My name is Melea and I am a Sale Freak

Discounts, coupons, sales... basically anything with a percentage off, I'm buying. I'll use it eventually, right?! Not to toot my own horn, but I'm pretty good at spotting a good buy. I just got a pair of ALDO suede boots (originally $199) for $79. Yep.

With this also comes a savvy eye for discounted food. I'm not talking about Goodwill-caliber food... I'm talking about yummy specials. I have compiled some of my favorite specials for your use during the week after those looooonnngg days at the office.

Monday:
*Chicora Alley - $1 off well drinks and draft beers; FREE chips and salsa until 7
*Brown Street Jazz Club - $2 draft beers; $4 wine; $5 appetizers (everyday)
*Blue Ridge Brewing Co. - $2.50 vodka drinks all day

Tuesday:
*City Range - $2 martinis and $5 appetizers
*Bin 112 (Greer) - FREE wine tasting
*Happy Pie - Order large or extra large pizza, get a free 2-liter soda (everyday)
*Soby's - 1/2 off bottles of wine

Wednesday:
*Wine Wednesday at Sassafras - 50% off all bottles of wine
*On the Border - 12 oz. margaritas for $3.25; 1/2 off appetizers
*Blue Ridge Brewing Co. - $2.50 pints all day
*Soby's - $3 martinis

Thursday:
*Bin 112 (Greer) - FREE liquor tasting
*Wild Wing Cafe - $2 vodka drinks
*City Range - $3 well drinks; $5 appetizers (everyday)

Friday:
*Wild Wing Cafe - $5 Party Pitchers (You should probably share to avoid the police. haha...)
*Quaker Steak & Lube - 1/2 off 22 oz. draft beers and appetizers; $1 off well drinks (everyday)


Where are your favorite places to get cheap (but really good) food during the week?

Apparently, Models Do Eat

More than likely you are aware that I had the lovely opportunity to walk in a charity fashion show--Expressions--last weekend. It was an amazing time. I had big hair, fake eyelashes and designer duds. Doesn't get much better than that.

After the show, the after party was at Sassafras. It is located in the square across from Coffee St. and Main, right beside the Gathering (or "G") Spot. The owner, Brant, was a great sport about letting the Expressions crew host their events at Sassafras--we also held the Bachelor Auction fundraiser there.

Sassafras is amazing. I've been there several times, but have yet to blog about it. My most favorite thing is their amazing service. The servers there know more about the food and wine than any other restaurant I've been to. They know what wine goes best with every dish, and usually aren't afraid to give favorite wine recommendations. Also, every Wednesday during happy hour, they have half-off bottles of wine.

Onward and outward... the food. The appetizers, happy hour or otherwise, are almost all good. Although I don't eat pimento cheese, I hear absolutely anything with pimento cheese is great at Sassafras. You should also check out the sweet potato fries. Very crispy and buttery. They also come with a very unique sauce. They call it creole tartar sauce on the menu, but it really tastes like a crab cake remoulade.

My favorite main course is heavenly--Blackened Sea Scallops. The scallops were piping hot with a hard crust on the outside, and a smooth, creamy texture inside. Perfectly cooked. There was a veggie saute to accompany the seafood, served over grits. That was also pretty good, but a little under-seasoned. The part I didn't like (and that I hope they leave off next time) was the spinach. There was a small pile of spinach, which did give the plate a nice color block, but also left a pretty bitter taste in my mouth. Yucky.

So aside from the fact that I ate during my model weekend (GASP!), Sassafras was a great choice. Excellent service and near perfect food. Definitely 4.5 out of 5.

**You can check out the Expressions After Party pictures at Sassafras here: http://www.gvegasnights.com/events/event-pictures/?album=3&gallery=161

Cookies Vs. Cakes - The Showdown

I may lose a lot of readers today. I like cookies.

So... I like cookies a lot. A lot more than cakes. I will eat almost any cookie that exists--anything except cookies with raisins. (On a side note, raisins look like dead flies and that freaks me out, so I don't eat them.)

Now, cakes are iffy in my book. They are so rich and heavy and kind of make you feel icky if you eat too much. Also, there is almost always icing and that stuff just isn't kosher. It's soooo sweet.

The only cake that I absolutely crave is my Mom's homemade strawberry cake. I get it every year for my birthday and that's about it.

What I want to know is why restaurants are so obsessed with cakes and pies. Why can't you people make me a plate of homemade chocolate chip cookies for dessert. I mean, talk about ROI. You can make two dozen cookies for less than $2 at the grocery store... much less a restaurant food supplier.

Cookies is what I really want... really. Does anyone know of a restaurant that serves food and cookies? Not a bakery. A real eatery.

