Smalls Food & Spirits – Charlotte, NC {restaurant review}

This past week, I got the opportunity to check out Charlotte’s newest restaurant, imageSmalls Food & Spirits, at their pre-opening friends and family event.  Smalls is situated on Elizabeth Avenue in a funky nook of the city just outside of uptown.  The Elizabeth Avenue area has a ton of character and rich history, but has been underutilized in recent years.

Smalls, which offers chef-inspired food in an intimate loungey-chic environment, is a perfect fit for the avenue.  From the outside, the restaurant is quite unassuming.  We actually passed it twice before we noticed the red lettering on the front door.  Once through the small entryway, the space opens up into an intimate dining and bar area that seats 80 people.

Smalls Charlotte (2 of 8)

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Girls’ Night at Nolen Kitchen

97% of my Friday nights are spent enjoying a fine meal and some fine wine at a local Charlotte restaurant.  It’s the ultimate workweek climax.  After five days spent on the daily grind, five days of hustle and bustle and busting my butt, Friday night is all about slowing things down, taking a load off, and truly savoring life (and its gluttonous gifts).

A couple of weeks back, my friend Vanessa and I met for dinner at Nolen Kitchen.

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Neither of us had dined at Nolen before but their unique menu wooed us to their doors just as Vanessa wooed the mysterious parking lot attendant to let us park our cars in a no-parking zone in the horribly small and awkwardly shaped parking lot.  So to recap, there was a whole lot of wooing going on, and we hadn’t even had our first glass of wine yet.

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I fell in love at Mellow Mushroom.

This Saturday night the stars aligned.  

I was sent the ultimate gift from the food gods:  a VIP invitation to the pre-opening Friends and Family event at Mellow Mushroom’s newest Charlotte location in Ballantyne!  When presented with such a gift, I do not ask questions.  I do not hesitate.  I just say YES.  YES PLEASE!IMG_8428

Mellow Mushroom has 100+ locally owned and operated locations spanning across 15 states, and if I do say so myself the Ballantyne location is a welcome addition!

Clearly, I wasn’t the only person in town who couldn’t wait to check out the new spot because the place was hoppin!  We had a few minutes to spare, so Jarrod, our friend Sam, and I headed over to the sprawling circular bar at the center of the restaurant.

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A sweet weekend.

The past few weekends have been go-go-go:  from Atlanta to Nashville to sleep-deprivation-fueled grumpiness seeping through every ounce of my bones.  Thank the heavens this weekend was a completely different story.

Friday night the BF and I headed to Hawthorne’s to share some mouth-watering chili queso dip and small sausage pizza.  And a few beverages, naturally.  We had our hearts set on a balsamic glazed pasta dish and a hot fudge brownie sundae, but alas we wimped out after the first two courses.  Amateurs.

Saturday, after I made out like a bandit at the outlet malls, we took advantage of the sunny day (hello high 70’s in October) and walked a mile uptown to have lunch at Dean & Deluca. I’ve never been to Dean & Deluca before, partly because I didn’t entirely understand the concept of the place and partly because I thought it was over-priced and hoity toity.

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Randomly my Citi card (that I’ve had for a mere 11 years) decided to actually pay up on my “thank you” points, so I cashed those puppies in for a gift card to Dean & Deluca.

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Inside of D&D, they’ve got various pantry staples like pasta sauce, noodles, spreads, and salsa.  There’s also a large fully stocked sandwich bar with pretty much any toppings you could want on a deli sandwich.  I went with the turkey breast on multigrain:

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Loads of turkey, avocado spread, tomato, sprouts, and some chipotle mayonnaise.  YUM.

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The sandwich was about $9, but it was a hoss.  Definitely worth the price tag.  The side dishes on the other hand were a bit pricier.  We nabbed some hummus and Stacy’s Pita Chips:IMG_0007

And some white bean salad:

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At $4 a pop for the sides, plus two sandwiches, the chips, and two bottled waters our lunch came to $35.  In my opinion, that’s a bit pricy for a sandwich shop, BUT it was rather delicious.

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We’ll go back… once those thank you points rack up again Smile

Dean & Deluca Market Cafe on Urbanspoon

After lunch we headed to the grocery store to stock up for the week.  Grocery shopping is always a serious event for us because we each buy enough food to feed a small family.  Walking past the card aisle it suddenly dawned on me that it was Sweetest Day!  Whoops!  I know, I know.  Sweetest Day is a Hallmark holiday.  Some of you might not even know the day exists.  I don’t care though.  I’m all about celebrating and will take any excuse I can get!

Last year, we both forgot about Sweetest Day (clearly it’s a holiday of high importance).  I was in the kitchen making lunch, when I realized our oversight.  I turned to Jarrod, looked up at him with a look of angry rage, and said “It’s Sweetest Day!  Where’s my chocolates, biotch?”

