dish at a certain restaurant, or something smaller at a casual place that is worthy of the title of "best dish," when "best restaurant" doesn't quite make the cut. Without further ado, here are our top five dishes of 2019! 

Jason

1. PARMIGIANO

Schwa, Chicago, IL

This dish blew our minds. Parmesan, banana, nori brittle, and honey combined for an overload of sensory experiences. I think about this dish at least once a day.

2. Salted and Dried berries from the summer

Noma, Copenhagen, Denmark

My favorite dish of the seafood season at Noma was the dessert of sheep’s milk and dried berries from the previous summer.

This dish reminded us of a dish we had at Noma Under the Bridge a few years before, except this was taken up to 100. A classic Noma dish - so simple, yet so complex.

3. Lamb Rump

Haar, St Andrews, Scotland

The surprise restaurant of the year for me was Haar in St Andrews, and would have made my top five restaurants list if we didn’t go to so many crazy places.

Everything here was amazing, but the lamb rump with cafe du Paris sauce was the clear winner for me. I ordered this twice in two days.

4. Octopus

Pujol, Mexico City, Mexico

We went to Quintonil and Pujol on the same day, Pujol being second which tarnished our experience because we were so full from Quintonil. But this Octopus was the single best thing I had in Mexico.

The octopus is smothered in a paste made of chintexle, which is a chile, and chapulines, which is grasshopper. Grasshoppers are served everywhere in Mexico, and they are delicious once you get over the whole eating bugs thing, which I admit did take me a few tries.

5. Hot Chicken Sandwich

Hattie B’s, Nashville, TN

It wouldn’t be a top five list for me without a sandwich, and this year’s best sandwich went to Hattie B’s hot chicken sandwich in Nashville.

Served with pickles, coleslaw, and comeback sauce, this sandwich lives up to all the hype. Even my dad liked it—enough said.

Yvonne

1. Salted & Dried Berries From the Summer

Noma, Copenhagen, Denmark

The baby pinecones are back, BABY. I freaking love dried fruit, and this was slightly dried, slightly macerated fruit goodness with those sweet and sour chewy pinecones and the sheep’s milk. DO NOT PASS GO DO NOT COLLECT $200. Ugh. I wish I could eat this every day of my life. Swoon.

2. Apricot

Schwa, Chicago, IL

I probably could have picked three things from Schwa (this, the banana/Parmesan, and the raviolo), but I’ll edit myself to just this one.

I loved the sweet apricot with the earthy Taleggio, and the light and floral wine sauce that pulled the whole thing together. Just fab.

3. Scallops in the Shell

The Kitchin, Edinburgh, Scotland

The Kitchin may have just one Michelin star, but I would like to go ahead and give this dish an honorary three stars.

The puff pastry was doughy, and the creamy sauce surrounding the scallops hit every single one of my tastebuds. And the presentation when it was cut open table-side?! OY VEY. A masterpiece. I think about this dish often.

4. Mole Madre

Pujol, Mexico City, Mexico

Even though Pujol didn’t make either of our top fives, it was still delicious. It just happened to be up against some real contenders this year. The mole madre alone, however, is worthy of a visit to Mexico City.

I loved the mole madre on its own, mixed with the new mole, on the fresh flour tortilla, and straight up on a spoon. To. Die. For.

5. Black Truffle Explosion

Alinea, Chicago, IL

Okay, okay – I know I snubbed Alinea on my top five. And I feel terrible about it, but overall it just didn’t wow me as much as it did Jason. It was all solid, but not over the top. The signature Black Truffle Explosion dish, however? Um, yup. Sufficiently blown away by the amount of flavor packed in this tiny bite. A++++.

I know Jason won’t be pleased at this, but I am going to do a secondary top five for my non-fancypants dishes. He would say they should all be on one list and that I should choose. Well, I won’t and I didn’t. SORRY JASON. Love you, tuna.

