Sunday, January 22, 2012

Photos Tell The Story {Fern, Flavors from the Garden, Charlotte Restaurant Week}

Saturday stormed upon me.  It felt like Wednesday to me, yet Forbes was home from school and our day was wide-open!  We had a fun evening planned, and quickly made plans to make our afternoon just as fun!
Group Grocery Shopping!  Followed by lunch at Earthfare with some of our favorite people!
We had the pleasure of dining with Superwoman!
Oh, you didn't realize I had connections with Superwoman.  Yup, that's her, cradling sleeping twins, making this whole motherhood thing look easy-peasy! 
Lunch was good, but clearly the company was better.  For once, I forgot to snap a photo of the food and went all out on human pics instead!
Forbes and I had a date at Discovery Place.  I bought tickets to the Mummies exhibit on Living Social weeks ago.  We decided to combine Charlotte Restaurant Week and the exhibit into one big date night. 
Obviously that was a major fail.  Apparently reservations are required and we got the boot!
Blooper reel:
To brighten my spirits I dragged Forbes to Starbucks where a decaf soy cappuccino was awaiting.
And after a stroll in the rain and fog we headed to the nearest Barnes and Noble for some reading.  My choice were trashy gossip magazines and diet cookbooks...his was a bit more wholesome in the Christian Fiction section.
Alas, it was time for dinner and we hurried to our reservation.
The lighting was funky.  It made for great mood lighting, not great iPhone photography.  Bare with me.  This dinner was fabulous!  I have been wanting to try Fern for weeks, since its opening in Charlotte.  When Charlotte Restaurant Week came around I knew exactly where I wanted to go!
We dined with the beautiful Kelly and her husband Brad.  They are delightful company and we laughed and talked all evening!
The whole table started with a White Bean Bruschetta.  For everything else Forbes and I tried to order different so we could have a taste of everything.  However, not all their menu options are vegan (the entire restaurant is vegetarian) so we wound up both ordering the fritter appetizer.
The spicy green chutney added a kick to these Blue Hominy and Chickpea Fritters.  They were savory, crunchy and delicious!

Next up I ordered the Ragu which came loaded with mushrooms, tempeh, swiss chard and raddiccio layered over preserved lemon and olive oil smashed potatoes.  This was by far the highlight of my evening.  The flavor was savory and played on the tongue.  I couldn't get enough but stopped myself just shy of finishing the plate to save room for dessert.
Forbes ordered the Whole Wheat Linguini with house made sausage.  The sausage was wonderful and I stole more than a few bites from his plate.
I wasn't excited for the Chocolate Cupcake, but it was the only vegan dessert option...so I went with it.
And boy am I glad I did.  Once you pierced through the center of the cake a vegan mint custard was waiting to play with the chocolate flavors.  It was delightful.  
The evening was solid...great company, great food!  The service was nice and the atmosphere inside Fern is pleasant.  I will be excited to try this restaurant out again for their other menu offerings.
P.S. I love the fern wall behind us in this photo!

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