Rooster's Wood-Fired Kitchen

The Deets:
Rooster's Wood Fired Kitchen (http://roosterskitchen.com/)
Charlotte, NC
Saturday, November 12, 2011
11:30am


We discovered Rooster's days after we moved to Charlotte. The food was great and who doesn't like rooster themed decor?! Being in the heart of South Park makes it the perfect lunch spot to mix with weekend erranding and that's just what we did. We got there as the doors opened so there was no wait at all.

The Order:
Appetizer: Onion soup
His: 1/2 Rotisserie chicken, sauce on the side
Hers: Shrimp and grits
Side: Fried corn


The soup was great. Rich, beefy stock and lot of onions cut into perfect slivers. The toast was a little weird, but it soaked up the broth nicely. I could have done with my very own bowl.

The roast chicken was exactly that, roasted chicken. It was tender and well-rotisseried, just not all that interesting. But, really, how interesting can you make roast chicken? The vinegar bbq sauce really helped, but I don't think we'll be ordering this one again. The fried corn wass beautiful. Sweet kernels quick fried in what has to be 100% butter. Its the only side you need. A little bit crispy, and little bit chewy, a little bit sweet, a little bit salty, and maybe some secret spiciness hidden in there somewhere. All delicious.

Shrimp and grits: two things any non-southerner would never think to mix. Boy am I glad I moved to the south! I've decided that shrimp and grits is a great way to decide if you and a chef are good match. There are so many variations in this dish that allow the kitchen to get really creative (if they want). I think I'll get along swimmingly with Rooster's kitchen. The shrimp were GIAGANTIC and perfectly cooked. Grits were coarse ground and lumpy and I loved them. And the broth that brought them together was a lovely, rich, savory, tomatoey concoction. I will come back for this over and over. Best shrimp and grits I've ever had.

The sigmas:
Deliciousness: 0.5
Pretty good all around. Alone, the chicken would have been 0 and the Shrimp and Grits a 1.5


Price: -0.5
These guys aren't cheap. The ingredients are quality and that's what you're paying for when you come here. Sometimes it's worth it, sometimes it's not.


Value: 0
Again, the quality is in line with the price.


Service: 1
Our waiter was great. He joked around with us and laughed at our (lame) jokes. Service timing was excellent. Getting to a restaurant right when they open can sometimes be a little tricky, but there were no issues at all.


Menu Variety: 0.5
The menu is pretty small, but it seems to change frequently and uses seasonal ingredients. In this sense it really reminds us of the kinds of places that are starting to pop up in the RDU area.


Unique Experience: 0.5
They have a great niche: casual, quality, rooster-y charm.


Beer/Wine Selection: unknown
It seemed too early to start drinking. But, if the wall behind the bar is any indication, the wine list is long. Didn't see any beer taps.


Frequency of Return: 0
Probably. A little to pricey for us to come back a lot, but we'll be back. Especially if I want shrimp and grits.


Overall: 0.5
Quality, seasonal selections, excellent execution.

McKoy's Smokehouse and Saloon

Ahhhhh barbeque. Everyone’s got their own opinion about what it is, what it isn’t, and which type is the best. People like to discuss it ad nauseum. I wish I had a dollar for every barbeque conversation I’ve been a part of since I’ve moved to North Carolina. Where I grew up (Southern California), when people said “barbeque” what they meant was they were going to put some meat on a grill and cook it, generally over charcoal. Out here in beautiful North Carolina when people say “bbq” they mean a certain type of meat, cooked a certain type of way, for a certain type of time, with a certain type of sauce and/or preparation. And you can be one hundred percent sure that THEIR preferred barbeque is way better than YOUR preferred barbeque. It’s quite serious in these parts, like college basketball. And I love it.

I have a confession to make. I want to be a professional barbeque judge. I want to travel from town to town and get a bunch of guys together and have them compete to see which of them can make me the best ribs/brisket/pulled pork/chicken. If I didn’t know better, and someone told me this was an actual job, I’d laugh at them and tell them it sounded more like a scam. Or perhaps they should rather set their sights higher, and try to be a professional building blower-upper because why stop after making up a job that’s only 90% awesome (90% because let’s face it, that’d be a lot of meat) (that’s what she said).

Anyway, I, like every other red-blooded American that lives in North Carolina, have my own opinions on barbeque. Heck, I fancy myself an amateur grill master and have even smoked a turkey for thanksgiving a few times. I’m not really going to go in to what my opinions are on what’s what in the giant panoply of barbeque ideas, but I am going to share with you my experiences at a local barbeque place called McKoy’s Smokehouse and Saloon.

We went to McKoys on a Saturday at around 6:00pm and didn’t have to wait at all. Sometimes I like this (when I’m hungry!) and sometimes I don’t (because let’s face it, sometimes the appeal of going out to eat is being around a lot of other people having a good time).

