foodie

Excited about Eating by Ernie Hiers

/ Dora Hiers
This edition of Excited about Eating takes us to the historic south end of Charlotte near the Dilworth neighborhood to Crispy Crepe. 

Exterior


Dora here. Hey, I recognize that cute guy in the red shirt! 🙂
I would’ve preferred to sit outside, but the Saturday afternoon of our visit was a scorching 95 degrees. The interior was cozy and air conditioned. Check out that giant bottle of chocolate syrup along the wall. How cool is that? 

Interior

This unique eatery not only serves crepes, but also waffles, salads, flatbreads and sandwiches. 

Making Crepes


I chose the Egg n Turkey Bacon Waffle which is served with two eggs, turkey bacon and fresh fruit. Now this waffle is not an ordinary waffle. It is a Liege waffle, named after a city in Belgium, and is made using brioche style dough and caramelized Belgian sugar, and pressed in a cast iron press. 

This waffle was outstanding, definitely the highlight of the dish, and reminds me of waffles from our trips to Europe. The soft scrambled, not runny eggs and bacon were perfectly cooked. 

Egg n Turkey Bacon Waffle 

Dora here. Isn’t that plate huge? I couldn’t let Ernie eat that whole meal by himself!  He definitely needed help with the waffle. Wow! Yeasty and yummy and my fork kept sneaking over to his plate. 🙂

I strategized my order. I knew we were going for a sweet crepe, so I ordered the Smoked Turkey with White Stilten Cranberry Cheese sandwich. Doesn’t that sound intriguing? I know, right? And look at it. Sweet caramelized onions, cranberry cheese…need I say more? Yummo! And to be fair, I did share. 🙂

Smoked Turkey with White Stilten Cranberry Cheese sandwich

The Chocolate Peanut Butter crepe was filled with mini chocolate peanut butter cups, vanilla cream & drizzled with caramel. The chocolate and cream, almost like a donut cream, all mingled together for a sweet ending to a great meal. Check this out!

Chocolate Peanut Butter crepe 

Dora here. The crepes don’t normally come split like this. Somebody was a bit too quick with the knife. Lucky I snapped a picture because this crepe vanished within seconds.

The coffee was a different story. Too weak for me. Bummer. 

Three hours of free parking is available in a garage around the corner. Service was a bit slow because of the packed restaurant, but you won’t need that long to eat. 🙂

Parking

We rate this restaurant 4 forks out of 5 for a family friendly restaurant serving great food. 

Have you tried a Liege waffle? What about crepes?
Do you have a favorite? Sweet or savory?

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Excited about Eating by Ernie Hiers

/ Dora Hiers / 7 Comments
This edition of Excited about Eating takes us to the Boone/Blowing Rock area in the mountains of North Carolina.

Our first stop is Our Daily Bread, a casual upbeat delicatessen. 

From the menu, you can tell this deli focuses on blending unique ingredients together to make unusual sandwiches.


I chose the Smoke Stack, a combo of smoked components (smoked turkey, smoked applewood bacon, melted smoked Gouda), along with chipotle aioli, tomatoes, and spring greens on sourdough bread with a side of Sweet Basil Corn Chowder. Loaded with corn in a creamy broth and a sweet basil undertone, the soup was great. But the sandwich was outstanding. All of the different smoked flavors worked well with the chipotle aioli, and the toasted sourdough bread held it all together.

Smoke Stack

Dora here. Since we visited on the Fourth of July, I opted for the daily special, the Red White & Blue Chutney Sandwich. Smoked ham, melted brie, balsamic blueberry chutney, tomatoes, roasted red pepper aioli and basil leaves pressed in cranberry French bread. Hello! Blueberry chutney? Doesn’t that sound fabulous? Well, it was. A melt-in-your-mouth mixture of everything I like about breakfast and lunch. Yum! Definitely adding this place to our “must visit” list.

Red White & Blue Chutney Sandwich

We rate this restaurant 4 forks out of 5 for a family friendly restaurant serving great food.
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Our second stop is Town Tavern in downtown Blowing Rock.

It was a beautiful day, so we decided to sit outside.

Dora here. Great choice! Restaurants with an outdoor patio score bonus points. 🙂

For lunch I chose the Tavern Philly Cheesesteak served on a Milano roll with a huge amount of thinly sliced rib eye steak, American white cheese, peppers and onions and a side of Tater Tots.

Tavern Philly Cheesesteak

This sandwich was unique in that the components were all cooked together giving it great flavor, as opposed to cooking individual ingredients and layering. Not only was the sandwich great, the tater tots were just the way I like them. Crispy.

Dora here. Burgers are my go to meal when we’re away from home, and I hadn’t had one all week. The Bacon & Cheddar burger satisfied my burger craving. Meaty and juicy, and the slightly toasted bun makes this meal a winner! Oh, and the creamy ranch dip for tater tots now replaces boring ketchup!

Bacon & Cheddar Burger

We rate this restaurant 5 forks out of 5 for a family friendly restaurant that serves outstanding food.
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Your turn. What’s your favorite go-to meal when you’re away from home?

Excited about Eating by Ernie Hiers

/ Dora Hiers / 9 Comments

This edition of Excited about Eating takes us to the Elizabeth neighborhood of Charlotte and to Hawthorne’s New York Pizza and Bar. 

Nice covered patio!

Elizabeth is named after Anne Elizabeth Watts, the only Charlotte neighborhood named for a woman. You can read more about the history here. 

Interior

Dora here. Don’t let this picture deceive you. We arrived right at eleven, and by the time we left, both inside and out was jammed. Hawthorne’s appears to be a popular place for locals as many people walked here.

The garlic cheese bread appetizer was cheesy with just the right amount of garlic. It came out fast, the cheese bubbling and gooey, and browned to perfection. 

Garlic Cheese Bread


Dora here. This cheesy bread reminded me of our favorite pizza place in Florida. We always divided it up into equal portions because our son ravaged it. Same thing happened this time, but with our grandson. A sure sign that it was a winner. 🙂

We wanted to pace ourselves, so we ordered the 9” Meat Eaters pizza, and we were glad we did.

9″ Meat Eaters Pizza

This pizza was loaded with meat (pepperoni, Italian sausage, beef, ham, bacon) and mozzarella. In each bite, I tasted all of the different meat flavors, and they all worked together. One thing we noticed, unlike other meat pies which tend to be greasy and heavy, this pizza was light with no greasy aftereffects. 

Slice of Meat Eaters


Dora here. I really wanted to order the Sicilian, but that only comes in GIANT size, so since we were ordering cheesy bread and dessert, I compromised on this. Not my favorite pizza, but it was good. I appreciated that it wasn’t heavy on the sauce or spice. 

Check out the Cannoli Plate, three mini cannolis. 

Cannolis

Dora here. We first sampled cannolis in Sicily, and loved them! Since then, we’ve tried the US versions, and none of them have come close to what we experienced overseas. Not that we’re food snobs, but buttercream filling..really? Yuck! Hawthorne’s cannolis tasted like the real deal, ricotta and cream cheese goodness in a fried pastry! Three minis were just the right size to cap off our meal. Well, Little Man didn’t think so. 🙂 

We rate this restaurant 4 forks out of 5 for a family friendly restaurant serving great food.

What’s your favorite pizza hangout?


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