Excited about Eating by Ernie Hiers

July 2, 2016June 23, 2016 / Dora Hiers / 2 Comments

This edition of Excited about Eating takes us to Pearlz Oyster and Raw Bar located in the StoneCrest at Piper Glen Shopping Center in Ballantyne, NC.

What a gigantic shopping center! Took a little while to find this gem.

Dora here. What a massive, eclectic shopping center! Restaurants, boutiques, salon, spa…even a Target and Harris Teeter. I could happily lose myself in here for days.

This restaurant offers fresh seafood in a casual dining environment with an outside patio. Now, if you follow our blog much, you know it is not too often that I can talk my wife into experiencing a seafood restaurant, but it was Father’s Day, so what could she say.

Dora here. Anything for you, honey. ❤

Clean and modern interior, but it was such a beautiful day, most everyone ate outside.

We ordered a side of Corn Fritters as an appetizer. Served with a dose of powdered sugar, these fritters were crusty (Dora here. I told him he couldn’t use the word “crispy” again today, and this is what he comes up with, lol) on the outside and soft on the inside with nuggets of fresh corn and red pepper. The fritters were great but I missed a dipping sauce to be enjoyed while eating them.

Dora here. YUM! These babies were fluffy and light, with occasional glimmers of corn and red pepper flecks. The touch of sweet from the powdered sugar made us debate whether they tasted more savory than sweet. Great start to our meal! Don’t they look delicious?

Corn fritters, sweet or savory? Not sure which won, but they were a great start to our meal!

I chose the New England Lobster Roll with a side of homemade chips and a cup of seafood gumbo. Now I know you will say that is a lot of seafood, but when you do not get it too often, you have to load up on it when you get a chance. (Dora here. Haha.) The lobster roll was creamy, tender and tasty, and served on a grilled roll capable of handling this full-bodied sandwich. Outstanding!

New England Lobster Roll – Creamy, tender and tasty. Outstanding!

The gumbo was packed with rice, sausage, beans, shrimp, and some other ingredients that I could not identify because I devoured it too fast. Hardy flavor and just the right amount of heat. Another thumbs up!

Seafood Gumbo – thumbs up!

Dora here. Take a gander at the Crab Sandwich. Yowza! What’s not to love about a buttery soft bun barely containing all that crabilicious flavor? The broccoli slaw wasn’t mayo based, so I used it as another condiment for my sandwich, which added another texture and layer of flavors. Delicious! And I’m not a fan of tomatoes, but those super tiny maters on this sandwich were so fresh and sweet, I ate every one of them! Just don’t tell my mother. lol

Crab sandwich…what’s not to love? Yum!

Has a restaurant prepared a particular item in such a way that you found yourself enjoying a food that you normally don’t like?

We rate this restaurant 5 forks out of 5 for a family friendly restaurant serving outstanding food.

Excited about Eating by Ernie Hiers

June 25, 2016June 25, 2016 / Dora Hiers / 9 Comments

This week’s edition of Excited about Eating is a deviation from our normal posts. Hope you don’t mind but hubby’s had so many requests to share his smoking tips lately that we decided to take a week and show everybody what happens at our house during his smokefests and how he arrives at the final product. Drool alert. 🙂

Buy Quality Meat

We used to buy ribs in bulk at Sam’s, but since Publix came to town, Ernie switched loyalties, says Publix ribs are meatier, less fat. If you’re going to invest the time and money, buy the best quality you can afford. We usually buy Baby Backs, St Louis, and Beef because everybody has their fave.

Since there’s a good bit of work involved, we fill up the smoker and send leftovers home with our guests, then bag and freeze the rest. Ribs are just as yummy heated up in the microwave or warmed on the grill weeks or months later.

Ready? Here we go.

Trim

Trim off excess fat on both sides.

Trim off fat

Remove the membrane from the back with a good, sharp knife. Hubby uses a boning knife. That thing is downright dangerous. 🙂

Remove the membrane from the back with a sharp knife

Season

Sprinkle both sides. Be generous with paprika, onion powder, granulated garlic, salt, pepper, and brown sugar.

Be generous!

Don’t forget the love. Rub the spices into the meat. He likes to do this the night before so the spices marry with the meat. Reserve excess liquid for later.

In They Go

Get your smoker up to temperature, 225 to 235 degrees.

Bring your smoker up to 225 – 235 degrees

Hubby uses the 3/2/1 method. Put the ribs in the smoker for the first three hours, unwrapped, with smoke.

First three hours, unwrapped with smoke

Take them out. Set them on aluminum foil. Drizzle squeeze butter and honey over the ribs. Sprinkle with a bit more rub (the spices mentioned earlier) and brown sugar. Wrap the aluminum foil over the ribs, adding a dose of the reserved liquid in the foil, and smoke for two more hours.

Remove from the smoker and unwrap those goodies. Douse with your favorite BBQ sauce (ours is Sweet Baby Rays) and stick them back in for one more hour, unwrapped. Then this…

Slice

The best place in the house!

Drooling yet? 🙂

Friends, let me tell you, I never liked ribs until Ernie started smoking them. Delicious and meaty and full of flavor, and sure to satisfy your guests. Ours, anyway. 🙂

OK, so here’s the question we ask every time around our table. What’s your favorite? Baby Backs, St. Louis, or Beef?

Hope you enjoyed this detour from our normal Excited about Eating posts. We’ll be back next week with another mouth-watering restaurant review.

Excited about Eating by Ernie Hiers

June 18, 2016June 18, 2016 / Dora Hiers / 4 Comments

This edition of Excited about Eating takes us to our favorite area of Charlotte, Plaza Midwood and to Kickstand Burger Bar.

Excited about Eating Kickstand Burger Bar

Parking is in the back, so this is actually the back entrance

Large outdoor seating area

This bar type restaurant with TVs at most booths really capitalized on their namesake by hanging bikes all over the restaurant. They are giving away this particular bike.

Excited about Eating Kickstand Burger Bar

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We chose the Onion Tanglers appetizer, lightly breaded thin onion circles fried crispy that melted in your mouth. The dipping sauce possessed a little kick.

Onion Tanglers, just enough heat in the sauce to jazz up your mouth without burning

Dora here. haha, just a little. Enough heat to ramp up your tongue without burning. 🙂 But a tad greasy for my liking.

I ordered the “Build a Dog” with cole slaw and chili. Our server told us that these were Nathan hot dogs so I was confident in their quality. The large dogs, loaded with slaw and chili, were great. The only negative was the standard bun, over toasted and dry.

Build the Dog

Dora here. Bummer. I went with the Trek burger topped with caramelized onions, Gorgonzola, steak sauce, and chipotle mayo. The burger was good, but a bit overloaded with steak sauce. I devoured most of the sweet tater tots, but ditched the syrup. I would’ve preferred a sprinkling of brown sugar rather than syrup. Yeah, go ahead and tell me I’m spoiled. I’ll admit it. 🙂

Trek Burger

Still Dora here. Our grandson really enjoyed his grilled cheese sandwich and was enthralled with the decor. He would definitely vote for a return visit. 🙂 The inside was clean and the service quick and friendly. In Charlotte, the private parking lot is always a bonus.

Do you frequent restaurants because your kids or grandkiddos like them?

Overall, we rate this restaurant 3 forks out of 5 for a family friendly restaurant serving good food.

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Excited about Eating by Ernie Hiers

Excited about Eating by Ernie Hiers

Excited about Eating by Ernie Hiers