Bust Out!

I’m gonna Bust Out! this Friday night, and you should, too.

Partake in "breast inspired" drinks, appetizers, or desserts Friday, August 1, at one of the participating restaurants, and 50 percent of the proceeds go to Living Beyond Breast Cancer.

The evening gets started at North 3rd with a pre-party at 4pm. Enjoy appetizers and drinks before heading off to sample more breast inspired dishes at one of the participating restaurants listed below. At 9 p.m., end the night at Arbol Cafe for a showing of a breast inspired film.

In support of women with breast cancer, and Bust Out!, I’ll be taking my two girls out for a night on the town. They’ve been good to me, so I’ll be good to them.

• Bar Ferdinand
• Cafe Estelle
• 1 Shot Coffee
• Franklin Fountain
• Swallow
• The Abbaye Bar & Restaurant
• Higher Grounds Cafe
• North 3rd
• A Full Plate Cafe
  
• Cascamorto Piano Bar
• The Arbol Cafe
• Silk City
• The Random Tea Room
• The Coffee House (Front & Girard)

Signs: Bangin' Bagel Hole

The first sign I'm giving you is my most favoritest food sign in Philly. This bagel beacon is hanging outside of South Street Philly Bagels just a few doors south of South St. on 3rd St. (confused yet?).

I love this sign because of the mesmerizing hole in the middle of the bagel. I could look at it forever (also, the crack in my bedroom ceiling). If the hole were perfectly round, I would not be so smitten with the sign. But it's not, and I am.

We are also smitten with the real bagels. And when I say "we", I mean my boyfriend. I also think South Street Philly Bagels' dough wheels are bangin', but the boy is the one that has been buying a baker's dozen every other week from the joint ever since he moved to Philly four years ago. That's over 1000 bagels!

Newness To The Blogness

There's going to be a new feature on this here blog!

I'm not sure what to call it since I'm hopeless when it comes to clever names (um...check out the name of this blog), but, for now, I'll just call it Signs. Yeah.

This new feature has nothing to do with aliens, but will be food related signs, scrawlings, and any other sort of image I find interesting in Philly (Wilmington, I might love you, too). You see, if I bake and eat out all the time, I'll keep gaining five pounds each year, and that's four pounds more than is acceptable.

I pass lots of interesting places in my wanderings through the city (I'm mostly in South Philly), but, honestly, I have no desire to eat at most of them. Some of the places have interesting signs, though. Some of the signs aren't that interesting, but I might have an interesting story (totally subjective) to go along with the sign. And sometimes a sign is just a sign. And sometimes it's not even a sign.

So, this is just my heads up to what in the hell is going on over here. I'm giving you a sign, dude! Soon-ish.

Grape and Honey Goat Cheese Tart

It's been a grape-tastic weekend! A weekend I've been looking forward to since last year's harvest of grapes, and the most delicious, cherry-pie-like grape pie. Grape Pie! Do it. You'll thank me later.
This year's harvest of grapes from three vines growing on a pergola was much more bountiful than last year's. After splitting the booty with a friend, and plucking the good from the bad, I ended up with two huge bowls of grapes.

I, of course, made a grape pie. But what else could I do with grapes?I loved the onion and goat cheese puff pastries I made a while back so much, that I decided to rip off myself. I ended up making little puff pastries filled with grapes and honeyed goat cheese. They turned out well, but...

I had a little pie pastry left over from the grape pie, so made a small tart filled with honeyed goat cheese and grapes, as well. This was the much better combination! A larger ratio of cheese and grapes to dough, and the tart's crispy crust contrasted better with the filling.The grapes I used were picked just shy of perfectly ripe, so they're tart, but still enjoyable out of hand. Grapes in the grocery store are much sweeter than what I was working with. If you don't have access to homegrown grapes, I suggest picking up the tartest grapes you can find. Also, I think red grapes would be more aesthetically pleasing after being baked. Just a hunch.

