Restaurant Review: The Smoke Pit

For my review comeback, I’m doing another restaurant that our friends introduced us to and we enjoyed. This particular restaurant review is for their branch in Salisbury. They closed the location we ate at and moved to 509 Faith Rd. Salisbury, NC 28146. I’m hoping it’s still the same and will give you a feedback when we head there again on our monthly run to Charlotte.

The Smoke Pit restaurant is voted the Best BBQ restaurant by Trip Advisor in 2021. When we visited the place twice, we had roughly 5-10 mins wait. The place is packed and they do both take-out and dine in. Parking is street parking so it’s a hit and miss if there is a space in front of the restaurant. Store Hours: Mondays (Closed), Tuesday-Saturday (11am-9pm), Sunday (11am-8pm).

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Tempura Shrimp Wars!

My stepson loves shrimp and lobster. Since lobster is quite expensive, we opted to give him shrimp instead. When my husband and I went to Costco, my brother suggested we get tempura shrimps. This made me look back and reminisce my youth. The lightly battered deep fried shrimp with that sauce (yum!). Anyway, we tried looking for the tempura shrimp at Costco but there was none to be found. Then how would this article be about tempura shrimp wars? Read on.

SeaPak Tempura Shrimp

After the unsuccessful search of tempura shrimp at Costco, we search our local supermarket and was able to find one.

A box contains 8 shrimps that you can bake in the oven for 18-20 minutes. Don’t bother with the sauce included in the pack as it’s too sweet.

Verdict: It passed my stepson’s taste and my favorite among the 3 tempura shrimp brands in this Tempura Shrimp Wars.

Restaurant Review: Dame’s Chicken and Waffles

Chicken and waffle combination is not something that I’ve tried until I moved to North Carolina. Waffle for me is sweet and eaten for breakfast. Fried chicken is usually associated with savory taste and a dish served for lunch or dinner. So combining chicken and waffles as a meal just boggles my mind.

My husband keep praising this restaurant in downtown Greensboro which he says serves the best Chicken and Waffles. The first time I tried it was when my brother came to visit last Christmas. Since it was still COVID, the number of tables available were few. We’re lucky that we didn’t have to wait and was seated right away. When my brother tried it, he said he wanted to come back as it was so good. He ordered a waffle and 4 chicken legs. As for me, I enjoyed my food and take back what I thought that chicken and waffles is not a good combination. One thing I love about this restaurant are their shmears!!

Restaurant Review: Bowens Island Restaurant

Charleston is a place close to my heart. My husband proposed to me at Boone Plantation in Mt. Pleasant. For a foodie, you won’t be disappointed with the food offerings in the city. If you read my post in December, I posted about our trip with my sister and my brother who visited from San Francisco.

On our day trip to Charleston on April 16, I told my sister that we had to go back to Bowens Island for their tasty oysters. Since my sister also enjoyed the oysters, she agreed to add it to our itinerary. Bowens Island Restaurant is just minutes away from Folly Beach. On our trip last December, my sister put this on our itinerary as a possible option to experience the beach. When we arrived, the beach turned out to be a river. Since we lucked out on the beach, we decided to enjoy the food.

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  Soft Shelled Crab Platter

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  Bucket of Steamed Oysters

Bowens Island Restaurant was featured in several of Travel Channel’s food episodes. From Andrew Zimmern, Man v Food and Unique Eats. We learned about this restaurant from Andrew Zimmern’s Bizarre Foods America. We wanted to try it out because of the oysters. The restaurant is open Tuesday to Saturday (5:00pm to 9:30pm). The restaurant fills up fast and lines are expected.

Stir Fried Broccoli with Garlic Sauce

When I was in China, I attended some cooking classes at Hutong Cuisine. The classes I attended are of the dishes I like. After the class, I haven’t had the chance to try cooking it again since it’s cheaper and more time efficient to buy the food especially if you’re living alone. During the pandemic, since we’re trying to limit our outside interaction, I decided to cook this dish to my husband.

As broccoli is one of the vegetables both of us like to eat and is quite healthy, I brave the cooking world and tried recreating this dish. I burnt a little the garlic but everything was just as I remembered. I haven’t had the chance to try it with other vegetables but the slurry seems to be quite common on most Chinese stir fry dishes. Try it and enjoy!