Weekend Roundup: Too Much Food, Too Little Time

March 24, 2014

I spent most of last week sitting in bed with a wicked chest cold, but Friday night, Lily and I met up with Lauren, Shay, and Marlowe in Columbia to see the Divergent movie (since we’d all read the book). Before the movie, we got sushi (and delicious cucumber mojitos) at Miyo’s. My eyes were definitely bigger than my stomach, and I ended up giving most of my sushi away because I was too full. After dinner, we walked to the theater and settled in for the show. Shay & I were really pleased with the movie, but Lily, Marlowe, and Lauren all had some serious issues with it. Either way, if you read the books, I think it’s definitely worth the watch!

If for nothing more than to stare at Theo James for 2 hours.

Saturday morning, we had a pretty disappointing lunch at Copper River Grill before spending a couple of hours wandering around the mall. We all went our separate ways around 3 (except Lauren who had to leave at 5 am to go be in a parade), and I spent most of Saturday afternoon laying in bed catching up on Grimm and eating the edible fruit bouquet that my parents sent me.

Because nothing says “get well soon” like chocolate covered pineapple slices shaped like high heels.

Around 9, I met up with people at a friend’s house where they were having a wine and cheese night to celebrate a new job. We hung out there for a while before meeting up with Cullen & Taylor at The Alley to get a few drinks to celebrate Taylor finally being 21! We ended the night at Butcher & Bee with a burger, some buffalo fries, and a lamb gyro. It was pretty delish. We also met up with them Sunday morning at Lost Dog Cafe for brunch before they headed back to Greenville.

Oh, sweet nectar of the gods.

After brunch, I took a cooking class at Southern Season entitled “Asian For A Crowd.” We made a cold Thai noodle salad, Korean beef bulgogi, Vietnamese banh mi sandwiches, bok choy kimchi, and a floredeliz salad for dessert. I immediately regretted the decision to get brunch before the cooking class because I was stuffed for the rest of the day.

There was enough food for a crowd, but only 2 people to eat it.

After the cooking class, I met back up with Lily to see Muppets Most Wanted, which was entertaining, but nowhere near as good as the first Muppet movie. We also celebrated my sweet kitty, Fezzik’s, birthday. I can’t believe he’s 3 already!

Look at those eyes!

Here’s hoping that everyone has a great week and that I finally kick this cold!

Weekend Roundup

Weekend Roundup: The Vegan Invasion

March 3, 2014

So this weekend was so much fun and eventful. Friday night, Lily and I went on to a “Couples Date Night” at Southern Season where we had all kinds of fun “Learning To Make Sweet Potato Gnocchi,” “Eating A Four Course Meal,” and “Tricking Your Culinary Instructor Into Thinking You’re A Lesbian.” It was pretty exciting stuff.

Despite all her squawking about “feminism,” Lily’s basically a 1950’s housewife.

We tasted a lot of delicious food, including blue cheese crostini with rosemary honey and pecans, fire roasted soup with seared scallops, sweet potato gnocchi, seared filet mignon with shiitake mushrooms and spinach and apple raspberry tart. You can find all of those photos on my Instagram account.

See that gnocchi? I made that!

After dinner, Lauren came into town, and Lauren, Lily and Kathleen and I all went out in our best sequins downtown.

Captains of the sparkle brigade.

On Saturday, we stopped at Persimmon Cafe for hangover brunch before going to pick up my bestie / cousin at the airport. Rob at Persimmon was awesome enough to make a custom vegan butternut squash sandwich for Naomi and she literally couldn’t shut up about it the whole drive home. Lauren also kept talking about how everything she ate was “an explosion of flavor” in her mouth (I’ll leave that one alone) and said she dreamt about the orzo pasta salad that night. Basically, I’m converting everyone I know into a Persimmon fan.

She’s gonna love that I’m using her “mouth full” picture.

After we got Naomi from the airport, we all vegged out around the house for a while, watching Pete Holmes standup before heading over to North Charleston to hang out at Frothy Beard where we were joined by Charlie, Chrissy, and Kelly. After we drank a few delicious pints, we grabbed dinner at E.V.O. in Park Circle. Naomi almost died on the spot when she found out they had a vegan pizza.

And I have to say, it was actually kind of yummy.

Saturday night we decided to have a game night at my apartment with some friends instead of going out. It was so much fun! I love nights like that. Sunday morning, we went to Lost Dog Cafe because apparently Charlie had never had the biscuits & gravy from Lost Dog before which is basically a sin. It was outstanding and they easily catered to Naomi’s veggie-communism with a yummy black bean burger and some home fries. Everything was delicious as always.

