Dinner at e2 Emeril's Eatery in Charlotte

Crawfish at the Crawfish Boil! Each Friday in May e2 offered a traditional crawfish boil for $5 per person. They served 400 pounds of crawfish the night we were there - let's hope they bring this back soon!

I was recently invited back to e2, this time for dinner with my husband and with fellow blogger Malika Bowling from Atlanta Restaurant Blog. Malika and her husband, Glen, came up from Atlanta to check out some restaurants while they stayed with us for the weekend in Charlotte. Friday night started off with a "Bam" - truly - as we dined in style at e2 with fabulous food and service. 

My favorites included the oyster shooter (not pictured but I blogged about the oyster shooter here previously when I had lunch at e2), the gumbo, the gulf coast drum stew, the special fish dish with stuffed kale and the blue corn brioche bread pudding. We also really enjoyed the cocktails, particularly the famous Grasshopper and the wonderful wine selection. e2 is a really good choice for lunch or dinner. Brunch is also offered with specials for Father's Day, coming up this Sunday.

 

Special of crispy Duck Wings - different and tasty.

Housemade Boudin + Andouille Sausage.

 

Special gumbo of the day - delicious!

  

Emeril's signature BBQ shrimp with rosemary biscuit.

  

We enjoyed some delicious cocktails and wine!

 

The famous Grasshopper - everyone really liked this special cocktail.

 

Special seafood dish with fish and mussel-stuffed kale and fried oysters. The stuffed kale was awesome!

 

Gulf Coast Drum Portuguese stew - this was really tasty, love the broth and all the seafood.

 

Trout "Meuniere" - trout is sometimes used in place of the usual founder.

 

Giant and delicious double cut pork chop - it was after this pork chop that I officially made up the Pork Chop Song / Dance for my son, who at age 7 months, ate some of the leftover pork chop! If you ask me I might sing it for you sometime :D

 

Desserts: from top left, clockwise, blue corn brioche bread pudding with coconut-pineapple ice cream, banana cream pie, apple crepes with bacon and ice cream, sweet potato cheesecake. The bread pudding was different from any other bread pudding I have ever tried - and SO good! 

 
 Disclosure: The meal described in this review was complimentary.

e2 Emeril's Eatery

Outside patio and entrance.

Corn muffins served with lunch - moist and a good way to whet your appetite but save room!

I was lucky enough to be invited to try e2 Emeril's Eatery in uptown Charlotte just a few weeks ago. Most folks know Emeril from television but now he owns more than a dozen restaurants across the country in places such as Orlando, Las Vegas and New Orleans. Charlotte's  e2 is located on the Levine Avenue of the Arts between the Mint Museum uptown and the Bechtler Museum. Inside is a full bar and plenty of table seating. There is also a nice patio for al fresco dining. We sat at the bar (there is also a "Food Bar" where you can sit and watch the food being prepared) and enjoyed tasting portions of several of the most popular dishes. My favorite dishes that we tried include the oyster shooter, the signature barbecued shrimp, the pasta with housemade sausage and the apple crepes (photos below). The burger was also good and I enjoyed the corn muffins (above). Other lunch options include chicken and waffle, fresh fish sandwich (this sounded really good!), shrimp and grits and NC Rainbow trout. Several salads and soups are also available including a "gumbo of the day" and there are gluten free items available. 

I did not indulge in any of the stellar looking drinks, although we did sample the house made limoncello - delicious! e2 has a nice drink list, which includes not only classic cocktails, beers and an impressive wine list but also special signature and New Orleans style drinks executed by mixologist Miki Nikolic. His soon to be famous Grass Hopper cocktail includes wheatgrass, hendrick's gin, jalepeno simple syrup, lime juice and cucumber water - yum! Other signature options include a Bacon + Maple, a Pumpkin Spice, and a Prickly Moon with prickly pear juice. New Orleans cocktails include a Sazerac, Bijou, Ramos Gin Fizz and more. I look forward to returning for dinner so that I can sample some of these! 

e2 takes reservations for lunch and dinner and is a great place for a business lunch, a special occasion or a "just because" let's go out! A special 3 course "lunch crunch" menu is offered for $24 with a guarantee of a 40 minute lunch. Adjoining the main restaurant is e2Go, a place where you can grab a sandwich, salad or soup for an even quicker lunch. 

During lunch I had the pleasure of chatting with General Manager Jeff Wakem who also made sure we had everything we needed and were able to taste lots of different dishes. Jeff has worked directly with Emeril in different locations and Emeril himself visits each of his restaurants from time to time. Check out e2 and you never know, you just might see him there yourself!

Oyster Shooter - with spicy New Orleans style Bloody Mary mix and a pickled haricot vert. This was unique and so good - for all you raw oyster fans!

Wood Oven Oyster on the Half Shell - with bacon, onions, spinach and parmesan reggiano. A great choice - love this simple preparation.

The bar, including several homemade liquors. 

Emeril's New Orleans Barbecued Shrimp served with rosemary biscuits. Delicious taste - one of my favorite options - after devouring the large shrimp, the sauce paired so well with the tasty biscuits.

