Warm Weather, Hot Food
January 30, 2014
Wilmington, North Carolina — After a visit to the very large and popular seahawk sculpture on the University of North Carolina Campus (Visitors love to climb on her back and reenact scenes from Avatar), we headed for the Front Street Brewery in downtown Wilmington.
Bar food, beer and football hype -- here we come!
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Shirt reads: Boobs, these are worth fighting for |
The place itself was absolutely packed on this Saturday afternoon, but within a few minutes we found ourselves happily seated at one of the tall tables around the bar... and what's not to love about a bar that sets out packages of crayons for the patrons? We each ordered a different flight of beers and I quickly set about drawing the condiments in front of me.
The MUGS FOR JUGS DAY, an event to raise funds for breast cancer research was happening on all three floors of the popular brew-pub. Pink streamers, pink pom-poms, pink balloons and pink clad boobs were everywhere.
We had come for the spicy, Famous Pulled Chicken Nachos and local beer, but lingered for the Elvis Pigsley and the Cinnamon Dough Bites with Chocolate Ale Ice Cream.
After being so cold for weeks, the warm cheesy, sweet chickeny taste of these nachos made for a most comforting meal. The chicken was lightly sweetened with barbecue sauce, slow cooked and hand-pulled and topped with black beans, shredded cheese, queso sauce, jalapeños, diced tomatoes, slightly spicy sour cream and salsa all served generously over tri-colored corn chips. In the end, the last bite of topping covered the last chip. Perfection. Bar-food supreme.
Flush with victory we decided to go whole hog and ordered an Elvis Pigsley. It was a kind of savory cake made of pulled pork and mashed Carolina Caviar dredged in cornmeal, fried and topped with a Tabasco aioli. Light and crusty with a deeply satisfying meaty filling, we savored every bite with the hot aioli.
We were putting on our jackets to leave when a server passed our table carrying a large serving of Chocolate Scottish Ale Ice Cream with chocolate sauce and whipped cream. Immediately, we sat back down and ordered it, along with fried dough balls rolled in cinnamon sugar.
Oh the shame. Oh the joy. We are South, warm (well, warmer than -6°) and there is music and laughter all about us.
I envy you. When you get older all you can do is see what other people are doing. It sounds like a lot of fun to me. Enjoy yourselves while you can.
Love
Mom (Thelma)
Get out your sun screen, it's 22F in Detroit today.
Hope y'all are stayin warm and enjoyin some warmer weather.
How do you always find the best places to eat anyway?
Donna
Sounds just so exciting! I was kind of hankering for the South myself, but will probably soon head for Europe instead.
Ilo-Mai
