To celebrate the end of summer and the beginning of school – I just started the first year of my graduate program in public health – Nick and I decided to go on another foodie “daycation.”  The first, and only other, daycation we had was to Middletown, Rhode Island in 2010. This time, we decided to go to Atlanta, Georgia since it was close to home (only an hour-long flight) and relatively cheap.

We started our daycation at The Little Tart Bakeshop in Grant Park, which was featured on Anthony Bourdain’s ‘The Layover’.

You can see Nick’s reflection in the window to the left!

It was absolutely wonderful. We got there around 9:30 am and ordered a little bit of this and that to share. We had a ham and Gruyere cheese croissant, local sausage, potatoes and collards turnover, and a Cinnamon-Sugar bun.

Ham and Gruyere cheese croissant, turnover with local sausage, potatoes and collards, and Cinnamon-Sugar bun.

The building was very industrial with exposed brick walls and ceilings, and lots of metal and wood accents. The windows along one wall had little poems written in the corners.

Ain’t no sin to take off your skin

A few of our favorite poems that were too high up to get good photos were:

there are times when silence is a poem

if you think you can see with just your eyes you are mad

i had some dreams they were clouds in my coffee

After breakfast, we decided to explore the area around the building and discovered a beautiful cemetery just across the street, the Historic Oakland Cemetery. We wandered in and were amazed at how lovely it all is. We wanted to stay longer, as they were giving tours, and there was much ground that we didn’t get to cover because of the sheer size, but we decided that if we ever get a chance to come back, we’ll definitely spend more time there.

Before lunch, we stopped at Cocoa Atlanta Chocolate Company in Buckhead to sample some sweet treats. We’d heard about this place on Unique Eats and were excited to try some high-quality , pure chocolate that was made in-house from the roasted beans from cocoa pods they have delivered regularly from the Dominican Republic. We also made sure to grab some extras for gift to our family.

For lunch, we visited the Bone Garden Cantina from Travel Channel’s Mexican Food Paradise.

The first thing you’ll notice as you walk in is all of the Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) decorations, which was pretty cool, because I happen to love Day of the Dead in Mexican culture. Lots of colorful sugar skulls and playful skeletons everywhere.

According to their website, their food is made from scratch in small batches, using fresh ingredients. We had some tacos, a shrimp empanada, and a shredded chicken tamal, and it was all so yummy! The tamal was the best I’ve had so far.

Chicharron (fried chicken skin, top) taco, carne asada taco at bottom, and chicken tamal (wrapped in a banana leaf). And lots of yummy salsas!

Barbacoa de Chivo (goat bbq) taco, taco al pastor (pork) and shrimp empanada

We also got an amazing queso dip with chorizo, which I’ll be definitely be trying to replicate at home. We ended up stuffing ourselves because we wanted to try as much as possible. Afterwards, we headed back to the airport and the flight home was a full and happy one.

Have you ever taken a daycation?

Nick drove a race car, then we ate fish tacos. I’d say that sums up our weekend perfectly. But let’s start at the beginning.

For Christmas 2012, I got Nick an awesome racing experience deal where he gets to drive an Indy-style race car around the track at Charlotte Motor Speedway for 5 minutes. I didn’t want to hand him a plain envelope with a printed gift card, so I put it in a small, red box underneath a matchbox replica of the style of car he’d be driving. I couldn’t wait to give it to him because I’d expected him to open it, read the card, and go crazy with excitement at the thought of getting to drive a real race car. His reaction, however, was quite the opposite! He opened it, looked at it for a while and didn’t really say anything. I thought he didn’t like it and getting really sad, but, he said he was just shocked and was trying to soak in the fact that he gets to drive a race car. He finally got around to scheduling his driving experience for this past weekend and had a great time.

Nick, suiting up

the next stig

Afterward, we were famished so we found Cabo Fish Taco, in Charlotte, NC, which was featured on Divers, Drive-Ins, & Dives (click that link for video). We hadn’t originally planned to make this part of our TV Food Travels, but figured it would be easy to find something “famous” in the area and it was a great choice.

Featured in the DD&D video linked above are the BBQ Mahi Tacos and the honey wasabi sauce. Each order came with two tacos, so we got two different orders to share, the BBQ Mahi Tacos and the Tavarua Wahoo Tacos.

Grilled Mango BBQ Mahi Tacos

The Mahi tacos were delicious: flash-fried tortillas, grilled mango BBQ Mahi-Mahi tacos stuffed with Cabo slaw, tomato, avocado, cheese and cilantro white sauce. They had a nice spicy tang from the BBQ sauce that paired nicely with the cole slaw and white cilantro sauce. The wahoo tacos were also good, consisting of flash-fried tortillas, blackened lemon-rubbed wahoo in a kiwi-pineapple fajita sauce, stuffed with lettuce, tomato, cheeses, and topped with the honey wasabi  sauce. I was expecting a bold, fruity flavor from the kiwi-pineapple sauce, but it was pretty mild. I almost didn’t even notice it. The honey wasabi sauce, however, was excellent. It had the right touch of wasabi flavor without being overpowering or too spicy. I’m going to try to recreate this one at home.

