Bean - Restaurant Review

Last week I went to Charlotte, NC for a 3 day class in Uptown Charlotte (I think they call it that to be pretentious).

Anyway downtown was lovely and had some vegan options for me...however I do like to branch out when I am in a different city and sample from local restaurants.

While in town I tried Bean Vegan Cuisine.

If you happen to go please do not be discouraged by the outside (it looks a bit like an 80's pizza joint), it could use a little renovation to bring it a fresh new look.

However the outside aside the food was delicious.

I tried their BBQ tofu sandwich with sides of potato salad and fruit salad.

I didn't actually get to eat the fruit salad with dinner (no worries I saved it for breakfast) because I wanted to save room for the carrot cake cupcake.

The sandwich was perfect.  The tofu strips were crunchy and I actually thought for half a second that they might actually be chicken (upon further inspection I realized they were not).

The BBQ sauce was a little sweet and wasn't added in such copious amounts that all you tasted was sauce.

The veggies to go on top were fresh and crisp making for a delicious sandwich.

The potato salad though left something to be desired.

It was a bit watery and lacked flavor (a pinch of salt may have helped). 

I didn't enjoy it so I didn't bother to finish it.

The perfect end to the meal though was the cupcake.

A perfectly spiced cake with delicious buttercream on top...mmm scrumptious.

When you are someplace new do you go to a local restaurant or do you stick to your favorite chains?

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Weekend Fun

This past weekend my family, and I, travelled up to Richmond to visit my aunt.

Cathy was kind enough to watch our 3 children for the night as we went to see Dralion by Cirque du Soleil



This is not the first Cirque show I have been to see, but it is my favorite thus far.

My husband was more a fan of the clowns than the acrobatics.  I however was just completely in awe of each act.

It is amazing to me what they can get their bodies to do, and the strength that they posses is unreal.

The fun didn't stop with the show.  We also went to Silver Diner.

To me the name doesn't do it justice, but it is not diner food at all.

Silver Diner embraces the farm to table movement and sources their food locally.

And if that wasn't enough to pull you in, they have juke boxes at each table:

I am not sure how many times my kids pressed the buttons, I am just glad they didn't break it!

Their menu is huge and has breakfast items served all day (big plus if you are a five year old addicted to pancakes).

The have choices to suit everyone from the vegan to the carnivore.

I do have to say that the customer service was wonderful.  My husband ordred a hamburger with no mustard.

When his dinner came out the waiter noted that he thought mustard was on it.

They both checked and sure enough there it was.  However the manager brought over a new burger and a coupon for a free meal next time we were there.

Now to me that WAY over and beyond what I would expect.  A new sandwich and an "I'm sorry" would have sufficed.

It is nice to see though that they were willing to go out of there way to ensure we had a good meal.

So that wraps up the weekend for us.

I think we have a nice quiet weekend ahead of us just before school starts.

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A Mother's Day Lunch

Happy Mother's Day to you all

For my women readers you may not be a mother to a child but you may certainly have influence over some children OR maybe some pets.

Any which way I do just want to give a pat on the back to all of the women out there so that they know they are loved and appreciated.

I have been away from blogging for a little while so this post may be a little bit like learning to ride a bike again.

I took a little unintentional vacation from blogging as time just didn't seem to be available, however today that changes and I want to share with you a local restaurant that my mom and I visited this weekend in honor of Mother's Day.

The Celtic Fringe in Reidsville, NC.

A fantastic little pub serving some very delicious food.

I had the fish and chips (the fish was haddock and the fries were hand cut):

My mom chose the Welsh rarebit:

I forgot to take a picture of the delicious chocolate cake and strawberry shortcake, my apologies once I saw my cake I just had to dig right in...there was no time to get a camera out.

The service was wonderful and the atmosphere was something right out of Europe.

If you ever find yourself in small town Reidsville, NC make sure to make The Celtic Fringe one of your stops.

This was a great Mother's Day treat, and I hope my mom enjoyed going as much as I did.

It was kind of nice, even though I love my children, to have a meal without them and be able to carry on an actual adult conversation, and more importantly, with no interruptions.

So again Happy Mother's Day mom...I love you.

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Asheville, NC part III The Finale

I mentioned in my first post about Asheville that Tupelo Honey Cafe was at the top of my list of places to go.

In an effort to not have to wait for 1 1/2 for dinner we looked up and found that Tupelo has a second location.

A what?  A second location?  How did I not know this ahead of time?

Well THAT was a very pleasant surprise.

I was a bit hesitant because I loved the vibe and the atmosphere of the downtown location.  The second restaurant is in a strip mall...however the inside is all Tupelo funky and fresh (however I forgot to take pictures so please forgive me).

We had a fantastic waitress who brought us biscuits and blueberry jelly for starters (LOVE to start a meal with free bread products).

Which we complimented with a nice glass of water...dude I was thirsty and just couldn't drink another glass of 1/2 and 1/2 (half sweet and half unsweet tea).  The water however comes with no ice...a little strange as it doesn't come that way back home.  The waitress kindly explained that the water is filtered and to not interfere with the purity they don't put ice (you learn something new everyday).

The menu had delicious fresh, locally grown, choices.  I went with the vegetable plate and was given the opportunity to select 3 vegetables. 

I selected the side salad with homemade garlic ranch dressing, macaroni and cheese (I know I might have a dependency problem with this dish), and brown butter brussell sprouts (say that 5 times...whew!).

