'twere well it were done quickly

Time does fly when one is having fun, which I'm lucky to be experiencing in spades these days. I do have a few restaurants I must share, and I promise to catch up...

Our ultra-exclusive G Thang party has come and gone. I've got to share the invitation, which exposes my Caucasian stylings better than any banana republic polo shirt could:

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What: G Thang Party
Where: Mike's crib
Why: To kick a little something for the G's
When: Saturday August 19th, 9pm
Until: the ladies in the living room ain't leavin til 6 in the mornin...
Hosts: A dana, mike, and suzy joint
Who: If you know the hosts, you are in

The Double-Dee-A-N-A will whip up a crazy menu to beat those munchies. DJ SuzyScribbles will be spinning the wheels with mad hiphop and old school jams so you can bounce to this. And Busta Capps will prep the bar with all your rap favorites: Gin and Juice, Hennessy, Seagrams, Courvoisier, Tanqueray, Brass Monkey. We'll even keep the eight ball rollin' with some o-no-you-dint 40 dogs. Oh yes, we did.

And check our first annual Crunk Cup throw down. You don't want to sip the gin and juice out no wankster dixie cup, holmes! Duckets and mad props go to Biggest Crunk Cup, That-Ain't-Crunk!est Crunk Cup, and the grand prize, Crunkest Crunk Cup.

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The props went to Sarah for biggest cup, Robbie for least crunk, Suzy for the late-addition-category-due-to-bribing-the-judge Prettiest crunk cup. Shane's masterpiece took the big prize. Check out the pictures of those cups, and more.

Port Land Grille

But the real reason we're here is to talk about food, not crunk cups. Allow me to offer a brief but powerful homage to the Port Land Grille in Wilmington, NC. The decor is casual and elegant, with bay windows overlooking a landscaped patio in Lumina Station, a small shopping center. We were there to celebrate, so we started with champagne -- they were out of Moet et Chandon White Star, which turned out to be great luck, as they did have the Moet et Chandon White Star Rose'. That was absolutely the best glass of champagne I've ever had, and I've been lucky enough to taste Mumm's finest straight from the magnum in the cellars in Reims, France. (brag, brag) White Star is a dependable bottle, but the Rose is simply brilliant. The Dom-like dry bite one expects is tempered with a rounder fruit and hints of strawberries, and overall it's a much more pleasant experience.

They had a champagne tasting menu, items for each course chosen to pair with champagne. On a lark we picked the 'shake and bake' fries, sweet potato fries tossed in truffle oil and parmesan with a roasted red pepper dijon mayo. The earthiness of the truffles fit very well with the sweet potatoes and nuttiness of the cheese. Still some question about how well this paired with the champagne, but I think we felt anything was an interruption. :)

For the main, I had the grilled mongolian style berkshire double cut pork chop. This was an enormous double stacked pork chop, basted in a sweet & sour plum barbeque sauce. The sides were vanilla mashed sweet potatoes, which could have been served as a dessert course, and an asian slaw. Any individual flavor was almost too acid or sweet, but combined together it was just perfect. With a double cut pork chop, the danger is always even preparation, and I'll admit they fell down a bit here, with a dramatically undercooked center. But honestly, there was more than plenty to eat even when skipping the center, and it was absolutely delicious.

The absence of a soup or salad thus far in the description can indicate only one thing, and that's dessert. :) For some reason, they arrived staggered. The first was the specialty bananas foster tiramisu, a brilliant idea indeed. Instead of lady fingers, banana bread was used; instead of coffee, a banana liquor, I'm guessing. Admittedly we devoured this... The second dessert, a brownie 'napoleon' sundae, arrived when the first was almost gone. We enjoyed this less, but it's difficult to say whether that was due to our being so full. The description said it was served with a banana bon bon, and not knowing what this was but not wanting to split only one, we asked the waiter for a few extra. Turns out this was a banana sliced on angle, frozen, then dipped in chocolate and nuts, and those we certainly found room for.

Many thanks to the waiter for satisfying that, and every other request. Overall the dinner was an excellent experience. The food was solid minus a few missteps, but the atmosphere and excellent service carried the day, and it's certainly recommended.