I've still got an entire bowl of grapes left. Hmm....more tarts!
Grape and Honey Goat Cheese Tart
Makes (1) 9-inch tart, or multiple smaller tarts

1/2 pie dough recipe (I like this one)
12 ounces goat cheese
4 tablespoons honey
3 eggs
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/4 teaspoon salt
3-4 cups tart grapes

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees
• Roll dough out and fit it in tart pan. Butter one side of aluminum foil, and line the tart with the foil, buttered side down. Fill the foil with beans, and bake for 20 minutes. Remove beans and foil from tart shell, and prick bottom all over with fork, and bake for another 10 minutes.
  
• Beat goat cheese, honey, eggs, heavy cream, and salt together, then pour into baked tart shell. Top with grapes.
• Bake for 30-40 minutes, or until tart is firm and top is lightly browned.

JDH Dogs, Part Deux

I'm not sure a veggie hot dog from a franchise deserves further investigation, but I'm doing it. Bored, deranged, have no life...that's me!

I really didn't see myself heading back to Johnnie's Dog House any time soon. Maybe in a few months when hungry on the 202 errand trail? But a couple of commenters (one on this blog, and one in my email box) had me wondering if I had been slipped a meat dog on my first visit. It was awfully meaty tasting.

I went in for lunch today (still crazy mad busy) to see if the dog part of the hot dog tasted any different than the first go round.

I decided to order mine with just coleslaw. They don't have a custom option, but you can tell them what you want on your dog. They'll just find the closest thing on the menu, and charge you for that. Kinda crappy, since my one-topping dog corresponded with the Southern Comfort dog with coleslaw and chili, and was at the highest end of the three-tier dog pricing scale.

Cheapo tip-o - if you can deal with any combination of ketchup, mustard, diced onions, and sweet relish, just order a plain dog and top your own at the condiment/napkin counter.My receipt said veggie (my receipt on the first go round said veggie, too), and the guy taking my order (if his name was Danielle, that was one ugly tranny) shouted out, "We need a veggie," after taking my order, so things were looking solid.

The first thing I noticed when I got my hot dog is that the dog was substantially longer than the one I got the other day. The casings were similarly pinched at the ends, though. The dog was grilled, just like the other day, too.

One of the reasons I went back to check things out is an email comment I got from a person who ate a veggie dog at the same Johnnie's location, and claimed that their's was not grilled. I thought, "Aha, I did get the wrong dog!" But I'm not so sure the commenter just didn't pick up on the grilling, but I wasn't there, so... These dogs are grilled slightly on a griddle, so no grill line marks. Unless you deconstruct your dog, it's hard to tell it's grilled. First trip; second trip. Pinched butts look the same to me.

I took a bite, and it tasted similar - very meat-like. We could attribute this to the fact that it's grilled on the same griddle as the meat dogs (this is something vegetarians must accept if eating outside of their own kitchen, or not in exclusively vegan/vegetarian restaurants), or the fact that hot dogs don't taste like anything but a hot dog. Slip a perfectly grilled veggie hot dog to your meat-eating friends; they'll never know the difference.

I tore the dog apart with my fingers to check the texture (I did the first time, too). Dogs don't have a true tell-tale meat texture; they're processed bits.Short dog; long dog. WTF?

Seriously, I have no clue what I got. Why was the second dog much longer than the first? I suspect the long dog was the meat dog because it was a bit greasy. I guess the only way to tell is order one of each (beef, turkey, and veggie) and break out the ruler, calipers, and taste buds, which I am not doing. Not unless some meat eaters want to participate so dogs don't go to waste.

Anywho...the dogs themselves taste fine. It's the buns and toppings that were a bummer for me -- no toasted buns and no veggie versions of baked beans or chili.

Oh, how was that coleslaw? Finely diced with an onion bite, kinda like KFC coleslaw, but not as sweet. KFC's coleslaw is much better. Another topping bummer.

So, to recap, that was a lot of work with inconclusive results for something as insignificant as a hot dog (I still love hot dogs). Any meat eaters want to have a party, sit around drinking, and measure their wieners so we can settle this? It'll be just like high school.

Update: Just got a call from the boy, who accompanied me on the first trip. He said there were a ton of long dogs on the grill, as opposed to short dogs. Long would mean meat, because it's not like they're serving up more veggie dogs than meat dogs. So, we're thinking we got veggie dogs the first time, and I got a meat dog the second time. Either way, it's not cool that they can't keep their shit straight.

