I went to lunch the other day with a group of collegues.  One of them choose Hawthorne’s because it is his favorite restaurant in the area.  I am always skeptical when someone tells me that a place has the best pizza in town - although, I rarely get “bad” pizza.   

As a group, we had an order of the garlic knots which were fantastic.  Soft, fresh and hot!  They were some of the best garlic knots I have ever had.

For my meal, I ordered a couple of slices with pepperoni and mushrooms.  It took longer than it should have to get them - quite a while actually.  Once they came out - they were outstanding.  It truly was some of the best pizza I have had in town.    It was similar to many of the other top NY Pizza places in town, but it wasn’t nearly as greasy as some of the others (not that I mind grease.)  

Their menu also boast a wide assortment of other items, from chicken wings and stromboli or calzones to pasta and sandwiches.  I can not wait to try some of the other menu items.  Also, their prices are fairly reasonable with a fairly large slice of NY Pizza starting at $1.75.  A 16-inch pie will run  you about $12-$15 depending upon toppings.

I visited Baoding the other day for the first time in years. I got to thinking about how long it had been there, and did some research. It has been at that location for 15 years now (since 1993). For those that are unfamiliar with Baoding, it is an upscale chinese restaurant located in Southpark (4722-F Sharon Road; in the plaza with Barne’s & Noble’s). Most of my past visits to Baoding have been for lunch - mostly when I worked in Southpark. This time, I went for dinner.

Baoding is upscale and has a great modern, peaceful and relaxing atmosphere. The wait staff is very friendly and does a great job of actually making a little bit of conversation. It seems to me that in many chinese restaurants, the wait staff just barely tries to break through the language barrier and just gets the order the best they can. Of course, this comment only applies to those chinese restaurants with chinese employees - some have American wait staff. I imagine this helps the employees at Baoding become better at communicating with English speaking people in general - thus, increasing the accuracy of the orders.

To start with, I had the hot and sour soup. It was wonderful, although I am sure it was the best I have had. It was more spicey than most, and I wasn’t sure 100% why the word sour was even in the name.

I can’t remember what my main course was called, and it is not on their online menu. The closest thing I can remember was Pineapple Shrimp. While I may not recall the exact name, it was outstanding. If you love pineapple, and you love shrimp, you HAVE to get this. It was served on a split pineapple which was stuffed full of jumbo shrimp, pineapple, snow peas, pepper and onions. This dish is definately going on my favorite dishes list.

My wife had Beef & Broccolli. She always gets Beef & Broccolli at Chinese restaurants. It is the only Chinese food she will eat. In other words, she is quite the expert on Beef & Broccolli. She liked the dish, but did not think it was drastically better than some of the cheaper places she has had it at.

Another note, is that it isn’t that kid-friendly. They have no kid’s menu or chicken nuggest. You can get the sweet & sour chicken (the closest thing to a chicken nugget) as a substitute. My son seems to enjoy that, but I don’t know if he bought the whole idea of the “red ranch” that we tried to sell him as the dipping sauce.

All in all, I will definately be going back to Baoding in the future. The atmosphere is great, the service is great, and the food is great.

In my everlasting search for a quality BBQ restaurant that is actually in Charlotte, I decided to try Bert ‘N Gert’s BBQ & More (located at 9401 Statesville Rd, Suite C, 28269).

I arrived around 1:30pm on a Tuesday (June 17th) and the restaurant was very slow - only a couple of other people dining. I ordered a BBQ plate and had to wait a little longer than I should have to get it. When it came it look delicious. Unfortunately, that is there the deliciousness ended. The BBQ tasted extremely watery. Almost as if they had added water to it to keep it moist. It was not very appetizing at all. It was actually some of the worst BBQ I have ever had.

I recalled hearing a BBQ guy on the food network state one time that “sauce hides things.” Well, they need to use more sauce. After forcing about a 1/4 of the BBQ down without sauce, I tried their varying sauces which were all sufficient. None of them were “knock your socks off and give me a bottle to take home good,” but they did an ok job of covering up the watered down pork.

