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Quote of the Week 8/26/13

August 27, 2013

This past weekend I went to Boston to move Naomi in, and attended the Feast of St. Anthony for the second year in a row. It was a gluttonous afternoon full of rice balls, pizza, and cannoli. It was amazing.

Naomi didn’t get the chance to enjoy everything I did, because she’s decided to be a vegetarian and forsake all things fun. Therefore, this week’s quote is in her honor.

“I didn’t fight my way to the top of the food chain to be a vegetarian.”
— Erma Bombeck

She’s waving goodbye to your social life, Naomi.

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Charleston, SC Restaurant Reviews

Wild Olive

April 5, 2013

So, I’ve mentioned before that Wild Olive is my mom’s favorite restaurant in Charleston (and possibly all of South Carolina), but I’ve never actually taken the time to write it up before. Since I had the pleasure of dining there a couple weeks back, I made sure to take lots of photos to put on this blog. Looking back at the photos, the’yre pretty terrible (low light + cell phone camera = crappy pictures), so I’ll just have to woo you over with my words (and pictures I find on Google). Here’s an interior shot I took before the sun set.

And this is one of the better ones.

I’ve been with my mom a couple of times. She absolutely loves the “marinated warm olives,” so we always end up ordering those.

This picture comes from the Wild Olive website and makes me really wish I liked olives.

I love the “house cured salumi with mozzarella, caponata, chicken liver rustica crostini” appetizer because it is delicious. I know a lot of people see “chicken liver” and get grossed out, but trust me. It is so freaking good. I also love the fresh mozzarella, but let’s face it, I am a sucker for fresh mozzarella. Plus, salami/salumi is delicious, and they give you a bunch of different kinds of salami on a platter, so how can you go wrong with that?

As you can see, I took this from the Wild Olive website. I wish my pictures looked this fly.

I also really love the arancini balls there, or as they’re listed on the menu, “suppli al telefono risotto fritters stuffed with sausage, spinach, parmesan, mozzarella.” So delicious. They’re not big like the ones they make in Boston, but they’re still really yummy. When you bite/cut into them they’re hot, cheesy, and really delicious.

Also, I am always a huge fan of anything deep fried and stuffed with cheese.

The most recent time I went with my new friend Regina, we started with the beef carpaccio (beef carpaccio with parmesan, horseradish aioli, melba toast, arugula, Sicilian sea salt). It’s basically like a beef salami and I really loved it. I think the sea salt and horseradish aioli added a nice element to the dish as a whole. The consistency kind of threw me off a little bit, because it’s very soft. I’m glad they gave me the crostini to balance it out.

As you can see, I took a piece from the middle of the plate before I remembered to take the picture.

We also got the bruschetta which is different than normal bruschetta as it came topped with rapini, purple cape beans, chile flake, garlic, and pecorino sardo. I think they change it out seasonally, because I’ve seen different pictures online. It was kind of weird eating bread with beans on it, but I think I really liked it. They did a really good job of balancing the flavors of each ingredient.

I’ll have an entire salad on my bread, please. Thanks!

I usually try to be adventurous, so I was intrigued by the “squid ink linguine with local shrimp, tomato, garlic, fresh spicy red chile, basil.” However, I’m not crazy about shrimp pasta, but I really wanted to be able to say that I’ve had squid ink pasta before. I asked the waiter how it was and he said “It’s good, but it basically tastes like seafood pasta. If you don’t like fishy tasting food, don’t get it.” So. Instead I was lame and basic and opted for the chicken parmesan. I know, I know. But it’s SO GOOD. It comes with “potato alfredo, marinara, mozzarella, arugula,” and it is SO good.

This picture I grabbed from Charleston Crafted

Last time we went, my mom got the “Grilled Stevenson Place Farms grass-fed steak with smashed fried and truffled Yukon gold potatoes,” but she doesn’t love truffle oil, so instead she replaced the potatoes with an order of potato gnocchi in marinara sauce. As I recall, she loved it.

Even though that steak is the size of her whole head.

Regina and I also got dessert, because apparently she considers herself something of a tiramisu connoisseur. Luckily for me, she was nice enough to share it with me, and let me say. Wow. That tiramisu is damn good.

This picture I grabbed from Urbanspoon.

I’ve always had a really positive experience every time I’ve gone to Wild Olive. From the food, to the ambience, to the service, to the wine, it’s always a good time. It’s definitely worth driving out to John’s Island!

Ok. Time for my lunch break.

Wild Olive
2867 Maybank Highway
John’s Island S.C. 29455
(843) 737-4177

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Charleston, SC Restaurant Reviews

Crust Wood Fired Pizza

March 15, 2013

I love pizza. There’s nothing better than a hot, cheesy, slice of really good pizza. One of the great things about pizza is that when it’s good, it’s great. And when it’s bad (i.e. Papa Johns or Domino’s)…it’s still pretty good. I prefer pizza that either has a thick, garlicky crust, or a thin, crispy crust that has that fresh-baked-bread taste and texture that can’t be beat. Well… all this pizza talk has me salivating over my keyboard. I really have to find a salad joint to review.