Is there a JDH employee out there that would like to settle this? Drop me a line and let me know which is which.

Omelette Cake

You can't eat salads all summer long to beat the heat. Well, I guess you can but... At some point you're gonna have to rely on the stove or oven to turn out a dish. But there's nothing saying you can't chill that hot food before you serve it!

This omelette cake recipe came from last month's issue of the fabulous BBC Good Food magazine (recipe also online). Omelette cake is, essentially, alternating layers of omelettes and herbed cream cheese -- an omelette cake!

Omelette cake is pretty enough for a proper brunch party (what tempted us to make the recipe), and is made the day before and chilled overnight (what sealed the deal in our AC-free house).

After following Good Food's recipe exactly for a trial run, we decided to up the herbs, onion, and seasoning. Recipe reflects those changes.

I had the hardest time making photos of our trial run omelette cake look as gorgeous as it tasted, and I did not want to break out the camera for the garnished real deal sitting pretty on a cake stand, lest I look like a freak in front of company, but, trust, it makes a pretty brunch centerpiece.
Omelette Cake
Adapted from BBC Good Food

10 eggs
olive oil for frying
2 small zucchini
4 spring onions, finely chopped
4 roasted red peppers from a jar, drained and finely chopped
1-2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 red chili, de-seeded and finely chopped
10 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
5-6 tablespoons milk, or soy milk
6 tablespoons chives, finely chopped
4 tablespoons chopped basil

• Break five eggs into one bowl, and five eggs into another bowl. Whisk eggs and season with salt and pepper.
• In a pan, saute zucchini and spring onions in 1 tablespoon of oil for 10 minutes, or until softened. Set aside to cool.
• Stir cooled zucchini into one bowl of eggs. Stir roasted peppers, garlic, and chili into the other bowl of eggs.
• Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a non-stick pan over medium heat. Pour 1/3 of the zucchini mixture into the pan, swirling the pan so the mixture covers the pan. Cook until egg is set and browned underneath, then cover the pan with a plate, and invert the omelette onto the plate. Slide the omelette back into the pan to cook the other side. Place on a plate when done. Repeat with the remaining mix to make two more zucchini omelettes. Make three omelettes in the same way with the red pepper mixture.
• For the filling, beat the cream cheese and milk with an eclectic hand-held mixer until incorporated and smooth. Mix in chives, basil, and salt and pepper to taste.
• To assemble, line a cake pan large enough in diameter to hold the omelettes with plastic wrap. Select the prettiest red pepper omelette, and place in the cake pan with the prettiest side down. Spread with a thin layer of cream cheese filling, then place a zucchini omelette on top. Repeat, alternating the layers, until all omelettes and filling are in the pan, finishing with an omelette.
• Cover and chill for up to 24 hours.
• To serve, invert the omelette cake onto a serving platter, and remove plastic wrap. Garnish top with herbs. Serve cut into wedges.
  

Johnnie's Dog House

Fate would have it that I just so happened to be in Wilmington the opening weekend of the Johnnie's Dog House franchise location on Concord Pike. I was uber excited for veggie hot dogs so close to home, but I've got to say that I was a little disappointed in my first experience.

Johnnie's Dog house was a mad house when we went, and continued to be so all weekend long. Many errands were done both Saturday and Sunday along Concord Pike, and each time we passed the joint, the parking lot and interior were overflowing. Who knew Wilmingtonians were so hard up for hot dogs?

Johnnie's Dog House specializes in hot dogs (beef, turkey, or veggie), but also has a few sandwiches, fries, onion rings, mac and cheese (looked school cafeteria-esqe disgusting; I couldn't bring myself to try it), and milkshakes.

The hot dog menu consists of hot dogs named after locations, topped with that city or regions signature toppings. The New York Style Classic has mustard, kraut, and onions; The Baltimore has coleslaw and bacon; The Texas Tommy is wrapped in bacon, deep fried, and topped with cheese; etc.

