I was uptown today and decided to hit one of my old favorites - Mert’s Heart & Soul. Located at 214 S. College Street, Mert’s is in the heart of uptown. I had not been to Mert’s in at least 5 years because of my infrequent visits to uptown, and was pleased to say that it was just as I remembered it.   Mert’s maintains an extremely clean and jazzy atmosphere with what is perhaps the best low country cooking that Charlotte has to offer.  

The menu is fairly short compared to many restaurants who try to kill you with choices.  Mert’s has a handful of entrees and prepares them just right.    The menu has also not changed much over the years - nor should it have changed.  Any of the entrees from the “Daily Fixin’s” is a winner - blackened pork chops, southern fried chicken, fried catfish or whiting, or barbecue beef ribs.  Today, I had the famous salmon cakes.  These are simply some of the best you will ever get.  Instead of canned salmon like many places uses for their salmon cakes, Mert’s poaches fresh salmon, blends it with Cajun Trinity, adds spices, and serves them to you with their own remoulade sauce.  The end result is quite amazing. 

With any of the main entrees, Mert’s allows you to select from two side items.  Don’t count on getting any canned veggies here.  Mert’s has fresh veggies delivered to them daily and prepares them just right.  Today I had the green beans along with okra and tomatoes.  The green beens were excellent.  They were juicy and tender and had been cooked with bacon - just like grandma used to do.  You could definately tell the difference between these and the kind you get from a can.  The okra and tomatoes included a dash of spice.  They were great too; although, I could have used a bit more okra and a little less tomatoes - but perhaps that is just me. 

My wife had the fried chicken which came out as perfect as always.  Mert’s blends their own seasoning and fries the chicken to perfection.   Obviously, I am not the only person who is a fan of the chicken at Mert’s.  According to their website, they served 73,920 pieces of fried chicken in 2006.  For her side, she had the “award winning” macaroni & cheese.    It too is some of the best I have had. 

Also, many of my readers know that one of my peeves for restaurants in Charlotte (anywhere in the South actually) is bad sweet tea.  Therefore, I must mention that  Mert’s tea is blended perfectly.  Not too sweet (if there is such a thing) but sweet enough. 

Another great thing about Mert’s is that the employees are all so friendly.  They all seem like they love working there and love pleasing the customers. 

Whether you are visiting uptown for business or pleasure, Mert’s is the one place you need to stop if you truly want a taste of Charlotte.

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

A new Salsa’s Mexican Restaurant just opened in Ayrsley (I-485 and S. Tryon Street), so I decided to check it out.  I can only assume that it is related to the other two Salsa’s in Charlotte: one in Carmel Commons near Pineville and the other in Galleria Village in the Matthews area.  As of today, the new location is not listed on their website but the logo looks the same as the others.

The decor and ambiance seemed much more upscale to me than the other two locations - not they they are not nice.  All of the locations have a much nicer decor and appeal than most other Charlotte Mexican Restaurants.  The good news is that while the decor and ambiance appear to be increasing to a more upscale appeal, the prices are still very reasonable.  Most of the meals on the menu were under $10.

I think the service that I had on this particular day was some of the best I have had.  The waitress was very attentive and had no problem keeping us supplied with ample amounts of tea. 

I ordered a combo that allowed me to select two of the following:  enchilada, chili cheese burrito, taco, or chili relleno.  As usual, I was able to select beef or chicken for the entrees.  It also came with Mexican rice or refried beans, a baby green mix and sour cream.  The cost was $6.79.  I chose the enchilada and the chili relleno.

First, the good news. The chips and salsa were well on par with expectations.  The Mexican rice was exceptional.  It was some of the best that I have ever had.  It had a very small tinge of smoked flavor that added a perfect touch to the rice.

Now the bad news.  The chicken in the enchilada was a bit dry.  This seems to be rare with Mexican because of the sauces/spices, but in this case it was.  The chili relleno was good except that the cheese was not all of the way melted.  It could have stood another minute or so in the “cooker.”