What we ordered: some special called (I think) the “q for two.” For twenty bucks we got to pick from a smaller list of their appetizers (a.k.a.; “Get’cha Goin’s,” ha!) and two entrees (a.k.a.; vittles, which were regular menu entrees, not some bullcrap list of special small entrees). For our appetizer we picked grit cakes. Our entrees were pulled pork with slaw and mac n’ cheese, and ribs with fries and okra. These pics really don't to justice the portion size. In fact, these look down right reasonable. But, whoa. I think the plates we a good 14 inches across. We had two more dinners off the leftovers. We also had two PBRs because they were like two bucks. Why not. Anyway, here comes the sigmas:

Deliciousness- .5

Hard to find fault with the barbeque. In fact, the ribs were top-notch. I’ve rarely had ribs as good as these, and I’m no rib-noob. They were smoked for a long time and then finished *to a char* on the grill. It’s that char part that set them apart from other smoked foods finished on a grill. The pulled pork was great. The sides were pretty blah. Certainly acceptable but nothing impressive. The only negative was the grit cakes. I’ve had some awesome grit cakes in my life (e.g., the mushroom grit cakes they serve/served at Top Of The Hill in Chapel Hill), and these were not they. The cakes themselves were ok, but the sauce they put on it tasted either old or stale or burnt or all three. No good.

Price- 0 (2)

Under normal circumstances I’d give this place a 0 for price. Right where it should be given the portion size and quality of food. The whole “q for two” thing (or whatever it’s called), however, was such a killer deal it made the experience a 2. We hardly ate any of the fried okra or French fries, and only managed to eat half of the pulled pork, so really: killer deal.

Value- 1

I feel like this place did a good job with their price-to-quality ratio. The meats we got seemed high enough quality that charging a little bit for them was worthwhile. The sides were kinda meh but there was so much of them that they satisfied my inner gourmand, if not my inner gourmet. The grit cakes were gross but I’m going to give them the benefit of the doubt and assume this was a one-off kitchen mistake. Also beers for two bucks. Even if it IS just PBR, you can’t go wrong for beer at the same price as iced tea.

Service- .5

Not too bad. Did what they needed to do speedily and with better-than-average friendliness without being too intrusive. Few things annoy me more about servers than when they ask you how everything is less than a minute after dropping the food off.

Menu Variety- .5

More than your typical barbeque place. Enough to bring me back several times, fo sho.

Unique Experience- -.5

Your typical barbecue place. The clever section names on the menu didn’t do anything for me.

Beer Selection- -1

Boo. Bad. I don’t need fancy special beers with barbeque but I do want more than four different kinds of Coors light. PBR fit the bill this time but if I ever want barbeque AND some interesting beer I won’t be going here.

Wine Selection- unknown

No clue. Not really relevant in a barbeque joint, anyway. I’m assuming they had white zin.

Frequency of Return Trips- .5

Despite some of the negatives, this place makes our short list of restaurants to consider when we want barbeque. There’s certainly plenty of stuff I’d like to try, but it’s going to be really tough to pass up another round of those ribs. Mmmmm.

What the hell is a standard deviation?

I suppose it's a good idea to tell you a little bit about us and explain our rating system. Both are pretty dorky, but that's okay. Consider it part of our charm.


About us... We moved to Charlotte this past August from Chapel Hill (GO HEELS!). We like to eat and we're pretty sure we know what good food is. We're not saying we know what everyone will like, but we definitely know what we like. She's a scientist and he's a psychologist. We like to know how things work and what makes them delicious and there's a fair amount of experimental cooking done at our house. Thank goodness for friends willing to be guinea pigs. We also have a fair bit of wine/beer snobbery but we aren't obnoxious about it, promise. 


Now about this rating system... Remember way back in some math or science class in college when you saw something like this? 

Ack! Too many Greek letters! But, that's not important. It's just the math behind a standard deviation curve. What's important is how this applies to our rating system. Check out this graph: 

Ack! That's no better! Well, here goes with my attempt to explain... We rate things from -3 to 3 sigmas (aka standard deviations). This covers essentially all restaurants in our vast experience (99.8% is almost 100%, just go with it), from the very worst to the very best. If we rate something a zero, it's perfectly average: 50% are better, 50% are worse. Not bad, not good, just average. If we rate something a +1 it's better than 84.1% of places; if it's a +2 it's better than 97.7%; if it's a +3 it's better than 99.8%. So, you can see there won't be very many +2s or +3s. And hopefully, not many negatives either. I imagine if we ever gave a place anything worse than a -2, there would be a corresponding call to the health department and quite possibly a trip to the ER. 


So, does all that make sense? Yes? Excellent. 