Signed #1 Cookie Lover.

A Little Rain and a Little Garnish Carving

Ok, a LOT of rain and a little vegetable garnish carving.

This past Saturday, after a dismal day of really ugly UNC vs. Georgia Tech football and not getting out of my jammies all day, Jeremy and I ventured out to get some food. Right now, I'm pretty in love with Thai food, so that's what we went with.

I live on the Greenville side of Greer, pretty close to Pelham Road, so we decided to check out Sweet Basil. I feel like most people have visited one of the two locations--Haywood Road behind City Range, and on Pelham Road at Hwy. 14--so feel free to weigh in here!

We arrive in the bleak, gray weather and are immediately warmed up inside. The dining room is a warm red color with lots of gold. Very nice and cozy, plus it smells amazing in there. We are promptly seated and greeted with water. Without looking at the menu, I quickly order Pad Thai (since I'm still on a "Best of" search) and Jeremy orders Pad See Ew.

The strangest thing though, after ordering, I look up at the TV behind Jeremy's head and there is a tutorial video on vegetable garnish carving. I laughed a little and said I would give Jeremy a play-by-play (since he was watching football over my head). I sat mesmerized the entire meal by this man carving flowers from onions and radishes. He even carved a basket out of a watermelon. Not just a bowl with a handle... I mean, that sucker had lattice work. It was incredible.

OOOooookkk... so back to the food. My Pad Thai was pretty good. I think they must have opened a new bag of bean sprouts for my plate because they were so crunchy and cold. Usually the heat of the noodles makes them warm and soggy, but this dish actually had texture contrast. That was a nice surprise. The chicken was a tiny bit overcooked and I would loved for it to have been spicier. I know you probably never thought you'd hear that coming from me!

In fact, Jeremy's Pad See Ew was better than my Pad Thai. He can't order anything without having my chopsticks in it. It was heavily spiced with ginger and chilies. The flavor was warm and satisfying, almost like a bowl of thick beefy soup. Also, the noodles were wider than I was used to, so it was really pretty to look at. It almost look like filleted calamari tops.

The service was great. Two gentlemen ran the small dining area where we were seated and they split responsibilities. We were never out of water, nor ever bothered by their ever-presence. I am a huge fan of the quiet, worker bee servers. They are polite, but while eating, you never know they are there.

All in all, I would give this place a thumbs up. As far as the price per portion, it's a little higher than I expected (I mean I was wearing a t-shirt for crying out loud), but we both still ate for $35. A lovely 4 out of 5.

Can You Really Go Wrong with Smoked Meat? No, Ma'am.

I had a really great headline about pork... it was wildly inappropriate. I'll refrain. Hahaha...

If you didn't already know, I'm a little bit of a barbecue freak. I like it a lot. I like most kinds. Ribs are definitely my all time favorite type of barbecue. Dry rub or wet sauce. Southeast or Midwest. I've never met a rib I didn't want to devour.

Apparently there are four regions of barbecue goodness--Texas, Memphis, N. Carolina and Kansas City. I'm going to go ahead and say that I have never been to Kansas City, nor have I ever tried Kansas City barbecue, but it sure does look tasty.

I am originally from N.C. but have since ventured into S.C. for my job. Here in Greenville I have visited some pretty yummy barbecue joints. I'm not sure what counts as S. Carolina barbecue, but I know it's good. Not only do the Q joints around here have great pulled pork, but the sides are usually on point too.
Some of my faves:
*Bucky's - Bucky's Barbecue on Roper Mountain Road has succulent pulled pork and I would bathe in their Sweet Potato Crunch. It's awesome.

*Mutt's - There are a few Mutt's locations, but the one I have visited most frequently is the one on Butler Road in Mauldin. The lunchtime buffet is a great deal. Last time I check it was all you can eat for less than $7. It's all types of meat, sides, dessert and your drink is included. Yummm...

*Henry's Smokehouse - Henry's isn't much for ambiance, but the food is awesome. I love the mustard-based sauce they have for the pulled meat sandwiches. The green beans are generally pretty good too.

You know I'll eat at Sticky Fingers, but as far as genuine barbecue, it left me feeling like I had just been to Applebee's.

I'm sure there are all kinds of yummy Q joints stuck back in Greenville. Be sure to let me know where they are so I can get my fix!

Would You Like Some Rice With That?

I apologize for not having blogged in a couple weeks. I was in Africa. Liberia, actually. That is on the west coast, at the bottom of the northern bulb of Africa. Clearly, this isn't an official review, but I did want to point out some of the culinary trends that I saw... because they are kind of cool.

