Charlotte By The Palate - Episode 2

Stop two on our tour of Charlotte by the Palate: Famous Toastery. We stopped by the University City location for a kid-free late Sunday breakfast.

Upon arrival, we immediately noticed the large crowd waiting outside to be seated. Always a good sign. I went to put our name on the list and was given a wait time of 35 minutes.
Note: this will NOT be a quick place to eat on the weekend unless your going for call-ahead take out.
Alas, we were seated in an intimate little nook in the middle of the restaurant. The vibe here is pretty chill. We kind of just rolled out of bed and were not at all out of place. It's a bit noisy, as expected when the place is always packed.
When seated, you’re given the name of a person who will come and take the order for the table but they say, if you need anything, grab anyone who walks by.
Shortly after being seated, we were greeted by a friendly waitress whose name slips my mind. She took our drink orders and returned with cornbread and apple butter. The small cornbread cubes had just the right amount of sweetness although they were a little dry. The apple butter was a bit sweeter than the cornbread and added just enough moisture to each bite. It’s always nice to get ‘free’ bread at a restaurant, but this I could’ve done without. It wasn’t bad, but wasn’t much to write home about.

I decided to order the southwestern omelet (filled with chorizo, tomatoes, bell peppers and cheddar cheese) with breakfast potatoes and cinnamon raisin toast.

Southwestern Omelet Plate

My partner in crime chose the #4 burger (bacon and cheese, customized with only onions and mayo) with breakfast potatoes.

(#2) Burger

So let's begin with the dish I have the most experience with - The Southwestern Omlette. At about $12 I'd say this is worth the price tag. There was chorizo, tomato, bell pepper and onion in EVERY bite. The egg was cooked perfectly (nothing worse than overcooked eggs... except undercooked eggs). In case you're wondering, there is a bit of spiciness thanks to the chorizo. The true star of this dish for me was the breakfast potatoes. By FAR my favorite food is the potato in almost any form and these were Dee-VINE. Nice little half- to one-inch cubes sauteed ever so carefully with onions and specially chosen spices then steamed to tender perfection 😢 It was truly an amazing experience for the palate. The cinnamon raisin toast was average. Nothing special per se, but I do appreciate that this was an option verses the typical "white or wheat" offered at most places.

On to the #4/#2 burger. As mentioned, the initial request was a #4 burger (bacon and cheese) but the kitchen forgot the bacon hence, the #2: cheese burger. Very average choice right? No! Not at the Famous Toastery. The first thing you'll notice is that the burger is wayyyy too big for the bun. And that is A-ok in our book. Upon first bite, my partner in crime noticed how fresh and flavorful the beef was. As an onion fiend, I was thrilled to see how many grilled onions the kitchen blessed this burger with. Of course I took a bite (for research purposes). I too, noticed that the beef was extremely fresh and flavorful paired with a perfect egg bun. The omelette was great, but I had burger envy indeed. I will return to this brunch spot for a burger.

Overall, I give this place 4.5 out 5 stars. I think I'd prefer to have a waiter/waitress who was "assigned" to my table so I don't have to keep an eye up to flag one down if needed. I dig the concept though.

Keep tasting, folks.

Catch me on IG

Breakfast Meal Prep

I’m a habitual Pintrester. To me, that word describes one who pins thousands of articles, recipes and ideas...and that’s it. Well, I was a habitual Pintrester. Recently I became a PinTESTER and started actually trying some of the 50 million things on my boards. I’ve tried a few art projects, hair styles, cleaning methods. But my favorite things to try are the recipes. 

I have the most friends who are on a new diet every few months - keto, smoothie, meal prep - and they inspire me to save more pins 🤪 One day, I was at work eating a microwaved sausage I picked up at the grocery store at the last minute and someone said to me “That’s bad for you. Too many preservatives.” That got me thinking. Preservatives are one of the things that cause us to hold on to so much weight and contribute to many health problems. What to do? I only like hot breakfast, need protein to stay full, but don’t want to wake up early enough to cook food everyday. Enter: Pinterest. In my routine hold-and-save operations, I saved a few breakfast meal prep recipes. I decided to try one so that I can have real, hot food for breakfast grab n go style.

