C&B Deli "Italian deli, Good for your belly"

Location: Ellicott City, MD

Cuisine: Italian Deli

Price Range:$6- $12

website: www.candbdeli.com

Atmosphere: As basic as a deli sandwich may sound; it is hard to find one that's full of flavor with fresh, crisp toppings and a friendly, clean environment. No worries! C&B Deli is here to save the day and help out with this dilemma. C&B deli is a little Italian deli located in Ellicott City, MD off of Route 40. C&B has your traditional deli set up with fresh meats,cheeses, salads, and desserts on display along with the lovely aroma of fresh bread permeating the air. As soon as you walk in you can already assume your about to have something good served up just off of the sites and smells! C&B is open Mon.-Fri. 9 AM-6 PM and on Sun. 9 AM-4 PM, this is a great place to stop by and grab some food for lunch or dinner.

Staff: The staff at C&B is very friendly and polite, as soon as you walk in the door you are greeted with a hello and a smile. Another thing that makes this a personable experience is I believe C&B is a family owned business, so if you come often enough there will always be a familiar face greeting you and preparing your order. The staff is very helpful when you have questions or when it comes to the menu and also very clean when preparing your food. I've been here numerous times and the staff is always great!

The Food: C&B has some of the freshest deli meats,cheeses and toppings I've ever tasted at a sandwich shop. With them being an Italian Deli they offer lot's of traditional Italian deli meats such as prosciutto and capicola along with lots of other selections. C&B also has a small import section where you can purchase all kinds of Italian products such as sauces, pastas, and bread ; they also have fresh soups, salads, and dessert's for sale that also look very fresh and delicious.
 I ordered the Italian hoagie, which is their most popular sandwich on the menu. This sandwich was a perfect size and full of flavor! The bread had a nice crunch to the outside but was very soft and fluffy on the inside which made for a great foundation. The meat was very fresh, tasty, and they were not stingy at all! What brought the whole sandwich together was the toppings; as generic as it may sound, " you could taste the freshness". I got the traditional toppings which was lettuce,tomato,hot peppers,onion and their oil & vinegar mixture drizzled on top. All of these simple ingredients came together for an amazing, authentic tasting Italian hoagie that you wouldn't be able to find at your typical chain or carry out. In my opinion no matter what your serving, making sure its fresh and from scratch is the key to putting out a delicious product! For a side I got their "Hot Shots", which are small peppers stuffed with fresh

mozzarella wrapped in prosciutto  and drizzled with Olive Oil. Yes, please believe this small bite is as good as it sounds. All of the flavors marry beautifully when you bite into it and not only are these delicious but they also make for a great snack. If you like peppers this is definitely a must try! I would recommend trying different things upon each visit, I haven't had anything that didn't taste good from here yet!

Italian Hoagie

Hot Shots( peppers stuffed w/prosciutto wrapped mozzarella

Recap: C&B deli is a small Italian deli located in Ellicott City, MD with great tasting traditional style deli meats. They have a very friendly staff that makes you feel welcome and are very helpful at recommending things if your having trouble deciding. They are not your typical chain deli, so all of their products are freshly made or imported insuring that your getting that authentic taste. They sell fresh Meats,cheeses,soups,salads, desserts and also do catering if you are interested. I would strongly recommend going here for lunch or picking up dinner on your way home. If you are ever in the area and looking for a good deli sandwich stop by and check them out, you will never want a bland tasting chain deli sandwich again.

Beasley's Chicken & Honey "Good Ole Southern Comfort"

Location: Raleigh, NC

Cuisine: American ( Southern comfort food)

Price Range: $6-$17

Website: www.ac-restaurants.com/beasleys/

Atmosphere:  Beasley's Chicken & Honey is another great place I stumbled across by going out to eat with my family, that has delicious breakfast,lunch, and dinner food. Beasley's is located in beautiful downtown Raleigh, North Carolina and conveniently sits on a strip with other restaurants and local shops. Beasley's Chicken & Honey screams "Southern Hospitality", As soon as I walked in a was filled with good vibes and a sense of belonging thanks to their polite staff. First thing I noticed was the huge community style table in the center of the restaurant; I liked this idea because it gives patrons the opportunity to meet new people while enjoying good food, but if you come with a party or just want to have your own table, no worries they also have plenty of tables outside of the

community style table. The atmosphere was a very cozy, homey feel that was actually pretty relaxing. It was interesting because if with the restaurant being pretty busy, you still got this laid back relaxed vibe from the atmosphere. The decor was modern and trendy but still gave of the look of an old renovated saloon/ general store which I felt helped add to that southern comfort ambiance I had mentioned before. Personal menus are available upon request, but I thought it was very cool how the menu's were written on big chalk boards on the wall. Once again, this creative idea helped add to the ambiance of the restaurant making my experience a great one.

