Lunching at Lillian's

Having lunch with friends really is one of my favorite pastimes.  There's just something special about having a break during the day to enjoy good food with people that you probably don't get to see as much as you'd like, unless you just happen to work at the same place as your friends, but I doubt that's the case for most of us. (How's that for a run-on sentence!)

Recently, my friend Sarah asked me out to lunch. She suggested meeting at Lillian's on Forest Drive.  I was so delighted...a restaurant that I haven't been to!  In fact, I don't think I've ever even heard of it. But that just made it all the more exciting. Lillian's is located in a strip mall in Forest Acres.  Like a lot of restaurants in strip malls, it's easy to overlook if you don't realize it's there.

Lillian's features fresh sandwiches and salads.  I was impressed by the number of vegetarian selections they offer. I am a major carnivore but have lots of veggie friends, so I notice stuff like that. They prepare your order fresh, so it may take a little while, but I wouldn't call it slow.  The decor is a bit sparse, but it's bright and open.

Sarah ordered the chicken salad plate which consisted of a scoop of chicken salad with pasta salad and a beautiful fruit salad.  The chicken salad seems to be one of their claims to fame, if you read the reviews out there.  I'll have to try it next time. 

Chicken salad plate

I chose the chef's salad which was a large salad with turkey, bacon, cheddar and a light herbal dressing.  I liked the dressing very much. It was subtle yet very flavorful; a nice change from the usual thick dressing that most serve with this type of salad (1000, blue cheese, ranch). 

Chef's salad

 I also noticed that Lillian's has a cooler filled with "take and bake" dishes.  This is great to know for those hectic evenings when you are just running out of time to cook. Or, when you need to take food to a sick friend, this is a quick easy way to grab and go. Lillian's in at 4711 Forest Drive, in the Bi-Lo shopping center. Next time you and a friend have lunch scheduled, try Lillian's.  It's fresh and light; perfect for that lunch date. Bon appetit!

The Altruism Project

They say people cook with love, with the heart...

So, my petit gourmand is in 3rd grade now. She's got a really great teacher who I hear nothing but good things about...from Viv as well as other kids we know who have already had her.  That's a good sign because kids will take any opportunity to tell you how much or what they didn't like about a teacher, but they all love this lady. The class is studying altruism right now.  An assignment came home to go along with this unit.  The kids are to come up with some sort of altruistic deed that they will carry out.  Then, they have to write a descriptive paragraph about their project, how it affected the people they helped, how it affected themselves.  This is awesome and it's only 3rd grade.

My daughter heard at church that our Youth group is always asking for lunch to be donated since they meet immediately following the 11:00 service.  They don't have much of a budget for lunches. So Vivian decided she wanted to make lunch for them.  The plan was for me to act merely as her assistant and she would cook, assemble and cook a lasagna all by herself.  I took the job.  I really just stood back and gave instructions and some occasional advice.  I posed the question "Ground beef or Italian sausage?"  I was really curious to see how her thought process would work here.  She considered it and decided the sausage would have a "richer" flavor. So we made a special trip to Publix to get ground Italian sausage.  I think she made the right call!

Preparing the onions

Browning the Italian sausage

The onions started getting to her; thus the "onion goggles"

I'm here to tell you, as the proud mama I tend to be, my sweet child did this project all on her own.  She chopped onions and then added them to the skillet as she browned her sausage.  She mixed Romano, cottage cheese, mozzarella, eggs and fresh parsley from our garden.  She assembled the lasagna and had it all ready for the oven on Saturday evening.  

Putting it all together

Ready for the oven

Sunday morning, we baked it partially then packed it in an insulated container before heading off to church.  Upstairs in the youth room, she finished baking the lasagna then she assembled a Caesar salad, making sure to finely grate fresh Parmesan. 

Grating fresh Parmesan

As the youth group arrived, they all commented about how good it smelled...they were right.  As I helped bring it all to the table, it was pretty evident to me that these teenagers were impressed by what they saw.  Viv had made a beautiful lasagna and salad.
  

Ta-da!

 The finished product

I'm not sure what they were expecting, but I know they were pleasantly surprised.  They invited us to stay and eat with them which was extra cool that the teenagers wanted their chef to also be their guest.  Many, many compliments later, we had a super easy clean-up because there wasn't a stitch of food leftover!

Everyone with full tummies

I left there feeling immense pride that she took on this project and she carried it out so successfully.  She's pretty modest, but I know her. She was feeling that sweet satisfaction that a job well done brings.  I'm so excited about her work that I can't wait for her to turn it in to the teacher!  And to the 3rd grade teachers at Rosewood, I thank you for creating such a meaningful project for our kids to experience the beauty of altruism.

