We’ve heard very little about the food scene in Charlotte and this little tapas spot was a much welcomed find for the “foodie” in us. From the old 60′s looking exterior of the building you wouldn’t assume much from the inside, but it has a hip vibe all it’s own, steel wrapped bar, cork lined walls, and wood on the ceiling were all well and good, but the one detail that i enjoye were the hanging lights over the bar made of spoons, knives and forks, a nice touch this this “hip” spot.

We walked in around 830 and had about a 15 min wait, not bad at all, kinda shocking really, i mean the quality of the food was amazing, a braised pork belly bun, and a turkey fettuccine that rivals some of the best food we’ve had in Pittsburgh, and trust me we’ve had some great food in this city, makes me wonder why this place wasn’t packed to the ceiling with people. I wont go without mentioning the other dishes we had, a healthy serving of  mussels, a delicious dish of freits and a pretty spicy quail lettuce wrap, that left us feeling more than full when when we left. The staff was pleasant and totally knowledgeable, considering our waitress also handled the bar, she didn’t skip a beat didn’t hurt the over all experience of the evening.

Good Food, honestly lives up to it’s name, the food was just that good.

To make this rambling short, while we were a bit scared of the seemingly missing food scene in our soon to be new home, our fears have been calmed because this spot is one we’ll surely return to.

A few Friday’s back my typical dinner group of 6 decided to hit up one of PGH’s newest dinner hot spots, Meat & Potatoes. The short review of the place is this, it’s that good old comfort food you crave with a upscale flair.

It’s kind of tucked away inside one of the cities theaters in the more often than not vacant cultural district of downtown, this immediately strikes me as odd because once you get into the restaurant it begs to be a standalone building, huge plush high back chairs, vintage inspired chandeliers, metal pipe l

ining the bar, menues in black file folders, low light, almost speakeasy like, you expect the drink of the house to be a mason jar of moonshine.

We’ll oddly enough, their specialty drink wasn’t moonshine, but Absinth, I didn’t have any this trip as Manhattans were on my radar (hard to skip with a header in the menu reading “prohibition” ). Not many cocktails on the menu gave way for most of our party to have a glass or two of wine, I say glass not in the traditional sense of a wine glass, but more like a small water glass of wine, i found it interesting and kitchy, but some at the table found it weird.

Enough with the liquid refreshments of the night, onto the food. A large order of apps went through, the range went from the (first time experienced) bone marrow, to a deliciously crafted take on classic Mac N’ Cheese, with a few duck fat fried taters in the middle. Never having marrow before, i can say this… i didn’t hate it, but i don’t know if i loved it. It was kinda like a jelly, like beef flavored butter, i guess it’s more of a mental thing now. Duck fat fried taters, i’m sure you could fry my iPhone in duck fat and server it back to me and i would say it was good, but the mac n’ cheese held a special place in my heart, while it was simple mac n’ cheese, with carrots and peas, and chicken i believe, it came down to the cheese, not your typical velveeta style cheese, but a special blend that was to die for, i highly recommend it…. in fact if they were open for lunch, i would no doubt make the walk to get some.

Dinner seemed to go by so quickly after our gorge on apps, but it could have just been the good conversation with friends, and im sure the drinks helped it along. I’ll spare the full list of meals, and go with the two winners of the night; my pork chop, with a light baked bean glaze and spicy slaw and my wife’s chicken pot pie. We’ll start with hers, it was sooo good! Flakey crust, creamy inside, farm fresh chicken and veggies, oh and did i mention the crust?! Mixing it all together was pretty much dynamite. As i fear i’m getting long winded, while managing to say nothing of real importance, ill cover off on my pork chop as saying, it was cooked perfectly, seasoned amazingly, and was probably the size of my right foot, but i feel like i missed a little something on the sides, either way it tasted yummy as I ate it.

Apparently reservations are a must, thankfully I made them a few days earlier, but it didn’t deter from an immediate air of pretentiousness when the hostest pounced on us aking “do you have reservations” before we were in the door, that aside the vibe of the place is trendy, lofty even lounge like, Bonobo playing over the radio I was able to quickly get past my first impression on the short walk to our table.

