Monday, December 31, 2018

The A, B, Cs of eating out

Thomas and I decided to try the Alphabet Restaurant Challenge, thanks to this post I read by my friend Seantel on her blog, Our Londry Room. When I read this, I thought to myself what a cool idea it was and it inspired me to bring it up to Thomas. We honestly don't go out to eat much, but when we do, we have a hard time deciding where to go!

Rules of the Alphabet Restaurant Challenge:

  • You must go in order A to Z
  • Thomas and I must both be there (family meal, date, or group date, etc.)
  • It has to be somewhere we haven't eaten before
  • It must be in the Greenville area (or your local area)
We tried to start this challenge back in the spring or summer of 2017, but it was hard to get to our first "A" restaurant. I was adamant about which restaurant I wanted to start with, but our first few opportunities didn't work out either because the night we were going to go and had a sitter, the restaurant was closed (such a bummer) so we had to go somewhere else (not part of the restaurant challenge), then another time our sitter had to cancel, etc. It felt like we were never going to start and you have to start with "A"! We finally buckled down and decided that we will make it a priority for 2018. Our goal was to do 2 different restaurants each month, with a few extra ones being made up somewhere in there. There were several months that we got too busy and didn't stay up to the pace, which created a need to go out more than planned the following month. Thomas and I were both committed to getting this challenge done during 2018, before the end of the year. That seemed do-able and not overwhelming and it forced us to get our and do more date nights than what we've been in the habit of doing. This whole challenge was really fun and different! It helped us branch out from our usual spots, which is always a good thing! Hopefully you'll get some ideas from reading this, either to do your own Alphabet Restaurant Challenge, or of some cool restaurants to try around the Greenville area.

A - The Anchorage http://www.theanchoragerestaurant.com/
1/10/18
This restaurant is new-ish to the area and I'd been dying to try it. We did the chef's tasting menu so that we could get a good feel for the menu and the different stuff they serve there. It was great! The cocktails were really unusual and the one I got (Upping the Twist) was fabulous! The menu changes regularly, but our favorite things that we got were the charcuterie board, the mackerel and the duck sausage dumplings. Overall it was a satisfying meal in a nice ambiance and we really enjoyed it!

The Anchorage!

Cool mural outside the restaurant

This was the Royal Red Shrimp Okonomiyaki
(shrimp pancake with some Japanese mayo).
The craziest thing was these really lightweight
onion shreds on the top were moving around like
seaweed in the ocean! It looks like it was alive!
The onions were so thin and lightweight that
the steam from the dish was causing them to wave
back and forth. I couldn't stop watching it. LOL
Stuffed from a great dinner.
B - Basil Thai http://www.eatatbasil.com/greenville/
1/30/18
Lunch date alert! Thomas and I rarely go out to eat for lunch, so it really feels like a special treat when we take the time during a weekday to do a little lunch date. It's also really convenient since the boys are in school so we don't have to arrange other care for them. I love Thai food, but Thomas isn't as big of a fan, so it's also rare that we eat Thai. When I heard that Basil had opened, I knew it had to be our B in the challenge. It's good to get out of the comfort zone every so often and this restaurant is located in a really cool up-and-coming part of downtown that continues to add new and exciting restaurants and retail stores. Thomas got wontons and Pad Thai. I got soup and red curry and loved it. I would definitely go back to Basil, and think it would be a very awesome dinner spot!

Basil Thai!

Tom Kha Gai soup - my FAVE!
The flavor is so delicious

My Red Curry entree
Side note: I totally won the ordering battle with Thomas

Yum - great lunch!