Biscuit Head

Things in the this world to love: family, travel, food, wine. Over the last couple days, I got to have them all. My sister was in Asheville for some biz meetings and invited me and the little foodie to come share the hotel room.  We have had an action-packed couple of days including Sliding Rock, Biltmore House, Looking Glass Falls, Grove Park Inn and chillin' in downtown Asheville.

Since K was involved in meetings all day, Viv and I had all the time in the world to do whatever we wanted, including seeking out good, eclectic A-ville food.  At my sister's recommendation we followed our noses and our GPS to Biscuit Head.  We went to the newer location on Biltmore Avenue.  It's a small, cute space with a really friendly and close-knit atmosphere.  You order at the counter, fix your drinks, make your selections at the (extensive) jam, jelly, butter and honey bar and then the staff delivers your food to the table.  At first, Viv wanted to sit at one of two cool terrarium tables that were fashioned out of old windows over table tops to create living terrariums.  Very cool touch.  But, she changed her mind and chose a small table for two that appeared to be made of one slab of hand-hewn wood.  

Viv has a tendancy to be a purist.  She asked for some milk and then blew my mind with this line:  "I was noticing that "got milk" mug hanging in your window."  So, the lady says, "would you like to use it?"  and there you go.  Probably got her twice the milk of a regular order.  She wanted just a plain biscuit with honey, so learning about their honey bar was quite a plus.  She tried clover, wildflower and sriracha honey.  The wildflower won out as the favorite.

Their whole deal is about making biscuits the size of a cat's head

 I chose the fried green tomato biscuit.  In a word(s)?  Holy mother of all that's put on a biscuit with smoky, creamy, brie-y, what-what????

Holy biscuit Bat Man!

 First of all, it's humongous.  Way bigger than your average bear can consume alone.  So, unless you're a lumberjack sort, I'd recommend splitting this with a friend.  It's a cat-head biscuit (of course) split and each half topped with a fried green tomato, a slab of fresh tomato, brie, a poached egg and smoked tomato hollandaise. The only hiccup at all was the the poached egg was a bit over cooked, but if you've ever tried to make poached eggs, you know this can happen in an instant and until chickens start laying transparent eggs, you just don't know. The tomatoes were fresh and wonderfully flavorful but man! that smoked tomato hollandaise was a creamy nectar of the gods.  So perfectly smoky that it lingers with you, in a good way. Add all these strong flavors with the creaminess of brie and you're in a culinary tongue twister. 

 Now, we Southerners can consume iced tea in volumes to rival all the tea drinkers in China.  Unfortunately, that volume leads to some weak, mediocre tea that in some cases ends up just being overly sweet brown water.  I ordered tea at Biscuit Head and it was RIGHT.  Good flavored tea, brewed properly, sweetened to my specs and was an awesome glass of iced tea.  Any more, I think it's of note when a restaurant is actually brewing a good batch of tea because too many aren't.

Take a look at the menu.  These are some really innovative preparations that elevate the biscuit to new heights.  Those of us in the South have always known the pristine beauty of a perfect biscuit, but now with these creative variations, even a Yankee tourist can get in on the game and realize the true culinary aristocratic nature of a proper biscuit! 

The original Biscuit Head is located at 733 Haywood Rd and the newer one is at 417 Biltmore Ave.  Click the link to their site and check out the menu.  Oh, by the way, the coffee rocks as well!

Lunch at the Flight Deck

Lunch. It happens every day.  So do the lunch conversations.  

"I'm hungry, want to go get something to eat?"
 "Sure, where do you want to go?"
"I don't know, what are you in the mood for?"
"Oh, I can eat anything.  You decide."

This can go on for up to 20 minutes.  Someone has to step up and make the decision.  For everyone.  Make the decision and herd them out the door.  This is how lunch gets done.

This is my mom.  We work together, so we have lunch together almost every day

Yesterday, I had the Vivver with me at the office when the lunch conversation came up.  In some ways, it's easier when you have a child involved because then the mom or dad usually becomes that decision maker since you have to choose a place that's kid-friendly and has a decent kids' menu.  As we began to discuss where, what, who, how to have lunch, I thought of the Flight Deck in Lexington.  It's a locally owned, family place with one of those menus that has something for everyone, including children.  The decision was made.  Bam!  Just like that.


The little one ordered the kids' spaghetti with a side of green beans.  I didn't photograph her plate because as soon as it arrived, she dug into it and within seconds, it was no longer photogenic.  She's a big fan of spaghetti and really liked Flight Deck's offering.  I had to pick a couple of large pieces of tomato out of the sauce for her, but other than that, it was a hit.  Half for lunch, the other half for dinner.  She wasn't crazy about the green beans because she found them to be spicy.  I tasted them; I don't know what she's talking about.


Mom ordered the "Poor Boy" sandwich.  Don't confuse this with a "Po' Boy."  Flight Deck's sandwich is a lot like the French dip at Momo's.  It's a sub roll filled with tender pot roast, melted cheese and served with a side of jus.  

