Hall’s Chophouse

As a girl who isn’t the biggest fan of red meat, you may be surprised to hear that Hall’s Chophouse is one my very favorite restaurants in Charleston. Hall’s is a family run New York style steakhouse located on Upper King. Upon entering the dimly lit, plush restaurant, you will be immediately greeted by someone from the staff or even one of the family members themselves. And when I say greeted, I don’t mean someone says hello – you’re either getting your hand shaken or hugged. The Halls are genuinely happy to see you and appreciative of you dining in their restaurant.

Although I honestly eat at Hall’s (mostly bar seating) about twice a month, I’m always willing to go when a friend wants to. Always. Amanda and I decided we needed a date night, and as she’s only ever eaten at the bar with me, we decided to go all out.

We started the night off with a really smooth bottle of wine.

I recommended that we get the shrimp appetizer. It’s absolutely delicious. Crispy shrimp served in what I assume is a ginger chile sauce with a hint of heat.

My steak loving friend appropriately ordered filet. As soon as she took her first bite, she let out a long “Mmmm.” I had the same reaction when she gave me a sample. It was just so…buttery. Side dishes are served family style, aka large and in charge. Amanda chose the macaroni and cheese shown above. Dare I use the word buttery to describe this as well? Cheese, butter, cream…what else hurts my heart at the same times as it makes it so happy?

I have had almost all of the non-red meat entrees as Hall’s except for the Tuna, which was highly recommended by our server. That was an easy decision. I was most intrigued by the gastrique – this sweet, citrusy sauce did not disappoint.

Apparently it pays to be a regular, because Tommy sent out my favorite dessert: whiskey bread pudding. I first had their bread pudding over a year ago when I wasn’t even sure what bread pudding even was. A friend ordered it and I am so glad he did. It’s the softest piece of brioche with cinnamon and cherries, drizzled in a praline sauce. It’s so good, I get emotional.

Amanda and I had joked about being on a “date” ealrier that day. She purposefully wore a blazer, saying that she was "the man” tonight. We couldn’t resist taking a festive picture in front of the tree.

In summary,

• Angela, our server was very sweet and attentive
• Portions, as always, were very generous
• Ambience is warm and very welcoming
• They have my absolute favorite salad: the Blackened Salmon Salad
• GET THE BREAD PUDDING

When it came time to pay for the bill, Amanda and I took advantage of Serve, a new digital payment platform that we both signed up for. With Serve (from American Express), you can organize your money, send and receive funds, and manage payment requests — all from a single, unified online account. Using her regular debit card, Amanda paid for the bill. I then logged into my account using the Serve smartphone app, and sent her a payment for my half. She immediately received the payment, and then transferred it back to her bank account, which had been linked to her Serve account. Easy, peasy! The serve system would be so helpful for larger parties – the server doesn’t have to collect multiple credit cards and the party members can send their portion of the bill to whomever pays. Check it out!

As part of the Foodbuzz Tastemaker Program, I received a $250 stipend to try Serve from American Express. Sign up for Serve and receive $10 credit towards your first use.  Comment below within the next 7 days for your chance to win an extra $100 credit to your account! Official sweepstakes rules and regulations may be found here.

Bambu for Mary’s Birthday

Wednesday was Mary’s 26th birthday, so a big group of us went to Bambu to celebrate. I had previously met the chef, Joaquin, at the Best of Charleston awards party. I let him know that I was coming in because I wanted to say hi. Right after we ordered our meals, Joaquin texted me telling me to come in the kitchen.

In the back waiting for me was a little sake glass bouquet of flowers! How sweet is this?

While we waited for our appetizers, I was suddenly presented with…….I kid you not…FRICKLES!!! Frickles at a sushi restaurant? How was this real!?
They were tempura fried and served with some kind of sauce that Lauren ended up stealing to put on her sushi. Both Jess and Amanda decided that these were the next best frickles after Midtown’s. I agree – tempura battered pickles are pretty ridiculous.

As part of my meal, I ordered the edamame & spinach dip served warm, crispy wonton chips. The last time I went to Bambu with Diana and Lucy, a reader told me that I needed to try this appetizer the next time I went in. Thank goodness for her recommendation – this was absolutely delicious. The whole table was raving about how good it was. It was topped with panko breadcrumbs and parmesan cheese – to die for!

I also ordered a unique roll that was wrapped in cucumber instead of rice. This is the Coleman Blvd roll with tuna, salmon, yellowtail, scallions, asparagus wrapped in cucumber with ponzu sauce.

Without the rice, it was a lighter roll and you could really taste the freshness of the fish. Although it really didn’t need any sauce, I ended up dipping it in Jess’s ponzu sauce. That citrusy sauce is hard to resist!

After we all finished our meals, the birthday girl was surprised with dessert! Our whole table got these amazing sugary cinnamon dough balls with warm caramel sauce. One bite in, Jess declared, “My life has changed forever.” They were that good.

