I <3 Charlotte

Welp. My boyfriend moved to Charlotte NC! I visited him this past week for my birthday! SO amazing...not only was it good...no scratch that...great to see Oliver, but of course it is always great to try new places to eat. We all know that Oliver loves Barbeque so off the plane he took me to Mac's Speed Shop. Okay, at first I was a little nervous...a biker bar? Are we going to be well recieved? So we pull in and its a well manicured building, new looking almost. When we walked in around noon we were lucky to get a table. Boy was I wrong about the type of crowd that would be in this joint...this place was full of yuppies! Prepsters were filing in and out, not seeming to get enough of the BBQ and ambiance. Simple tables and a few wooden booths, we ordered the "Little Bit of It All" which had the Beer Can Chicken, St.Louis Style Ribs, Texas Beef Brisket and their Kansas City Style Ribs. We also got FOUR sides (all included onion rings, mac and cheese, fries, and green bean casserole). The food was really good! The brisket was perfectly cooked and the sauce was on the sweet side which is how I personally like it. Needless to say we did not finish the meal. So much food for a really good price. www.macspeedshop.com
I had fun here, people watching and eating great food. Apparently at night it turns into more of a bar atmosphere and WOW! they have a Huuuuuggggeee variety of beer. I am waiting patiently to go back and try some! Noon was a little too early for me to drink...just a personal choice.

I must say that I like barbeque and "soul food" too...its not just Oliver. Wanting to explore some more of the local divey places, Oliver had heard of a place called "Merts". Soul Food at its finest I must say! I got fried chicken with mac and cheese and green beans. The mac and cheese was perfectly cheesy and the green beans were vinegary but sweet. they were realllllly good. I can't even explain them. I wish I could! Then I could recreate them! A lot of the time green beans at soul food restaurants are cooked in fat and you can tell. They can be heavy and greasy tasting yet of course delicious. I am pretty sure these beans as well were cooked in fat but you couldn't taste it! yum in my tum. Mert's had a good mix of people which in my opinion is a really good thing. Good food is good food and good sweet tea is good sweet tea! www.mertsuptown.com

Like I said, I went to Charlotte for my birthday! Oliver told me to get dressed up and he wouldn't tell me where we were going. So I got dressed up and we got in the car (which was only because I was wearing heels) and we ended up walking into MORTON'S STEAKHOUSE! I was in shock but so excited. It was funny too because when we had walked by it earlier in the week he was asking me all about it. I could probably write a book on the dining experience and since I am a poor story teller I will give you the abridged version. When we got to our table, there were confetti stars all over the table. When we were presented the paper verison of the menu, it said "Happy Birthday Stefanie" on the top! Throughout the meal, I felt so special. Even at the end, the waitress Brittany took our picture with their camera, and then put it in a frame that read "Happy Birthday" and was signed by all of the staff. OMG! Not only was the service excellent but so was the food. Being philanthropy week for Morton's the restaurant was offering a prefixed menu for $75.00 which $25.00 of it went towards the Food Bank of North Carolina. I ordered of this which was plenty of food and went to a great cause! I don't know when I will get the opportunity to eat at Morton's again, but I will jump at the chance!!

All in all, Charlotte had some great restaurants. The downtown area was fun to explore, the tree lined streets were charming, and the crsip fall air, all made my experience one to remember. I can't wait to go back...checking expedia now!