I wanted the Boston Back Bay Beanie Weenie with baked beans and onions, but the baked beans are not vegetarian. The chili used on other dogs is not vegetarian, either. Big bummer.

We tried to order a veggie corn dog, but were told that they don't have veggie corn dogs. Their corn dogs are not hand dipped and made to order, so big bummer number two.
I settled on the Chicago Style Dog with mustard, relish, tomatoes, dill pickle spear, onions, sport peppers, and shake of celery salt, simply because I've never eaten a Chicago-style hot dog. Lots of people love this style of dog, but I'm not sure it's for me. Nothing wrong with the combo, just not for me.

The hot dog itself was grilled, and scarily meat-like with a thick casing. We seriously wondered if we had been slipped meat dogs, but our tummies did not report back any subterfuge that evening. The bun was soft, but a few seconds on the grill would make the dog eating experience much better.My partner ordered the South Philly Dog with grilled onions and cheese. The cheese was processed cheese, as is called for on a Philly cheese steak. The grilled onions were a little less than generous.

We also ordered fries and a chocolate malt. I forgot to take pictures of the fries and shake because it was so hellishly busy with kids screaming all over the place that, well, I forgot. The boy liked the thick cut fries, but did not like his malt. He likes malt, and the shake did not taste malty at all. They were either light handed on the malt, or forgot to add the malt in all the hubbub surrounding them. He also thought the price of a small shake was expensive for the size.

With hand dipped veggie corn dogs, grilled buns, and all toppings available in vegetarian form, Dog Almighty in Austin, Texas, still reigns supreme in my veggie hot dog adventures.

I will give Johnnie's Dog House another go when the traffic dies down, kinks are worked out, and I might be able to make a custom dog without having to shout my order to a person at a register who is in the weeds and overwhelmed.

Update: My Second trip

Johnnie's Dog House
3401 Concord Pike, Wilmington, DE 19382
302-477-1727
Mon.-Sat., 11 a.m.-10 p.m.;Sun., 11 a.m.-8 p.m.

Brunch at Palace at the Ben

While I was hanging around Palace at the Ben for cooking classes, I, of course, checked out their lunch and dinner menu featuring Northern Indian cuisine. I also spied their weekend brunch menu, which happens to feature Southern Indian foods.

Southern Indian food, a rice based cuisine that doesn't rely as heavily on dairy as Northern Indian cuisine, is what I prefer. I used to eat at a Southern Indian brunch almost every Sunday in my hometown. My hometown Southern Indian restaurant is the restaurant that I miss the most now that I live elsewhere.

When I saw dosas on Palace at the Ben's brunch menu I got excited. When I saw dahi puri (my most favorite Southern Indian chaat) also on the brunch menu, I knew what we were doing that weekend for eats.I was beyond excited when I saw dahi puri on the menu. I have yet to find this little chaat on any Indian menu I've encountered since I moved away from home six years ago. Dahi puri are hollow, crispy fried puris shells filled with potato and topped with yogurt, sweet tamarind chutney, chili powder, sev, and cilantro. I could pop these little guys all day long. All night long, too.We also ordered sev puri, fried flat puris topped with a slice of cooked potato, onions, green chutney, tamarind chutney, and sev. Very good, but with such generous appetizer portions, I tried to save more room for my beloved dahi puri.Palace at the Ben offers a few different kinds of dosas on their brunch menu. I went with my favorite, mysore masala dosa, a thin rice and lentil crepe filled with spiced potatoes and spicy chili/garlic/ginger chutney. The dosa was accompanied by coconut chutney and sambar.

This crepe was soft, and I prefer my dosa crispy, but I'm sure I could request it to be made crispy next time. With my first bite, I encountered a large smear of chili paste that caused me to tear up a little (kudos to them). After the first bite, all was good with my mysore masala dosa.potatoes and spices inside the dosa

I cannot tell you how happy I am to have found an Indian restaurant in downtown Philly that serves dosas and dahi puri. These foods are only offered on the weekend, but that's when I'm in Philly anyway. If they would offer curried cabbage (my favorite main dish), I'd tear up from complete and utter happiness.