Perhaps the most exciting event of the evening (after the surprise frickles, of course!) was my next surprise. Joaquin had made me Pad Thai to go for tomorrow’s lunch! Lauren and I plan on eating this at work tomorrow, Lady & The Tramp style.



Shout out to Lauren – it was great to meet you!  

Destin Days 2 & 3

Friday: Boat Day! Margaret and I, along with her brother and sister, took the family’s boat out to Crab Island. There were a ton of boats, but believe me when I say that we didn’t go unnoticed. How the heck would we wearing these ridiculous headbands? Oh, and matching bikinis. We didn’t purposely both pack them, but when we found out that we had, we couldn’t resist wearing them together! Dorks.

Look how clear the water is!

While on the water, we spotted quite the fancy party boat. We soooooooortaaaaaa kinda wanted to be sunbathing on the roof of that thing.

I also spotted a lime green boat!

And a pretty all white house.

After a couple hours in the sun, we met Mama Maclin at Dewey Destin’s, a seafood restaurant on the water. We shared the smoked tuna dip appetizer. It was surprisingly light on the mayo – thank goodness! It was delicious.

I had the grilled mahi basket with corn, potatoes, and coleslaw. I really liked how the seafood was simple but full of flavor. No nonsense in messing with fresh fish!

After such a light meal, we did something really naughty. We celebrated National Doughnut Day!! I still can’t believe we did this. Krispy Kreme was handing out free doughnuts all day long. Margaret’s little sister insisted that we get some and we didn’t argue. Mama Maclin even asked if we could have hats. As if we needed more crap to put on our heads…

Saturday: Pool Day! On our last day, we felt like being lazy by the pool. It was soso hot. The temperature raised to well over 100*. I liked it.

That afternoon, we four girls got pedicures. It had been too long since I had gotten one, and all the dancing at Trio had caught up with me…er, my feet? I got an orangey color that was strangely similar to that of a persimmon. I hate feet and I also hate that I’m putting a FOOT on my blog, but whatever, I hope you’ll love me anyway. Pretty please?

Next, we did a bit more shopping. I picked up this cute summer dress from Forever 21:

I also fell in L-O-V-E with one of Gwen Stefani’s Harajuku Lovers perfumes at Sephora. Meet “G of the Sea.” This limited edition summer scent is “a citrusy woody floral with hints of crisp apple, magical water lily, and the sweet surge of crushed berries.” Mmmmmmmmmm. I might have to buy this.

Saturday evening, Margaret and I went to Baytown for dancing and drinks. We snapped a Blackberry photo and somehow a dude managed to creep in the back! Ha. 

We drove the 8 hours home today and I’ve been slowly settling in. I love vacations, but I always love coming back to my bed. Hope you all had a great weekend!!

Pizza, Gelato, and Packing for Destin!

Three day weekends really freak me out. I felt so off today! Anyone else out there keep forgetting it’s actually Tuesday?

My friend Rob is moving to NYC in a couple weeks – sad! We went to our last work lunch today. We went to Vespa Pizza last time, so today we tried the other pizza place on Daniel Island: Orlando’s Pizza. Orlando’s brick oven pizza uses dough and sauces that are made daily and the freshness is evident in its taste. The crust was perfectly thin, with a fair amount of cheese, and lots of sauce. To me, this was the perfect slice of pizza, and for only $2.50. I will be back a thousand times.

I regretted not getting two slices!

After the salty came the sweet. We walked to Et Cetera, a small gourmet food shop. They had gelato from Paolo’s Gelato, which is located downtown on John St. I ordered the Bacio (chocolate and hazelnut) which is totally weird for me; I don’t like chocolate based ice cream. This little sucker cost $4 pre tax. What? My pizza was less than this ball of ice cream. Don’t be fooled by this pic – it may look like a full cone but it’s just a blob on the top. I ended up throwing out the cone because there was no gelato in it. Boo.

After work, I went to the gym for some cardio. It was 93* outside and it felt the same in the gym. I sweated like never before. I ran a little over 3.5 miles (1 regular mile and 2.5 miles of interval sprints) then headed over to Whole Foods to pick up my 7th CSA box. Goodies!!

I quickly showered and got ready because Mariah, Lucy, and I had plans to go to Mustard Seed for dinner. We shared an appetizer of sesame crusted tuna with wasabi ginger mayo and sweet soy sauce. We tore that right up!

I was craving vegetables like never before, so I ordered the stir-fried vegetables with brown rice and added chicken. This did not disappoint – I think it included every vegetable known to man.

It should be my bed time, but I have work to do. I’m about go to nuts with these markers – stay tuned for the fancy tank tops I’m making for our drive to Destin tomorrow.