Poor Boy and Collards

I didn't get a taste of it because mom was diggin' every bite.  And, I was quite busy with my big salad.  As a side, she chose the collard greens.  It's funny:  we never had collards when I was growing up.  Usually, foods that didn't appear on our table were ones that my mom didn't like.  Therefore, she wouldn't serve it to the rest of us if she didn't care for it.  I assumed this was the case with collards, but here we all are years later, and we all eat them.  Curious.

The Primo Salad

I ordered the Flight Deck "Primo" salad.  It's described as a Greek salad mixed with a Chef's salad.  What it is is fantastic!  What you can't see in my photo is the ham, turkey and super-crispy bacon.  What you can see if lots of heavenly feta, pepperoncini, and Greek olives.  Nice touch:  the olives were pitted!  Served with a classic Greek dressing with tasty herbs.  I ordered the small, which is still a big ol' salad.  I ate almost the whole thing.  And, I'm not ashamed to admit it.


What I like the most about the Flight Deck is the people.  When you walk in the door, you're greeted right away and by someone friendly.  During the course of your meal, someone other than your server will come by and check on you.  The wait staff is also friendly, laid back and helpful.  And, they deal with kids very well!  This is huge.  Nothing will get a mama's dander up faster than some jerk acting like they can't be bothered by her child.  I'm gonna be tipping on the cost of her meal too, ya know.  This isn't a problem here.  And, it's a locally owned business and y'all know how I feel about that!  The Flight Deck isn't where you'd go on a fancy date, but when you want a tasty, satisfying, casual meal, and you happen to be in Lexington (which is a crowded sea of chain restaurants), head over to the Flight Deck. There truly is something for everyone on the menu, the atmosphere is friendly and relaxed and you'll be supporting a local restaurant and local people.

The Godfather of Bacon

I've admitted to you all before that I am an unabashed fan of bacon.  I love it.  I admit it and I'm not ashamed of it.  If I'm ever in a coma, please just advise the nurses to start cookin' up some bacon and I'll wake up in a flash.  

Today, the Vivvo and I joined my parents for lunch at the Gourmet Shop.  Viv loves to eat here for a few reasons:  1) our friend Brandi manages the place and always comes over to talk to us (Viv thinks that means we're VIPs) 2) One time, the owner let Viv go with her behind the counter and pick out any cookie she wanted (complimentary... of course it took a few conversations for me to make her understand that we don't get free cookies every time we go there) and 3) She loves croissants. I mean, really loves croissants.  She's actually developed her own "usual."  She orders a croissant with raspberry jam, butter and honey and a glass of milk.  Every time, without fail.

Like most people in Columbia, I usually order the chicken salad.  I mean, it IS what makes the Gourmet Shop famous.  One of their staff shirts reads "Peace, Love and Chicken Salad."  But, today, I decided I was up for a change of pace. There are lots of other dishes that I love at the G.S., but I decided on something new, well, new in the sense that I've never ordered it. The BLT.  OMG, call the BFF about the BLT, it's the BOMB.

You can't see the tomato, but trust me, it's in there!

This is the bacon lover's dream sandwich.  It is packed to the gills with beautiful bacon.  I mean, see that pile of it to the left?  It was just spilling out.  And this wasn't paper thin Waffle House bacon; no, no this was the real deal.  And, under all this dreaminess were two nice slices of bright red, beautiful tomato.  A little mayo completed the package.  And, as you can see, it's served on a croissant.  The waitress did ask if that was the bread I wanted, but I just don't like sandwiches like this on multi-grain because I think it's too sweet and the baguette can simply be too tall for me to bite.  I ordered the pesto pasta salad as my side.  This is a great pasta salad...fresh tasting pesto, bowtie pasta and green peas.  Today, however, I could only have a couple bites because of my monster baconator!

Since my big tomato breakthrough last summer, this is the best BLT I've come across so far.  Next time you're in Five Points, pop in there and see what you think.  If you get a really sticky table, chances are Viv was sitting there with all her honey and jam!
  

Happy Happy Joy Joy

I'm not much of a buffet girl.  Especially not a Chinese buffet.  But from time to time I guess we all end up at one.  But, as a general rule, I stay away from buffets.  Although the champagne brunch buffet at the Hotel Coronado in San Diego is pretty flippin' amazing!  But usually buffets are picked over, tired looking and just not very exciting.  

A few days ago, my mom ran into her former neighbor.  They chatted a bit and he said each week he takes his mother-in-law to lunch and that quite often they go to this Chinese place that they really like.  He went on to say that it's the ONLY Chinese place he goes to.  Why?  He knows someone who served as a missionary in China and this is the ONLY Chinese place that he will patronize. And <<gasp>> it's a buffet restaurant.