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queen’s feast

January 26, 2017 by Chrissie 4 Comments

Filed Under: all, charlotte, nc Tagged With: Charlotte Food, Charlotte Restaurant Week, Dining Deals, Queen's Feast

Get the down and dirty on Queen’s Feast, Charlotte’s Restaurant Week, in my latest story for Creative Loafing Charlotte.

queen's feast passion8

Say what you will, but I love restaurant week. Hear me out.

I love the idea of making Charlotte’s finest fine dining establishments accessible to the masses. I love the idea of getting a great meal at a discount price, without skimping on quality or service (see complaints below). I love the idea of twice a year getting to indulge in a fancy, three course menu with my husband or my friends just because. Not because of a milestone birthday. Not because of an anniversary. Not because of a special occasion. Just because we can.

And I love being able to indulge in that meal without wincing or getting a pain in my gut when looking at the damage done to my bank account.

I’ve heard the complaints about restaurant week. It’s not a true experience of the restaurant. The food is not as top notch. The service is not high level. Diners don’t tip enough (yes, this is a real thing so the people who aren’t tipping appropriately please stop ruining it for the rest of us).

So what goes into the excellent Queen’s Feast experiences I have had?

First, a lot of research (ok, a real, borderline psycho amount of research) goes into my restaurant week experience. I start by perusing the menus of Charlotte’s popular spots that are participating, and bookmark those that sound delicious. I compare the menus offered for Queen’s Feast with the restaurant’s regular menu (I look for restaurants offering their regular dishes, and I look at the price of those on the regular menu).

Next, I read reviews: other bloggers, local food critics, newspapers, magazines, even Yelp, to get an idea if the restaurant is worth it. After that, I check with my husband (mostly a courtesy) and make a reservation. Reservations are key; and if you end up changing your mind (sometimes we make two with the intent of cancelling one) please cancel it. Timely.

What else? Well it’s probably helpful to tell you what restaurants I’ve enjoyed for Queen’s Feast. This year I’m headed to Bonterra with some food blogging friends and Sea Level for a weekend date night. You can read about four of my favorite Queen’s Feast restaurants (to help you narrow down the list of over 130 participating restaurants) and a few more Queen’s Feast deets in my latest story for Creative Loafing Charlotte.

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Comments

  1. Sara @ Oats & Rows says

    January 26, 2017 at 3:56 pm

    I’ve been dying to try Bonterra and Sea Level! I went to O-Ku on Sunday and am going to Essex tonight. I love restaurant week for the same reasons you do. It’s nice to go out for a nice meal for no actual reason and without breaking the bank.

    Reply
    • Chrissie says

      January 29, 2017 at 10:22 pm

      Yes! I haven’t been to O-Ku or Essex yet…how were they?

      Reply
  2. Rachelle @ Beer Girl Cooks says

    January 30, 2017 at 8:43 pm

    I admire your dedication to research and the courtesy you give your husband! LOL! I do have to say that I’ve skipped restaurant week the last couple of years, but I’m so glad I went with y’all to Bonterra last week because that was an amazing experience! Headed over to check out your Creative Loafing article!

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. delicious things I've been eating recently (#2) | off the eaten path says:
    June 2, 2018 at 9:01 pm

    […] had an epic date night of a dinner and a show situation with Queen’s Feast at NoDa Brewing and then Iaughing our butts off at Iliza Shlesinger at The Comedy Zone. It was the […]

    Reply

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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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Hi to friends new and old! Whether you’ve been h Hi to friends new and old! Whether you’ve been here for six years or six hours I’m happy you’re here hanging out with me. I’m Chrissie, the gal behind the food pics and unsolicited opinions and this is my tinge of ginge husband, AJ.

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I hope this selfie doesn’t curse the Packers this weekend. #gopackgo
★ GIVEAWAY ★  I’ve teamed up with the incre ★ GIVEAWAY ★ 
I’ve teamed up with the incrediblyyy talented @cosmiccreativ, for a New Year #giveaway!!! Her beautiful hand poured resin pieces are truly outta this world! Her pieces are one of a kind functional art (like charcuterie boards, lazy susans, serving trays & stovecovers) that will add tons of character and charm to your home (her boards are some of my favorites that I own!) Winner gets my cookbook, Stunning Spreads, and this giant hand-poured #charcuterie board featuring rose gold foil & extraaa sparkle 😍

Here’s how to win:

★ Head to @cosmiccreativ's post to get all the juicy details about entering to win (you must be following us both but enter on her post). Contest ends Thursday so click over right now!
★ While you're there, make sure you keep track of when her next batch will be launched, because even if you're not the winner of this giveaway, you're going to want one of her boards in your home.

Contest ends this Thursday evening, 1/21 at 10pm est. Winner will be announced her stories!

#cheeseboard #cheeseboardsofinstagram #cheeseboards #charcuterieboards #resinart #resinartwork #handpouredwithlove #functionalart #supportartists #supportsmallbusiness #cheeselover #grazingboard #cookbooks #cookbookclub #cookbookauthor #stunningspreads #womenownedbusinesses #womenownedbusiness #womensupportingwomen #cheeseboardgoals #custommade #handmade #easyentertaining #giftideas #cheeseplatter #cheeseplatters #cheeseplate
@leah_and_louise is hosting such a creative and de @leah_and_louise is hosting such a creative and delicious event benefiting the Charlotte community today. their pay what you can soup kitchen (with a suggested donation of $20) brought together 16 local chefs to make really freaking good soup with all proceeds benefiting @myhealcharlotte an organization "created to support dialogue and relationship building between urban youth and families, the police, other divisions of government, and community partners." They "strive to engage a diverse group of youth to create stronger neighborhoods and a better city." In the wake of the pandemic, Heal Charlotte is on a mission to provide a safer and healthier living environment for the communities they serve.

We got two orders to go, so we got our choice of four pints plus rolls from @dukesbread to take home. It was SO HARD to pick just four from so many great chefs but we ended up with celery root soup from @chefwhitneythomas, brisket chili from @lewdon4, vegan curry sweet potato soup from @chefccoleman and Virginia peanut stew from @jbarnes757.

If you're jealous of our lunch and dinner today (yes we're eating soup all day) there are a few limited walk up tickets available, so swing by @campnorthend before the event ends at 3pm. I love the kindness and creativity of the Charlotte food community! 

#soupseason #soupweather #soupforthesoul #soupoftheday #soupfordinner #soupfordays #nosoupforyou #cltfood #cltfoodcommunity #charlottefood #charlottenc #charlottecommunity #clt #queencity #givebacktothecommunity #cltfoodie #cltfoodbloggers #mlkday #soupszn #soupbowl #supportlocalrestaurants
Just in time for you to watch the playoffs on your Just in time for you to watch the playoffs on your couch this weekend ( #gopackgo ) I wrote a post all about the best wings in Charlotte 🤗

Local businesses are tagged and  leave a 🐓or 🍗 if you want me to send you the link!

#wings #buffalowings #chickenwings #buffalowing #cltfood #cltfoodie #cltfoodbloggers #cltfoodies #charlottenc #charlottefood #charlotteeats #clteats #eastcoastfoodies #eastcoastfeastcoast #eatclt #ncfoodfinds #ncfood #ncfoodie #northcarolina #northcarolinafood #dinelocal #foodiechats #supportlocalrestaurants #gamedayfood #gamedayready #footballfood #chickenwing #hotwings
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!

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