But seriously that gravy should be illegal.

After catching up on SNL (Colin Jost!), taking naps to recover from our delicious brunch and night of revelry, and bidding Lauren adieu, Naomi, Lily, and I made a vegan cheese sauce, normal people queso, and guacamole to watch the Oscars with. Lily also went on the great Ben & Jerry’s Cores hunt (get it?) which we also enjoyed whilst watching Leo lose for best actor yet again.

#PoorLeo

And that was my weekend. How was yours?

Random Fodder

Best of Charleston 2013

March 6, 2013

So, the Charleston City Paper’s annual “Best of Charleston” is out today! I’m so excited! Obviously the only section I care about is the Best Charleston Food section (especially since I wasn’t voted “Best Local Blog” … way to drop the ball, guys). In honor of this, I’m going to do my own “Best of Charleston: Eating and Drinking Out.” Here it is!

Sydney’s Picks

Either you agree with me, or you get the eff out.

Best French Restaurant
Gaulart & Maliclet (Fast & French)

Best Restaurant Theme
Poe’s Tavern

Best Vegetarian Restaurant & Black Bean Hummus
Dell’z Deli

Best Karaoke
Chucktown Tavern

Best Pizza South of Boston
Crust Wood Fired Pizza

Best Hot Dog
Jack’s Cosmic Dog

Best Biscuits and Gravy Ever
Lost Dog Cafe

Best Use of Pancetta
Chicken, Pancetta & Avocado Sandwich at Ted’s Butcher Block

Best Meat & Three
Martha Lou’s Kitchen

Best Italian Restaurant
Wild Olive

Best Chinese
Red Orchid’s China Bistro

Best Sushi
Zen Asian Fusion

Best Indian Buffet
Bombay Bazaar Indian Cuisine

Best Waterfront Dining
Fleet Landing

Best Local Brewery
Westbrook

Best Local Beer
Holy City Pluff Mud Porter

Best Mediterranean Food
Ali Baba Mediterranean Cuisine

Best Barbecue Made By A Canadian
JB’s Smokeshack

My Dad’s Favorite Bar in Avondale
Gene’s Haufbrau

Best Tacos
Taco Boy

Best Taco Shell
Taco Spot

Best Life Changing Mac and Cheese Experience
Graze’s Pulled Pork & Collard Green Mac and Cheese

Best Cupcakes, Iced Coffee, and Cookies
Sugar Bakeshop

Best Food Festival Ever Invented
Charleston Mac Off

Best Snack Ever When You’re Drinking
Tater Tachos at Recovery Room

Cocktail Tastes Like Juice, But Packs a Serious Punch
434 Cocktail at Halls Chophouse

Best Restaurant If You Like Disappointment
The Macintosh

Best Pork Fat Butter
Husk

Best French Fries Smothered in Garlic and Bleu Cheese
Tattooed Moose

Best Curry This Side of Thailand
Fire Street Food

My New Favorite Lunch Spot Now That I’m On A Diet
Verde

Best Bar According To Laura
Cocktail Club

Best Bar According To Sean
Big John’s Tavern

Best Drunk Food After The Bars Close
Giovanni’s Pizza

2 Comments

Charleston, SC Restaurant Reviews

Lost Dog Cafe

November 30, 2012

My favorite restaurant on Folly Beach.

I don’t really like Folly Beach. It’s crowded, it’s kitschy, and no matter what time of day it is, it always seems to take me an hour to get out there because of traffic. If I’m going to go to the beach, I usually drive out to Sullivan’s or Isle of Palms. The only thing that makes trekking out to Folly Beach worth the while is Lost Dog Café.

Really, it’s the biscuits and gravy. DELISH

If you’re a regular reader of my blog, you’ve probably heard me talk about Lost Dog and their delicious biscuits and gravy (aka the best biscuits and gravy I’ve ever eaten in my life. Ever.) One time, when I went with Sean and Christine to meet Sean’s mom, we split an order of biscuits and gravy while we were waiting for her to arrive. They were so good, we ended up getting another order after Sean’s mom showed up. And we probably got a side of biscuits and homemade sausage gravy with our meal, too, because we’re fatties, and it’s SO FREAKING GOOD. When we ordered it with my mom and dad, we finished the entire plate between the four of us in under a minute. It was impressive (or pathetic, depending on your perspective).

In case you didn’t get it from the first picture.