It came with a little garnish of okra, but I couldn't bring myself to eat that...I just haven't mustered the courage.

The meal was filling and fresh.  I thought this was a great way to finish out my eating tour of Asheville.  I would highly recommend you put this on your list of restaurants to eat in if you are in the Asheville area.

Now a wordless finish with some shots of downtown Asheville.

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Asheville, NC part II

So my eating adventure continues...

Asheville, as I have mentioned before, is FULL of delicious restaurants.

Our Saturday was much more enjoyable then Friday.  We expected crowds and parking issues (so we chose the same paved lot as before...no trouble at all finding a spot there).

We were lucky enough that our hotel offered a hot breakfast for free, so we didn't have to worry about where we were going to go.  We enjoyed our waffles and biscuits and headed on our merry way BACK downtown.

Now know this about me ahead of time.  I enjoy planning and knowing where I am going.  I already had, prior to departure, a list of restaurants and their addresses.  I often plan to a fault and can end up disappointed, much like I was when I realized that I couldn't go to Tupelo Honey Cafe Friday night because there was a 2 hour wait.

Today we planned and got to town early.  Our destination you ask?  Early Girl Eatery.

Much acclaim has come to Early Girl from the likes of Bon Appetit, Southern Living, Gourmet Magazine, and the New York Times.

Without further ado we put our name on the list, the hostess advised it would be about a 30 minute wait.  Now that is a wait time I can get down with.

Outside the restaurant are benches or you can walk around (just be sure to keep track of time).  We decided to spend our 30 minutes walking around and headed around the corner to the Grove Arcade.

The Grove Arcade has a bunch of vendors on the street that sell "Ugly" dolls, wooden bowls, hand painted shirts, and a variety of other crafts.

Inside there are restaurants and shops...we decided to sit for a spell (not sure how long that is, but in our "spell" it was long enough to snap these two photos).

We, meaning me, didn't want to be gone too long lest they call are names and we miss our opportunity to eat (I do not like to miss a meal).  So we headed back, waited just a little longer, and then we were led in to this funky and brightly painted restaurant.

How cute...they put the bathroom keys on cooking spoons.

The windows had these old curtains with rick rack ribbon on them

And the cutest sugar holders I have ever seen.  Seriously if it had fit in my purse (which was much too tiny) I would have made off with this:

Alas it was time to order. 

I had spent a bunch of time laboring over what I was going to eat and finally settled on the tempeh reuben...however I don't like saurkraut or Russian dressing (weird I know...why would you order a reuben if you don't like those things...because I REALLY like tempeh).

Not to make myself a difficult customer but I asked if I could have their ginger slaw instead of the other two toppings and they politely agreed (I know they thought I was weird)...but the sandwich could not have been MORE delicious.  I was in HEAVEN, in fact my mouth is watering just thinking about it.

So if you find yourself in Asheville let me formally recommend Early Girl Eatery. 

I have one final installment of my trip to Asheville which I will post on Thursday...after all tomorrow is What I Ate Wednesday hosted by Peas and Crayons.

Are you looking for a great giveaway?  That was rhetorical, I know the answer is yes.  Head over to The Pretend Chef and check out her giveaway of Food Should Taste Good chips.

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Asheville, NC part I

This weekend my husband and I were lucky enough to have parents who would watch our 3 children so that we could go on a weekend getaway.

Luckily the parents did it voluntarily because I am not sure we make enough money to pay for the service they provided...I guess relatives are sweet like that.

So where did we go you ask?  Asheville, North Carolina.

We didn't go to the WNC Food & Wine Festival (I wanted to but I wasn't sure there would be enough vegetarian options for me).  However the restaurants of Asheville had TONS of choices for me.

I haven't been anywhere that was so veg friendly as Asheville (now granted I have not been to San Francisco, Portland, or Seattle...I hear they are all fantastic veg havens). 

All of the restaurants we went to cooked delicious, natural, locally sourced, organic when possible food.  Asheville has it's own food society called Foodtopia some restaurants display their sticker to show pride.

Now all of that goodness being said I wish I had known ahead of time that the weekends in downtown Asheville are CRAZY.  I mean it took an hour to find a parking place.  We went to 3 parking decks and all of them were full.  We luckily ended up finding a paved parking area where we could stay, but MAN!  I really was upset and being to think we may have made the wrong decision.

To intensify the feeling of dismay that I was having we found out that there was a 1 1/2 to 2 hour wait for my first choice of restaurant, Tupelo Honey Cafe.  We walked around a little bit and eventually ended up at the restaurant next door to Tupelo, Mayfels (with a Louisiana flare).

What a treat!

The service was quick and courteous and the food was out of this world.

I chose a spicy black bean burger with fries and my husband had a shrimp po' boy.

Sorry the po'boy shot is so bright.  I had the flash on, which I didn't need.  But I wasn't permitted to take a second shot becuase my hubs was too hungry to put the delicious sandwich back down.

The interior of Mayfel's is ecclectic and funky.

I would recommend it if you are in Asheville to give them a try.  If you are there on a Friday be prepared to have the drum circle (which is across the street in Pritchard Park) drumming in the background.

Also I would like to congratulate Ashley my winner of my first giveaway the beaded necklace from Ecolissa (#3 on random.org).  Your necklace will ship tomorrow!

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