Yvonne’s Non-FancyPants Top Five

1. Greg Collier’s Chicken Skins

Charlotte, NC

I don’t know where I am going to get these now at Loft & Cellar is done for, maybe at Leah & Louise? I need them in my life. Chef!

They have a similar seasoning to his Tennessee fries, and they are so chewy yet crispy, savory yet sweet, and just intensely flavored. I LOVE THEM.

2. mushroom Toast

Borough Market, London, UK

A stall in London’s Borough Market sold mostly fresh fruits and vegetables, but they also had two hot food options. One was roasted asparagus with a cream sauce, and the other was a giant vat of the most beautiful mushrooms I’ve ever seen in my life.

They served the sautéed mushrooms with grated cheese, herbs, and a piece of sourdough toast. It was the coolest thing to watch, and one of the best comfort foods I’ve ever had. So simple and savory. I wish I could have this for lunch every day!

3. Buffalo Pizza Sticks

Flip-a-Lo’s, Charlotte, NC

I cant’t really overhype Flip-a-Lo’s Buffalo Pizza Sticks, because they are worthy of all of the praise anyone has to offer. Freshly made bread. Fresh (not frozen) chicken wing pieces, and gooey mozzarella. If you are in Charlotte and you haven’t tried Flip-a-Lo’s yet, you are missing out for real.

4. S’mores Cake

The Batchmaker, Charlotte, NC

There are not enough words in the English language to describe how sweet Cristina Rojas Agurcia is, or how decadently delicious her baked goods are. This is hands-down the best bakery we’ve ever had in Charlotte.

MOIST cakes (yeah, not only did I say the “m word,” I capitalized it), fun flavors, a perfect amount of sugar, interesting textures. Just good-gash-darn. She’s a bakery legend in her own time, and we’re lucky she calls Charlotte home.

5. San Lorenzo Pasta

Capishe, Charlotte, NC

It would be a shame if you slept on Capishe. Don’t let it get lost in the Charlotte restaurant waves, people. Everything is made fresh, and the amount of spice and love that Chef Cavalier puts into this San Lorenzo pasta gets me daydreaming about it on the reg. My favorite pasta in Charlotte, easy.

Top Five Restaurants of 2019

Roca Nation

It’s hard to believe, but this is our fifth year blogging. This year, of all the years, was exceptionally hard to pick our top five restaurants since we went to so many amazing places. But this is why we’re paid the big bucks - to make the hard choices. Which of them made our ultimate list for 2019? Read on to find out!

Jason

Clear Bread

1. ENIGMA

Barcelona, Spain

As I look back on the year, the most fun night of high end meals was at Enigma. The setting of the restaurant, the movement through different rooms, and the overall elevation of the food makes it my best restaurant of the year.

A play on a steak frites, with main dish being vegetable steak with a side of beef.

2. Blue Hill at Stone Barns

Tarrytown, NY

Blue Hill is the first high end restaurant we’ve been where each table got a different menu. The amount of skill and coordination it takes to pull this off is incredible. We wish we could have dined at a time other than 10:30pm, but alas you take what you can get.

Crab on crab on crab

3. Noma

Copenhagen, Denmark

We now make an annual trip to Copenhagen to visit Noma because we like Copenhagen and we like giving our money to Rene Redzepi. We thought the vegetable season in 2018 was better than the seafood season, but it was still an amazing meal and experience.

Look at this presentation!

4. AlINEA

Chicago, IL

I freaking loved everything about Alinea. It was two hours. Every course had a purpose. Everything on the table had a purpose. The balloon tasted better than expected. It was the rare top level restaurant that left you wanting more, and that’s the feeling I want when I leave a fine dining restaurant.

Duck taco

5. QUINTONIL

Mexico City, Mexico

Mexico was even better than expected for us, and Quintonil was the highlight of our trip. Each course was emaculate, and really showcased the abudence and magic of Mexican cooking. You could see Chef Jorge Vallejo’s influence from Noma and Pujol to create a menu unique his own.

