The Queen City

After a long hiatus (9 months) the blog is back. After prodding and encouragement from a friend I have decided to stop procrastinating and start writing again. If this is your first time on my blog, thank you so much for visiting and I hope you enjoy. To those who follow the blog, thank you for the continued support. I have some exciting plans to take the blog to the next level, but in order to get to that point I need to catch up on some notes that I have archived. It’s the most wonderful time of the year, no not Christmas, autumn! Not only does the fall usher in cool air, changing leaves and pumpkin themed treats, it also means peak travel season for me. Some things to look forward to from future posts are cities like, Portland, Atlanta, Toronto, and Seattle(Part 2). But as for today, I am going to start with a little trip I had last week down to one of my favorite cities, Charlotte, North Carolina.

I realize that a lot of you reading this are probably either from or very familiar with Charlotte but before you navigate away to go see who is on Facebook chat, hang around for a few minutes, I have a few places that I hope are new for a few of you.The first place I want to talk about is Cabo Fish Taco, it is located in a really cool part of town called NoDa. (North Davidson St) It was also recently featured on The Food Network’s Diners, Drive-In’s, Dives, and is currently one of the hottest spots on Yelp for the past month. They have a decent selection of draft beer, wine and cocktails, but their obvious specialties are their margaritas.I recommend the guacamole, it was so good, and they served it chilled with warm, crisp chips. I got the Blackened Mahi -Mahi Tacos, which were incredible, all of their tacos are topped with a white cilantro sauce that really keeps the taco from being to dry. I definitely would call Cabo Fish Taco a can’t miss if you are ever in the NoDa area of Charlotte.

Right down the road from Cabo is a great french bakery named Amelie’s (pronounced like Emily’s but with an AH). I don’t know where to start with this place, the latte’s and pastries are to die for, they probably have over 30 different pastries on any given day. However if you are looking for a great cup of coffee, I will warn you Amelie’s only has drip coffee that is good but not anything to write home about. Amelie’s is not only french by name, the decor of the place is unmistakably french. It is set up much like an old house, with multiple rooms separated by velvet curtains, featuring living room furniture arrangements around coffee tables and faux fireplaces, lit by elaborate chandeliers. This place is nothing short of stunning! Are you ready for the best part? Amelie’s is open 24 hours a day 7 days a week! This place is 100% worth the trip no matter where you are in the Charlotte area.

The Common Market is a wonderful deli serving Boar’s Head meat by the pound. They also feature freshly made sandwiches and wraps as well as a cold case with fresh salads(pasta, potato, chickpea, etc.). They offer vegetarian and vegan sandwiches and salads as well. The Common Market is not only a deli, it also has a full convenience store featuring a massive wine and beer selection as well as all kinds of healthy snacks and a sitting area for you to enjoy your lunch. I stopped by for lunch one day and ordered the Turkey Capri Wrap. It comes with a sun dried tomato spread, goat cheese spread, baby spinach, and red onion all on a wrap of your choice, I got the sun dried tomato wrap. To accompany what was probably the most fantastic wrap I have ever eaten, I selected a chickpea salad with feta and green peppers that was to die for. I have to say The Common Market made a strong push for the number one spot in Charlotte for me, falling just short. Nonetheless, it is an amazing place to go whether you are looking for some lunch meat or cheese for your sandwich building endeavors, a place to grab a drink after work, carry out bottle of wine or six pack of beer, or a place to have a delectable and healthy lunch, or even a quick late night snack, The Common Market is for you!

Before I get to my favorite place in Charlotte, I would be remiss if didn’t mention Big Daddy’s Burger Bar in Dilworth. This is a great spot with indoor and outdoor seating, featuring an amazing beer selection and mouth watering, hand crafted burgers and sides. I got the Mama Ricotta’s Burger which comes topped with mozzarella, pesto, vine ripened tomatoes, and extra virgin olive oil with a side of seasoned fries. A few things you should know about Big Daddy’s; all of their beef is 100% grass fed and hormone free, they feature vegetarian and gluten free options, and you have the ability to build a burger starting with your choice of 7 meats or meat substitutes. Whatever burger you get make sure you try the Big Daddy’s sauce, as a matter of fact, get a few sides so you can dip your fries in it. I have no idea what it is, but it is oh-so good! This is a great place and it is in a great neighborhood with a really cool Caribou Coffee right across the street, so make it a night out with friends and grab coffee after!

Okay so I've saved the best for last. The Liberty is a gastropub that is only a few blocks away from Big Daddy’s in Dilworth. They feature 20 craft beers on tap and 30 wines by the glass. The Liberty not only has great drinks but their food is seasonal and served for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Their menu changes every few weeks which is good and bad, especially if you fall in love with something like I did. I started out with a pint of Dogfish Head (my favorite brewery in the world) Punkin’ Ale, which was new that week for the fall season, and an order of BBQ pork cracklin’s which I assumed was some sort of barbecue slider, being that I was in North Carolina, the self proclaimed capital of barbecue. What I got was more of a homemade pork rind that was served right out of the fryer. They actually weren’t bad, but I wouldn’t really recommend them. For my main dish I ordered the Bacon Blue Lamb Burger that came topped with bacon, blue cheese crumbles and roasted onions with a side of their parmesan salted fries. Words cannot explain how flavorful both the burger and fries were. The Liberty serves tons of traditional pub food with a gourmet flair. If there is one place you need to go on your next visit to Charlotte, The Liberty is that place. There were so many other places I wanted to visit that I simply did not have time to try. All of these places get two thumbs up, they are all different so I hope one of them sounded intriguing to you and you have the opportunity to visit one of these great places. Also, if you are on Yelp, I would love to be friends with you on there, look me up!