Tavarua Wahoo Tacos

We also tried the Baja Shrimp and Crab Dip, which I really liked because it reminded me of the crab filling that comes in a good, high-quality crab rangoon. I think they flash-fried the pita bread, too; a very nice touch, as it gave you the texture of a chip but the fullness of pita. I might try to recreate this at home, as well!

I really enjoyed the fish tacos at Cabo Fish Tacos. I would love to go back the next time I’m in Charlotte and take some friends or family. I’d also like to try some of the other tasty menu items, like the Cabo Roll that looks like the shrimp and crab dip rolled up sushi style in a burrito. And I’m sure Nick would just love to drive that race car again!

Recently, Nick and I went on another foodie road trip. It wasn’t really a foodie trip because we didn’t decide to travel just for food but it was a long road trip to attend a wedding and we found a few stops along the way.

We had planned to make four stops – two on the way to our destination and two on the way home. But, after a very short weekend full of wedding and family activities, we were exhausted by the time we hit the road back home and decided to stop as little as possible. The two stops we did make, however, were totally worth it!

For lunch, we stopped at the Parkette Drive-In in Lexington, KY (click that link to see it on Diners, Drive-ins, & Dives). Featured in the video are the Poor Boy burger, the chili cheese dog, and fried chicken; we decided to share the burger and chili dog. I wanted to try the chicken but Nick said we shouldn’t overdo it.

Poor Boy burger, Tots, and Chili Cheese Dog

The Poor Boy was just like a Big Mac but way better! In fact, the owner in the DD&D video describes it as the original Big Mac 😉 The ingredients were fresh and it was nicely seasoned, peppery. There was a whole slice of onion on it, instead of a few measly rings. Overall, Nick said it was a “good, old-fashioned burger.” The chili cheese dog was as good; I was really looking forward to the homemade chili sauce but I think they scrimped a little on that. What I did get was meaty and tasty. And it was all on a nice, soft poppy seed bun. Yum!

Overall, it was a quality drive-in and the prices were unbeatable, especially for such fresh ingredients.

For dinner we stopped at Fat Sandwich Company in Champaign, IL. They have ridiculously big, unhealthy but delicious sandwiches that include pretty much everything but the kitchen sink!

 Their specialty is the “Fat Sandwich” is a large sandwich full of whatever goodies you choose, topped with french fries. We got a Fat F sandwich which had cheese steak, chicken fingers, mozzarella sticks, mayo, ketchup, and french fries.

I have to say, it was better than I care to admit! I wasn’t sure how I would feel about a sandwich made up of appetizers but the flavors actually melted really well together and was an explosion of savory goodness on my taste buds. I think the key to the success here is the fries, since they go with virtually everything. The cheese steak worked really well with the fries (cheese + fries) as did the mozzarella sticks with the chicken fingers (cheese + chicken + marinara on the side). Any fries that fell off the top were easily eaten as a side dish, like you would for any sandwich. I can also see the appeal of this type of sandwich to the college crowd, as the shop was located on the campus of University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. I couldn’t eat these on the regular but I would definitely recommend you to stop by if you’re ever in the area.

Since we didn’t stop anywhere on our way home, we’ll have to plan another trip. A real foodie road trip where we first choose the restaurant and then the route to get there. Until then, we’ll just have to enjoy the delicious food in our own town.

See you at the next stop!

<3, NC Squared

Get ready for some food fun!

Next weekend we’re heading west to the warm little town of Normal, Illinois for Nick’s cousin’s wedding. It may not be the beach, but it’s not a terrible way to spend Memorial Day Weekend. Afterall, I do love a good wedding! But, we’re going on a road trip so you know what that means: we’ve planned our route based on scrummy restaurants along the way, all of which have been featured on one Food Network/Cooking Channel show or another.

I love dining out; it’s probably my biggest vice. But eating out on a regular basis, as you can probably imagine, gets pretty expensive, and is usually what gets me into trouble when we’re trying to save money. So, I’ve developed a process that helps ensure I cook at home more often and keeps more dollars in my wallet: I create a weekly menu and a shopping list based on it. I’m sure I’m not the first and only person to do it but it’s a good process and it works, for the most part. There are always challenges. I mean, this is life we’re talking about here.

The general process goes a little something like this: I find recipes I like, make a grocery list, go shopping (once a week) and then cook at home each night.