I got to play St. Andrews this year, which was the ultimate highlight

Yvonne

HIT THE LINKS

TEE OFF

1. SCHWA

Chicago, IL

I know that Jason is going to be floored by my #1 pick, but I will not deny my love for Schwa. I had zero expectations going in, and Alinea was ostensibly the main event of the weekend, but this was the first restaurant other than Noma where I found every single dish over-the-top delicious.

Even the drinks were fun

2. ENIGMA

Barcelona, Spain

There isn’t a restaurant in the world like Enigma (well, that I know of). It’s hard for me to pick a standout dish from our meal, but the overall experience and interactive elements make this place so special.

This is pre-dinner, and already two hours past his bedtime

3. Blue Hill at Stone Barns

Tarrytown, NY

I hate that I always forget about Blue Hill since we were so tired from our 10:30 p.m. reservation. The whole thing feels like a fever dream, but when I reflect on the experience, it was truly exceptional in every way. That chocolate sourdough bread (and squash pie, pictured)!

Fresh to death even right after a flight overseas

4. El Celler De Can Roca

Girona, Spain

While you didn’t move around like at Enigma, El Celler de can Roca was so whimsical and creative. The desserts we had here were truly unforgettable, and I loved seeing my dad experience his first Michelin star restaurant.

Our family now includes chefs

5. Kitchen Table

London, UK

This was a hard pick for me as Alinea nearly edged it out, but I think the creativity and flavor – plus the awesome setting – make Kitchen Table the winner of my fifth spot. Some of our dining companions soured this one for me since they weren’t into the experience, but it really was incredible. And how often do you get face time with the chef like that?!

Honorable Mention: Anomaly

Charlotte, NC

Chef Sam Hart’s Anomaly pop-up was really something amazing, and it felt even more special since we attended his very first one. The energy was palpable and the food was top notch, especially considering everything was produced in a home kitchen. We can’t wait to see more at his first ticketed pop-up next week!

I hope 2020 has this many fun animals in it

Anomaly Charlotte Pop-Up

Background: 

One spooky night in October, we attended a mysterious pop-up dinner at an undisclosed-until-the-last-minute location in Myers Park (which turned out to be a private residence). The invitation promised a “glimpse of Charlotte’s first immersive dining experience.” Color us intrigued. But let’s back up, shall we? 

Charlotte native Sam Hart started his career in Marketing and decided to change paths after a few years to attend culinary school in 2016. He spent some time working in various restaurants in town, including Heirloom, Myers Park Country Club, and Foxcroft Wine Co., in addition to running his own private catering company, Laughing Duck. In order to gain more experience, Chef Hart packed up and moved to Chicago where he worked at Alinea and Momotaro, along with a stage at Schwa and Publican Quality Meats. He’s also worked as a private chef for high-end, luxury clients with Table at Home. 

And now, Chef Hart is ready to bring it all back home to Charlotte and open a fine dining tasting menu with his friend and business partner Erin Skaryak. While they are looking for their brick and mortar, they’ll be hosting pop-ups around town, and we were honored and delighted to attend the first last month (tickets are already sold out for two upcoming December dinners). 

What was truly wild was that we dined at Alinea three days prior to the pop-up, so it was even more interesting to experience Chef Hart’s cooking through that lens, as he included a few tongue-in-cheek references to Alinea tropes (like extra-large servingware), and we could definitely see Achatz’ influence at work in the flavors as well. 

Bring it on home, Sam (Hart, not Cooke)

We are so excited for a true tasting menu experience to come to Charlotte, and we think Chef Hart is just the man to introduce our city to this level of cuisine. Anomaly will focus on local sourcing, maintaining a waste-free kitchen, and bringing a lighthearted sense of fun to fine dining. We’re all about this mindset – just because you have a Michelin star or a world-rated chef doesn’t mean you need a stuffy attitude or white tablecloths. As Hart said, “It’s not that serious. At the end of the day, it’s food and it should taste good.” Amen, Chef. We think the worst thing those in the food world can do is take themselves too seriously – great food is accessible to everyone, and no restaurant or price tag should make someone think that this isn’t for them or their palate. This level of greatness is for all of us, Charlotte. 