All in all, it was only an average experience on this visit.  The ambiance and the services were very good, some of the food was great, some of it not so great.  Perhaps they are just ironing out some rough edges in the kitchen since the location is new.  I have always gotten great food at the other two locations.  I am sure I will give them another shot – primarily due to the location and my experiences with the other two locations.

Last Week, the family and I were looking a place fairly close by to get a good meal, and we decided to hit one of the local fish camps.  A short drive from our Lake Wylie home toward Belmont yields at least three fish camps, including:  Twin Tops, Graham’s Fish Fry,  and Catfish Cove.  Twin Tops and Graham’s are across the street from one another and Catfish cove is about a mile down the road.  On this occassion, we decided to visit Twin Tops so that is the one I will review here.  I am sure, I will eventually get to the others as well.

You will notice the biggest problem that Twin Tops immediately upon pulling into the parking lot - limited parking and VERY tight parking spaces. If you are driving a Suburban-sized vehicle, you may want to get their early to guarantee two spots next to one another.   If you are driving a SMART Car, you should be fine.   Of course, parking is a minor detail. 

The last two times we have been in, it has seemed like a long time before we were approached by a waitress - almost to the point of wondering whether or not our table even had a waitress assigned to it.  As usual, the restaurant was packed with people, so perhaps she just got busy.  Eventually, the waitress did come and took our orders.  A few minutes later, she returned with the iced tea - which was a bit rough.  Traditionally, fish camps usually have good sweet tea so this one was puzzling to me.  My wife recalled the tea being bad last time as well.    I would recommend going with a soda or something other than tea.  We will not be ordering tea there again.

At the same time that the tea was bought to our table, a basket of hush puppies were also delivered.  My wife liked them a lot.  I thought they were good, but I have definately had better on many occassions.  I would rate them about a 7 out of 10.

They had several all-you-can eat specials up on the board - depending upon the night of the week, as follows:

Tuesday, Perch $7.95
Wednesday, Calabash Shrimp $8.95
Thursday, Whiting $8.95

As is the case with most of the fish camps nowadays, the large platters are always all you can eat.  This is assuming that you can finish the large platter to begin with.  On this night, I wanted to try a little of everything [because I knew I would be writting about it later], so I ordered the all-you-can-eat three item combo platter for $11.95 which featured Calabash Shrimp, Deviled Crab and Flounder.   I would only rate the flounder about a 5 out of 10.   It was pretty average.  Next time, I will probably order something different in place of the flounder.    The Calabash Shrimp were a different story though.  They were lightly breaded and fried to near perfection - earning a score of 9 out of 10.  I will definately be eating more of these in the future.  The third item was the Deviled Crab which was also excellent.  It was some of the best Deviled Crab I have eaten in a long while - earning an 8 out of 10.  I ended up getting reorders of both the shrimp and the deviled crab, but had to fight my way through the reorders - I was so stuffed.

My wife who is not a seafood eater, ordered the 1/2 order chicken tender basket.  I am not sure if they messed up the order and gave her a whole order or if the 1/2 order is usually this big.  It was monsterous.  I have never seen anything like it and it was supposedly only a 1/2 order - see photo.    As far as the quality goes, she would rate them a 7 out of 10.

Also of note, since I mentioned the difficulty of getting a waitress, I must say that once she finally got to our table she was very attentive and very good.  Of particular note, my drink did not get empty which, as I have said before, is rare.

As with many fish camps, you pay up “at the front” when you are leaving.  The front area reminds me of an old time candy store with classic candies lining the wall - making it impossible to resist an extra purchase as you are paying your bill.  Next to the main door sits a Ms. Pac Man machine - how great is this! 

Also of note, Twin Tops does not take credit cards - quite a dissappointment considering it is 2008.  Even McDonald’s and Taco Bell take credit cards.  Twin Tops does take debit cards.  I am not sure the logic behind this.  Perhaps they are trying to save on credit card processing fees which are much more than debit card processing fees.  Who knows?  Just remember to take cash (or a debit card). 

They are also not open on Sundays or Mondays, so plan your visit accordingly.