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charlotte motor speedway: the speedway club & speedway christmas

December 19, 2014 by Chrissie Leave a Comment

Filed Under: all, american, charlotte, nc, fine dining Tagged With: Charlotte Motor Speedway, NASCAR, Randy LaJoie, Speedway Christmas, The Speedway Club

Nothing gets you in the holiday spirit like Christmas lights and carols, am I right? I have fond memories of cruising the neighborhood after Christmas Eve church service rocking out to Mariah Carey and Celine Dion’s versions of our favorite Christmas tunes and taking in all of the Christmas lights and luminarias that dotted our street (luminarias have illuminated our street adn the ones surroundings for as long as I can remember, it’s a tradition of sorts. History says that the tradition was started by Roman Catholic Spaniards to guide the Christ child’s spirit to one’s home, but my six year old brain remembers that we put them out to light Santa’s path to our house). Christmas lights put me in such a festive mood; I love the twinkling magic they add to the holiday season.

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I was invited in early December to experience Speedway Christmas, an impressive Christmas light display winding through the race track and infield at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Our Speedway Christmas experience started with dinner at The Speedway Club, a fine dining, private member club with a view overlooking Charlotte Motor Speedway.  Charlotte Motor Speedway is one of three race tracks in the country with a fine dining club; The Speedway Club was the first of its kind. The concept is similar to a country club, minus the golf course and swimming pool of course,  and with the addition of a speedway view down below (Speedway Club members pay a one time membership fee and an annual fee to have club access for dining and events). While The Speedway Club is a members only situation, they are open to non members the entire month of December (dinner and Christmas lights is the perfect holiday date night option or family outing!) and welcome non-member guests to try the restaurant the rest of the year on a one time basis. The Speedway Club is a polished, elegant space overlooking victory lane with impressive views of the speedway.  The food focus is classic and fresh; the menu changes two to three times a year depending on seasonal ingredients and availability (with the exception of the Bruton Smith Ruben sandwich; by popular demand it stays on the menu all year round).

We shared two appetizers to start our meal–the seared tuna with wasabi lime sauce, sesame and roasted asparagus, and the chicken bruschetta on an herbed baguette crostini with fresh melted mozzarella and grilled chicken.

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I really enjoyed the bruschetta; the crostini was crispy, the chicken was tender and it was incredibly well seasoned and flavorful. The tuna was also tasty, but left something to be desired (maybe a larger portion? maybe some citrus? I can’t quite put my finger on it).

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I did have diffilcutly deciding on my entree; there were several steakhouse style options as well as a few choices for non-red meat eaters (the butternut squash pasta did and still does pique my interest). I ultimately settled on the filet because I am a red meat eater, and the truffle butter definitely sold me. My filet came with brocollini and whipped potatoes, as well as a side salad (I went with Caesar). All of The Speedway Club’s steaks are hand cut in the kitchen and cooked to order. I ordered mine rare but it came out more on the medium rare side, but was still very tender (next time I would be ballsy and order blue–very red cold center–but I was nervous at the time to order something almost raw. At this point though, I’ve discovered almost raw is truly how I like my steaks cooked). AJ ordered the ribeye, and we traded our potato options; I took his loaded baked potato and he took my mashed. It was a hearty meal.

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In between dinner and dessert, we went up to the roof above the grand stands, for a beautiful (but windy) panoramic view of the track and Christmas lights. Such a special treat!

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We finished our meal with two selections from their daily dessert tray (dessert options change daily and the servers bring by a tray to let you pick what you want). We had berry cake and pumpkin cranberry cheesecake with our coffee.

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Dinner wasn’t just about the food; it was really fun and interesting to learn more about NASCAR, racing and the speedway. We were joined for dinner by Randy LaJoie, a driver and two-time champion in the NASCAR Busch Series. Randy is a character; he is hilarious, passionate about the sport, and has a lot of great stories. I’m not a racing fan and will be the first to admit  I don’t know much about NASCAR  know nothing about NASCAR (though I have been to the NASCAR Hall of Fame twice), so Randy’s stories were entertaining. I’m definitely going to go to a race this season!

After dinner, we had the chance to drive through Speedway Christmas. Speedway Christmas boasts more than three million lights in 800 displays; it starts with a drive on the track (the incline is WAY steeper than it looks and I can’t even imagine driving it at those speeds!) and then winds through the infield to the Christmas Village.

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The Christmas Village is open Thursdays through Sundays with live nativity, petting zoo, photos with Santa, marshmallow roasting and tons of food (mmm, funnel cake) and local craft vendors.

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In addition to the lights, carols, animals and Santa, Speedway Christmas also hosts movie nights on the track’s big screen on weekend nights (showing classics like A Christmas Story and new favorites like Frozen). Our drive through Speedway Christmas sparked the holiday spirit;  I’m feeling merry and bright!

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charlottemotorspeedway.com / 5555 concord parkway south, concord, nc
speedway christmas mon.-sun. 6pm-10pm though december 31, 2014

speedway club mon.-fri. 1130am-2pm, mon.-sat. 530pm-9pm, sun. until 8pm

 **Thank you to The Speedway Club for treating AJ and me to dinner. All opinions are my own and no one asked me to write anything in return. 

 

 

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chrissie off the eaten path blog
Hi! I'm Chrissie: a pizza and sushi loving, craft beer and red wine drinking, restaurant exploring and traveling home cook who's been taking pictures of my food since 2013. To learn more about Off the Eaten Path, click here!

