Porkchop flop (wordless Wednesday)
‘Twas my birthday.
A few nights ago, the BF and I were discussing my upcoming birthday, and we realized that neither of us were quite sure how old I was going to be. Apparently, he bases his age off of how old I am, which I attribute to his burning desire to draw frequent attention to the fact that I am six months his senior and thus a cradle robbing cougar. Rawwwrrrrrrrrr! 
Anyway… after several rounds of bantering back and forth, we came to an agreement.
I was officially turning 27.
Twenty-seven years ripe.
Twenty-seven years seasoned.
Twenty-seven years matured, if you will.
I’m pretty sure you’re officially “old” when you can’t remember how old you actually are.
So there I was, about to turn 27, in a new city, with no one to keep me company but a crappy (albeit tasty) tuna sandwich and a crap load of work to get done.
As fabulous as this sounded, I decided to be proactive with my Ladies who Lunch goal, and invite a few ladies in the area to lunch. Was it a longshot to invite a bunch of ladies I barely know to have lunch with me on my birthday? Perhaps. Was it awkward to put myself out there? Slightly. Did I send that email anyway? You’re darn tootin I did!
One short email followed by four quick responses and I was headed to Savor Café and Catering to have lunch with four fabulous blogging ladies: Jamie (Bibliophiled Away), Vanessa (Life Undeveloped), Julie (Willow Bird Baking), and Katie (Sweet Tater Blog).
I don’t know what came over me, but I hardly took any pictures during lunch! All I can say is the interior of Savor was eclectic and slightly rustic. The restaurant was small and cozy, with super tall ceilings, and exposed brick walls. Lucky for us we got there before the lunch rush because that line was out the door!
For those who were curious, yesterday’s post about the best birthday present ever came from Jamie. Seriously, how perfect?!
What’s not perfect is how much my hair hates NC weather! Also, thanks Vanessa for the pic!
Savor had quite a few options on the menu that sounded worthy of a birthday lunch, but since I had plans to end my big day with an Italian feast I decided to stick with the Savor Salad. It had mixed greens, tomatoes, carrots, chickpeas, and cucumbers plus some tasty grilled chicken on top:
The balsamic vinaigrette was so thick, I literally had to slather it on my salad. It was fabulous.
The ladies: Julie (Willow Bird Baking), Vanessa (Life Undeveloped), Katie (Sweet Tater Blog), MOI!, and Jamie (Bibliophiled Away).
When I got back to work, I had a little surprise waiting:
A birthday treat from the mama 
P.S., chocolate covered apples are AMAZING. Who knew?!
My mailman also brought me a card from my dad
Like father, like daughter? Perhaps.
And my friend Tracy sent me a big ass tub of Frank’s Red Hot:
You may be wondering what the heck I am going to do with 756 servings of Frank’s Red Hot. To that I say don’t you worry
< Insert 6 or so more hours of work here >
And it was time for dinna with the Man Candy 
We haven’t had an Italian dinner in quite a while, so my pick of the evening was Villa Antonio in Ballantyne.
I was so surprised by how fancy schmancy the restaurant was.
Even though the restaurant was very formal, it was by no means uninviting. Jarrod and I perused the menu, and were brought *free* bruschetta to munch on while we decided.
At this point I was pretty much in love with the place. Who doesn’t love free?!
Once we ordered, we were brought *ahem* *FREE* house bread and dipping oil:
Did I mention I love this place?
I wish every meal started off with two courses of bread 
While I sipped on a glass of Banfi Col di Sasso (a Sangiovese/Cabernet blend), we dug into our sausage and pepper appetizer:
Everything about this dish was perfect. The sausage was slightly spicy, the marinara sauce was deep and garlicky, the roasted peppers were sweet, and the cheese was melty heaven. This alone could have been a delicious entre… but ‘twas my birthday, so we certainly did not stop there!
After the appetizer, we were brought *FREE!!!!* lemon sorbetto to cleanse the palate. At this point I audibly exclaimed “I LOVE THIS PLACE!”. I can be slightly embarrassing when it comes to food.