C - Cantina 76 http://www.cantina76.com/ (+ a bonus)
2/3/18
Cantina 76 moved into a prime spot in downtown a while ago and I love Mexican food, so naturally I have been wanting to try it! I was able to work it in with the restaurant challenge. This is the first time we've incorporated the boys into our challenge and it was fun. We went down there on a Saturday for lunch. Everything was great! The tacos were fresh and interesting. We have so many cool, new taco places in town and it's hard to decide which one is the best. Cantina 76 did not disappoint and Thomas and I both loved their chips and salsa.
Interesting artwork on the door

Stokes and Thomas

Ryan, William and me

Yum - chips, salsa, queso and a marg
Selfie
I mentioned above that there was a bonus. After we got done with lunch...it was way too cold to hang out outside...we hopped on over to the Community Tap (another "C"!). We couldn't totally use it for our challenge because Thomas and I have both been there before, but it was the boys's first time to visit and we just happened to go there on our "C" day so I figured that we would include it here in the blog! It's mainly a bar/pouring room but they host wine and beer tastings, sell alcohol and have food trucks available as well. We know the owners and think they do such a great job on this place! We heard that it's very family friendly (and we noticed there was a bookshelf with toys, books and games to keep kids entertained) and have friends that have taken their kids here before, but this was a first for us, and no other kids were there when we went. We each enjoyed a beer and stocked up on a few things before leaving. The boys liked being there and definitely kept us entertained! It was such a fun afternoon.

Community Tap

Playing a fishing game I brought from home


Pretty planters outside!

D - Donut Experiment http://thedonutexperiment.com/
2/10/18
We were taking full creative allowance here and used our "D" to go to breakfast with the boys on a Saturday morning. The Donut Experiment is so great because you customize your own donuts! All of them start with a plain donut and you choose your icing and then 1 topping. I brought a cupcake from home for Stokes, since the donuts contain eggs and I didn't want him to be left out, but William, Thomas and I all got to create our very own donuts (and then I decided what I thought Ryan might like!). William emphatically wanted chocolate and then we got him rainbow sprinkles to go on the top. Thomas got vanilla icing and Fruity Pebbles (he's like a big kid), I got maple syrup icing and bacon topping (it was a suggestion on the menu) and we got vanilla icing with crushed Oreos for Ryan. My donut won...of course. I can't take credit for the combination, but it was very good! The boys all loved the experience and it was a fun little outing for us!

The Donut Experiment
yum

Stokes and his cupcake

Ryan loved his!

Stokes having a ball

Selfie

E - El Tejano  
3/3/18
We'd heard about a Mexican restaurant called "Rosy's" from some friends in our small group at church and eventually realized that Rosy's = El Tejano. At that moment, it became our "E" in this challenge because our friends were saying how much they liked it! We picked a random Saturday to try it out. We had the boys with us and invited our buddy Matt to come, too. It's a bit unassuming in a strip mall and is definitely in the same category of the chains like El Jalisco and Monterrey, but there's something different about El Tejano...and it begins with the nickname. As soon as you enter, you're immediately greeted as if you are family. It didn't take me long to realize that this friendly greeter was the famous Rosy! She's so integral to the overall vibe of the restaurant and the patrons, that people refer to the restaurant as Rosy's and the waiters even wear shirts that say "I [heart] Rosy's". Too funny! The food was also better than your average Mexican chain restaurant and Thomas declared that it was his new favorite Mexican place. So there's that! All in all, with good food, engaging staff and convenience to our house, this place has the making to be a potential regular spot for us!





F - Farmhouse Tacos - http://www.farmhousetacos.com/
3/24/18
It was double-date night with Brian and Claire and since we've told them about this challenge, they've been willing to jump in and help us get to completion! We decided to take our "F" down to TR, aka Travelers Rest. It's the new up-and-coming area in the upstate and is chock full of cool new restaurants, breweries and the like. I'd seen Farmhouse Tacos but hadn't been there yet and was excited to try it out! They don't accept reservations so we went and took our chances, and as expected, there was a wait. Not to fret! We killed some time next door at the Tasting Room. When it was time for us to be seated at Farmhouse Tacos, we just walked right over and sat down. The tacos were delicious! The only negative of this place was that it closes at 9 PM so everything died down very early. The 4 of us were still there talking and enjoying ourselves well past the time that everyone else left, and we felt like we overstayed our welcome, which was a shame because we were having such a good time! Other than that, Farmhouse Tacos was a hit. 

