Breakfast
Well, this morning’s breakfast was a good one! I made a 3 egg white omelet with sautéed mushrooms, grape tomatoes, red onions and spinach….topped with Cholula hot sauce, of course.
BUT last night’s dinner at American Grocery was even better!!
Upstate Foodie Festival – American Grocery
The food was amazing. Each of our choices from their special Foodie Fest 3 for $30 menu were outstanding. Remember, my camera doesn’t work well in low lighting at restaurants so the pictures really don’t do the food justice at all. Each dish was very well presented.
Starters:
John and Bryan chose the mussels in smoked paprika cream.
The mussels were awesome, but the smoked paprika cream was the best part.
Sarah got the Confit of Local Rabbit on top of corn maque choux (pronounced “mock shoe” and is a traditional dish of southern Louisiana containing corn, green bell pepper, tomatoes, onion and sometimes garlic and celery).
My bite…
The texture and flavor of the rabbit with the corn mock shoe was perfect. The rabbit almost melted in my mouth while the corn and peppers added a bit of crunch. SO good.
And I got the Heirloom Tomato Salad with Watermelon-Basil Sorbet.
Talk about fresh tomatoes. Can’t go wrong with those. My favorite part of this starter was the watermelon-basil sorbet. Holy moly.
I could have had way more than what was on my plate. Perfect palate cleanser. It was an icy, sweet, basil-infused explosion in my mouth. I made everyone taste it because it really was one of the most refreshing things I’ve ever had. If it were me, I would offer a little tiny taste of that to each customer in between dinner and dessert.
Entrees
None of us tried the Potato-Crusted Trout over Sea Island red pea ragout and green tomato chow chow option, but we did get the other two. John and Bryan both chose the Wood-Grilled Hanger Steak with potato puree and summer vegetables.
I didn’t taste it, but they said it was really good.
Sarah and I splurged and got the Crispy Duck Breast over lentils and spiced carrot broth. Anything with “crispy” and “duck” most likely equals fat and cholesterol, but this was totally worth it.
I typically don’t like duck because it can be tough or chewy, but this was perfect. Tasted like fried chicken on the outside, duck on the inside. The spiced carrot broth was SO good with the lentils too. Everything about this entree was fantastic.
Desserts
We definitely tried all 3 dessert options. Sarah got the Krispy Kreme Bread Pudding with coffee crème anglaise (which is a luxurious French custard sauce that is thickened with lightly cooked egg yolks – this one flavored with a hint of coffee).
Oh. My. Gosh. It was bread pudding that tasted like yes, you guessed it, a Krispy Kreme donut. And the crème on top had the best coffee flavor that went perfectly with that distinct Krispy Kreme taste. I would have eaten this for breakfast fo sho. I bet it would be really good with a cup of coffee while watching GMA…
Bryan got the Chocolate-Raspberry Crème-Brulee with peanut butter mousse. It looked good, but we didn’t ask for a taste because it was a really small portion. 🙂
He said it was good though! I believe it.
John and I both got the Seasonal Fruit Cobbler with vanilla ice cream. It was Peach…my fave. I would take a blurry picture of my own dessert….oh well.
It was amazing. The only bad part about the way they served it was that when I tried to break the cobbler part apart with my spoon, it kept popping out of the little serving bowl. Didn’t stop me. I finished every. last. crumb.
Drink
I can’t leave out the drink – mainly because it took a big ole’ chunk of our bill, even though it was the least expensive pinot noir on the menu.
I can appreciate a restaurant with good wine and really big wine glasses. We had Alchemist Pinot Noir and it was very tasty, but a tad overpriced. Obviously not too overpriced since we got 2, but we didn’t see any bottles of Pinot in the $30-$40 range – which is what we typically as much as we want to spend unless it’s a special occasion. That’s the only negative thing I have to say about the otherwise fabulous restaurant. 
I do have to give credit to the Sommelier though…the wine list was really unique and well crafted. If the goal of Foodie Fest is to get people to come try a restaurant so they will end up coming back, American Grocery succeeded in my book. I will definitely be returning again to try what’s on the real menu and definitely to taste the fresh ingredients that come with the changing seasons. I just found out that the chef is actually from Spartanburg…schweet.
The venue itself is pretty small with low lighting, which made for a warm and intimate setting…definitely a perfect place to relax, unwind and enjoy good food and drink. Also, I LOVED the exposed brick and wineroom. I really enjoyed it, and I know John, Sarah and Bryan did too!
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