Staff:  Beasley's staff does an amazing job at making sure your visit is a good one; especially our waitress we had that afternoon. She was very polite, pleasant and knew the menu items extremely well. We never had to look around for her when we had a question or needed assistance, she would just magically pop up with a smile. I've mentioned it before, but i'm a firm believer in your waiting staff really making or breaking a restaurant. Beasley's staff definitely backs their establishment up very well with great service.

The Food:  Beasley's takes southern comfort food to another level with their menu choices in my opinion, they took dishes I grew up loving and made them even more enjoyable! On top of their great food selections, Beasley's also has great bartenders that put out some creative tasty adult beverages.
 We started off with the grit fries, and homemade Churros. These appetizer's were so delicious, that I'm going to need a slight moment of silence... The grits fries were creamy, smooth grits with pimento cheese mixed in; then its cut into a shape of a big french fries and flash fried.  The grit fries were served with an aoili and homemade chow chow that helped bring everything together for a mixture of great flavors. These fries were a delicious and genius creation, you get a nice crunch from the breading on the grit fries; followed by the smooth texture, and cheesy flavor of the grits. These elements mixed with the aoili and chow chow team up to give your taste buds a knock out punch to remember; If you love grits you must try this amazing appetizer, I promise you'll enjoy every bite.

Grit Fries w/ aioli & chow chow

 Beasley's home made Churros somewhat ruined my childhood, but oddly in a good way. I have vivid memories of enjoying the huge churros from trips to the zoo when I was little, but those did not even come close to Beasley's home made churros. Tasting Beasley's churros almost gave me a feeling of being deprived, confused, lied to even. These churros were the truth; point blank. These amazing

Churros

morsels of fried dough were the perfect size, came out piping hot and were coated with just the right amount of cinnamon and sugar that would kill anyone's sweet tooth. The appearance was one thing, but flavor and texture is what made me fully fall in love. The outside had the perfect crunch to it blended with that wonderful cinnamon sugar coating, while the inside was hot, lite, and airy; it almost felt like you were eating a cloud covered in cinnamon in sugar. It was so hard not filling up on these sweet treats but I knew I was going to need room to enjoy the main course so I backed away respectfully.
  My main course was a very memorable one, and pleased me just as much as our starters. I had the pork shoulder meatloaf with Yukon gold mashed potatoes and a side of creamed collard greens. This dish was the epitome of southern comfort food and tasted like something your grandma would make for Sunday dinner. The meatloaf was a 50/50 mix of ground pork shoulder and ground chuck which made the meatloaf very tender and flavorful, surprisingly it was fairly light also. The gravy was the cherry on top for this dish, it was made from the pork shoulder drippings which made the gravy rich and very flavorful. The meatloaf had a perfect char on the outside and was served on top of fluffy, creamy, mashed potatoes that almost melted in your mouth. Our waitress recommended the creamed collard's, which went perfectly with my dish. They were seasoned very well and had just the right amount of crunch to them. Everything complimented each other very well, I would highly recommend this meal selection if your ever stop by Beasley's Chicken & Honey. I also tried a little bit of everyone else's food and it was also very good! I'd say they got southern comfort food covered at Beasley's Chicken & Honey.

Pork Shoulder Meatloaf w/ Yukon Gold Mashed Potatoes

Biscuits w/ sausage gravy

Chicken and Waffles(Amazing)

Eggs with country ham grits and biscuits

Moscow Mule w/ my twist ( sub Bourbon for vodka)

Recap: Beasley's Chicken & Honey is a spacious but cozy, and trendy restaurant located in downtown Raleigh, North Carolina that upholds the phrase, "Southern Hospitality".  They specialize in southern comfort food that is sure to have you leaving pleased and wanting to come back. On top of their amazing breakfast food, they also serve lunch and dinner that is just as delicious. I strongly recommend this restaurant for family's, groups of friends, couples, and anyone else in search of some great food in downtown Raleigh. If you plan on going for breakfast or brunch, I recommend getting there fairly early. With the tasty food they're pumping out it tends to get really busy around brunch time. In search of great food and great hospitality? Treat yourself and check out Beasley's Chicken and Honey!!

