restaurant review

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.
Click to add a blog post for The Town Tavern on Zomato

Your turn. What’s your favorite go-to meal when you’re away from home?

Excited about Eating by Ernie Hiers

/ Dora Hiers / 3 Comments
The first segment of Excited about Eating takes us to downtown Baltimore and to Nando’s PERi-PERi. I have never eaten Portuguese food but I was more than excited to give it a try.  Dora here. Hmmm…as I recall, I was the one excited to try it. You were a bit skeptical because of the chicken-heavy menu, and I dragged you along for the walk. 🙂

Exterior

I chose their famous ¼ chicken – breast/wing with flame-grilled corn on the cob and butternut squash medley. You can order their chicken spiced a multitude of different ways so I chose medium. The chicken was outstanding, juicy and grilled perfectly. The corn was charred from the flame grilling, giving it a deep smoky taste and the butternut squash medley packed in red onion, dried cranberries, cilantro and chili. Just a warning, this side is spicy!

1/4 Chicken Breast/Wing with Corn & Butternut Squash Medley
Dora here. Haha. Wasn’t everything spicy? A forehead slicker for sure! You kept calling for wipes. Lol. I chose the chicken breast sandwich on Portuguese bread with some lime-heated sauce. Yowza! The white meat was juicy and tender, and the whole sandwich was delish with eye-popping flavor! 

Chicken Breast Sandwich

When you enter the restaurant, you’re given a numbered rooster which corresponds to a table. You order at the counter, grab your condiments and drinks, and then sit at your assigned table. I loved the eclectic, exposed brick interior. Get here early because seating fills up fast and folks were huddled around the counter waiting to order. But not to worry if you can’t. The meals were delivered quickly and service was friendly and efficient. I’d definitely eat at another Nando’s!

Eclectic interior

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

Nando's Peri-Peri on Urbanspoon

Next, we moved on to the Chinatown area of Washington, DC, to Daikaya, serving Sapporo-style ramen. Ramen restaurants seem to be the rage lately. Dora here. Don’t conceptualize the packaged noodles you’d buy in a grocery store. Not even close. 

Daikaya – exterior


As an appetizer, we chose the gyoza dumplings, pan fried, full of flavor and something that you just want more of.

Gyoza Dumplings


Since we were told the serving sizes were huge, we shared the Shoyu Ramen, a hearty sized bowl with roasted pork, noodles, and veggies in a dark rich soy sauce. Now I have never tasted ramen before but this dish has made me into a believer. Deep flavors and full of noodles and vegetables, this dish was outstanding.  Also, they were right. Neither of us left the restaurant hungry. Dora here. Great experience, and I’d go here again, but I don’t think I’d like a weekly diet of Ramen unless it was twenty degrees outside. 🙂 

Shoyu Ramen


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

Daikaya on Urbanspoon

After several visits to DC and just as many attempts to get a table at Founding Farmers, a farm-to-table restaurant three blocks west of the White House, we finally made it! Reservations are the best way to sample this restaurant unless you have a couple hours to kill waiting. 

Exterior


Our waiter explained that Founding Farmers typically purchases from local merchants and farmers’ markets. When they can’t find fresh ingredients locally, they buy carbon offsets to ensure that regardless of distance, Founding Farmers is walking its talk that the planet matters. 

We started our meal with the Skillet Corn Bread served with sea salt and honey butter. This corn bread was great, sweet even without the honey, and packed with fresh corn. Unfortunately, we dug in so fast, we forgot to snap a picture. Sorry!

I chose the Signature Chicken Pot Pie, and the waiter practically dared me to finish it. Chicken pot pie is one of my favorites, so I have experienced this dish at many restaurants, but this one was excellent. Bursting with chicken and fresh vegetables and a broth that kept my fork coming back for more, I still couldn’t clean my plate. 

Signature Chicken Pot Pie


Dora here. I ordered the Butternut Squash Mascarpone Ravioli. Soft ravioli puffs, smooth and tasty, but loaded with flavor in a delicate, refined way. Delish! 

Butternut Squash Mascarpone Ravioli


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

 Founding Farmers on Urbanspoon

What heat level do you prefer? Light your mouth on fire? Sizzling? Warm? Or no heat?

Excited about Eating by Ernie Hiers

/ Dora Hiers
For this edition of Excited about Eating we visited Passage to India, located in the Campus Station Shopping Center in the University area of Charlotte. Now, I have to admit, I normally don’t eat at Indian restaurants because I have heard the food is very spicy. But today we were up for trying something different.

We were in luck. Instead of choosing just one dish, we were able to experience multiple items from their lunch buffet, and many of them were very good. My favorite was the Chilli Fish, fresh tilapia marinated with spices, fried and tossed with bell pepper and onions. The fish was lightly battered and perfectly cooked. Dora here. Tilapia typically isn’t a fish I’d choose, but I really liked this dish. Not too fishy and great flavor.

Another favorite was the Tandoori Chicken, marinated in yogurt, ginger, garlic & fresh spices and grilled in a clay oven. This dish was outstanding with the ginger and garlic shining through and the chicken carried a smokey favor. The Goat Curry, baby goat cooked in onion, tomato, and ginger gravy was great over the Basmati rice.

My wife’s favorite was the Chicken Tikka Masala, boneless chicken breast marinated in ginger, garlic, yogurt & spices and grilled in a charcoal clay oven. Dora here. The Chicken Tikka Masala was moist and tender, and sported just the right amount of heat. Unlike the Chicken Biryani which lit my mouth on fire! One taste of the Biryani and I was begging to switch my iced tea to diet coke. lol. And I really liked the Gulab Jamun, sugar-soaked balls shaped like doughnut holes, and that’s what they tasted like: dense, sweet doughnuts. Ernie wasn’t a fan.  

For dessert, we had the Mango Custard, made with fresh fruits. Not too sweet but just the right amount of fruit in a creamy milk sauce. Dora here. The mango custard was light and refreshing, not too heavy after eating from a buffet. And that’s another thing. Normally, buffets leave me stuffed and bloated, but neither of us felt that way when we finished eating.

Overall, this experience was enjoyable and I would eat Indian food again. I would rate this restaurant 4 forks out of 5 for a family friendly restaurant that serves great food.

Passage to India on Urbanspoon