Now, onto what we ate at Anomaly’s very first pop-up. 

Eat This: 

Magnify

Oyster with koji cream, mint, basil, and Ossetra caviar alongside a shooter of Thai Moji

We loved the presentation here – you ate the leaf-wrapped oyster dotted with tangy koji cream directly off of the magnifying glass like it was a giant spoon, and then you used it to read the tiny-print menu that was brought out just prior to plating.

The shooter of Moji, which is a kombucha-like tea beverage, added freshness and additional interest, but we weren't huge fans of the oyster bite. Looking back on the meal as a whole, we feel like this first impression could have used a bit more flavor to stand up to the rest of the meal and accompany the awesome plating.

Roses are red

Miso cured prawns with roses, roe, and citrus

These bites were delicate and savory, and the texture of the rose petals added an extra shot of velvety richness. Not the most memorable course of the night, but very tasty.

Mole

Chicken skin mole bar with prickly pear

Not only my favorite dish of the evening, but one of my favorites of all time. This one stuck with me for a long time afterward, and I couldn’t get over the boldness of the thick chocolate shell with the mole-spiced chicken. I feel like many chefs would have chickened out (ahem) and gone lighter on the chocolate, but the thick and bittersweet shell just put this over the top and delighted and confused my taste buds in the best way possible.

Also, you pulled out the (real!) chicken bone to crack the shell open. So fun and interactive. A real Bronx cheer, if you will.

Tennessee Pig

Pork belly with bourbon, apples, mustard, and chard

This was Jason’s favorite dish of the night. This was the fattiest cut of pork belly I’ve ever had (in case you're wondering, that’s a v good thing indeed). The mustard seed sauce just got into every nook and cranny of this fatty boi, and the chard lightened up the entire experience and provided a hint of bitterness to cut the richness of the pork.

Hamburger

Sirloin, French fry mousse, onion, ketchup consommé

McDonalds, but make it fashion. We both gasped when we heard French fry mousse, because this is a technique used at Alinea, and when our server described it there, Jason giggled like a little girl.

This dish had the punchy flavor profile of a down and dirty takeout burger, but the execution on this amazing cut of beef was all fine dining, bb. Chef brought the meat for our dinner down from Chicago in his carry-on and wore every piece of clothing he brought with him to make everything fit. That’s what I call dedication.

Truffle

200-layer pave with truffle

Dear god, this dish. I didn’t count the layers of potatoes, but I’ll go with 200. But what really blew me away was the THICKNESS of this truffle. Usually you get truffles shaved ultra-thin, but after this dish I’d like to start a petition demanding this kind of thicc on all my truffles from here on out. God bless. Chef said this was 20 grams of truffle. Now that’s what I call a #trufflegram.

Casserole

Sweet tea sweet potato mousse, pecan pie crumble, marshmallow brûlée, pickled sweet potato, micro sage, and sage oil

The flavor profile of this course screamed Thanksgiving to me – you had all of the sweet and savory flavors of a full Thanksgiving feast in a few transportive bites. It was such a great bridge between the savory and sweet courses, and the pickled sweet potato added yet another tangy layer to the sweet and savory elements.

Kids Again

Pimento cheese, cheddar mornay, Duke’s, pimento gel, cream cheese coral, tuile, and cheddar powder

I absolutely loved the concept of a deconstructed pimento cheese sandwich. This is one of the most clever cheese courses I’ve encountered, and it was made all the more fun when Chef instructed us to lick our plates to completely immersive ourselves in the concept of being “kids again.” So fun, so cheesy, and so clever.

PS – I licked my plate because I am down for whatever. Jason was no fun and used his fork. Boo Jason.

