North Towne Grill and Seafood

Opa! My daughter suggested Greek food today so we went to North Towne Grille and Seafood in North Charleston. North Towne is located across the street from the Northwoods Mall and adjacent from Toys R Us. This place is somewhat hidden. Usually when I’m in this immediate area, I am cringing due to the thought of having to be in Toys R Us with 100 screaming children that I’m not allowed to emotionally or physically punish…not looking for hidden Greek restaurants.

One of the cool things when you walk up is that the kitchen is exposed to the parking lot. A huge glass window allows you to see what and who is cooking. Pretty cool indeed. However, the lunch time crowd was REALLY dead. This can make you nervous and wonder if you should just put your money in your mouth and start chewing.

For lunch there are several specials written on a white board up front. For an appetizer, we ordered spanakopita ($7.95) My daughter and I decided to go with the classic and ordered the lunch “Lite Gyro” ($7.45). I begged my husband to order the Super Special ($18.95) from the Chef’s Specialties side of the menu. The Lite Gyro meal comes with a Greek salad, side (I chose Greek potatoes), and ½ a gyro sandwich. The Super Special is a platter of slow roasted chicken, sliced gyro, grilled pork tenderloin shis-ka-bob, shrimp, leg of lamb, pita bread, Greek potatoes, soup, and Greek salad. As if that is not enough, the waitress brought out some herb bread and olive oil. The bread was warm and tasty, but the olive oil with seasoning left a little to be desired. It needed something; maybe a little bit of garlic and chopped roasted red pepper…something.

Salad: My Greek salad was a very decent portion. I poured my little tub of salad dressing on top and dug right in…mmmm. There is something about their Feta cheese that makes me very happy. Feta can be very over-powering, in a feet-cheese sort of way. However, this stuff was like butter. I could eat handfuls of this stuff. I have to find out where they get this stuff because it sure doesn’t taste like the junk I get at the store. Watch out for the olives…not pitted, but I needed to get that tooth fixed anyway.

Appetizer: My friend Sam said that this was the best spanakopita he has ever had. He wasn’t wrong. The spinach and that feta (mmm..that feta blessed by Zeus himself) was so gooey and nice between the layers of phyllo dough.

Main Course: Not sure who thought up “Lite” for this meal because the Greek potatoes were piled high alongside a decent portion of gyro topped with tzatziki sauce and chopped tomatoes. However, the thick juicy meat topped with the creamy tzatziki was phenomenal. Throw in the Greek potatoes that are spiced with what we can only figure was crack, was downright scrumptious. I’m now looking around wondering where all the people are. This place should be packed! The Super Special was…well…super. A carnivorous heap of food alongside another mountain of Greek potatoes. It was all very good. Definitely something you share with someone unless you are training for Man Vs. Food. Make sure you ask for extra tzatziki sauce.

There are quite a few items listed on their menu…Chicken livers, shrimp & grits, and even manicotti. However, like I told my daughter who tried to order spaghetti & meatballs…this is a Greek restaurant!

I will definitely come back here. The food we had was great. The service was great. They are celebrating 20 years, so I can’t be the only one that thinks so. When you are looking for a night of Greek, bring your bottle of Windex and try this place out! Okay…I know stupid, but those of you who saw My Big Fat Greek Wedding will get it.

BBQ Tournament

Believe it or not, I did not eat out anywhere last week. I apologize my foodie friends if you feel let down. However, I was preparing all week for a barbecue tournament with trophy and all. Five of us met in the driveway with our grills and started a Boston butt at 10 in the morning. The object was to have the most delicious pulled pork plated and presented to a panel of judges who would then pick apart our hard work and give it a score.

If you haven't done this yet, you must do it! Even if you can't grill, volunteer to be a judge. Just DO NOT EVER under any circumstances be a judge when your spouse is cooking. This never ends well. Your damned if you do and damned if you don't pick your spouses food over the other contestants. Can you tell I've been in this situation before?

The way we do it is fairly simple. For every 5 pounds of meat cooked you can invite approximately 7-8 people to come eat it. We usually have anywhere from 4 to 5 cooks and about 20 or more people to eat it. Anyone who doesn't grill brings a side dish.