The Cowfish Sushi*Burger*Bar

Location: Raleigh, NC

Cuisine: American/ Asian infusion

Price Range: $7-$23

Website: www.thecowfish.com

Atmosphere: The Cowfish sushi-burger-bar is about as creative looking as the restaurants name and one thing I love when it comes to food is creativity. The set up of this restaurant is like a sushi spot had a kid with a hip,trendy burger joint and their kid was amazing! The decor uses lots of bright vibrant colors and lights which help bring life to this spacious restaurant, I also like the pictures on the wall which resemble Japanese anime and once again full of color. The environment at The Cowfish is very bar like; with music playing through the speakers, lively conversations going on all around, and TV's to watch sporting events if your interested. They have a full bar which includes some Saki's and also a sushi bar which I thought was really cool. I wouldn't recommend if your looking for and

intimate/romantic dining experience because of the noise level, but if you and yours don't mind the food and atmosphere was great in my book.  On top of the vibrant decor they also have a huge fish tank that is full of beautiful,colorful fish. The big fish tank actually adds to the ambiance of the restaurant giving off a slight aquatic vibe while also being a little calming. Even though I'm grown I still sometimes think it's cool to watch the fish while your waiting for your food, only difference is I may have a drink in my hand now. The seating was pretty spacious in my opinion and they had a decent amount of booths, also they had outside seating for when the weather is nice. Another thing I liked was how they used dim-sum steam baskets to hold the table condiments on your your table, this was something I found cool that also added to the ambiance of the restaurant.

Staff: The staff was very polite and helpful when it came to ordering or needing assistance, especially our server he was very patient and knowledgeable of the menu. With it being out first time here and them having so many good choices , it took us a while to decide on what we were going to eat. Our server was completely fine with that and just made sure he checked in on us frequently while still handling his other tables. Next to the great food the staff helped make our first experience at The Cowfish a good one.

The Food: I was a little confused when my sister first mentioned this place because I couldn't picture a place selling burgers and sushi with both actually tasting good, but I was quickly put in my place once our food started to come out. The menu had lot's of options, some very creative and different sounding but don't be scared to try something new! With everything on the menu sounding so delicious and creative I had to take my time choosing because it would probably be a little while before I make my way back. Stuck between sushi or a crazy burger I was informed by our server that I could get a Bento box which would include a burger and some sushi, a Bento box is typically a menu option at sushi restaurants where you get a little of everything in this wooden box type serving tray. I thought this was very cool because your giving patrons the option to try the two things your establishment specializes in which I'm sure they will come back for one, the other or both!
 We started off with the Seared Ahi-tuna and edamame for an appetizer, the edamame was steamed just right and had a good clean, crisp taste. Im not a huge fan but it was actually pretty tasty, its also pretty good for you. The Seared Ahi-Tuna was my favorite out of the two, it was amazing! The tuna was coated with sesame seeds,seared to perfection and served on top of a fresh seaweed salad with a very flavorful soy-ginger dipping sauce. The tuna was so flavorful and fresh tasting that I was almost positive that they had just pulled the tuna out of the ocean. The taste was very mild and pleasant on your palate; paired with the seaweed salad and the dipping sauce gave this dish that amazing oriental flavor! I hate to say it but this Ahi-tuna would put some sushi joints tuna to shame, with this not being your typical sushi spot I was a little skeptical thinking it was going to be Americanized versions of sushi but once again I was put in my place, I'd recommend this to anyone who enjoy's seared Ahi-tuna. After enjoying our appetizers it was about time to get to the main course, which ended up being just as pleasing as our starters.
 Everything that came out looked very delicious and I heard not one complaint just compliments on how good the food was, the only reason some to-go boxes got used was because some people couldn't finish their food. Out of our table I was the only  to get a burger and after my first bite I did not regret my choice one bit. I ordered the Mediterranean Lamb Burger which was served on a soft brioche bun topped with feta cheese,Taziki sauce, lettuce, and tomato. This was one of the best Lamb burgers I've tasted in a while and I love lamb! The patty was a 1/2 pound of ground lamb which made for a healthy sized burger; this well seasoned patty with all those fresh toppings, meshed together for an explosion of flavor. The lamb burger was well seasoned, juicy, moist, tender, and grilled perfectly. A burger gets a big plus in my book when you can taste the grill smoke in the meat and the patty has those beautiful grill marks, long story short this burger had all of that! Now, the spin that Cowfish put on this burger that in my opinion is what set's it apart from other lamb burgers I've tasted is that on top of that juicy, flavorful, well seasoned lamb patty they put a piece of flash fried feta cheese and fried capers! These additions not only added another level of flavor to this burger but also gave it a little crunchy and salty pop, my mouth is starting to water just thinking about how good this burger was. All in all we enjoyed our meal and I would definitely be willing to come back to The Cowfish.