The Tasting Room

Enjoying a pre-dinner beverage

Our "F" choice

Blackberry duck (top) and chile rubbed tuna
tacos shown here

Fun friends on a double date!
G - Golden Brown & Delicious. - www.eatgbnd.com
4/13/18
With all the craziness of moving, our Restaurant Challenge hasn't been exactly top of mind, but I didn't want to fall behind so we made an effort to keep the momentum going. Thomas and I took a lunch date out to the West Village (see "A" above) to try GB&D. It was worth the drive and all the hubbub I've been hearing about. The decor is really cool and it has a hipster vibe. The burger? To die for. We will definitely be going back!
Although it was a lunch date, it was actually a 3-way date because Ryan had thrown up the night before and stayed home from school, so he was our 3rd wheel on our lunch date. Third wheels don't come any cuter than that guy!






H - Hare and Field - https://www.hareandfieldkitchen.com/
4/28/18
We created this night kind of on a whim and hit up another restaurant in TR, which is a bit of a hot spot right now! This place was cool - very rustic and farm to table type feel. The food was really good, but it seemed mostly like upscale lunch dishes vs. dinner entrees. There were lots of sandwich options (and I do love a sandwich!) but only a few real "dinner" type dishes. Everything we had was really good though! 




Apps!
Soft baked pretzels w/cheese dip, ahi tuna lettuce wraps
and crab dip with homemade chips

With my handsome date

Tara and Thomas

Selfie at the Swamp Rabbit Brewery down the road

Fun dinner with these 3!
6/5/18
Somehow we missed the entire month of May with this challenge, which can be attributed to our move/getting settled and a week away at the beach, but it's putting us behind on getting this done in 2018. We've got to up the ante a little moving forward! Anyway, we chose Inky's for our "I" and drove all the way to Easley (what?!?!) for lunch. I'd heard about Inky's and their cheesesteaks from a friend and he was right. They were delicious! We may have to make this a destination on our way to/from Clemson moving forward.




J - Ji-Roz (pronounced Jai Rose) - http://www.jirozrestaurantgreenville.com/
7/10/18
This is a new(ish) restaurant to town and we heard from a friend of Thomas's that it was really good. They offer Greek food made from fresh ingredients and have the cutest restaurant and cool atmosphere. We liked our food OK but it is not on the top of my list for new faves. 


fried feta cheese balls with honey and walnut dust
pulled lamb gyro


7/12/18
Thomas and I made a quick lunch date of our of "K". We were planning to go somewhere else, actually, but plans got derailed due to timing and scheduling conflicts and we made a last second decision to try Korean BBQ. I'll admit, I'm not too keen on restaurants that are attached to gas stations, and this one is literally sharing a parking lot and connected to one (in fact, my view through the window from my seat in the restaurant was gas pumps), however, even that could not take away from the positive experience. We had both heard fantastic things about this restaurant, but one of us (ahem, T) is not very adventurous with food at times and this place kept getting overlooked in order to eat somewhere else. This restaurant challenge gave us the perfect opportunity to try it out. We both really, really loved it...even Thomas (!!!)...and we WILL be back! 





L - Lemongrass Thai - www.lemongrassthai.net
7/16/18
Two words: super delicious. I loved this restaurant and my food! It was a quiet and rainy Monday night so we had the place almost to ourselves, which I sometimes think is a bad thing, but nothing was bad about this meal! Thomas and I both really enjoyed our food. We will be back to Lemongrass! Highly recommend.

Pre-date picture!
Photobomb courtesy of Stokes :)


Ka Na Jeeb (aka dumplings) - so good!

My fave - Tom Ka Gai soup!

T: Spicy Fried Rice; Me: Panang Curry

Yum! I love Thai food and Lemongrass!

M - Monkey Wrench Smokehouse - monkeywrenchsmokehouse.com
8/3/18
We went back to TR for "M" and brought along some friends! The restaurant is called a smokehouse and the name fits! My clothes and hair kept the smoke smell well after dinner, but the food was great! The restaurant was very cool and I loved the outdoor area as well. We were all happy with our dinner!
Monkey Wrench

Pulled Pork sandwich plate with crispy collard green wontons

Our crew:
Clark, Steph, Matt, me and Thomas




N - Neo Burrito - www.neoburrito.com
8/10/18
We hit up Neo Burrito with the boys on a Friday night. This place is in the West Village, which is very trendy and "up and coming" so I was looking forward to trying it out! It has the same feel as a Moe's or Chipotle, but seems less "chain-like" and very fresh. We really liked it and the boys did not have a hard time finishing their dinner, which is not always the case (insert eye roll). Kid and parent approved!

