review – Fervent Foodie

Phyrefly: the new way to save money dining out in Charlotte

August 18, 2015 No Comments

I first heard about Phyrefly through social media stalking, and then again on Charlotte Agenda. Then I bumped into Phyrefly founders Kaitlin and Josh Krogh at a Piedmont Culinary Guild event, and then AGAIN at #weloveclt last month, which I took as a sign I needed to try out Phyrefly already.

So, what is Phyrefly? It’s the self-dubbed Hotwire for restaurants. Meaning you log into the site, check out the various deals available, and select one based on location and price range. The specific restaurant is not revealed to you until after the offer is selected, just as Hotwire doesn’t reveal the specific hotel until you’ve committed to the deal. You can browse Phyrefly deals by neighborhood, price point, food type, user rating, and ambiance. Bonus: these are all local restaurants. No chains.

Double bonus: unlike Hotwire, Phyrefly currently doesn’t charge you upfront—which means there is no fee if you decide to pass on the Phyrefly offer once the restaurant is revealed. (Though this will likely change in the future, once the beta stage is complete.)

This concept is exciting for three reasons. 1.) it gets diners to step outside their usual routines, 2.) it helps restaurants fill tables during off-peak hours, and 3.) it saves you money. Boom.

Product Review

Soul of the South–a Feast Food Tour {Charlotte, NC}

November 13, 2012 6 Comments

For better or for worse, my favorite thing to do on the weekends is EAT. Each Friday night, Jarrod and I head out to a local restaurant for what we affectionately call a “slow dinner.” We order drinks, we savor them. We order an appetizer, we relish it. Then, after turning the server away at least three times, we order our entrees. And later (on occasion) we order dessert. It’s like a progressive dinner, except we sit in one spot the entire night, with the exception of regular potty breaks.

Last weekend, we had the epitome of slow dinners: six small meals at six different locations! The best part was we didn’t have to plan a thing—everything was handled by Kristi of Feast Food Tours.

I met Kristi a few months ago, and I had an immediate urge to go on one of her tours. She has several options listed on her website, including an Uptown Chic Tour and Charlotte Brew and Chew Tour. But, for the love of barbecue, I chose the Soul of the South Tour, on which Queen City Q was our first stop! Queen City Q opened earlier this year, but we hadn’t made it in for a visit prior to the tour. Our first order of business: pulled pork sliders!

Restaurants, Travel

Friday B,L,D in Charleston

July 17, 2010 7 Comments

For breakfast Friday we decided to head to Hominy Grill, which is a nice short walk from the studio we are renting.

We sat outside on a nice little covered patio that had several mounted fans to cool us down:

We decided to order two dishes to split, and ended up with the sausage omelet with home fries and toast:

And the buttermilk pancakes:

Both of these were DELICIOUS. We also brought some of the housemade banana bread and ginger pumpkin bread home with us:

Box of joy:

We both enjoyed both of these breads, though I preferred the pumpkin and Jarrod preferred the banana.. so that worked out quite well 🙂

After breakfast, we headed to Folly Beach for a little sun, and the sand, and drinks in our hands napping on the beach:

All the sun and salt water made us crazy hungry, so we stopped at the Triangle Char bar for lunch:

For an appetizer, we ordered the cheesy sausage Tailgate Dip. Cheesy Heaven:

I ordered the Turkey Burger, which was called the “I’m on a diet but still want a burger, burger”

I ended up only eating half of the burger, because we had such a big breakfast and all the cheesy dip. The avocado spread is what really made the burger tasty.

Jarrod got the spicy chicken tacos, which he REALLY liked:

After our late lunch, we headed back to the studio for some napping/showering then headed on our merry way to dinner. We decided to go to Sermet’s Corner on King Street. The restaurant had great ambiance, and kind of funky decor:

For the appetizer, we ordered the Baked Artichoke Torta:

Looks beautiful, tasted like butt. Haha.. unfortunately the menu didn’t mention that the torta was FILLED with black olives. Jarrod dislikes black olives. I, on the other hand, DESPISE black olives. I feel like they taint everything they touch… there’s just no eating around them because once they are in a dish the whole dish is RUINED (in my opinion anyway 😉 )

Lucky for us, the main course was AMAZING. We ordered the chicken sautéed with chorizo sausage, roasted red peppers, and sweat peas, in a red wine thyme gorgonzola reduction over penne pasta:

A-may-zing. For the record, that is pasta for night #3 in a row.. Hahaha 😀

On the way home, we decided to take one of the bike taxis back to the studio. Here’s a pic of me trying to discretely take a pick of the driver’s t-shirt without the driver noticing… Too bad he noticed, so I felt bad and didn’t try to take another clearer pic.. hahahah

For my raincheck b-day cake, we stopped at Cupcake and I got a Chocolate Tuxedo Cupcake:

This was so decadent…the icing was so thick and creamy it literally took several attempts to swallow… I saved half for later today 🙂

Today we’re heading to the harbor to do some actual sighteeing and some (more) eating 😉