*Delawarians and New Jerseyans, note that the owners of Palace at the Ben also own Palace of Asia in Wilmington, DE, and Palace of Asian in Lawrenceville, NJ . Same menu, same food.

Palace at the Ben
834 Chestnut St., Philadelphia, PA 19107
267-232-5600
Sun.-Thurs, 11 a.m.-11 p.m.; Fri-Sat., 11 a.m.-12 a.m.
Brunch: Sat. & Sun., 11:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m.

Schooled Indian-Style

Panir Bhuna (we made) with Naan (they made).

Guess where I've been Monday nights for the past month? Indian cooking classes at Palace at the Ben in Philly!

If there's one cuisine that intimidates me (cooking, not eating), it's Indian cuisine. Indian food is just so darn good, I was sure that there was no way I could even come close to an approximation in my own kitchen. Not any more!

Thanks to whipping up a handful of dishes over the course of four Monday evenings at Palace at the Ben's first ever cooking class, I have confidence that I can make great Indian food at home.

Honestly, it's really easy. Just like any cooking, it helps to see it done, and then do it yourself. Oh, and they teach you the master gravy that is the trick to all Indian curries!

Seeing, doing, master gravy; that's why you should attend Palace at the Ben's cooking class.Sauce for Chicken Tikka

The classes were conducted in the dining area of the restaurant with about eleven students sitting at linen topped tables (I spilled ingredients every time --sorry, linen washer) lined with ingredients and spices for the dishes on the lesson plan for the evening (you get to take the spices home with you at the end of the night!). Chef Subhash cooked at the head table, and walked around to sample and advise on the dishes we made at our tables on portable burners.As a vegetarian, I really appreciate that they had vegetarian dishes each night. We cooked two or three dishes each evening, usually one meat and the other two vegetarian. There are so many cooking classes that I would attend, but don't because either they don't cook any vegetarian dishes, or cook so few vegetarian dishes that it's not worth my money to attend.

Here's a sample of what we made:Top, left to right: Aloo Tikki and Chicken Tikka; Spinach Pakora before being shaped and fried. Bottom, left to right: Mutter Panir before being cooked down; Aloo Sukhi Bhaji.

Everyone involved with the teaching of the cooking class at Palace at the Ben was accommodating, warm, and just plain wonderful. Co-owner Nick was the gentle father figure, Chef Subhash was always smiling, and Manager Ryan was the charismatic leader. Have a question; they'll answer it. Ask about a dish not on the syllabus; they'll run to the back and type up the recipe. They even offered to let me sit in on the class I missed due to vacation the next time they hold a session.

This was Palace at the Ben's first cooking class, and you could tell they were excited and a bit nervous. I think they did a great job with their first class, and the other classes can only get better now that they know what to expect.

Palace at the Ben had a great response to the cooking class, and plan on offering the same intro class again, as well as other advanced classes in the future. Keep your eyes peeled and ears up if you're interested.

Palace at the Ben
834 Chestnut St., Philadelphia, PA 19107
267-232-5600

Southern Comfort

Ready for the most mind-blowingly awesome thing ever? Get this...sweet tea flavored vodka!!!

Firefly Vodka, a small distillery on Wadmalaw Island about thirty miles south of Charleston, South Carolina, has been making vodka out of the Southern native muscadine grape and infusing it with American tea from the Charleston Tea Plantation. Firefly Sweet Tea Vodka has only been on the market for a few months and is already the number one selling flavored vodka in South Carolina.

When I tasted the half vodka, half water, twist of lemon cocktail on the rocks for the first time, all I could say was, "Oh my god. Oh my god. It tastes just like tea. Oh, wow!" for about five minutes. Long Island Iced Tea tastes nothing like iced tea; Firefly Sweet Tea Vodka does.

This drink is scary good. Good because it tastes just like sweet tea (keep the vodka proportion half or less, and you cannot detect the alcohol). Scary because the 70 proof vodka goes down just like sweet tea; fast and smooth.

Firefly Sweet Tea Vodka is currently available in South Carolina, Nevada, New York, and Colorado, but will soon be rolled out in more states. I have absolutely no hope that the fascist Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board will make this vodka available, but keep your fingers crossed in Delaware and New Jersey.

