Pinky's Westside Grill

thefoodbaby bottom line:

• Super fun and funky atmosphere and wait staff
• The White Trash Burger might be the perfect hangover food
• Amazingly affordable!

The food bender continues. I met the seriously fabulous ladies from my book club at Pinky's Westside Grill for brunch today. I was nervous about how this meal might go down, as I was still sporting a Morning After Food Baby from the previous evening. However, I was able to enjoy a delicious and artery-clogging meal without incident!

Fried Baby

Last night, while out partying for a friend's birthday....I discovered a new food baby. The Fried Baby. Allow me to share my high quality meal choices with you from last night.

Exhibit A: Dinner:




Random fried things at the bowling alley.

Chima - Charlotte Restaurant Week

Thefoodbaby.com bottom line:

• You get to summon unlimited amounts of meat to you with a colored chip?! Genius.
• Beware of the salad bar: it’s delicious, and dangerously filling.
• The variety and quantity of meats were impressive, but no one selection resulted in meatgasm.

Let me tell you a little bit about me. There is nothing on this earth I love more than meat. I am a loud and proud hardcore carnivore. I named my dog Bacon. My college friends and I call ourselves The Meat Crew, and we have annual Meatunions. I could go on waxing philosophical about my affinity for all things meaty, but I will spare you…as I assume you get the picture by now.

Indian Food Baby/Foodie Call

thefoodbaby.com Bottom Line:

• Foodie Call = best thing since sliced bread.
• Cave time is the best time.
• Did I really say that vegetarian dishes are delicious?  Seems to be counter to my meat-loving nature...

So tonight me and the hubs decided to cave up (meaning we put on PJs, dimmed the lights and...ordered some food and watched How I Met Your Mother).  Nothing better after a long week, right?  To start, I must tell you about a fairly recent discovery that has truly changed my life - FOODIE CALL.  Foodie Call is a food delivery service that delivers from an impressive array of local restaurants.  In my experience, they are always on time, the food is always hot and the order is always correct.  They will also deliver beer and wine, which I know will come in handy some day!  We LOVE Foodie Call.  Foodie Call has changed my life.  Did I mention how great Foodie Call is?    

Bonterra - Charlotte Restaurant Week

thefoodbaby.com bottom line:

·         Overall decent experience – nothing terrible, nothing amazeballs

·         Fantastic wine list

·         A slightly smudgy (smug + judgy) vibe from our server

The Food Baby ladies grabbed their hottie husbands and hit up Bonterra for Charlotte Restaurant Week. This selection was made after extensive poring over menus on the CRW website, and concluding that this was the superior menu.

The Wine Loft

Thefoodbaby.com bottom line:  

·         Fabulous, make-out worthy atmosphere

·         Flavorgasmic baked brie en croute

·         Lackluster by-the-glass wine list and staff was seemingly light on wine expertise

Last night we braved the frigid and icy weather of Charlotte’s Snowstorm 2011 to check out The Wine Loft. It's located in South End on South Blvd, in the retail space of an apartment building. I was immediately impressed when we walked in – the room was decorated in a sexy, swanky style with low lighting and mellow mood music. The first thing I said after bellying up to the bar was “I need to make out with a hot guy in here.”  As I am married, that hot guy would most likely be my husband…and I decided immediately to bring him here for said make-out sesh.

Why Go To Church When You Can Praise The Lard?

thefoodbaby.com indulged in all things porcine at Mimosa Grill’s recent “Praise the Lard” cooking class on Saturday, January 8, 2011.  Executive Chef Jon Fortes expertly guided a group of pork-worshiping students through the preparation of a four-course sausage and charcuterie porkstravaganza. 

thefoodbaby.com bottom line:

• Porkgasm…need I say more?
• Lardo – my new favorite cured pork product. 
• What the hell is a Rillette?
• Bacon powder – if this were considered an illicit drug we’d all need a trip to the Betty Ford Clinic stat.

The menu:

• Andouille Sausage Panini with Red Dragon Cheddar, Mustard Aioli and Tobacco Onions (paired with Trevisol Prosecco, Italy)
• Lardo and Bacon Wrapped Monkfish with “Franks and Beans” and Tomato Gratinee (paired with Childress Viognier, North Carolina)
• Braised Pork Rillettes with Candied Fruit, Smoky Apple Jam and Pumpkin Bread (paired with Angeline Pinot Noir, Sonoma)
• Country Fair Fried Dough with Bacon Powder and Salted Caramel (paired with Moscato D’Asti, Italy)

First, let me start by saying one thing – there are few organized, premeditated activities that will get this girl out of bed on a Saturday morning.  Would I care to do a 5k race with you?  No, I would not.  Why don’t we meet for yoga class to kick off the weekend?  I think I have a prior engagement (read, I will likely be nursing a bone-crushing hangover).  Let’s do breakfast!  Hmmm…why don’t we do a late brunch instead?  I think you get the point...  However, when my thefoodbaby.com partner in culinary crime said how would you like to Praise the Lard with me this Saturday morning?, I could think of no better reason to get out of bed than to pray at the altar of the god of pork.  Enlightened state of porkgasm, here we come!!

Welcome to The Food Baby!

Greetings and welcome to our blog for thefoodbaby.com! We are two ladies (I use the term loosely) living in Charlotte, NC who dedicate a shocking number of our waking hours to the pursuit of all things food and booze related. We also consider ourselves practiced experts in the phenomenon known as the Food Baby - an oft-occurring and completely natural occupational hazard. Recently we decided to marry these shared passions, and thefoodbaby.com and this blog were joyously conceived. 

Through this blog we hope to deliver witty and entertaining insights related to food, restaurants, wine, local farming, cooking, and more. So if you are not offended by inappropriate comments, share our affinity for all things scrumptious, and embrace the after-effects of glorious overindulgence (ie, the Food Baby)…come along and join us for our adventures which are sure to be fun, fabulous, and always delicious.