Bad Daddy's (FKA Big Daddy's)

The Deets: 

Bad Daddy's (http://baddaddysburgerbar.com/Home/)
Charlotte, NC

Friday, November 4, 2011

8:45pm

This will make our 4th trip to Bad Daddy's since we moved to Charlotte. The food is great, but what we REALLY love is the neighborhood. Typically, Bad Daddy's is a great place despite always needing to drink gallons of water afterwards (it's a tad salty). I think this might have been a bad night for them, but we'll still be going back. A lot.


The Order: 
Bad Ass Burger Special:1/2 beef, 1/2 bacon (!) patty with horseradish mayo, onions, fried bacon (chicken fried steak style), cheddar) with a side salad.

1. Bells Two Hearted Ale 2. Dogfish Head 60 Min IPA

Mac-and-cheese appetizer with a side salad.
$5 Margarita Special



Turtle Sunday Milkshake, to go

His: A patty that's half bacon? Really? Hell yes I'll take one of those! As long as it's cooked. Had to send this one back to the kitchen because the patty was definitely still raw in places (ugh... raw pork... gross). But it came back it came back out fully cooked and absolutely delicious. Pretty rich, for sure, and I won't be getting one again, but I'm glad I experienced it.

When you order a burger, for an additional $2 you can get a custom side salad instead of fried things. You get to pick four veggie toppings, fruit, cheese, crunch, dressing. It's a great deal and it lets you think you made a healthy decision while having an awesome burger.

Hers: They use to offer a pimento mac-n-cheese that was deadly but that's apparently not on the menu anymore. Huge mistake. Had to settle for the plain and it was good, but it didn't leaving me regretting sharing with The Husband like the pimento cheese version did. I also did the side salad to convince myself of my excellent food decision making abilities. The great thing about this option is getting to experiment with new things. Napa cabbage, apples, and blue cheese? Sure. Why not? I think we'll be getting some cabbage to make salads with at home.

Dessert: Brownie, caramel, and ice cream? Yum. The only downside was trying to suck brownie pieces through the straw on the way home.

The Sigmas:

Deliciousness: 0

Awesome burgers, just wish it had been cooked right the first time around. And please bring back the pimento mac-n-cheese.

Price: -0.5

They're a little pricey, but we think they're definitely worth it.

Value: 0

Spot on. Prices weren't great, but I feel like I got what I paid for.

Service: 0

Exactly what it should be. They got the job done with minimal fuss and minimal muss (though sometimes I like a little bit of muss in my waitering). People weren't overly friendly, but neither were they rude. Wait time for beverages and food was just fine.

Menu Variety: 1

Lots of options and there's always a special.

Unique Experience: 1

Who else makes a patty that's half bacon? Every time we've been here the place is busy. It's got a great atmosphere in a great neighborhood.

Beer Selection: 1

A lot of tap options and not a single Bud, Coors, or Miller to be found. There was even Abita root beer on tap.

Wine Selection: N/A

Never had wine, but that $5 margarita was awesome.

Estimated Frequency of Return Trips: 0.5
We'll definitely be back. The do a pretty great breakfast on the weekend when we can get moving in time to get there.

Overall: 1

The best burger place we've found so far in Charlotte.

Buffalo Wild Wing Cafe

The Deets:

Wild Wing Cafe

Charlotte, NC

Tuesday November 1st.

7:45pm

It's a chain. You know what to expect. Good wings. Good enough service (sometimes).

The Order:
Buy a dozen wings, get a dozen wings free: half jalapenio cheddar, half Chernobyl. Side of Buffalo chips (house chips with blue cheese crumbles). Sweetwater 420 on special.

We got a giant pile of wings and shared. We really like the jalapenio cheddar and these didn't disappoint (our advice- order them extra crispy). The Chernobyl were a little too hot for me (her) but he really took one for the team and ate most of them. He's a good husband. The chips were a let down. Plain chips with blue cheese crumbles that didn't adhere. Kinda tasty but a pain in the butt to eat. No fun at all.

The Sigmas:

Deliciousness: 0

Good enough. Nothing special. Nothing bad, either.

Price: 0 (1.5 with the special)

Normally they're fairly priced, but you can't go wrong with BOGO.

Value: 0 (1.5 with the special)

Free food! Only drawback is you can't "split sauces." In the past we've gotten 18 wings, with six each of three different sauces. Can't do that with this special, so we got 12 and 12.

Service: -0.5

Eh. It's a chain.

Menu Variety: 1

There is a huge variety of wing sauces if you're in to that. Most that we've tried have been pretty darn tasty, which I'm impressed with. My experience has taught me that it's a whole lot easier to make a bad wing sauce than a good one.

Unique Experience: -.05

Again. It's a chain.

Beer Selection: 0

Good specials at times, but otherwise eight different kinds of miller/coors/bud.