The staff was very helpful in decision making, and the table was never short on bread, yummy bread and drinks. Our appetizers were their highly talked about and always recommended “bacon and eggs” and the newly added “ribs and wings”. Honestly I have a hard time remembering the wings because the bacon and eggs were amazing. A 5 minute poached egg sitting on two thick cut pieces if bacon, lightly fried all in a pool of hollandaise sauce, once you crack that egg open and mix it in with the hollandaise, it becomes a sweet, rich creamy dream, I’ll admit I kept the plate around for more bread.

The main dishes were equally as impressive, clean modern plating on my filet and short ribs with duck fat whipped potatoes, my wife’s juicy, marinated chicken with gnocchi, lightly fried and to die for, we could’ve had a bowl of just them. The only real shortcoming was my sisters duck and penne pasta, it was slightly underwhelming I presentation, but the duck was perfectly prepared, all in all each dish was great, and let’s be honest when you put duck fat in anything it’ll be amazing and my potatoes were no exception.

We finished the night with the death by chocolate desert cake and chocolate amaretto shooter, which thanks to our extensive food network viewing we know to pour all over our chocolate cake, it definitely ended the night well.

In Pittsburgh we typically don’t judge on price or quantity but we do on inconvenience, and let me tell you living in the north hills these days getting to work has turned into a serious inconvenience, so would we brave the drive from the north to eat here again, yes, yes we would, price is great, after our initial bump the atmosphere was great and the meals were amazing and filling.

The weekend couldn’t have been more perfect, FC Barcelona I’m the hotel down the street, an amazing stroll through Georgetown, dinner in seriously one of the best Italian restaurants I’ve ever eaten at (Filomenas) and a day with my lovely wife.

It was her first time in DC, so she was like a kid in a candy shop bouncing from monument to monument, reading and seeing as much as she could before the match that evening. We hit the Lincoln, Washington monuments, the White House and the capital building, with a few stops I. The Smithsonian to cool off from the scorching 95 degree day.

After making our way back to the hotel a bit early, we head back out toward the metro and on to FedEx Field, the metro was a lively experience, Man U fans chanting, Barca fans chanting all in good spirits on the packed metro car. Once we get inside the atmosphere was electric, you would have never known it was a preseason friendly, all the stars were out, Rooney, Nani, Young, Giggs, David Villa, Owen, all playing like it was the Champions league final again. An amazing gift from an amazing woman.

Before heading home we hit Founding Farmers, an all organic eatery, for a delicious brunch, house made Oj, Ginger Ale, and sausage ummmm yes please, seriously a great way to end the trip.

To my wife, I love you, thank for a memorable year plus!

I like to eat, my wife likes to eat and we have friends that love to eat, recently we went to Bona Terra in the Sharpsburg area of Pittsburgh, it’s a small little spot, with reservations typically recommended and for us BYOB is always a good time. I could on and on about the friends and the great time we had, but I want to get to the food.

Ingredients picked, and prepared weekly make this a very unique place to eat, with menu items like rack of boar and venison I had a tough choice, but more about that in a bit.

As a group we ordered 4 of the 5 appetizers ranging from mussels to gnocchi, Kobe beef to a shrimp cocktail. Let’s see… I’ll start with the Kobe beef as it was my favorite of the four, perfectly prepared, lightly charred on a bed of mashed potatoes in a roasted red pepper sauce, it was like a mini meal in every small bite, yum. Moving on to the gnocchi, it was simple, lite and not what I expected of a pasta, the mussels we’re well, mussels not too amazing and finally the shrimp cocktail, it had a nice sauce, but it was just a shrimp.

Ill skip my pretty average Manhattan style seafood chowder and get stewing to the main meal, the Venison tenderloin.

I happened to enjoy my meal, but who wouldn’t, venison prepared very much like a fine steak, thinly sliced and spread over steamed green beans, and lightly whipped potatoes? Good right? When the rest of the table struck out with the rack of boar, sea scallops and halibut, I definitely couldn’t complain.

While, much in this post isn’t very detailed (hey, you gotta start somewhere) I would say, go to Bona Terra, give it a try and if you’re lucky enough to have a good meal, I’m sure you’ll think about going back.