Dessert:

Paper Plane

Orange chiffon cake, orange peel, bourbon reduction, Paper Plane explosion, Aperol chantilly, and white chocolate ganache

We had no idea that a Paper Plane was a well-known cocktail created by Sam Ross (and possibly inspired by the M.I.A. song!) made with Aperol, Amaro, and whiskey. This dessert took the flavors of that cocktail and infused them into a light and perfectly balanced cake topped with a brûléed orange slice and pop rocks, which are always a fun time.

We also received a Paper Plane cocktail shooter with this course. A lovely finish to a magical meal!

Drink:

One of the major elements of Anomaly is their thoughtful wine pairing. Like many other tasting restaurants, the only options will be wine and beer, and the pairings will be offered as an additional supplement that you’ll pay for in advance along with your meal when you book on Tock (AKA, our favorite reservation system).  

Erin on da right, Chef on da left. Clowns/jokers in the middle.

The wines will vary night to night and change as often as the menu, but if this pop-up is any indication, you’ll be enjoying the finest wines from around the world (that I believe must have been mostly free of sulfates/sulfites, as I enjoyed four or five glasses and didn’t have to answer to a raging headache the next morning. That’s how you know it’s the good stuff, people). Erin is in charge of the wine pairings, and after the exquisite pairings we experienced, we trust her completely.

Atmosphere:

Well, this particular dinner, as aforementioned, was in a lovely Myers Park residence, courtesy of a friend of Hart’s who opened up her home for the pop-up. It was top notch and we plan on getting an invite to move in any day now. In addition to our host, we enjoyed the company of five other diners, and, as you know, we love a good community table. Making new friends often takes a meal to even higher heights of enjoyment, and that was certainly the case at the first-ever Anomaly pop-up. Shoutout to our new BFF Realtor Stephen Cooley! 

Hart and Skaryak mentioned they are looking in Dilworth for their permanent location, so time will tell what vibe and neighborhood will complement Hart’s cuisine.

Another aspect that sets Anomaly apart is that they will be setting each course to a song, which is a super cool concept. Lots of restaurants are into banging playlists lately, but no other restaurant takes the care to pair each and every dish with its own soundtrack.  

Pop-Up Hospitality: 

Much like Schwa, Anomaly will not have any front of house staff or dishwashers. The chefs will running the entire show from prep to clean up and everything else in between. We liked this experience very much at Schwa, and we think it’s a great way to keep costs low while providing diners with a particularly intimate dining experience. We experienced great hospitality from Hart and his team on this particular evening, and we have no reason to expect anything less than stellar with the chef/owners at the helm of service. 

Upset/cry face and Jason face.

Frankie’s Notes: 

We got into a major fight on the way to this dinner, and I may or may not have shown up sporting major “cry face,” but all that really matters is that we didn’t bail; We thought for a minute we were going to have an Invitation-style cult experience instead of an eight-course meal; Having a wine pairing on a Wednesday is risky business, but we handled it like champs; Cooley told us some of his most wild real estate stories, and one of them involved a death – now that’s spooky!; Frankie’s soundtrack is Paper Planes, and if you catch him at the border he’s got visas in his name.

Rating: 

We aren't going to rate this pop-up, since it was essentially a media dinner and, well, a pop-up that’s a precursor to the real deal. However, we were not asked at any point to share our experience out on any platform – we’re just doing that because we love ya (and Anomaly). We will give Anomaly its fair rating once they've been open for a few months and we’ve had a few visits. Charlotte needs this calibre of dining, and we are so happy to have been included in your first Charlotte pop-up. Cheers, Anomaly!

Schwa Cleans Up Its Act

Background: 
Chicago’s Chef Michael Carlson began his career working under Paul Bartolotta at Spiaggia, Valentino Marcattilii in Italy, Grant Achatz at Trio, and Heston Blumenthal at The Fat Duck. In 2005, Carlson was offered a Sous-Chef position under Achatz at Alinea, but right around the same time, the opportunity came to buy Schwa, and he took it. Out of everyone he’s worked with, Carlson counts Achatz as his biggest culinary inspiration, so it was interesting to come here two nights before we dined at Alinea. It perhaps would have been best the other way around, but allora.