Yellowfin tuna tartare with cucumber, jalepeno, avocado, cilantro and ponzu. Fresh and simple.

Pasta course: with housemade fennel sausage, broccoli rabe and parmesan reggiano. Loved the sausage in this delicious warm-you-up dish.

Chef de Cuisine, Brian Mottola.

Half of "The Burger" with fries.

Special side of the day - warm potato salad.

Honey crisp apple crepes with bacon-maple syrup and house made vanilla ice cream. Utterly scrumptious! I also snagged a piece of the famous banana cream pie to go. It has chocolate shavings and delicious caramel sauce - definitely a good one to share. My family ate it before I could take a photo! Other dessert options include blue corn brioche bread pudding, espresso pudding and (what I want to try next time) - sweet potato cheesecake!

Disclosure: The meal described in this review was complimentary. 

Hazelnuts Creperie - Uptown Charlotte

Mexicana Breakfast Crepe: egg fried or scrambled, bacon, black beans, tomato, red onion, avocado and swiss cheese - a great start to the morning!

I was so excited to hear that Hazelnuts Creperie opened in uptown Charlotte. Located in the lobby of 200 South Tryon Street, the casual eatery is open 7 AM until 4 PM weekdays. I met up with a friend for lunch here in August and we really enjoyed sharing the BBQ Chicken Crepe, the Florentine Crepe, which is vegetarian and the Banana Nutella crepe (below) - all so delicious.

At lunch more than 10 signature crepes, including 3 veggie, are available and you can also create your own crepe with any fillings you like. In addition to what we tried there is a Pesto Chicken crepe, a Buffalo Chicken crepe, a ham and Swiss Crepe a South West Veggie crepe and more. Dessert crepes are also available all day and locally roasted coffee is served as well. With the dessert crepes there are several signatures and you can also build your own.

When owner and chef Asi Agajan found out I was a blogger, he invited us to return to Hazelnuts to try his breakfast offerings. We loved the Mexicana (above) and the Chevere & Mozz was also very good. There are 4 signature breakfast crepes, all loaded with eggs + other toppings and, as with the lunch and dessert crepes, you can always create your own breakfast crepe as well. We also tried some sweet crepes that are suitable for breakfast or dessert - the "Not French Toast" with maple syrup, cinnamon, powdered sugar, whipped cream (also available with ice cream) and walnuts was fabulous as was the less sugary Berry Delight with strawberries, goat cheese, walnuts and honey.

Hazelnuts has seating available in the cafe itself and there is seating on comfortable leather ottomans just outside the restaurant in the lobby as well. Takeout is, of course, available. Charlotte does not have many places where crepes are available so this is a real find. It is truly worth a visit to uptown Charlotte to sample these delicious offerings, perfect for breakfast, lunch, a snack or dessert and coffee! I will be back at Hazelnuts soon for sure.

Owner and Chef Asi Agajan in action making a crepe.



Chevre & Mozz: egg either fried or scrambled with olives, red onion, mushrooms, goat cheese and mozzarella.



Not French Toast with Whipped Cream - so delicious. I could eat this every day - really!



Berry Delight with Ice Cream - love that it contains goat cheese and honey!



Nutella Banana - a classic.

Disclosure: The breakfast described in this review was complimentary. The lunch was not.

Anniversary Dinner with Chef Stephanie of Dishes Delicious

White gazpacho with grapes and almonds - so delicious!

For our 1 year anniversary I decided to do something unexpected: no big fancy dinner out; instead a delicious dinner cooked at home by the lovely and talented Chef Stephanie of Dishes Delicious. I met Stephanie at a food event last summer and having always wanted to do a meal at home prepared by a chef, decided to do this for our first wedding anniversary before we moved out of Atlanta.

Stephanie was fun to work with on the planning front - we discussed the menu and settled on the below, which she even put onto a special menu card for the occasion. Since we had bar stools in our Atlanta kitchen we were able to watch Stephanie do the final preparations and the cooking, which made it even more fun - your very own chef's table at home! Everything she prepared was awesome - in particular the white gazpacho. Superb. If you need a private chef for any size home party, I wholeheartedly recommend Stephanie!

Crispy wild mushroom and onion grit cakes.



Sea bass with guava cream and roasted new potatoes.



Chef Stephanie. She can be reached through her website Dishes Delicious.



Lemon curd crepes with raspberry sauce.



One year down!

Palo Alto Farmer's Market and Half Moon Bay

Blowing in the wind at Half Moon Bay.

While in California we also checked out Half Moon Bay and visited the Palo Alto Farmer's Market. The market is full of fresh foods, delicious prepared items and my favorite: free samples.

Making naan at the Palo Alto Farmer's Market.

Pear & Chocolate Crepe with Whipped Cream.

Rotisserie chickens at the market.

NYC - Out and About

Taco and really good tamale from a NYC taco truck (truck pictured below).

More culinary adventures from our November NYC trip... look for additional posts on NYC in the next week.

Later, craving a little something sweet, we stopped by Creprie in Greenwich Village.

Making my delicious butter sugar crepe.

Calvin checks out the taco truck.