We flew back with four bottles of the stuff. It's that good. And, no, you can't have any. Ok, I might give you a taste, but then go get your own bottle(s).

Banana Pudding Smackdown

Thanks to cooking with my Nanny (grandmother, not sitter) when I was young, banana pudding is one of my top favorite desserts. She made banana pudding by making pudding on the stove top first, and then pouring the pudding over layers of Nilla Wafers and sliced bananas. The homemade pudding is the key!

I rarely find banana pudding on dessert menus, and I only make banana pudding about once a year, so when I do find banana pudding, I'm all over it.

I ran into banana pudding at a bbq joint, a restaurant, and a grocery store while in Charleston, SC. Styles and tastes ran the gamut. Who won?A quick stop into Bessinger's Bar-B-Q on Hwy 17 to pick up some mustard bbq sauce, and I couldn't resist a container of banana pudding from their cooler. I enjoyed the dessert on the beach, because...what? pudding isn't a beach snack?

The banana flavored Jell-0-esque pudding is not ideal (the only banana flavoring in banana pudding should come from the bananas), but fills that cheap, junk food craving.
Fat Hen restaurant on John's Island has really good food...and a good wait to get in the door. There aren't a lot of veggie options, but what I did have was awesome. I quized our server on the banana pudding prep. Pudding homemade? Not banana flavored? Yup. Yup.

Awesome!! Just like homemade. I can't believe it didn't come in a larger mason jar (isn't that cute), and I had to share it with three other people. I hate sharing.
What's that? Banana pudding in the cooler at Piggly Wiggly? Got it. Lets go! You'd be suprised at how nice Piggly Wiggly is now a days. The ghetto Piggly Wiggly we shopped at for the first eleven years of my life was just that -- ghetto.

The pudding is Jell-O pudding-like. But it's not banana flavored, which is a big up. They also do this little trick of layering a bunch of wafers on the bottom so not all of the wafers get super soggy. Some one was thinking! Piggly Wiggly has a really good fast food version of banana pudding.

Recap:
Bessinger's - Not really
Fat Hen - Hells yes
Piggly Wiggly - Yes

Southern Beach Diet

Woo, buddy! I'm back and feelin' great. There's nothing a week-long pimento cheese and wine cleanse won't cure!

I'm doing my Charleston, SC vacation in three installments:

• Restaurant Food Porn
• Banana Pudding Smack Down
• The Most Mind-Blowingly Best Thing Ever
  

Let's start with the restaurant food porn, since it's the longest post. (Yeah, I'm making you wait for the freakin' fantastic deliciousness, because I'm afraid to tell you about it before I drop the goods into my safety deposit box.)

I ate out, on average, only about once a day, and, of course, that doesn't even scratch the surface of the good food available in and around Charleston. When not dining out, I thrived on pimento cheese sandwiches and leftover potato salad and coleslaw from the Fourth of July cookout. I ain't complainin'.

The Glass Onion, a new soul food restaurant in West Ashley, was our first stop after landing. The term soul food always gets me. To me, what people call soul food its just simple Southern food, and that's what I'd say The Glass Onion serves in their casual, order-at-the-counter restaurant.

If every bar and restaurant in Philly would add deviled eggs to their appetizer menu, I'd die and go to heaven. Of course, then I couldn't order them. At 75 cents apiece, I was tempted to order a dozen, but the two I did order were filled with perfectly tangy devilish-ness.

The Glass Onion's homemade, inch-thick, bread and butter pickles are amazing. So much so, that the counter person recommended them first when we asked for help with ordering a side.

Grilled Pimento Cheese sandwich with a side of homemade pickles. Gooey from the grilling, their pimento cheese is good, but a tad salty for me. Take away a pinch of salt, add a pinch of sugar, and call it good.

Boy ordered the mustard fried catfish po-boy. Good stuff.

Out of all the places we ate, you'd find me back at the Glass Onion first. It's my style of restaurant - my comfort food done well at a reasonable price in a relaxed atmosphere.