Schwa has an interesting reputation that’s all over the map. This article sums it up nicely, but essentially Schwa is known for the wonderful – a consistently-held Michelin Star since 2011 and one of the hardest reservations to get in town, to the less than – rumors of a drug-filled kitchen and canceling diner’s reservations at the last minute. However, per the article above and in our experience, Schwa has moved away from any shenanigans. Our dinner was seamlessly executed and felt very professional and high-end. AKA, no one offered us any cocaine (#rude). 

We were initially introduced to Schwa by Chef Mike Noll of our beloved Bardo, who worked under Carlson for a time (and now we can see many Schwa influences in Noll’s dishes!). We were in town so Jason could run the Chicago Marathon, and it was a joy to fit Alinea and Schwa into the same weekend of culinary debauchery.

Our experience was only slightly sullied by having just checked into a disgusting and unacceptable room at the Congress Plaza Hotel (never, ever stay here – I don’t care how great the location is), and we were a little stressed out with trying to find a new hotel and rush from the marathon expo to Schwa with enough time. We made it only about ten minutes late, which felt like a miracle. Of course, then Jason had to run to the Mexican grocery down the street to procure my booze, because no way I’m dining at a BYO restaurant sober, lateness be damned. I digress. Onto the food. 

Eat This: 

Schwa serves a seasonally rotating tasting menu. Here’s what we had on October 11th, 2019: 

Arnold Palmer

½ tea, ¼ lemon, ¼ sugar

Presented on a giant piece of astroturf, this dish had 25 elements of tea, citrus, and sugar that were designed to be mixed and matched and then taken as a dry shooter in the provided shot glass.

Embarrassing story time: one of the chefs brought out the shot glasses prior to the astroturf, and it was right at the same time that I opened my bottle of tequila. I said to Jason, “Surely this shot glass is for the dish, right?” And he betrayed me and said, “Nah, I’m sure that’s for the tequila.” Suffice to say he was wrong, and we both embarrassed the family as the chef shook his head and brought us a new one.

We found this dish both visually and literally entertaining, but we weren’t overly wowed by the flavors. It was also pretty difficult to take the leaves and other dry elements in the shot glass, as they just sat at the bottom or got stuck on the edge, so we mainly just piled two or three pieces on our spoons. I also have a lot of questions about how they clean the astroturf. Jason said he thinks they might just throw it away. LMK if you have any thoughts on the matter.

Raviolo

Quail egg, truffle, ricotta

This dish was also designed to be taken as a shooter, which, spoiler alert, I also found difficult because it was a pretty big bite.

My issues aside, HOLY CRAP. This was one of the single best bites I’ve ever had in my whole entire life, and this is when I knew we were in for a treat.

Also, at this point the tequila was kicking in strong and I was quickly moving past our hotel difficulties. Jason, however, was not so quick to forgive and forget. Oh well. Who’s happy? I’m happy.

Agnolotti

Maize, whiskey, popcorn

This dish could also be called corn 58 million ways. Seriously, it had corn pasta, corn consommé, freeze-dried corn, corn shoots, cornflowers, popcorn puree...WHEW. It also was topped with whiskey and popped sorghum. It’s a delight that I’ve moved past my corn fear even at an American restaurant, and I didn’t turn down either this dish or the corn-forward extravaganza the next night at Alinea. Who says you can’t grow and change as a person? Hallelujah.

With all of the sweet and light elements this was a fun dish with a lot of interesting textures in each bite. I dug it.

CAviar

Potato, onion, malt vinegar

The pureed potato was topped with gooseberries, (my favorite food, in case ya don’t know), and also onions, malt vinegar, an ice lettuce gel, and, of course, sweet, sweet, caviar. I love a good onion dip with potato chips, and that’s exactly what this dish was a high-end replica of. Even better, Jason liked it, and vinegar isn’t usually his favorite flavor profile. A win all-around.