On this weeks menu: Eggs, Bacon, “Home Fries”

As one who has enjoyed cooking from childhood, I certainly did not need a recipe for any of the items in my breakfast plate. But I definitely benefitted from the suggestion found in this pin. I spent about an hour Sunday morning scrambling 8 eggs, baking slices of bacon, and cooking home fries.

I forgot to snap the eggs.

The eggs and bacon were the easiest part of this of course. I used my favorite cast iron skillet for the eggs. I cooked them in melted butter until they were just set then divided them evenly amongst my to-go dishes. Meanwhile, I cut the bacon in half, placed it on a cookie sheet, then baked it in the oven for bout 20 minutes at 400 degrees. When finished, I let it drain on a paper towel. I also boiled my cubed potatoes for about 7 minutes so they wouldn’t take long to cook in the pan.

Yummy 😋 

After finishing the eggs, I wiped out my skillet, melted more butter, diced some onions and three in my potatoes. This is my favorite part! I LOVE potatoes. Usually, I season them with salt, pepper, paprika and Italian seasoning then toss em. I tried to let em get a good sear before flipping. That’s when I added the onions. The potatoes took about 15 minutes to finish. I gave them a light press to make them more home fry-ish. 

I must say, I was really happy with the results and happy with myself for trying this meal prep. It worked perfectly with my schedule. 

To heat these up, I loosened the lid and microwaved for 30 seconds. Remove, stir, repeat. Eggs were perfect, bacon was perfect, potatoes were PERFECT! Fresh, hot breakfast in a minute with NO added preservatives. 

#WinWinWin

I will certainly try this again. Thank you Pinterest!

Charlotte By The Palate- Episode 1

On our first stop, Charlotte By The Palate visited The Nappy Chef, an unassuming new restaurant on Albemarle Rd. When you visit, you’ll see the Nappy Chef himself getting dirty in the kitchen.

The Nappy Chef

Initially, I wasn’t sure that we should try it, but the lack of parking, full outdoor seating and long line of (dare I say) Black people made me feel like this may be a winner. Generally when there’s such a long line of people the wait at a small place like this is RIDICULOUS. On this Saturday however, we were in and out in under 20 minutes.
The Nappy Chef offers what I like to call “bar food” = wings, burgers, fries, tacos. They also offer specialties like chicken n waffles on Sundays. You’ll need to tune into their Insta for the latest on new and short-term menu items. Also, there’s something called a “Boss Plate” that I kept hearing people order. This consists of 6 wings, a burger or taco and fries for $15.
We decided to go for the wings on this trip. After scanning the flavors on the menu, we were immediately intrigued by Henny Honey Hot. Yes, please. We also chose to order a Sweet Thai Chili wing plate. A wing plate comes with 6 wings and fries and will cost you $9.95. Pretty steep in my opinion. The ranch is sold 2 for $1. Red flag.
After a brief wait, we received our food sprinkled with paprika for extra pizzazz I suppose. We were greatly underwhelmed when we opened our boxes to find what looked a bit larger than Cornish hen wings fried and tossed in sauce. (For $10??? Can I get a drink with that?)

Baby Wing Plate

Size aside, the sauces were decent. The wings were cooked pretty well. The fries are your average run-of-the-mill pre-fab frozen potatoes. But the ranch. My goodness that was the worst part for me. Ranch is always in the same sentence as wings in the south and Charlotte By The Palate is definitely a self-proclaimed “ranch connoisseur”. I knew by the cheap cost of extra ranch that this was gonna be terrible, but I had hope.... Alas, it’s not as bad as Kraft.
Overall, I give The Nappy Chef 2 out 5 stars. There are definitely better local spots the get wings from that are cheaper and offer better ranch. I do applaud the small business for branching out and opening up a store front. I may be convinced to go back and try a burger one day.

For pictures and other restaurant news, follow us on Instagram @CLTbythePLT

Charlotte By The Palate

So I consider myself to have a pretty decent palate.. I enjoy various types of foods from various parts of the world. I'm always seeking a new kind of delicious. What will follow is my take on some new spots and a few classics in the Queen City.
This is the beginning of my new blog series Charlotte By The Palate.
Stay Tuned...