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cranberry

Charleston, SC Restaurant Reviews

Tattooed Moose

December 14, 2012

Anyone who knows me knows that “Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives” is one of my favorite shows. Every time I travel to a new city, I look to see if Guy Fieri has been to any of the restaurants in that town. Now, I don’t mean to sound like a hipster, but I ate at (and loved) Tattooed Moose long before Guy Fieri ever did. And if any restaurant in Charleston actually deserved to be reviewed by DDD, it’s Tattooed Moose; it’s the very definition of a Dive bar with awesome food.

I just really wish he'd do something with that hair.

I just really wish he’d do something with that hair.

My absolute favorite thing at the Moose is the Roasted Garlic and Bleu Cheese fries. You may remember me talking about this amazing nectar of the gods in my Favorite Blue Things post. The fries at the Moose are hand cut and fried in duck fat, which makes them extra delicious. Then they top those delicious fries with blue cheese and a whole bulb of confit garlic. It’s decadent, and delicious, but definitely plan on hitting the gym afterward, for like 6 hours or so.

Garlic and Blue Cheese Duck Fat Fries

Man, I really shouldn’t blog while I’m hungry.

Obviously, you have to get the Duck Club. It’s divine. In the words of Josh Campbell, “on a scale of 1 to 5, it’s a TWENTY FIVE!” A triple decker filled with duck confit, apple smoked bacon, and smoked cheddar on sweet Hawaiian bread with garlic aioli, lettuce, tomato, and red onion. Yum, yum, yum. They also serve each of their sandwiches with their house made garlicky dill & spicy sweet green tomato pickles, which are really yummy.

Omigosh, I really shouldn't blog while I'm hungry.

Also, they let you draw on the tables/walls, which is AWESOME

I also recommend the smoked chicken BLT. It’s similar to a traditional chicken salad, except they house smoke their chicken and top it with bacon, romaine, sweet & spicy green and red ripe tomatoes on toasted wheat bread. It’s very, very good. Lots of people think chicken salad is a healthy sandwich alternative, but not at the Moose. If you’re looking for healthy, you should probably just pick a different restaurant. They also have a bacon bleu cheese slaw that, which was really tasty. It had a really creamy consistency (rather than vinegary as you sometimes see), and you could really taste the bleu cheese, which I really liked. It also tasted kind of smoky, like bacon, which we really enjoyed. It was enough that we had leftovers to take home with us.

Man that looks good.

Man that looks good.

Recently, when we went to the Tattooed Moose for Casey’s birthday, I branched out from my usual Duck Club and ordered the Thanksgiving “Leftovers” Sammy, which is fried turkey breast, stuffing & cranberry mayo on toasted wheat bread, served with duck gravy for dipping. It was really good. The duck club is still my favorite, but this sandwich is definitely a close second. Mike ordered his without the cranberry mayo, because he’s a crazy person who doesn’t like cranberries. But I wouldn’t recommend that, unless you’re a crazy person like Mike.

Not pictured: personal bowl of gravy for dippin'

Not pictured: personal bowl of gravy for dippin’

I love Tattooed Moose, but it’s definitely not a restaurant I’d want to visit more than once or twice a month. It’s very rich, and not even a little bit healthy for you, even though it’s damn delicious. But it’s definitely worth the miles on the treadmill.

The keyword here being "Dive."

The keyword here being “Dive.”

Tattooed Moose
1137 Morrison Drive
Charleston, SC 29403
(843) 277-2990

Tattooed Moose Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

Restaurant Reviews

Pomegranate On Main

June 14, 2012

Our visit to Pomegranate didn’t get off to a great start. When my mom called early that day to increase our reservation from 6 to 7, the hostess got all flustered, like we’d asked her something totally insane, like “Hi, I’m going to need for you to find me a chair made out of pure gold, because my badonkadonk is too high class to be sitting on anything less.” She chastised us over the phone “Ok… uhmmm….. let me see what I can do… I just…. this is really…. uh. It might be a bit of a problem. But. uhhh…… hold on [1 minute of silence] Ok. You have to call us if anything changes, because we were only planning for six of you. So let us know if you get any more or any less, because we might have to switch tables, which can be a problem… so…. just make sure you call us.” I’ve changed the number of people on a reservation a hundred times. I know for a fact that’s something restaurants deal with on a daily basis, so spare me the lecture and just add an extra chair to our table. It’s really not that big of a deal. Especially since the restaurant was half empty the entire time we were there. It’s not like people were fighting over seats. But, I digress.

God, I HATE IT when people actually make me do my job!