Next up is Al di La, a Northern Italian restaurant and bar in West Ashley. It was dark inside, so I didn't take pics of the beet salad, portabello pizza, and butter bean linguine that the three of us shared. The butter bean and handmade linguine ordered without the pancetta might have been the best thing I ate the entire trip.

I did snap a picture of our toast to the butter bean -- a most amazing, creamy little bean that is difficult to find outside of the South and, apparently, the UK. The boy had some butter beans in London and is in love. We somehow forgot to smuggle a bag of butter beans on to the plane, so if anyone out there knows where butter beans are hiding in Philly, let me know.

Since the bean-lovin' boy had never heard B-52's song Butter Bean, an ode to the buttery little bean, we played it for him. He doesn't get the B-52's, but it's still great.



I had lunch on the porch of Cru Cafe in downtown Charleston because my sister mentioned that they had the best macaroni and cheese. I'm there!

The menu only has a couple of veggie options. I got the butter lettuce salad with candied pears, walnuts, Gorgonzola, and honey sherry dressing salad. I was surprised to see it all shredded and already dressed. Shredded is kind of fun, but there was too much of the dressing that didn't quite jive with the other ingredients.

A couple of days after eating Cru Cafe's four cheese mac and cheese (Fontina, Parmesan, Mozzarella, and Pepper Jack), I saw their mac and cheese highlighted in an article about, I don't know, I think it was something like "The 50 Best Foodie Finds in Charleston." My verdict -- Not!

Is it good? Yes, you'll love it! My sister loves it, and she's a food snob. But this is what I call restaurant mac and cheese - a crock of baked shells (not macaroni! Cru used orecchietti) swimming in a cheese sauce (I like mine without sauce).

Next is Fleet Landing, a touristy seafood restaurant that sits on the water in downtown Charleston. Somehow, this makes my second trip to this restaurant in two years, but we went on the Fourth with a friend's family and their small children for the sole purpose of watching fireworks from the prime viewing location.

Fleet Landing does not have many veggie options, and their kitchen is not flexible. On a previous visit they refused to take an ingredient out of the dish that could have easily been taken out. This visit, they refused to deliver a bunless hot dog to one of the children, and the waiter reported that the kitchen yelled at him for asking about vegetarian accommodations. Like I said, we were there for the kids and the fireworks.

Pimento Cheese and crackers. Again, too salty.

Lettuce wedge with blue cheese dressing. It's hard to mess this up. Simple and nice.

The wood in the lower left corner is the edge of our bar table at Vickery's. Nice view!

Vickery's in Mt. Pleasant is another touristy restaurant and bar, but you can't beat the view while dining! And the food is actually not that bad.

I had the fried green tomato tower. This was really good with the salty feta cheese and tangy tomato sauce with basil.

The artichoke dip, pimento cheese, and tomato and feta topped bruschetta at Vickery's were good, too. When you hear bruschetta, you don't normally think artichoke dip and pimento cheese, but if you live in the South you'll get used to these bastardizations. The pimento cheese was very mayonnaise-y.

Our last lunch was at Boulevard Diner, a Southern foods diner in Mt. Pleasant. I went for the vegetable plate of sides, but be careful! Like most Southern restaurants serving up veggies, they're often seasoned with meat. Collards and most beans (green, butter, black eye, etc.) will usually have meat in them. Our server assured me that the stewed okra and tomatoes didn't have meat, but they did!

The squash and onions were right on! (If anyone know where to get yellow crookneck squash in Philly, let me know. The straight neck yellow zucchini-like squash around here is not the same!) The fried okra was good, but I really prefer okra stewed and slimy. The coleslaw and cornbread were decent, but nothing to write home about. On the whole, classic Southern sides done well.

The boy got a grouper cake with sides of sweet mashed potatoes (awesome! should have ordered that), fried okra, and cornbread.

Cupcake in downtown Charleston makes cute cupcakes like this red velvet cupper, but they're impossible to eat. Pretty, but not functional. I suggest you peel off the wrapper, grab all of the icing with the wrapper, then slather icing on cupcake as needed. Or how about icing the cupcake traditionally so it can be eaten normally?

Up next: Banana pudding smack down!