Get in touch: offtheeatenpathclt@gmail.com

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Find the ultimate cheese and food pairings when you are building your own cheese and charcuterie boards at home with Off the Eaten Path's Perfect Pairings Guide!

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hi my friends, lets talk takeout. are you still lo hi my friends, lets talk takeout. are you still looking for local takeout inspiration? we've found that over the past ten months, one of the easiest ways for us to support local restaurants and eat delicious is by ordering takeout once a week (sometimes more if we can't get to the grocery store or don't feel like cooking). our take out routine is a mix of new to us places as well as some tried and true trusty standbys, and I'm going to try to highlight some of our favorite spots more often. (like a #takeouttuesday situation but since I'm not super organized I cannot promise a new post every tuesday!)

it seems very appropriate to kick of this takeout series (whatever you want to call it!) with a classic: pizza! @iniziopizza is one of our favorite restaurants in charlotte and we order from them a lot (confession: we always get two pizzas because we are greedy and don't want to share with each other). while I'm always and forever on team pistachio pesto pizza, we tried their two new seasonal pies this week: the Pizza Di Pera (with cider poached pears, toasted walnuts, fior di latte, buffalo mozzarella, topped with a gorgonzola cream) and Porchetta Pizza (slow roasted Italian porchetta made in house, broccoli rabe, lemon zest, pecorino, fior di latte, buffalo mozzarella, topped with a salsa verde). they were both delish but we agree we can't get enough of that gorgonzola cream 

this is a 🚨free food alert🚨 post. inizio graciously let us take home their new seasonal specials at no cost to us, but as avid pizza lovers we do exercise our wallets a lot at their dilworth location (inizio is included in my best pizza in charlotte post which I just updated you can read on my blog...if you want the link leave a 🍕). and please don't forget to tip, even with take out!

#pizzagram #pizzanight #pizzanapoletana #pizzaporn #pizzalove #pizzaday #pizzaislife #cltpizza #charlottepizza #cltfood #cltfoodie #clteats #charlottenc #queencity #eatlocal #feastagram #eastcoastfeastcoast #charlotteeats #charlottesgotalot #eatclt #pizzatime #ncfoodfinds #ncfood #supportlocalrestaurants #dinelocal #foodiechats
I believe Black Lives Matter. I wear a mask to pr I believe Black Lives Matter.

I wear a mask to protect my family, friends, neighbors and strangers I've never met.

I will get the vaccine when it's my turn.

What happened at the US Capitol yesterday was white supremacy. It’s the same white supremacy that this country was founded on and has plagued the US for centuries. It’s the deep-seated, extremist right-wing ideology that underlies US policing and the Republican Party.

These beliefs are not politics. It’s humanity.
i feel like i should have something profound or re i feel like i should have something profound or reflective to say, but i don’t. aj picked up this piece of pie for me when getting our breakfast takeout this morning and i can’t wait to eat it while i watch anderson and andy get drunk tonight.

goodbye 2020 and happy almost new year my friends. i like hanging out with you on the internet and maybe we can see each other and eat pie irl in 2021.

(pie by @thesoutherly, festive plate courtesy of our airbnb, and many thanks to @cnn for drunk anderson cooper and andy cohen on my tv)

#cherrypie #cherries #fruitpie #pie #sliceofpie #bakedgoods #bakedgoodies #bakingfromscratch #bakinglove #dessertsofinstagram #dessertporn #dessertlover #dessertpic #dessertoftheday #dessertgoals #dessertlovers #dessertlove #piegram #ncfoodfinds #ncfoodie #carolinabeach #nceats #northcarolinacoast #ncfood #explorenc #explorenorthcarolina
ending 2020 with some winter beach walks #ncbeach ending 2020 with some winter beach walks

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I call this lil guy stay home for the holidays. 🎅🏻🎄☃️ Save this post to build your own holiday board at home!

If you’re spending your Christmas at home with just one, two or or a few people, make it special with a holiday themed cheeseboard featuring seasonal colors and ingredients. Boards don’t have to be big, elaborate or complicated, they can be pretty on a smaller scale and I find them really fun and therapeutic to build! (Kinda like art with food)

To build, pick ingredients that stick to a Christmas color theme or use produce that’s in season, or a combo of both (this would be great for New Years Eve on the couch watching Andy and Anderson get drunk too!)

My stay home the holidays board features Fromage Pave, sharp white cheddar, salami, green apples, golden berries, raspberries, pomegranate seeds, cornichons, pita bite crackers, rosemary, Marcona almonds and honey from our backyard bee hive. I wish I had persimmons because they are so beautiful but we ate them all!

But use what you have, or what you like! Here are some other festive board ingredients:

🧀 2 cheeses, one hard one soft (Brie, Fromage Pave, Goat Cheese, Gouda, Cheddar or Manchego are good choices)
🧀 1 meat (salami, prosciutto or other cured meat)
🧀 2-3 fruits (apples, grapes, figs, pomegranate seeds, persimmons, golden berries, raspberries, strawberries)
🧀 1-2 condiments (honey, jam, preserves, mustard, olives, cornichons)
🧀 1 nut (almonds, walnuts, pistachios, hazelnuts)
🧀 1 garnish (rosemary, sage, thyme or flowers)

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