On a positive note, the slaw was excellent and the hush puppies were awesome. The baked beans were just average. My three year old stated that his grilled cheese was “good.”

To sum it up, I probably will not be going back just for the amazing hush puppies and slaw. I will continue my search for quality Charlotte BBQ. At least there are a few good places just outside of Charlotte with good BBQ (Courtney’s in Clover and Alfred & Charlie’s in Gastonia). I think I need to plan a trip to Lexington BBQ (in Lexington) so I can once again see what I am missing.

There is really only one word for this place: Spectacular!

I have been a frequent visitor to McCormick & Schmicks for well over a year now - having tried virtually every item on the menu.  At one time, I had tried everything on the menu but they change the menu frequently.  The prices are more than what I typically spend on dinner but the lunch menu is very similar and much cheaper - although not cheap.  Lunch will run about $15-$17 per person.  A full dinner with appetizers, entrees and dessert will run around $50 per person, before any alcohol.

My wife and I went there the other night in what was planned to be a pre-Indiana Jones meal.  Unfortunately, we engorged ourselves so much and took so long doing it, we did not feel like a movie afterward. 

The ambiance is very upscale and the staff very professional.  The staff is always very knowledgable and willing to ablige whatever desire that you have. 

On this visit, I had a decided to splurge a little.  I had a 2 lb Whole Main Lobster stuffed with lump crab meat.  It was outstanding.  It was pre-split down the middle for me so that the meat was extremely easy for me to get to.  As I said before, it was simply amazing. 

My wife had a Steak and Shrimp Combination, but as you may recall from prior post, she does not eat seafood, so the shrimp were for me.  The combination also came with McCormick & Schmick’s Signature Creme Brulee - again for me, my favorite dessert.

The shrimp were large and also stuffed with lump crab meat.  This was the first time I had had these, and as usual, I was very pleased - delicious.

One thing I usually do is to order the Potato Croquet as my side item.  I did so this time, and it was cooked to perfection.  As you take a bite of the croquet, you have to wonder how the chefs at McCormick’s are able to prepare food this amazing while competitors can not.   

When it was time for dessert, I was still excited to see the Creme Brulee placed on the table along with the Cheesecake that my wife ordered.   Again, the Creme Brulee was outstanding.  I will stop short of saying that this is the best Creme Brulee I have had, because it is not.  But, it is near the top of the list.   Of course, I do not recall ever getting a bad Creme Brulee. 

My wife throughly enjoyed her Filet Mignon as well.  I routinely go with friends that do not eat seafood and they all rave about the steaks.  For those who have ever heard the phrase, “never eat steak at a seafood place”, can throw that advice out the window at McCormick & Schmicks.    I will agree with most seafood places, but not McCormicks.    Of course, if you eat seafood - get seafood. 

Since I have literally visited this restaurant 100’s of times, I will list out some of my favorite dishes too:

Oysters On the Half Shell - always extremely fresh, and always extremely delicious.  This is one of the few restaurants that I will actually eat raw oysters at.  I do not trust most restuarants to handle the oysters properly - especially some of the “dives” around town that proclaim to be raw bars.   Don’t get me wrong, I will drink a few beers and eat a bucket of steamed oysters at those places, but I am not eating a raw one.

Ahi Tuna - Sesame Seared
Halibut, with Roasted Garlic Butter
Swordfish, with Boiled Red Potatoes and Lemon Butter
Atlantic Salmon, Roasted on a Cedar Plank with Northwest Berry Sauce (THE BEST SALMON I HAVE EVER HAD, BAR NONE)
Yellowtail Flounder, Permesan Crusted with Lemon Caper Butter

Desserts:  Pretty much all of them are great

Upside Down Granny Smith Apple Pie
Cheesecake
Cholocate Bomb
Creme Brulee