First off, Liberians only eat one meal a day. It's around the middle of the afternoon, usually around 3 or 4 p.m. That is incredibly different from the five or six meals that most Americans eat every day. I am so used to eating several snacks that eating one meal terrified me, but really when you are there and immersed in the process, it seems very normal.

Also, within each village, there is generally only one or two kitchens. They are located centrally in the village and the women go to the kitchen to cook for their family units. At any given time, there are groups of women and children hanging out by the kitchen. It's like the water cooler. Haha...

When it isn't meal time, they are roasting various crops for snacking. They roasted a lot of corn and peanuts while I was there, then graciously shared with us. I'm not sure if they always have roasted veggies and nuts lying around, or if they were doing it for our visit.

Now back to the big meal... every meal is rice. Seriously every single one. Steamed, white rice.

They call the topping for rice "soup." Soup is basically some sort of meat, some veggies or beans and water. The meat and veggies vary--fish and potato, chicken and onion, bush meat (monkey, squirrel, snake, whatever's available) and cassava. There was one dish that didn't have soup and that was Jallah rice. The spellings differ a lot, but I think that's the one I saw most often. Jallah rice was so yummy. It was like African Jambalaya.

Occasionally, families will also get cooked cassava greens. They take the leaves of the cassava plants, tear them and pound them in a mortar and pestle until they are little flakes. Then the ladies grind hot peppers in with the cassava flakes. Then the whole spicy mixtures is warmed through in oil. If I'm not mistaken, they generally use palm oil for the cooking because it is so readily available.

There are also a lot of strange delicacies there that I only heard about. One of the most memorable being Bamboo Worms. Apparently, the worms feed on palm oil. So when the cooks prepare the worms for cooking, they slit the bellies open and cook them in their own fat. Eeek.

The people of Liberia were very gracious with their food and always gave my team first dibs. They were an amazing people and I hope to visit them again soon!

Brunch at Mama's House

I think almost everyone in the Upstate has heard about Elegant Gourmet's trip to Hollywood. They were featured on LIVE with Regis and Kelly last week. It's always so cool to hear about local family restaurants 'making it big.' So, there was no question, I had to go.

My Mom was in town this weekend and she has a similar affinity for yummy brunch food, so we decided to head to Simpsonville and check it out. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera, so I have no photos from my visit, but there is a gallery of their photos.

From the street, the hundred-year-old Victorian house is gorgeous and looks like a swanky place. But then, you walk in, and it feels like your Grandma's house after church, from when you were a kid. It's warm and smells of baking bread and there are small wooden table scattered with small groups of people talking quietly.

Standing in the foyer, it's a little confusing, kind of like being a new addition to the family and not knowing the routine. Do you seat yourself or wait to have your seat assigned? Do you immediately help yourself to the amazing buffet to the left or do you have to wait on Grandpa to pray first?

Once we are seated by the bustling owner, Lisa, we order our sweet tea (which was amazing, by the way) and are told to help ourselves. Awesome! Free for all at the buffet! Wait... did I order? What does this all-you-can-eat yumminess cost?

Confused and excited, I crouch and pounce on the first table that houses chicken, steak, mashed potatoes and steamed vegetables. I got a little of everything... um... except the veggies. Ha! There was Smoked Gouda and Tomato Bisque Chicken and Steak Medallions with a Bourbon Mushroom sauce. They were both tender and unusually flavored, but both amazing.

Then on to the salad table--potato salad, fruit salad, cucumber salad and my favorite black bean and rice salad. The potato salad was so-so. I could have done without it. Then there was the black bean and rice salad, which I could have eaten until I exploded. It was full of cilantro, peppers and Mexican seasonings.

There was also a breakfast table with egg casserole, coarsely ground grits, homemade biscuits and french toast. The grits were a little too coarse for me. It felt like I was chewing on wet sand, but the heavy gravy's flavor was great--strong and smokey. The egg casserole was good, but it wasn't super special. The Creme Brulee French Toast was strange to me. The flavor was incredible, but it was served up in a bread pudding style and the bread was a little mushy. I guess as long as the flavor's there, it doesn't really matter what type of dish it is, right? The biscuits were perfect. I mean perfect. Small, flaky, warm honey butter... Ugh. So good.

Now to the last table--desserts. I have mixed feelings about the desserts. Do you really need dessert with brunch? The Lemon Poundcake was to die for. The Mixed Berry Cobbler has a breakfast-y feel and tasted a little like Pain Perdu. (I think it was the nutmeg.) The cake and Chocolate Bread Pudding were a little on the sweet and rich side for early morning eating, but I guess some people like that.

All in all, the food here is fantastic. Lisa, was a great server. I do wish there was a little more organization to my experience. It would have been nice to know the price of my meal before we paid. 4 out of 5.