Shad Roe

Sour tomato, allium flowers, Genmai

Whoa – this shad roe potato was such a nice, light twist on traditional pâté. The popped Genmaicha rice with sour tomato gel and fennel pollen added a tangy crunch to each bite. We loved this dish, and it was unlike anything we’d tasted before.

PS, I had zero idea what our server was saying when he introduced this dish. I was like, who is Shadro, and is she related to Sinéad O’Connor? We had to just straight up ask him what the heck he was talking about. In case you’re keeping track, that’s two times we embarrassed the family name thus far.

Black Cod

Mole amarillo, stinging nettles, white copal

This charcoal-grilled and smoked fish had a richness from the mole, and the pickled Chayote squash and coriander brought a lovely bite. This was scented with copal, which we had never heard of before, but it’s a tree resin that’s often used to make incense. So cool!

Jason liked this dish more than I did – I didn’t hate it, but it wasn't a stand-out to me in any respect. However, I did like how this dish and the corn course reminded me so much of flavors we had in Peru. There was a lovely earthiness that permeated every element, likely from the Aji Amarillo, which is a Peruvian yellow chili pepper. The more you know.

Oyster

Crab apple, lychee, horseradish

A classic oyster bite. Not much to say here – it was well-executed and we enjoyed it, but we wouldn’t have missed it if it wasn’t served, or remembered it if we hadn’t been writing this post. Moving on.

Sweetbreads

Salsify, Matsutake, Chinese Five Spice

Oooh honey. Some of the best sweetbreads I’ve ever had. It was so light and crispy, and the mild umami of the salsify gave it a great kick.

Plus, I always love seeing salsify on menus, since it reminds me of our meal at Funky Gourmet, which was the first time I’d ever tried this adaptable root vegetable (and we’ve since seen it on tons of tasting menus all over the world!).

The sweetbreads were made from veal, and a Meyer lemon spruce gel lended an additional layer of flavor to the otherwise rich earthiness.

A5 Wagyu

Cordyceps mushroom, pickled ramp, yuzu bernaise

This is for sure the first time I’m seeing an adaptogen on a tasting menu, and I’m not mad about it. However, the chef taught me more about cordyceps – did you know that it’s a fungus that actually grows on top of a caterpillar?! I thought it was just your average mushroom.

Jason and I were both in heaven with this one, and the accompanying bao buns (next dish). It’s always a treat to get Wagyu, and we were so happy to get a good meaty course. We often miss it when restaurants skip the red meat, and this one would have been a shame to leave out. Top notch.

My “Is there bread in there?” face

Bread

Wagyu bao, tamarind, koji

A few courses prior, a bamboo steamer was brought out containing these buns, but we were instructed not to open it until after eating the above plated Wagyu, so it was a delightful surprise to see these little guys waiting for us inside.

I love a bao bun, but sometimes the meat or filling can be subpar quality, so it was a real treat to get a bready, delicious bun tucked with the finest meat on the planet.

Our only complaint? We were getting to the end of the tasting and we weren’t quite full, so we think they should give each person two bao buns. Or maybe we’re just fatties. Also likely.

Butter

Radish & turnip, shio kombu, Wagyu fat

Gah, I love love love a good butter, salt, and radish pairing. Maybe it’s the 11.9% percent of me that’s French (sponsor a girl, 23andMe), but this is truly one of my favorite combinations of all time.

In this version, instead of butter, they glazed the radish with Wagyu fat. Oh yeah buddy. This light and bitter course not only delighted by showing how much of the Wagyu was used, but it served to cut the richness of the previous two courses nicely.

Things took a strange turn when Jason ate the radish leaves, however. Normally I’d be proud of him for eating his greens, but radish leaves are straight disgusting, and I don’t know how he got them down. We never asked the chef if what Jason did was intended, but I know the answer in my heart. That’s gonna be a no from me, dogg.

