Fall for Greenville 2011, downtown Greenville, South Carolina

We are very fortunate in this area to have a lot of great restaurants. We are equally lucky to have many outdoor events. As I have posted before, Fall for Greenville combines the best of both. This outdoor festival is full of music, great local food and eclectic beer and wine selections and proceeds go to local charities. What a phenomenal event! You can read more about this event in my write up from last year or download the Fall for Greenville 2011 Map(pdf). Below is some of the food I sampled. If you are within a few hours of sleepy Greenville, SC and haven’t been, I would highly recommend this event.

Tacos from Fonda Rosalinda’s

Ford’s Red Beans and Rice

Looking South, Main Street, Greenville, SC

Soby’s Lobster Mac and Cheese

Larkin’s Yukon Gold Chips with Bleu Cheese Dip

Looking South, Main Street, Greenville, SC

Vietnamese Bahn Mi Sandwich at The Nose Dive

Restaurants can come and go pretty quickly. One restaurant that opened with great fan fare in downtown Greenville was The Nose Dive. The next in a long growing line of Table 301 Restaurants that include local favorites like Soby’s, The Lazy Goat and Devereaux’s.

The Nose Dive was a long time coming. Opening in the space that used to be the home of Restaurant “O”, an upscale steak house. The space stayed empty for a very long time by Greenville standards. Never the less, when The Nose Dive did finally open, the “Gastropub” menu was refreshingly unique for the area. Upscale bar food. Gourmet technique and recipes applied to food you might normally not associate with a bar. We’ve eaten there MANY times since they opened and have never had a bad meal. We mostly like the sandwiches and “snacks”. The entree menu or “Mains” is good not great. The restaurant has a nice wine list and better than average beer selection.

The whole reason for the post is to talk about my favorite sandwich in downtown Greenville. The Vietnamese Bahn Mi from The Nose Dive is a PERFECT sandwich in my opinion. PERFECT! Light and Crispy French Bun (with a very little mayo). Char Siu Pork brings some sweet and tangy bar-b-que flavor and is perfectly seasoned, not too little not too much. Spicy Pickled Vegetables add the acidity and crunch that anything “perfect” needs. Fresh Jalapenos slices and a lot of them add enough heat to make me sweat, which I love. Add in some cilantro for that fresh, earthiness and you have the perfect sandwich. YUM! I struggle getting anything else on the menu. I could see how some wouldn’t like this sandwich, it is probably not for everyone. Maybe it is too spicy, maybe some don’t like the pickled veg. For me, it is perfect.

2011 Greenville Restaurant Week at Devereaux’s and American Grocery

Every year South Carolina puts on a Restaurant Week celebration. Through-out the state some of the nicer restaurants offer a prix fixe 3 course menu which is generally offered for around $30. Most of these restaurants usually have entrees that cost $30, so this is a really good deal. Restaurant Week in Greenville is a huge success with most of the restaurants staying packed the whole week. I love the idea because I believe it exposes many to restaurants they might not normally go to and cuisine they might not normally try. Brilliant!

So for a raging foodie like me it is heaven. This year we visited two of my favorite restaurants in Greenville; American Grocery and Devereaux’s. I’ve said this before but it is not easy to “shock” my palate with something I wasn’t expecting. Both of these restaurants succeed in doing that more often then not. Below are the sample Restaurant Week menus for each restaurant.

• Devereaux’s Sample Menu (pdf)
• American Grocery – Sample Menu (txt)

We first visited Devereaux’s with a group of friends. It was nice because between us all we had one of every thing. I had Rabbit Risotto (Rabbit Confit, orange zest, chive and asiago), Roasted Duck Breast (pictured below), and the Rosemary Funnel Cake (Pumpkin crisp ice cream, orange and honey, also pictured below) with wine pairings.

First the risotto; what stuck with me was the orange zest. The rabbit was great and the actual risotto was tender and creamy (what I would expect from a great risotto). The orange zest just gave the dish a big, citrus punch that caught me off guard (in a good way). The duck was cooked perfectly (which if you’ve cooked duck, isn’t always the easiest to do), with a sweet, chard crust on the out side and almost rare inside. The rice and vegetables that came with it where very nice and the savory demi-glaze was a perfect balance with the rich duck. My final course was the rosemary funnel cake. I have to say that I didn’t taste a lot of rosemary more ginger, but it was delicious. The ice cream and crisp finished the meal very well.

Our second trip was to American Grocery. Let me start by saying this is my favorite restaurant in Greenville. We go pretty regular. This meal was the best I have had at this restaurant. I had Red Fern Farm Lamb Albondigas (lima bean hummus, parsley salad), Blue Chip Farm Rabbit Loin ‘Pasta’ (swiss chard, carrot – bacon cream) and Buttermilk Panna Cotta (citrus soup, almond tuile) with wine pairings.

The first course was Lamb Albondigas, which are basically Spanish lamb meat balls and they were amazing. They were not overly rich and the lima bean hummus and peppery parsley balanced the dish very well. My main course was one of the best things I have eaten (the photo is at the top of the page). Rabbit Lion cooked confit in duck fat. Ridiculous! The fresh pasta made in house was so tender. The bitterness of the swiss chard. And all tied together with a carrot, bacon cream. I wanted to lick the bowl. Seriously, I wanted to lick the bowl and if it wasn’t so crowded I might have. Perfect! My dessert course was a Buttermilk Panna Cotta. It was very good but nothing that blew me away. Nothing could have lived up to my previous course. The panna cotta was not overly sweet, which works for me. The almond tuile had a fair amount of sweetness and added nice crunch. The citrus soup was great with bits of grapefruit it added a nice acidity.