Find individuals that are not related to you and not picky eaters to judge. You should have an odd number of judges to lessen the risk of a tie. Pick a meat, an average amount such as 5 pounds of meat per person, and a time you can start and when to plate. If you want to set up specific ground rules make sure everyone gets a copy before the big day (I know Justin...no Walmart BBQ sauce ever again). Then stand around and make fun of each other's cooking throughout the day while playing some baggo or cornhole. Have a couple of beers or glasses of wine, but be careful you don't let it affect your grilling skills.

When it is time to plate, send your judges somewhere to another room or to the garage to score the meat while everyone else eats and awaits the results. This is a fun all day event for the chefs and everyone seems to enjoy the competition. Great idea for a long weekend.

By the way...I didn't win, but I still had fun.

Cork Neighborhood Bistro

Located in Old North Charleston on East Montague is Cork Neighborhood Bistro. I had some Restaurant.com credits and decided to get a gift certificate and make a Friday evening trip. Cork identifies itself as one of the first sustainable restaurants in the area. The owner attempts to stay green and reuse old materials instead of going new. The website notes that they change the menu based on what is in season.

My husband suggested we make a reservation since it is a Friday night. However, when I called they explained that they only make reservations for parties of six or more. They also verified that the Spring menu available online is still being served. The staff explained that they do not come out with a new menu until Fall. When we arrived and asked for a table for two they wanted to know if we had a reservation!?! My answer: “No, your staff advised that I could not make one because I am only a party of two.” Whatever…they sat us immediately anyway at the smallest vinyl-topped table ever made.

Looking over the drink menu I really liked that they had a very well rounded drink list. My favorite idea was the “Beers of our Forefather’s” idea. You can get a bucket of 5 for $14. Beers on this list include Iron City, Schlitz 1960 formula, Little Kings Cream Ale, and some Pabst Blue Ribbon. Aawww….nostalgic. We can all go back to memory lane and remember our first time drinking cheap beer. The wine list was decent too, ranging in price from $5 house to $9 select.

I decided to start out with a petite Caesar salad ($5). My entrée was the Cognac Flambéed NY Strip Steak ($22) and for dessert The Coconut Cream Cake ($6).

My Caesar came out quick. I have to say that our waitress was on it the whole evening. If you do decide to go here, ask for Cari. However, I would stay away from the Caesar if you have even a minor dislike of anchovies. The anchovy in the dressing was so strong all I could taste was smelly fish. I was fairly turned off by the salad and it was too petite for $5. My entrée was a decent size NY strip served over arugula and pomme frites drenched in a port wine reduction sauce with roasted garlic, pecorino cheese and topped with Baby Bella mushrooms. The steak alone had a lot of fat on it. However, this was a decent size steak so cutting it away wasn’t going to leave me hungry. The taste was somewhat bland, but it was cooked to my liking at medium rare. The sauce was good so I dredged my steak through it and added forkfuls of arugula and pomme frites with every bite. I don’t know if they should list Baby Bella mushrooms as the first ingredient since there was maybe the equivalent of one sliced mushroom on my plate. Altogether, it wasn’t too bad, but I think the price was a little much for the quality of my steak. The coconut cream cake was good, but $6 was a hefty price to pay for a small slice of cake. Do you see a reoccurring theme here?

My grand total with two beers, 2 petite salads, 2 entrée, and 1 dessert: $82.12. After taking off $25 for the gift certificate and adding 18% tip: $65.74. I have to mention also that the tax on my bill was 10.5%. This included sales tax, local option (?), education tax, and a North Charleston hospitality tax. I felt like I was checking out of a hotel, not a restaurant.

I have to comment on the bathroom. It made me laugh when I remembered reading that they like to revamp the old instead of going new. I think they went wrong with the bathroom. The toilet in the women’s restroom literally moved around when you sat down. My husband said the men’s toilet was set up on some sort of box and it wouldn’t flush. They definitely aren’t putting any money back into fixing up these bathrooms in anyway. I don’t think going green means ignoring the fact that your toilet is a safety hazard.

Will I go here again? Maybe I’ll try their lunch menu for a lot less and use the bathroom somewhere else. I don’t think this place will be known for their steak dinners or be famous for their Ceasar salad.