OMG pizza salad. How is that not a thing??

A couple Saturdays ago, I chose to try out Crust Wood Fired Pizza on James Island with Becca. It’s a cute little spot with an open kitchen and a chalkboard wall on which they write the daily specials. Their menu is very simple, which I like, and yet I still had a hard time choosing, since everything looked so delicious. We started with the arancini (fried risotto balls). I was hoping they were going to be like the giant ones I had in Boston, so I was slightly disappointed when they were only the size of golfballs. They were good, but lacking something, though I’m not sure what. They were served with this “simple tomato sauce” which I absolutely loved. You can definitely tell it was homemade.

Yummy, cheesy rice balls

Becca also got the handcut fries served with rosemary aioli and topped with some “grana padano” which our waiter (who was a dead ringer for Joey Lawrence) described as “like parmesan cheese but BETTER.” I thought it just tasted like parmesan cheese, which apparently means I’m uncultured. But whatever, I can’t be perfect at EVERYTHING. The fries were delicious, and I loved that they tasted like rosemary. Though I’m not European enough to be totally comfortable with dipping french fries into mayonnaise, the rosemary aioli was freaking good.

I know what you’re thinking, and yes we did eat the whole basket.

Then we each ordered pizzas because we thought maybe we should have some more carbs with our carbs. I really wanted to order all of them, because they all looked amazing. Next time I’m definitely going to try the chicken and bacon pizza (spinach, sundried tomato, caramelized onions, goat cheese, mozzarella, grana padano). I ended up getting the Bianca, a white pizza with fontina, mozzarella, grana padano, garlic, and rosemary. I added crispy prosciutto because I wanted some meat on that mother, and I think I definitely made the right choice. It was hella good.

This pizza is divine. Just the right amount of char.

Becca was a little more adventurous and got their butternut pizza with roasted butternut squash, mushrooms, caramelized onions, goat cheese, mozzarella, arugula, and truffle oil. I tried one slice and immediately regretted not ordering it. Seriously, I know it sounds weird, but it was really good. My mom wasn’t a fan, however. She thought it was awful. To each his own, I guess.

It’s not a pizza salad, it’s a salad pizza!

I hope this place stays open for a while, I really want to keep going back. It’s so good! If I get around to trying that Chicken & Bacon one, I’ll let you know! UPDATE-I did get the Chicken and Bacon, and it was really good. Probably my new favorite.

I’m digging the sign

Crust Wood Fired Pizza
1956 B Maybank Hwy.
Charleston, SC 29412
(843) 762-5500

Events

The Feast Of Saint Anthony, Boston, MA

September 12, 2012

So a few weeks back, I went to Boston with my mom to help move Naomi into her dorm at Emerson. At first, I was overwhelmed by the sheer size and scope of the city and pretty much decided that I’d never be able to handle living in a city that big. After a few days of exploring the city and subway system, however, I pretty much owned the city.

Soon it’ll be a crown atop my head instead of dollar store sunglasses.

We picked a great time to go, as the North End of Boston (aka where to find all the delicious, authentic italian food in Boston) was holding the The Feast of Saint Anthony. There was a huge religious aspect of it–mass, prayers, devotions, singing, hanging aprons made of dollar bills around a statue’s neck–you know, the usual Catholic stuff.

“Everyday I’m hustlin” -St. Anthony

I was drawn to the Feast not for the religious aspect, (shocker) but for the numerous food stands offering delicious italian fare. Below is a list what we feasted on at the festival.

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Arancini (rice balls)

What. Were you not expecting to receive a ball of rice the size of a small pumpkin?

We got one from an un-named vendor at the Thacher Street entrance of the feast. It was about the size of a softball, maybe a little bigger. They were making them homemade right at the feast, so I know we were getting fresh, delicious, homemade food, nothing pre-frozen or manufactured. You could get them stuffed with either spinach and cheese or meat and peas, and topped with gravy (aka marinara sauce). We split a meat-and-peas-stuffed rice ball between the 4 of us, and still had some leftover. It was amazing. The gravy was clearly homemade and better than any red sauce I’ve ever gotten anywhere in the south. My mom kept saying that it tasted like her grandmother’s spaghetti sauce, and then she got this far away look in her eyes.

A galaxy far, far away kind of look

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Gnocchi

om nom nom

I don’t even know how to describe the consistency of the gnocchi that we got at the fair, but I loved it. It wasn’t quite firm, but it wasn’t soft either. I think it was made with ricotta, but it’s hard to say. All I know is we pretty much inhaled it.

No, not *that* kind of inhale.

Real Italian Meatballs

BALLS OF MEAT ARE MY FAVORITE

This is where Tina and I got into a bit of a tiff. I thought the meatball we got at the feast (which was about the size of a baseball) was the best I’ve ever eaten. She claims hers are the best and got all offended when I suggested otherwise. Some people just can’t take criticism.

Did it just get chilly in here, or is that just me?

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