For the entre, we decided to split a chicken and gnocchi dish. Half of the entre was the PERFECT serving size:
The chicken was layered with garlic, pomodoro, goat cheese, spinach, and mozzarella. And as if that weren’t enough cheesy goodness, the gnocchi was covered in a creamy gorgonzola sauce.
Absolutely divine.
Surmounted only by this large slice of chocolate peanut butter cake that followed:
Two happy diners:
Thanks everyone for the b-day wishes!
Best birthday present ever.
Holy crap, that was a lot of food.
Have you ever been in conversation with a new person and thrown out the obligatory “so, Bill, what do you do for a living?” and had Bill come back with “well Mary, I’m a psychiatrist”? 
When a person discovers they’re in the midst of conversation with someone who analyzes people for a living, they are immediately scared. (What the heck have I said in the last five minutes? … Does he think I’m a basket case… Why am I suddenly sweating profusely?!) All of this fear and anxiety is followed by near immediate curiosity.
Oddly enough, that’s a similar reaction to the one I get when I first tell a person I’m a food blogger. People get oddly weirded out, followed almost instantly with excited curiosity. I try to explain that I am not a food critic, but a food enjoyer. I’m not professionally critiquing food, but rather honestly sharing my experiences with the food with friends and fellow foodies.
Isn’t sharing food with others what makes a good meal great, anyway?
Mexican food makes me happy.
What is it about Mexican Food that makes people so darn happy? I mean, think about it. When have you EVER gone out for Mexican food and not had a fabulous time?
Perhaps this has something to do with the correlation between Mexican food and margaritas. Perhaps.
Take a look at these two:
They can barely contain themselves from the gluttonous joy radiating between them. I was pretty joyous myself this evening as I F-I-N-A-L-L-Y made it to Cantina 1511 in Charlotte’s Dilworth neighborhood. My coworkers have been talking about this place since the day I started my new job. What, you don’t ask every person you meet what their top picks for restaurants are? I sure do. Coworkers, bartenders, clients, strangers on the street. It doesn’t matter to me where the info comes from as long as it leads me to a delicious meal!
While waiting for our table, I learned (via the informative artwork lining the walls) that Cantina is owned by the same man who owns Mama Ricottas, which I’m absolutely in love with. All I can say is keep up the good work, Frank Scibelli. I will patronize any restaurant you open. Should you need an accountant who is willing to work for food, please email me 
Once we were seated, we got to snacking on the chips and salsa. Usually chips and salsa are pretty standard at Mexican restaurants, but Cantina’s take was a little different. The chips were thin and seemed to melt away in your mouth as you ate them. I was caught off guard by this at first, but actually really liked them! They also brought us two salsas for dipping – a red salsa and a green.
I wasn’t a fan of the red salsa—it weirdly reminded me of spaghetti sauce (thank you Jason for putting that crappy idea in my brain).
Oh Jason.
The green salsa was interesting and really limey. I liked it, but after a few bites my tongue had enough sourness. Reminded me of the feeling you get from eating too many Sour Patch kids.
I wasn’t really upset that the salsa was a bust because I had my belly set on bigger better dipping sauces. I’m talking about the holy grail of queso:
This.was.serious.
Seriously thick, seriously creamy, SERIOUSLY addicting Queso Fundido.
Pretending to like each other:
And FINALLY my plate of joy:
These are the ancho chicken soft tacos, which came with sliced avocado, pico de gallo, lettuce, chipotle crema, and fresh cilantro atop corn tortillas. LOVE! I don’t know where corn tortillas have been all my life, but I am in love with them. The tacos came with Mexican vegetable rice, charro beans, and tortilla slaw all of which were delicious.
Let’s just say if I’d of been in the privacy of my own home I would have licked my plate clean. Lucky for these folks I do have SOME boundaries.
Overall, I was very impressed with Cantina—and I’d stand by that with or without a margarita in my hand 