Wine Selection: N/A
Wings and wine? Never tried that one. Didn't even look to see what kinds of white zinfandel they had.

Estimated Frequency of Return Trips: 0.5

When we want wings it's a great choice.

Overall: 0

Mmmm. Wings and beer. If you want wings, you can't go wrong with this place, but it IS a chain and service can be pretty slow. Some might not mind the service issue but I (him) tend to get pretty snippy when there's bad service. Unreasonably so. Call it a character flaw.

The Cowfish, Charlotte, NC

The Deets:

The Cowfish (www.thecowfish.com)

Charlotte, NC

Sunday, October 30, 2011

11:45am

A good time of day to go to this place- no wait (the other times we've been there's been quite a long line to get in), and only 15 minutes until the magical time of the day when you can order alcoholic drinks.

The Order:

Mediterranean Lamb Burger, medium well, side of fried pickles

Stone Centennial IPA

Lava Shrimp Roll, side of seaweed salad

Talus Pinot Grigio

His: Food was pretty darn good. My burger was awesome; it had a flash-fried patty of feta cheese, and pretty spicy tzatziki/fried caper sauce. The meat itself was great. My only complaint was that the bun they put it on was a little too substantial. I ended up eating it open-face, which meant that a) I could taste more meat, and b) it was way more messy. So that's two good things.

I also highly recommend their fried pickles. These are a food I'd never even THOUGHT about until I moved to North Carolina. They can vary greatly in quality, especially in regards to how much they dry them before frying them... if they're too brine-y then they not as good. Cowfish did 'em well.

Hers: Two kinds of shrimp in one roll?! If you know me, you know that this was a must have. Considering the rest of the menu, this wasn't all that interesting a choice, but I love shrimp and that's that. The roll was gigantic and the amount of seaweed salad was almost too much for my jaw to chew. Overall, both were excellent. I could have done with less of the spicy mayo stuff, but I can always do with less mayo. Another plus was the pickled ginger. A great palate cleanser between bites of the burger and the roll. Probably won't get this again, but that's only because there were so many other awesome looking things. 

The Sigmas:

Deliciousness: 1.0

More than just your average meal, this was good quality food put together in a creative way.

Price: -0.5

Cowfish gets a slight ding in their price rating. I don't think it's unfair what they ask for their food, but it's on the very high end of the 'fair' range. It's no Ruth's Chris, but this isn't a cheap restaurant.

Value: 0

Spot on. Prices weren't great, but I feel like I got what I paid for. Plus the ge ne sai qua factor made the menu price more reasonable than otherwise would be expected.

Service: 0

Exactly what it should be. They got the job done with minimal fuss and minimal muss (though sometimes I like a little bit of muss in my waitering). People weren't overly friendly, but neither were they rude. Wait time for beverages and food was just fine.

Menu Variety: 2.5

This is where this place shines. Take a look at their menu (http://www.thecowfish.com/menu/). It's crazy. They have some REALLY creative burgers, and some REALLY creative faux-sushi options. Something that really bugs me about some places is when their burger selection isn't exciting. Cheeseburger, Baconburger, Bacon Cheeseburger are your options? Snore. Sure they'd taste good but I feel like offerings like that are just menu placeholders more than anything else. Cowfish, on the other hand? They put fried pepperoncinis on their pimento cheese burger, taking it from Meh to Mmmm. Like burgers but don't want it in a bun? Try a burger-ushi. It's like a burger in the form of sushi. Clearly they're playing it fast and loose with the term "sushi," but it all makes for a very creative menu. This was my second visit (first time I got the hoisin ribs... mmmm) and I still feel like I could go back a dozen times and eat something deliciously different each visit.

Unique Experience: 2.5

A combination burger-sushi place? How do you create THAT atmosphere??? Well, they did it. Wacky and awesome. Be sure to visit the bathroom when you're here (for reasons other than those biological), for a handy primer on how to say English phrases in both Japanese AND Redneck.

Beer Selection: 0.5

Good enough for it not to be a negative, with some nice surprises. I had a Founders Centenial IPA. Any place with a Founders on tap is not your run-of-the-mill restaurant. Good (but standard) selection of Japanese beers, and a rotating "guest tap."

Wine Selection: 1.0

Not too shabby, and a good selection of wines by the glass at a fair price. Pretty important if you're going for a sushi dinner.

Estimated Frequency of Return Trips: 1.0

We'll go here more than most places. Maybe once a month? The menu was super-compelling, the waitstaff was acceptably effective, and they had a good selection of drinks. It's a little too expensive to go as often as I'd like, though.

Overall: 1.5

For those of you who haven't been here, I'd highly recommend it. For those of you who HAVE been here, you already know if you like it or not. I can imagine this place inspires extremes. Either you love it or you're not very adventurous in your food tastes and would rather stay at home and eat cream-of-wheat.