Review: Charleston’s Magnolias Restaurant

by Adrienne Wilson on


Around this time last month I found myself in Charleston, South Carolina. It was my very first time in the city and in the state on a short visit to my father’s new place a little ways outside of the area. While my dad was packed with recommendations of places to go and things to do in the city, I – still on my mission to strike out as many places as possible in the 1,000 Places to See Before You Die guide book written by Patricia Shultz requested that we take a trip over to Magnolias.

From my understanding Magnolia’s is supposed to be one of the best restaurants in all the Low Country offering eclectic Southern comfort cuisine. I’ll give them the eclectic part, but with a little extra time I’m sure I could discover much more mouthwatering dishes in the area. Reservations are strongly recommended and we made ours a day in advance for lunch since we didn’t get the memo for dinner the night before. I’m not sure if everyone is reading Ms. Schultz book along with me or if this is a real fine and great meeting and greeting place for the folks in the East Bay area, but it gets PACKED. When we walked in we were welcomed with an extra large smile from the hostess who seated us at a cozy table in the center. The interior is down home elegant, which basically means being a tad dressy and wearing your big Sunday hat if you’re a lady is absolutely okay or a pair of jeans and a nice shirt can impress just as well. (Note: Nice jeans)After driving and walking around various parts of the Charleston area my appetite had reached its peak so we gladly started with a couple of appetizers. The Down South Egg Rolls caught my attention and my father ordered the Pan Fried Chicken Livers for his own. I won’t critique the livers which I tried, but have never been a fan of liver in general so let’s move to these egg rolls. Stuffed with collard greens, chicken and tasso they are served with red pepper puree, spicy mustard sauce and peach chutney. Yum! Really they were! I was a little skeptical at first, but they did a good job pulling all the ingredients together for this one. They were not too spicy and only a little sweet, so you get the best of both worlds. I devoured the two tasty morsels in two bites.

Onto the main course, I went with the Blackened Mahi and my dad had the Fried Catfish. The mahi was accompanied by a spicy tasso ham risotto cake, sautéed spinach, sweet corn relish and a creole remoulade. For some reason I was all over the tasso ham risotto biz, but the mahi left me a little unsatisfied. It wasn’t firm and came off a bit water-logged. I finished it all up from hunger, but I think I’d pass on the mahi for something else next round. I only had a small sampling of the fried catfish so I will again pass on providing any further thoughts.

Go before you die? I think you’d be fine on waiting to hit this one or missing it completely. Nice place, good service, decent southern food at mid range prices ($15-$35 lunch). Magnolias is located at: 185 East Bay Street, Charleston, SC 29401 Ph. 843.577.7771 extension 1.

Photo of the Day (1/6/07)

by Adrienne Wilson on


If I’m not mistaken I’ve posted some of Moody75’s delicious dining pictures in the past. Perhaps we share a common interest in photographing our plates and maybe I am just a little bit hungry when selecting them, but they really do give you a sense of place. Something like this could surely be found in a French restaurant in NY someone, but Moody75 was lucky enough to nosh and photograph the brunch while in Nice, France. All I can say is yum and I think I’ll be heading to my kitchen now.

Yekta

by Adrienne Wilson on

Towards the end of my work week last week sometime while working in Rockville, Maryland I decided to pop into Yekta, a restaurant specializing in kabob and other fine Persian dishes. It was a good decision too. Normally I would have tried the koobideh (skewered lean ground beef) or kabob-e barg (flattened strips of marinated beef), but since I’m shying away from red meat temporarily I went for the white meat. The chicken kabob was well done. From time to time I find chicken can just be a little too boring for my tastes, but the cooks seasoned this to perfection. I was impressed and the serving was of a decent size which included rice, tomato, and bread. Only thing that didn’t seem to impress me or the person who referred me to the spot were the prices. For kabob it seemed as though they could have lowered the cost by a buck or two, but a meal at Yekta won’t send you into debt either so give it a try!

