Bread – Fervent Foodie

The Palm–Charlotte, NC {restaurant review}

May 6, 2013 2 Comments

When I think of The Palm, I envision a fancy New Yorker carrying shopping bags in one hand as she hails a cab with the other on her way to (insert pretentious voice here) “lunch at the Palm.”

So, when I first got the invitation to come in and try out the Palm, I ignored it. I’m in Charlotte, the Palm is in New York City. A couple of weeks later, I received a second invitation right when I was coincidentally preparing for a weekend trip to NYC. After mapping out the location of the Palm in Manhattan in relation to where I was staying, I began drafting a response email. But just before I hit send, something caught my eye. The invite was for the Palm in Charlotte. What the what? There’s a Palm in Charlotte??

Lesson #1: read emails thoroughly before archiving, deleting, and/or replying.

When people ask me for restaurant recommendations I often joke about avoiding four-dollar-sign restaurants. In my book, $$$$ means special occasions only. Luckily, I had a reason celebrate! My mom was in town for the weekend, and it was the perfect opportunity to get fancied up for a girls’ night at The Palm.

As we walked into the restaurant, I felt a little apprehensive. I still had the glamorous New Yorker image in my head, and I was wearing Gap flats after all, not Jimmy Choos. All these anxious feelings melted away as soon as I approached the hostess. From her smiling face, to the jolly restaurant managers, to the walls covered with caricatures of famous North Carolinians, it felt warm and welcoming, not the slightest bit hoity toity.

Lesson #2: never judge a restaurant by what you’ve seen in the movies

Once seated, we were promptly served one of the best bread baskets I’ve ever laid my paws on: a trio of breads locally sourced from Great Harvest Bread Company. There was raisin bread, whole white bread, and my personal favorite: the Dakota Bread with sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, and millet.

Mom and I were in the mood for some seafood, so we started with the Colossal Lump Crabmeat Cocktail ($24). After we both verbally affirmed our passion for horseradish, mom dropped a heaping spoonful into the cocktail sauce. I waited as she took her first bite. She was speechless, her eyes closed, her face quickly turning red. I waited for some sort of sign… Was it good? Was it bad? Was she choking??? When a smile stretched across her face, I took a piece of crab, dunked it in the doctored cocktail sauce, and popped it into my mouth. And that’s when I realized it wasn’t just any old horseradish. It was atomic. Breathtaking, nose-hair-burning, atomic horseradish. It was fantastic.

Along with the crab, we enjoyed the bacon wrapped scallops ($16). Though the bacon wasn’t especially flavorful, the balsamic and basil reduction served for dipping was the perfect tangy pairing for the scallops.

Recipes

Baked Shrimp with Fire-Roasted Tomatoes {recipe}

February 25, 2013 10 Comments

One of the perks of working in the city is having the world at your fingertips on your lunch break. When the clock hits noon, I like to hit the street. Often, I’ll swing through the library or take a stroll through the 7th St Public Market. When it’s warm, I find a nice table in the shade and read while I eat, and when it’s cold, I saddle up next to the fireplace at Carribou. There’s a grocery store just a few blocks away, and I’ve found squeezing my shopping into my lunch break to be not only productive but surprisingly liberating.

Last week, on a lunch-break grocery shopping spree, I picked up ingredients for this shrimp and tomato bake. It’s a low-stress meal that can easily be made after work or prepared the day before. (I find that recipes using canned tomatoes taste even better when they’ve had time to sit.) Shrimp, tomatoes, and a bit of cheese–it’s a dish built for carbohydrates. I recommend a crusty bread or a twirly noodle.

Recipes

Buffalo Chicken French Bread Pizza {recipe}

January 2, 2013 3 Comments

I know it’s the new year and we’re supposed to be juicing and diet cleansing and sweating to the oldies plus doing three thousand crunches a day, minimum. I know I should be focusing on eating my greens and counteracting all that indulging I did over the holidays. Spinach. Kale. Brussels Sprouts. SALADS, SALADS, SALADS!!!

I know. I KNOW. But what kind of friend would I be if I didn’t share THIS with you guys?

Am I right?!

Urbanspoon

Most buzzed about bakeries in North America

December 3, 2012 No Comments

Bread, COOKIES, muffins, scones… I want it all. It’s my inner Veruca Salt–she cannot be appeased. Well, not without a hearty handful of carbohydrates, anyway. For fun, I pulled together a list of the most talked about bakeries on Urbanspoon, based on votes and buzz, and did a little digging into their tastiest wares. I’ve got quite the continental bakery wishlist now!

Fervent Foodie is a contributing writer for the official Urbanspoon blog.

We’ve all heard the term “sweet tooth,” which makes us crave crazy things like Snickers bars slathered with Nutella and marshmallow fluff, but the less familiar “carb tooth” creates some equally intense cravings for yeasty, buttery breads and crumbly three cheese scones. To satisfy both a sweet tooth and a carb tooth, a trip to the bakery is in order. There are over 10,000 bakeries listed on Urbanspoon, and their specialties span the gamut from meat-filled ciabatta to double-stuffed whoopie pies.

Continue reading about the best bakeries in the world.

Duchess Bake Shop Meringue — photo by Nikki Stoyko

Looking for more of the world’s best bakeries? Check out this list of Urbanspoon’s most talked about bakeries.

Restaurants

Inside Great Harvest Bread Co.

April 3, 2012 8 Comments

One of my many food fantasies is that I’ll someday own a small cafe—just a breakfast and lunch joint where your coffee mug is topped off every three seconds and the food is unpretentious and comforting. At Mary’s Cafe we’ll do all the baking in house. There will be homemade bagels slathered in cream cheese, scratch english muffins topped with melting butter and blackberry jam, and piping hot paninis made from homemade focaccia. For dessert? Triple chocolate cake, and flourless chocolate cake, and molten chocolate cake topped with chocolate fudge and homemade ice cream… oh, and maybe a chocolate chip cookie or two.

Granted this fantasy hinges on my baking experience, which consists primarily of baking the cookie recipe on the back of the Nestle chocolate chips bag a thousand times or two. (I don’t care what people say—it’s ok to use the recipe on the back of the bag.)

Fresh-baked bread is one of the simple pleasures in life. I consider myself a free-basket-of-bread connoisseur, but I’ve never been behind the scenes at a cafe (or a bakery for that matter). That is until last month, when I got the opportunity to knead some dough at the Great Harvest Bread Co. in North Charlotte.

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