Reviews: Best Bite I Ate...#CurvyBites

Last week was a CRAZY one, I was running around entertaining clients, hosting and planning Simply Be USA's #NYFallPreview event and generally on the run.  As a result I had some great and pretty indulgent meals last week.

People are always asking me about what restaurants to try and thankfully my Yelp! reviews offer some insight in to where to go, but then even after all that, people are clamoring to know--well what do YOU like.

Without further ado, here are the best #CurvyBites of (last) week:



#3
Coconut Rice, The Hurricane Club
Hood: Flatiron/Nomad

I planned the menu for the Simply Be event after spending WAY too much time reading reviews of the food. While everything I ate was great (the cashew chicken and fish were particularly outstanding) the coconut rice, got reordered again and again.  Perfectly sweet, stick and indulgent, and served in a hollowed out coconut, this rice is the perfect creamy accompaniment to the rich food, but it is so good, I'd come eat a bowl of it...by itself....for dinner.

#2
Shackburger (double), Shake Shack
Hood: Downtown Brooklyn

What do you want after a VERY long week spent logging in 12-14 hour days? A burger and a beer with your bestie, that's what.  Thanks to a Shake Shack that I could walk to (if i wanted to take a long leisurely stroll) I did just that.  While I am STILL partial to the In n Out (sue me, its the taste of childhood for me, ok?) this double patty monster, was probably too much---really great flavor, perfectly cooked--they weren't stingy on the cheese--even without my grilled onions this bite left me satisfied.

#1
Tuesday July 23rd Special, The Breslin
Hood: Flatiron/Nomad

Let me just say I love the food at The Breslin, every time I come I end up having a great time.  The fun decor, the energy of the Ace Hotel Lobby bar (where I've seen the likes of LL Cool J and Questlove) and the simple yet complicated menu make it a great place to take wanna be foodies, Food Network stans and people you want to impress in an unpretentious way.

We went with me promising The Best Thing I Ever Ate lamb burger to my UK friends, and that's just what we would have gotten, if only....If only we hadn't walked in while the servers were oohinng, and licking their lips as the staff was tasting the special entree for the evening.

The server literally couldn't contain her excitement to tell us what was on the menu special that evening.  Duck breast with a sweet and sour cherry glaze, served with a homemade duck sausage, fingerlings and grilled green onions. Ummm, so where do I sign up? $32? Who cares--I am WATCHING them cook this from my seat and the care she is taking making this, let's me know I MUST have this.

Best bites of the week!

Duck was cooked PERFECTLY, the sausage spiced wonderfully the glaze served to tie it all together and was neither too acidic or too sweet and the fingerlings gave the dish a nice bit of earthiness to ground it out.

Lesson learned, in an April Bloomfield restaurant--f-what the Food network told ya--order the special.

Tell me which of these bites, sounds the best to you?

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Mrs. Wilkes, you had me at hello!

When I travel I always like to research where it is I am going.  I like to find out the must see attractions and the best bars and restaurants. So when my girls and I planned a trip to Tybee Island just a few miles from Savannah, GA I was excited.

You see, I have been wanting to visit Tybee, ever since reading about it in Pearl Cleage's Baby Brother Blues.  Since, I am waiting on my very own Blue Hamilton I knew I had to check out this magical place.  Tybee doesn't disappoint, its beautiful.  We saw dolphins, sting rays and ate amazing seafood.  What makes Tybee truly special though is the sense of peace and serenity of the place with the fun, causal Southern fun of Savannah only 20 miles away.  

View from our rented one-bedroom condo

Savannah is such an interesting city.  It is a virtual ghost town and southern charm exudes out of every corner. But that my curvy friends is not what excited me most about Savannah. No, it was the allure of fried chicken!

An avid Food Network and Travel Channel watcher I'd heard of Mrs. Wilkes.  The place is often mentioned in best places to eat list, all raving about the fried chicken, beef stew, country biscuits and more.  I HAD to go there, h-a-d to. I mean what curvy girl turns down a legendary Southern meal, and on vacation nonetheless.

OMG, Mrs. Wilkes is one of those places you MUST eat at once in your life.  This place is on my food bucket list. (Yes, I'm curvy I have a food bucket list.)  The food here was an experience.  

First, the wait is insane.  But you know that going in.  The thing about the wait, however; you get to meet the people in line and you have an idea about who you'll be eating with, since at Mrs. Wilkes you're eating family style.  

Once you get in the door you are lead in to a home with tables all set up, you pick an empty table and sit down to a full table full of Southern goodness.  One bite, sent me way back in to my childhood.  If I didn't know better my great grandmother, or Mother as we called her, was back there cooking.  They even made sweet potatoes like hers with coconut.  I found out that that style of southern cooking is known as "low country," and the delicious flavors took me back to the recipes and flavors I had grown up eating and learning how to cook.

Was it the best fried chicken I ever ate? Not sure about that one, but it is up there with some of the best I've ever eaten.  My other personal favorites on the menu: 

• beef stew (they make this simple dish taste like a rock star)
• sweet potatoes (mashed with butter, coconut, raisins and pecans--like Mother made)
• black-eyed peas (better than mine, and mine are d*mn good)
• turnips
• greens
• dirty rice/jambalaya
• mashed potatoes and gravy
• cabbage
• BBQ pork (also, in a word ridiculous)
• creamed corn
• BISCUITS!
• cornbread

The list above, isn't even HALF of what they bring you out to eat.  With sweet tea or water to drink, its like the Southern Sunday Dinner on acid.  What's more they bring out cobbler or banana pudding for dessert!

Mrs. Wilkes has a winning formula, good service, consistent delicious food and a heritage of low country southern cooking that made the trip to Savannah delicious and I certainly left a bit curvier.

Details:
Rent a condo with Tybee Vacation Rentals stay on the north end of the island if you prefer dolphin watching and less traffic and south if you want more local attractions, bars, etc.

YOU MUST EAT AT:
Mrs. Wilkes' Dining Room
107 West Jones Street
Savannah, GA 31401
http://mrswilkes.com/
Open Monday-Friday
$18, cash only 
11-2pm

(pictured above, the spread POST meal)

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