Neo Burrito

Yummy dinner!

Family selfie!
O - Otto Izakaya - otto-izakaya.com
8/18/18
Thomas and I had a babysitter and a date night planned and so I insisted that we do our "O" restaurant in this challenge. It also happened to be Greenville Restaurant Week and this restaurant was participating! Then we had an idea to invite MaSha to dinner with us and show her some appreciation! She watched the boys for us that morning while we did a kayak waterfall tour and is always so helpful and willing to jump in when we need her (i.e. someone is traveling for work, or we have meetings and can't pick Ryan up from the bus, etc). We always tell her how much we appreciate her, but it was time to show her. She was game for trying a new restaurant too so that was that! Otto Izakaya was great! The atmosphere was lively and fun, they had funny sayings on the walls and on the servers's shirts, the food was wonderful and reasonably priced (as were the drinks) - what else could you ask for?!?!? I liked the menu because they had a lot of sushi options but had other small plates and entrees that were interesting and sounded really good. I'd definitely recommend Otto Izakaya!
Side note: I realized after the fact that we didn't even take any pictures of/with MaSha, our dinner honoree! Face palm. :(


Love my Restaurant Challenge partner!

Thomas's dinner

My dinner


P - Papi's Tacos - https://www.eatpapistacos.com/
8/31/18
Papi's Tacos is downtown in this great spot. I've seen it a hundred times but had never eaten there. It's really small and we had the boys with us and I was worried about whether we'd get a table or not, but we lucked out with a nice table outside The tacos were good and I loved the chips, salsa and guacamole! It was a hit with the boys, too, because they had lots of gelato flavors to choose from. My chocolate lovers both chose chocolate. I couldn't believe they weren't a little more adventurous with their choices. Sitting outside was great because we got to "people watch" as well and downtown Greenville always has lots of people around!


Travelin' Taco in a Fritos bag!

Tacos....



Gelato!!!


Q - QuikTrip - www.quiktrip.com/food/made-fresh-to-order
10/9/18
You may think this is a joke, but it's not. We did, indeed, go to QT for our "Q". We have limited options to choose from for Q. I was impressed with the options there and the food was really pretty good!

A new fave haha!

Thomas ordering
It was obvious that we were "newbies" there!

How's your lunch?!?!

Yummy pressed sandwich and chips

For the record, Thomas did NOT want to
take our selfie at QT, but I forced him to! Ha!
R - Rocket Surgery - www.rocketsurgery54321.com
11/15/18
We'd heard good things. We'd been curious. We went and tried. We loved. Rocket Surgery is out in TR. It's new and cool and their website looked good with food and drink options. I got the General Tso's Cauliflower and was blown away. I also got a Typhoon cocktail and just about fell out. It was so different and so delicious. Rocket Surgery is a new fave for me.

Admittedly, they could do a little better on their logo &
signage. Just sayin'...

Typhoon cocktail

Yummy calamari appetizer

My Cauliflower entree - to die for!

Date night!

S - Sushi Asa - www.sushiasa.co
11/10/18
This place is right near our house. We've seen it and talked about it but it actually took the Restaurant Challenge for us to finally go check it out. We met up with some friends of our, the Peebles, and we all brought all of our kids. That made for an interesting dinner! It was fun, even if we weren't able to complete any conversations - ha!



Dinner date with the Peebles


William, Hannah and Stokes


T - Tommy's Ham House - tommyscountryhamhouse.com
11/6/18
This is a true Greenville staple and it's basically absurd that neither of us had ever been there before. Tommy's is especially known for their breakfast and that's what Thomas and I had there. Our breakfast was on point. The food was great! This is somewhere I'd come back with the kids.