Everything was fine when we got there, no issues over seating or numbers, which was good. Tina and I ordered their signature pomegranate martini, which is very, very strong, and very, very sweet. It was good, but it took me the entire meal to finish. We started out with an appetizer trio sampler, because we’re indecisive and hungry so we couldn’t pick just one thing. You can customize your trio based on what appeals to you, so I picked the Mast Khiyar (mixture of freshly diced cucumbers, yogurt, raisins, walnuts and fresh herbs), Borani Spinach (blend of sauteed spinach, onion, yogurt and garlic), and Hummus. Tina was apprehensive about the cucumber thing because it had raisins in it, but it ended up being her favorite of the three. It was almost like tzatziki, and you really couldn’t even tell that there were raisins in it. I think we made good choices (especially since the other options were all eggplant based, and I don’t really do eggplant). The hummus was good, although it didn’t compare to the hummus we had at the Moroccan restaurant in Duluth, which is the best hummus I’ve ever had. The spinach thing tasted a lot like the Palak dishes you find at indian restaurants. The appetizers were served with fresh, hot pita bread, which was delicious, and a tray of mint leaves and fresh feta cheese. All the mint ended up going in our water, because we’re school children who can’t behave ourselves in public.

Ben got all excited to arrange his plate all artistically so I could take a picture of it. It really doesn’t take a lot with him.

For my entree, I ordered a Chinjeh Soltani, which was a combination plate consisting of one Koobideh kabob (blend of ground tenderloin and ground chuck, seasoned and charboiled) and one Chinjeh kabob (cuts of tenderloin, marinated in a saffron yogurt combination, charbroiled). The dishes were all served with a grilled tomato and complementing rice dish. Even though mine was just basic basmati rice, it’s probably the most flavorful rice I’ve ever eaten. You’re supposed to squish up the tomato and mix it in with the rice and then squeeze the lime all over it. So I did that. It was so good. Everything was delicious. The piece of meat that’s cut up in the picture is the Chinjeh, and the long stick is the koobideh. I can’t really say which one I liked better. They were both so, so good.

I mean, who doesn’t love a good stick o’ meat?

Sean and Ben both got the same thing, the Torsh Soltani, which was one Koobideh kabob (blend of ground tenderloin and ground chuck, seasoned and charboiled) and one Torsh kabob (cuts of tenderloin, marinated in a zesty sweet and sour Pomegranate sauce mixed with walnuts, charbroiled). Sean ordered special rice with lentils and golden raisins, which was also really freaking delicious. Ben got the same rice as me, so I’m only going to show a picture of Sean’s, because even though they ordered the same thing, I thought Sean’s meat tasted better (that’s what she said?). Christine decided to be different and order a chicken kabob. It wasn’t that interesting, and neither is she (jk jk! I love you Christinalena!). You can see it in the background of Sean’s picture.

“Special” rice for a “special” little man.

Tina and Jenn got a chicken soltani, which was one chicken kabob (marinated in a lemon saffron sauce, charbroiled) and one barg kabob (tenderloin, marinated in a traditional Persian marinade of onion and saffron, charbroiled). I liked the barg, but I still think the torsh was my favorite. Tina’s came with basmati cranberry rice which was probably my favorite of all the rices I tried. It had that great balance of savory and sweet and tart. It was awesome. The chicken was good, but I don’t think it could even hold a candle to the beef. All of the beef dishes were absolutely outstanding, but the chicken was just kind of…. chicken. I mean, it was good, it just didn’t blow me away like the beef dishes did.

Now I’m getting hungry and can’t think of anything funny to say. Boo.

Dad decided to be unique and get something completely different from everyone else. He opted for the rack of lamb (marinated in a rosemary sauce, charbroiled), and lorded over it like a troll guarding a bridge. He reluctantly shared with us after we berated him enough, and I have to say that the lamb was pretty fantastic. I’m picky when it comes to lamb, because a lot of times lamb can be fatty and tough, but this was tender and lean, and the flavor was really outstanding. His came with the same rice as Sean’s (basmati rice with lentils and golden raisins).

Pictured: Why you shouldn’t get gremlins wet.

We opted out of dessert, mostly because we were all stuffed, but also because they didn’t really sound that great. Even though it’s not the best middle eastern food I’ve ever had, it’s definitely the best middle eastern food in Greenville, so if you’re not afraid of GIANT STICKS OF MEAT, then I highly recommend you check it out.

Order the beef or the lamb with cranberry basmati rice. Also, be damn sure how many people are coming with you before you make a reservation, lest you give the hostess a brain aneurysm.

Pomegranate On Main
618 S.Main St
Greenville, SC 29201
(864) 241-3012

Pomegranate on Main Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato