Background:
Fork!, located in Cornelius, NC (right next to Davidson) is a farm-to-table restaurant situated in a quaint old house with a sprawling porch. Tim and Melanie Groody have owned Fork! for about four years, and they recently opened up Ramen Soul in Mooresville. Jason and I ventured here for date night on an unseasonably warm evening in February. Check out what we tried below!
FORKKKKKK!!!1!!!!
Eat This:
Spicy Chicken spring rolls
Wasabi, plum sauce
Our waiter told us that he recommended the hickory smoked pork dumpling appetizer, but then Jason ordered these. Why would he do that? I don't know. You'll have to ask him. I don't like spring rolls, so I passed, but Jason reported that they were good. I'll eat you one day, pork dumplings. A lot of the menu items had an Asian or island-y flare, which we found interesting for the venue and rest of the menu (mac and cheese, mashed potatoes, etc.).
Smoked caesar romaine salad
Garlic croutons, shaved artisan cheese
Simple and flavorful greens. They were even nice enough to split this into two portions for us, without us asking. Hospitality plus!
Grapevine smoked wahoo
Bagna cauda, yogurt, arugula, pickled cauliflower greens
Fresh and citrus-y.
All natural beef bistro steak
House made worcestershire
The only dish we didn't like. We both felt the steak was a tad overcooked and lacked seasoning.
Pan Seared mahi
Sorrel charmoula & basil collard pesto
The mahi had a crispy sear and great flavor. I love that the meats came with the option of sauce on the side. Obviously I ordered two (un-pictured). Because sauce.
We don't know exactly why, but we didn't order enough dinner. Maybe the above would be enough for mere mortals, but we are hobby eaters. The only thing we didn't like was the steak, but for some reason we didn't feel like ordering anything else. It's a bit of a mystery, even to us. However, we had devised a game plan...
Dessert:
Whit's frozen custard
...From down the way
I mean, we were only about a mile from Whit's, so...
And Whit's is only a half a mile from Kindred....
Kindred Milkbread
Yeah, that happened
What have we done?!
We were weird. We know it. We are sure that Fork! has lovely desserts, and we will be back to try them one day. But on this night, we needed custard and some bread. I would recommend that Fork! implements a bread basket. But that's just this blogger's opinion.
Drink:
Jason and I stuck with tea (iced for him, hot for me) but Fork! had an inventive cocktail menu we will also be back to try.
Atmosphere:
Fork! was adorable, and while we liked the food, the real standout to me was the ambiance. We happened to be here on a gorgeous evening at dusk, but I have a feeling that Fork! just has good and cozy vibes whenever you go. It felt at once relaxed and upscale.
Heyyy Jason
Davidson Hospitality:
Our server was super nice, and we felt awful, because we seemed to spook him with our picture taking. It wasn't his fault that we didn't order enough food and had to go to two more restaurants. That was solely on us. We are strange and we freely admit it.
Frankie's Notes:
We made it weird at Fork! and we don't really know why; The siren call of Kindred's milkbread is like a magnetic force field; Getting island vibes in Cornelius is confusing and exciting; Wrap-around porches make everything better; Why does Fork! have an exclamation point in it?