I love to order the Southern Eggs Benedict, which is a fried green tomato and a poached egg on an English muffin topped with hollandaise sauce and a side of fruit. Lost Dog also offers a “Folly Benedict” which is eggs benedict with a crab cake, which is also pretty dang.

I know I don’t like poached eggs, but this looks delicious. Also, I haven’t had lunch yet.

I always order the “quesadilla for the hungry dog,” which I know sounds like kind of a cop out, but it’s so good! They stuff this huge tortilla with refried and black beans, peppers, onions, and cheese and serve it with salsa and sour cream. I always add chicken, but there’s an option to add shrimp if you’re into that sort of thing (weirdo).

Are those biscuits and gravy you see in the background? Yes. Yes they are.

When we went with my parents, my mom ordered the special wrap of the day. It had pork and some other stuff in it, and it was freaking delicious. We all really liked it, and if they put it on the menu permanently, I might start ordering it on the reg.

With a side of biscuits and gravy, of course, not the cucumber salad that my mother got.

When we went with Ben’s roommate, Doug, he ordered the “society street French toast” served with fresh strawberries. Although he’s not a huge fan of biscuits and gravy (because he’s a communist), I think he did like his French toast, which looked beautiful and delicious. I don’t know for sure, though, as he never offered to share (oh the irony).

He also ate it sans syrup, which just seems wrong.

Lost Dog has the best chocolate milk. They squirt Hershey’s syrup along the side of a mason jar before filling it up with some delicious chocolate milk so it’s double chocolate. It’s like the inception of breakfast drinks. Lauren says their Bloody Mary’s are pretty good, but I think mixing tomato juice with liquor sounds like something only a homeless person would enjoy, so, I guess you’ll just have to take her word for it.

I just don’t get it.

If you’re vacationing in Charleston and you’re looking for a really great breakfast/brunch place that is really delicious and won’t break the bank, I definitely recommend Lost Dog. And get the biscuits and gravy (unless you’re a dirty commie like Doug). I honestly don’t know why Guy Fieri and Diners’ Drive ins & Dives hasn’t been there yet.

Lost Dog Café
106 West Huron Ave
Folly Beach, SC 29439
(843) 588-9669

5 Comments

Quote of the Week

Quote of the Week 5/7/12

May 7, 2012

This was a very busy weekend for me. First, Friday, was awesome because it consisted of sushi and sham wow (which is an awesome game that I really recommend you try). I really do need to invest in more ping pong balls so as so stop stealing toys from my cat. I think that probably says something about me, but I’m in no mood to evaluate my life choices.

Saturday was awesome because it was both Cinco de Drinko and A Charleston Affair. During the day, we ran around town trying to find an orange bow tie for Ben (apparently that’s not a common color around here…. this is the one and only time I’ve ever thought to myself “Man, I wish I lived in Clemson”). After we acquired the bow tie, Ben, Lauren, Woodrow, and I went to Blackbeard’s Cove to play a rousing game of putt-putt. Lauren beat the crap out of all of us. I’ve really gotten terrible at putt-putt. Afterwards, we decided that since it was 90 degrees and we were all sweaty and gross, we’d play a game they had called “Water Wars” where you launch water balloons from a sling shot at the opposing team and a huge burst of water would launch up and spray you. You were supposed to be trying to hit a target, but I’m pretty sure the attendants were just randomly hitting a button to splash us, which was fine with me, because it was hot and hella fun.

A Charleston Affair was quite enjoyable. I had a great time making awkward small talk with people I hadn’t seen since graduation (which was a year ago today, btw), so that was…interesting. But I also saw a lot of my Phi Sig friends, which was really fun. Bar hopping afterward was even better because I limited the crowd to people I actually enjoy being around. Also, Journey karaoke, as usually.

Sunday was spent eating hungover biscuits and gravy at The Lost Dog Cafe on Folly (someday I’ll actually go there with the intent of writing a review), where we met up with Bennett and Tommy, who was FINALLY back from Argentina! In the afternoon we went to see The Avengers, which was freaking awesome. Best superhero movie so far. Then Lauren and I played Skip-bo and ate Mellow (#standard) until Game of Thrones came on.

This week’s food quote comes from comedian Craig Kilborn, whom I find occasionally funny. I think this quote was particularly appropriate for the weekend, especially after Trashcans at Chucktown Tavern.

“A telephone survey says that 51 percent of college students drink until they pass out at least once a month. The other 49 percent didn’t answer the phone.”
–Craig Kilborn