Seared Sesame tuna

Salad w/ grilled chicken

Whats Shakin' Tuna Bacon Sandwhich

Sushi Rolls

The Taste Explosion Roll

Recap: The Cowfish  Sushi-burger-bar is a nice, small, trendy restaurant chain with a location in Raleigh, North Carolina that has great food that is just creative as their name. They have a lively bar type atmosphere with music, great service, and TV's to watch sporting events while you eat if you choose to. The menu is very creative with lot's of choices that could appeal to almost anyone. I would recommend this place for group's of friends and family, couples or for a solo venture if you looking to grab a bite to eat. Like I mentioned earlier this is a small chain so they have 2 other locations one in Charlotte, North Carolina and the other in Orlando, Florida. If your in any of these areas I suggest you find Cowfish and give em a try, you wont be disappointed!

Mediterranean Lamb Burger w/ Seaweed salad

Spicy Togarashi Shrimp

Beer, Bourbon & BBQ festival "THE SHRINE OF SWINE"

  Location: Cary, North Carolina

  Cusine: American BBQ

   So this weekend I went down to Raleigh, North Carolina with my family to visit my little sister, and to attend the Beer, Bourbon and BBQ festival. All in all this set the table for a great weekend; friends, family,drinks and BBQ cant go wrong!
    The festival is actually a tour that sets up shop in a few different cities along the East coast ranging from Florida to New York sharing great spirits and some great BBQ! The atmosphere was amazing; lots of people holding conversations and trying samples, the aroma of smoked meats floating through the air, and the occasional tipsy person dancing to the live music being played. The the southern hospitality was the icing on the cake, and made this a great environment to be in on a Saturday afternoon.
   As we walked around we sampled beer and bourbons from over 50 different vendors from all over, some local based and some coming from other states. After having a few drinks I felt it was time to start trying some of this good smelling food! My first food highlight of the festival was the sample of the whole hog, which was probably the most moist, juicy, and flavorful pulled pork I've ever had and I'm not that big of a pork fan. They cart the whole hog out that they had been smoking since 12 AM the day before and pull the meat from the bones right it in front of the crowd, this was an experience in its self. The skin of the pig was this beautiful red color which comes from the hours of smoking it low and slow; once they opened the hog up and started to pull the meat from the bones you could just the juices rolling out and slowly your mouth starts to water. The chef told me and my dad all he used was salt, pepper, and good smoke to get the hog so juicy and flavorful. Let's just say we were a little skeptical because something that tasted this amazing had to of had more steps! But we took his word for it and continued to enjoy this amazing meat. The smoky flavor was just enough, not to strong but bold enough for you to taste it through out the pulled pork. The smokiness mixed with the moist,juicy lightly seasoned meat created a nuclear explosion of flavor in my mouth; this was by far the best pulled pork I've ever tasted. The next food highlight of the festival for me was this amazing brisket sandwich from Poor Piggy's BBQ.   Poor Piggy's BBQ & catering is based out of Wilmington, North Carolina and is decorated with awards from lot's of competitions for their ribs and pork. This was the first time I had a pulled brisket sandwich and I enjoyed every single bite! The meat was just as moist, juicy, and flavorful as the pulled pork from earlier in the day but with me loving beef, I fell into a temporary euphoric state. There was just the right amount of smoke used and it was seasoned just right. Surprisingly, the pit master gave us a little more insight than we received from the whole hog tasting. He said that they used hickory for the first part of the smoke and then for the last hour the meat is smoked it with pecan wood, the two different smokes meshed together beautifully to bring out a nice smokey flavor in the meat that screamed "THIS IS REAL BBQ". Now, I'm not a big fan of vinegar based BBQ sauce but their sauce was very tasty and added another note of flavor to the greatness of this brisket sandwich, if you love smoked beef this sandwich would put your taste buds on cloud 9 I promise!
  This event was an all around great experience, I would recommend it to anyone who loves BBQ,beer, and bourbon or anyone who just simply loves BBQ. The festival is held annually, so I recommended checking out what cities they will be stopping in and trying to catch them next year. To my followers who live in the DMV area the last stop of the Tour is in Tyson's Corner,Virginia on September 19th. If you don't have any plans that weekend and looking for a good time go check it out!

Whole smoked hog

Poor Piggy's smoked pulled Brisket Sandwich

Pulled pork from the whole hog

GOOD TIMES!!

Festival website: www.beerandbourbon.com
Poor Piggy's : www.poorpiggys.com