Speaking of Destin, I thought it would be fun for Margaret and I to complete a photo challenge on the way there…kind of like a scavenger hunt with our cameras. I am trying to think of funny things we need to take pictures with. So far I’ve come up with the following:

1. A picture of SC, GA, and FL welcome signs
2. A picture of us with a truck driver
3. A picture of a “foreign” Chick-fil-A
4. A picture of Margaret pumping gas with her beef jerky and Mt. Dew – her car ride requirements
5. A picture of somebody else pumping our gas (Thanks for that one, Rob!)
6. A picture of us wearing our horribly ugly sunglasses/headbands…just you wait

Please help us come up with more ideas! I will be receiving all your comments while we’re in the car, so I can just keep updating our list! THANKS!!!

XO!

Mustard Seed Dinner with Lucy & Mum, Work Update

I was exhausted after work today, but when my English roomie asked if I’d like to go to Mustard Seed with her  and “mum”, I instantly perked up.

Chef Jonathan sent out 3 mugs of the soup of the day: Mushroom Ginger with carrots and seared tuna. It was loaded with mushrooms!

As usual, the seafood specials were hard to resist. Lucy ordered the sesame crusted tuna salad with ginger-soy glazed carrot ribbons and cashews.

I had wasabi pea crusted salmon in a Thai peanut sauce, ginger-soy glazed carrot ribbons, and roasted pepper couscous. Um helloooooooo delicious food. Nice to see you again.

…

After two full weeks at Blackbaud, I am in love. I am surrounded by very intelligent, wonderful people and look forward to working with all of them. It’s a great atmosphere and I feel right at home.

My “home” in the office is next to my coworker and mentor, Bess. Here’s a small world story for you: Bess used to live next door to my ex-boyfriend a few years back. I briefly met her over 3 years ago, and we have now reunited! We didn’t even realize it during my interview either. Thanks to facebook’s mutual friend finder, we figured out how we knew each other.

Two silly reasons why I already love this place:

1) The cafeteria has had beets on the salad bar for the past three days. Even though I brought my lunch on Wednesday, I couldn’t resist getting a plate! I can’t tell you how many random people walked by and asked, “Beets? Really?”

2) Bess put this sticker on our wall today. At that moment I knew we were meant to be.

:)

Blogger Meet Up with Katie at Magnolia’s

Hello everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas, Hanukah, or are having a lovely Kwanzaa!
Let’s talk about Magnolias. Oh yum. I had been to both sister restaurants before, Cypress and Blossom, but this was my first experience at Magnolias. One of the HMGI group restaurants, Magnolias blends traditional southern ingredients with modern international flair. Located downtown on East Bay Street, it is an upscale restaurant with a quiet, yet very comfortable ambiance. I’m still timid around certain Southern foods, but tossing in modern flair is a surefire way to spark my attention.

The most exciting part of this dinner was getting to hang out with Katie again!!
Love this girl so much! We could have talked for hours, but food kept getting in the way! Not that that is a problem or anything. At dinner, it was Katie, her boyfriend, her brother Andrew, their parents, and me! We are all pretty much food-obsessed and I’m pretty sure all we talked about was food…with a little bit of fitness. Story of my life. Although I didn’t take pictures, I will tell you what I ate.

Wine: Pinot Gris Blend Sokol-Blosser Oregon, 2008. This could be a new favorite!
Appetizer, shared by all: House made Potato Chips with crumbled blue cheese and scallions.  These were awesome. They were slightly crispy without being very greasy or soggy like many homemade chips I have tried. The blue cheese on top is even made right at Clemson University! Pretty neat.

Entrée: Sweet Chili Rubbed Ahi Tuna over habañero hummus and pepper jack spring rolls, with roasted mango salsa, and Creole rémoulade. No joke. When ordering, I assumed the tuna would be served atop the hummus, but no….was I so wrong. The hummus was INSIDE the spring rolls. Hummus spring rolls. Think crispy and sweet outside with warm spicy inside. Unreal. My first thoughts were “must recreate stat.” An hour after dinner, Katie texted me asking, “Umm is it weird I can’t stop thinking about your spring roll?” It was that good. The tuna was slightly spicy but the mango salsa cooled it down. Nothing beats my tuna from Cypress, but I could have eaten 400 hummus spring rolls.

Dessert: Apple Cobbler with Brown Sugar Ice Cream. Mmm. Served in an adorable little casserole dish, the warm apple cobbler with a cup of coffee was the perfect end to my meal. The consistency was similar to that of a bread pudding and had a good hint of nutmeg and cinnamon. Other desserts at the table included Pumpkin Pie Bread Pudding and and Raspberry Sorbet.

I had such a wonderful time with Katie, Andrew, John, and the family and am so grateful they invited me along.


When I got home from dinner, I hopped on Google reader and remembered a recipe I had seen on The Hungry Runner Girl’s blog for braided bread. It must have slipped my mind that yeast breads can take hours for the dough to rise, but once I decided to make it, there was no stopping me…Stay tuned.

Question: What was your favorite present? Mine was from my Grammy – money in a measuring glass. Please notice how she rolled the money. I guess she thinks I snort my baking products!! Geez Grammy!