Yes.  That happened.

Tee hee hee!  I know, it’s horrible.  It sure did give us both a good laugh though.

For this Sweetest Day, we stuck with our pre-realization plan and cooked up some enchiladas.  All I can say is OMG.  Recipe recap to come this week, promise.

Since we forgot about Sweetest Day, Sunday morning we woke up “bright and early” (9am) to have a post-Sweetest-Day breakfast at the Flying Biscuit Café.

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We’ve been wanting to try this place out since we moved to Charlotte.  There’s practically always a line outside and that’s usually a good sign that some good food can be found inside.

We sat outside on the back patio.  It was so sunny and hot I had to take off my cardigan!  Gotta love fall in the south!

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I ordered the veggie omelet with some chicken sausage:

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Even though we were loving the sunshine, it wasn’t making for super photo-snapping conditions.  I was able to coerce Jarrod into helping me filter the light with a napkin:

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Ahhhh… Look at that beautifully filtered light!

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Jarrod got the cajun chicken scramble filled with goat cheese and spinach and topped with a well spiced tomato sauce.

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Oh… and we got a pancake.  With chocolate chips.  *insert drool here*

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EVERYTHING about this breakfast was delicious.  Well seasoned, crazy good flavor, and no grease to be found.  I can’t believe we haven’t been to Flying Biscuit Café before.  They even had this amazing apple butter on the table that tasted of pure fall bliss.  Cannot wait to go back and try their oatmeal pancake!

Flying Biscuit Cafe on Urbanspoon

Flying Biscuit Cafe on Urbanspoon

After breakfast I convinced Jarrod to go for a run with me!  Jarrod HATES running.  Despises it. LOATHES the idea.  He gave it his all, and we made it nearly 4 miles split between intervals of running and walking.  I am so proud of him Smile

While relaxing after the run, we watched the Browns lose Devil, cooked up some sweets for the Blogger Sweet Swap, then dined on some crockpot Chicken Taco Chili (posts to come this week, PROMISE!).

All-in-all a relaxing food-filled weekend with my sweet.  I actually feel ready for Monday… dang hope I didn’t just jinx myself.

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More expensive don’t mean more tasty.

A couple weekends ago, the BF was feeling fancy coupled with an apparent hole burning away in his pocket so he offered to take me to ANY restaurant I wanted.  Usually when I’m trying to pick a restaurant price is one of my top considerations (whether or not I’m paying).  I admit to being a major cheapo, but besides that charming trait I just don’t think it’s necessary to pay an arm and a leg for a good meal!   Plus, the more I’m paying, the higher my expectations and I DO NOT like to be disappointed when it comes to my food.

Since Jarrod was adamant that he wanted something over the top, we decided to go to Firebirds in South Park.  Firebirds seemed like a safe bet because it’s one of the most frequent restaurant recommendations I get when I ask people their top picks in Charlotte.  Even with all the positive reviews, I hadn’t ventured over to Firebirds due to their prices which average about $20 a plate for dinner.

It was a beautiful night, so we decided to take advantage of their patio seating.  Walking through the restaurant and onto the patio, I started to fall in love with the place.  I loved the wood-fired smell that poured out from the open kitchen, and I loved the posh yet modern decor.

Outside they had about 10 tables on the patio and a cute little sitting area complete with a large fireplace.

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After perusing the menu, the BF decided on the Cilantro Grilled Chicken Breast (i.e., the only pasta-less chicken dish on the menu):

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I went with the Chile Rubbed Delmonico steak:

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It was nearly 10pm by the time we got our food, and I always get a little bummed when it’s too dark for good pics 🙁

Sensing my frustration, Jarrod realized our table was in a prime location right next to a spotlight.  In an act of pure chivalry, he shielded me from view while I snagged a few shots:

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See now?  Chicken!

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Steak and potatoes!

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Talk about teamwork 🙂

The BF really liked his chicken dish, but my steak was bleghhhhhhhh.  So fatty, and unflavorful.  It was like they nixed the “chile” and swapped in gristly bits of meat.  I ate about a third of it.  A THIRD.

Unheard of.

Luckily, the southwest au gratin potatoes were quite yummy.  So cheesy with a slight bite to them.  But were they worth the $20 price tag of the dish?

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I think not.

Whenever I have a subpar meal at a restaurant, there’s a little part of me that wants to complain to the waiter or manager.  I don’t think I’ve ever actually followed through on this desire… well except for those few times a hair has made its way into my food.  THAT is just not ok.  Instant appetite squelcher… yuck just the thought of it makes me queasy!

What about you?  Do you let your waiter know if your meal is crappy?

Firebirds Wood Fired Grill on Urbanspoon

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