If you have never been to some of these restaurants, Restaurant Week or Foodie Fest (in Greenville) are great opportunities. I highly suggest giving them a try. You may like them, you may not but for $30 you can’t beat it.

Roasted Duck Breast, Devereaux’s

Rosemary Funnel Cake, Devereaux’s

Braised Beef Tongue, Herbed Gnocchi, Smoked Tomato Sauce at American Grocery

First off, sorry, sorry, sorry for the crappy photo. I hate sitting in restaurants and trying to get that “great shot”. Instead I end up with photos like the above. Oh well, you get the gist. On to the food…

If you know me, you probably know that American Grocery, at the West End in downtown Greenville, SC, is my favorite restaurant in town. As I have mentioned in previous posts, Chef Clarke’s ever changing menu continually shocks and impresses me. On this evening, we were downtown in the middle of the week for a friends art show and on a whim stopped by AGR. I had Braised Beef Tongue, Herbed Gnocchi with a Smoked Tomato Sauce and it was, as usual, YUM!

If the thought of eating beef tongue grosses you out, I am sure you are not alone. In fact, when cooked appropriately, it is extremely flavorful and tender. In this case it WAS cooked properly, braised until tender and full of flavor. The Chef must have seared it before or after the braise because it was nice and crisp on the out side, but melt in your mouth tender inside. The gnocchi I would describe as little pillows of heaven, tender and delicious. I didn’t really taste the “herb” in them, but they were very good. The smoked tomato sauce made the dish, rich yet acidic, it seemed to make the gnocchi lighter and the beef tongue richer. You could definitely taste the smoke and spice, but it wasn’t over done at all. Finally the meal was topped with peppery arugula and shaved Parmesan it give a little lightness and contrast.

As with most meals I have enjoyed at AGR, each component of the meal was great but together amazing. Please see my last post (Duck, Jeweled Couscous and Dandelion Greens at American Grocery) for more information on AGR. If you are a foodie like me, you will love this restaurant.

Fall for Greenville 2010, downtown Greenville, South Carolina

Once a year, in downtown Greenville, South Carolina, we celebrate the coming Fall and our beloved city. It is called Fall for Greenville and we celebrate with great food, great music and…uhhh…ummm…OK, beer. The event features a lot of music from the area, food from over 40 local restaurants, a beer garden with local, regional and national micro-brews, a children’s area with rides and much, much more.

I realized that some of you may have never even heard of Greenville, South Carolina. If you have been here recently you know that it is a beautiful area between Charlotte, NC and Atlanta, GA. Minutes from the mountains and a few hours from the beach. There is a lot going on here and Fall for Greenville is one of my favorite things.

As a foodie, I can’t miss this event. I can sample over 40 restaurants, some old favorites (Soby’s, Larkin’s on the River) and some new (Bavarian Pretzel Factory, Grille 33 @ The Channel). The beer garden has grown over the years and added many very tasty beers.

So, you combine great weather, great food, great beer and music, it can’t get better, right? WRONG! One more thing…it all benefits local charities. That is correct, you get to eat great food, drink beer, people watch and listen to music and all for good causes. It doesn’t get better then that for me. Below are some photos taken at this year’s event, click to enlarge.

Have you been to Fall for Greenville? Let me know what you think in the comments below.

 

Beef tips, blue cheese chips from Larkin’s, beef empanada

Looking North, Main Street, Greenville, SC

Looking North, Main Street, Greenville, SC

Beer Garden at Fall for Greenville

Knockwurst, sauerkraut, spicey mustard, lobster cigars

Looking South, Main Street, Greenville, SC

Fall for Greenville, Children’s Area

Mac Arnold & Plate Full O’ Blues, Saturday Night

Serrano Wrapped Halibut at The Lazy Goat

I go to The Lazy Goat in downtown Greenville, SC all the time. It is literally next door to my office. I have already reviewed the Sausage Fennel Pizza, but I am sure, with time, I will have reviewed every thing that is on the menu. On this particular lunch visit I had the Serrano Wrapped Halibut with Haricot Vert. Oh, almost forgot that I always order their Truffled Pommes Frites with Asiago Cheese (which by the way, might be the best “French fries” ever!

On this day, the fish of the day was halibut. I love halibut; it is one of my favorite fish. Wrapping it in salty Serrano ham then grilling it is almost unfair. I will say that my fish was just a bit dry for me, but still very good. The haricot verts or French green beans were the surprise of the meal. Chef Vicki must have fire roasted the tomatoes dropped them in the beans, added some crushed red pepper and vinegar. That process made like vinaigrette that covered the beans and tomatoes. I remember thinking this is awesome but for me I would have liked a little more heat.

The pommes frites are just ridiculous. I kid you not, they may be the best fries I have ever eaten. Fried in duck fat (that is enough to put them on a short list), truffled and then grated asiago cheese takes these off the chart. Then, as if that all wasn’t enough, they add homemade ketchup. I don’t even like ketchup, but I eat this stuff. It’s not as sweet as most ketchups and has A LOT of horse radish in it so it has a kick. This causes me much conflict. The fries are amazing all on their own, they don’t need condiments. But, the ketchup is SO good I can’t resist it. If I was at home I would be tempted to get a spoon for the ketchup.

I am a fan of The Lazy Goat and highly recommend their food. Lunch is very affordable at around $10-15 depending on if you order appetizers. Dinner is a little pricier but I have never been disappointed with their food. The ambiance is amazing, located right on the river in downtown Greenville. These days the outdoor sitting is great if you get there early enough for the shade or late enough for the sun to be down, otherwise best to sit indoors.