Yekta is located at 1488 Rockville Pike, Rockville, MD 20852. (Easily accessible from Washington D.C.) Ph. 301.984.0005. www.yekta.com

Brasa Restaurant – Seattle, WA

by Adrienne Wilson on

Allow me to apologize before proceeding to discuss the incredibly mouth-watering meal my taste-buds recently tangoed with during dinner at Seattle’s Brasa Restaurant. I apologize because I attempted to take photos of my dishes, but the lighting was far from favorable for a food photo shoot and so I ditched the camera to nosh on my meal and give it full attention. So there – sorry.

Dinner at Brasa (‘live coals’)was a real treat compliment of my father who wanted to treat me and my friend to a post-marathon meal and Portuguese inspired foreign fare. It was also a huge change of pace when looking back at some of our previous dining destinations on our weeks long road-trip. In any event the atmosphere was cozy, intimate and warm. The hostess and wait staff were friendly and especially attentive, but onto the food! To start I had a Judy Jetson martini and ordered a cooked octopus appetizer to help move the wait along for the main course. Shortly after the meal I had been waiting for arrived and it was time to really get down. I was excited for one because I had never eaten monkfish before and the waitress made it sound absolutely to-die-for. My running and travel companion ordered the cod and after a short moment of silence and thanks we went in for the kill. It was like we had burned up everything in us from the race or like we hadn’t eaten for months. I found that the monkfish wasn’t exactly as great as the waitress described, but it had its fine tasting and texture qualities to it unlike other fish I’d tasted. Everything else was top-notch and I couldn’t have asked for a better post-race dining experience.

If you go take $$$ for a real nice meal, luckily mine was on my Dad! Check out their website for any additional details, like the menu for the month through from what I can tell it hasn’t been updated since June. Reservations recommended.

Brasa is located at 2107 Third Ave, Seattle, WA. Ph. 206.728.4220.

GADLING’S TAKE FIVE: Week of October 22

by Adrienne Wilson on

Can everyone say TGIF? Boy, am I glad the first hint of the weekend has arrived. It’s been a long one and if your week happened to have been as hectic as mine then you may have missed some of these Gadling pieces, but never fear – they are here.

5. Paris Too Hardcore for the Japanese?:
Culture reads are always fun in my book and seeing how different tourists react in certain countries is also good info to know, but something about this piece on Paris being too tough on Japanese strikes me as odd. I’ve never heard of a city that caused one to seek psychological counseling after your return. Is there anyone out there who can back this up?

4. World’s Most Expensive Restaurants:
Follow poor Erik as he accidentally gets in on a dinner bill at one of NY’s most priciest restaurants and regrets ever showing up. After sharing his own personal story he points those that like having restaurant tabs starting at about $370 a person to this Forbes List of most expensive restaurants. Chow down for me, because you won’t find me there.

3. New York Times Looks at Los Angeles:
Erik lives in New York. Neil lives in Los Angeles. I live in Limbo. What better set of travel bloggers could one possibly find? While I stay out in the land of Limbo I can thank Neil for holding his ground in LA to help provide honest criticism on the City of Angels when folks like the NY Times try to sum it all in one go. If you’re considering travel to LA, read Neil’s blurb and this pretty good read from the NY Times as well. Then let us know what you think.

2. Dirty, Filthy, Nasty, & Unclean Airplanes:
Some find horror in film, but I find horror in real life. I call it soiled seats, filthy carpet and greasy windows 35,000 feet in air. I’m sure you’ve been on a dirty airplane a time or two. Well, reading this piece will probably have you reaching for that barf bag next time you fly.

1. Smoke-Free Hotel Rooms:
With this news I’m sure some non-smokers lungs are singing praise and screaming hallelujah! Yes, it looks as though Westin Hotel & Resorts along with the Marriott are banning smoking altogether in their chain of hotels. Good news for us, but I’m sure those not ready to kick the habit are either pouting or puffing it up in some shady smoked-filled motel room.