Tommy's Country Ham House

2 biscuits with gravy and a side of cheese grits

Full bellies and big smiles
*Confession: we BROKE the rules. It killed me to do it but I was under a lot of pressure from the Mr. We went out of order and did "T" before "R" and "S". It was all due to timing and when restaurants are open and when we have time to go, etc. Anyway, there. It's done. We cheated and I confessed. We have to move forward now.

U - Upcountry Provisions - upcountryprovisions.com
11/20/18
This one is also in Traveler's Rest. There's a reason that so many of our challenge restaurants were there. It's such a fun little area and lots of cool new restaurants are starting up there. Also, it's really pretty far from our house so it's unlikely for us to have been there before so it's like an untapped new restaurant market for us. Ok, so this place is SO. CUTE. And the food? Incredible! We were just there for lunch but both Thomas and I love, love, loved our sandwiches. It was seriously so good! It's not even on the main street; it's almost like a little hidden gem, except that a lot of people already know about it. ;)

Upcountry Provisions

Super cute (and artsy!) menu chalkboard wall
My delicious sandwich
V - Villa Frosi - villafrosi.com
11/27/18
We had several options on our list for V and as we typically do, Thomas and I will discuss all the options, consider time frame/availability, and then choose the one that makes the most sense for that time and is most appealing. Thomas was originally against Villa Frosi and kept thinking it was an ice cream place. After he did a little research, he came around. This place is not convenient to where we live at all, but isn't that the point of branching out a little? It's a small Greek and Italian restaurant and we had lunch there. It appeared to be family owned and they were so friendly and the food was good.



Villa Frosi

Lunch special for $5.99!
7" pita pizza with a salad. YUMMY!

With the Villa Frosi sign

While we were there, we hopped over to Santorini for a quick
visit. The scenery was beautiful! ;)

W - Wayback Burgers  - waybackburgers.com
11/30/18
We got reallll fancy for our "W". We went to a local burger place with some friends on a Friday evening after work and school pick-up. I have to say though, my burger was pretty delicious! We even had a coupon for this one, folks. It was a good W.

Wayback Burgers

With the Jones family!

X - XYZ Bar at the Aloft Hotel downtown
12/30/18
Sooo, the name of the bar is W XYZ bar, because the hotel used to be a W hotel property. It's now a Marriott and I asked the bartender to verify for me whether the bar was "WXYZ" or "XYZ" and he said XYZ, so I'm going with it. Also, please note that finding another "X" was basically impossible.

This hotel is super trendy and cool. The bar keeps the same vibe. It has a small outdoor, rooftop area, but since it was chilly out, we just sat at the bar and had an appetizer. It was all very good! Thomas and I have both been here for a drink before but this was our first time to ever eat there.




My yummy cocktail
Triple dip appetizer - very good!
In the Aloft lobby

Y - Yee-Haw Brewing - www.facebook.com/yeehawgreenville
12/30/18
Matt Owings met us out for this one. I was excited to check this place out! I got a taco and both Matt and Thomas got the club sandwich and they out-ordered me. Our server told us to get the club and she was totally right. It was really good! The beer was also good! I liked Yee-Haw!


to-go box with some club sandwich and
potato cracklins (also so good!)

Z - Zamorah's - www.facebook.com/pages/Zamorahs/135113899869996
12/30/18
I've known this was going to be our "Z" from the get-go. I've been eyeing it for years. It's located right on the main street in downtown Simpsonville. They always have a sign that offers for any homeless people to come in a for a free meal...and I just love that. We took the boys with us for lunch for a real meat & three experience and they did pretty well there!









We did it! We made it! You may notice that our last 3 all happened on the same day...and just in the nick of time. Mission accomplished. What a great feeling! We had lots of dates and family meals out, discovered some great restaurants and enjoyed the challenge. We are both excited that it's done and the pressure is off now. Believe it or not, it takes quite a bit of planning to make it all happen. Anyway, it was fun and we loved it. And did I mention that we did it?!?!? :) 

I'd like to challenge YOUto start your own Restaurant Challenge. January is a great time to start! Leave me a comment if you decide to take the challenge. I'd love to know if anyone decides to do it. ENJOY!