Parmigiano

Banana, nori brittle, Manuka honey

I don’t care if we got dragged on Instagram for eating a banana topped with cheese – you’d have to taste this one to believe it’s absolute exquisiteness.

The wild Thai banana was dried and a bit chewy, and the thin aged parmesan shavings on top were such a good complement. The salty nori and the sweet, freeze-dried honey continued on the sweet/savory play at work here, and we were in heaven eating this. You can expect this one to make our Top Five lists this year for sure.

Abalone

Melon, yuzu-kosho, arugula

This dish was a play on the classic prosciutto and melon, and was a nice bridge course before full-on dessert. While the fermented tanginess of the yuzu-kosho added an extra bit of pizazz, this course wasn’t the most memorable.

Dessert: 

Apricot

Taleggio, brown butter, marigold

And here we have my favorite dish of the night, and definitely my top five favorite courses of any restaurant we’ve been to.

The Taleggio pound cake was baked around a baby wheel of Taleggio and topped with citrus-laced marigold and a sauce with a light white wine flavor.

It was at once satisfying and light, and the different flavors played together beautifully. Oh my good heavens. This was everything to me. The portion was generous, but I still wanted so much more.

Drink:

Schwa is completely BYO – we didn't know if that meant just alcohol (you know Jason needs his mocktails), but it indeed means everything. To quote our server, “We may have a can of Coke floating around somewhere in the back.” So, whether you’re looking to get lit or a teetotaler, come prepared with your beverage of choice. 

I enjoyed a quarter or better (!) of this bottle of Patron, and Jason enjoyed a Tamarind soda from the trusty Mexican grocery. Just in case you’re like us and run out of time to prepare your beverage options, this nearby option is legit and worked in a pinch to help us create our own pairing experience. Looking back, I wish I had  gone with some wine, but I’ll never be sad about some tequila. Put that on my tombstone. Also, Jason picked up a lovely guava roll for us on his field trip. My husband, he always brings me food treats, even when we’re already sitting at a 14-course meal. Love him. 

Atmosphere: 

Schwa is located in Wicker Park, one of Chicago’s hippest neighborhoods. The inside is tiny (only 26 tables and the bathroom tucked back in the kitchen) and moody – the walls are painted mostly black with black-painted lightbulbs and pulsing rap music. 

Both of us love a casual atmosphere like this, and I actually find that the juxtaposition can make me enjoy the food even more than an upscale dining room. Maybe subconsciously it lowers my standards and then I am happily blown away? I’m not sure, but I can tell you that I loved bopping to the jams while sipping my tequila in jeans, and it is up there as one of my favorite restaurant experiences of all time. 

Cool Kid Hospitality: 

One of the interesting things about Schwa is that there aren’t any servers, dishwashers, or front of house staff. The chefs do it all, from food running to cleanup. This is pretty exciting as a diner, since you get a chance to talk to the chefs and learn their background in bits and pieces (we swear we tried not to hold them up too much).

Taking the new Moleskins for a spin at Schwa

Also, the dish explanations were perhaps as detailed as any we’ve ever had, which makes sense since the chefs are intimately acquainted with everything on your plate. Some of the servers were chattier and more friendly than others, but none of them were rude. 

Frankie’s Notes:

We want to do the full Chef Noll Chicago “This is Your Life” tour; I will never make assumptions about a shot glass at a Michelin-starred restaurant ever again;  My tombstone: “Here lies Yvonne. She loved pugs & tequila – but maybe not in that order.”; Jason running to the Mexican grocery with with negative ten minutes to spare was a harrowing moment for me, but since he came back with that guava roll, all is forgiven; Jason is not the most fun to dine with after I’ve refused to stay in the hotel he booked – is that on me?; I might be 11.9% French, but never forget that our son Ollie is 2% dog, 98% other. 

Rating: 5 out of 5 with Two Michigan Pugs