I finally found my camera cord while starting to pack up my room. Last Friday Madre & I flew down bright and early to Charlotte to see out wedding venue and have the menu tasting. I didn't take enough pictures of our short little trip, but it was really fun! Here is a brief recap.
*Me waiting for the bus to Enterprise to pick up our rental car. I know. I look pretty amazing.
(Insert eye roll.)*
*Standard table set up... I didn't much like the color of the linens. Am thinking either a grey (see below) or solid white everything... Thoughts?*
*This is what I'm thinking of having on the tables. I LOVE the grey/silver and the pintucking.*
*Then we started the tasting. Here are two options for the hors d'oeurves. Coconut shrimp on the right with an orange horseradish sauce and a duck confit spring roll. The coconut shrimp was delicious and the orange horseradish was INSANE. I was slightly disappointed with the duck confit spring roll and nixed it immediately. PB and I LOVE us some duck spring rolls but this was not the best I've had.*
*More starter options... Mini crab cakes on the right and pulled pork slider on a cheddar chive biscuit on the left. The mini crab cakes were the best I have EVER had. Chock full of crab and seasoned perfectly. I only wished they were bigger! The slider was delish. The pulled pork was in an Eastern NC sauce (read vinegar based) which isn't my favorite but the cheddar chive biscuit absolutely won me over. I almost asked if we could have some biscuits to take with us! Both were picked for the menu. Since I vetoed the duck spring rolls, I picked mini Brie Wellingtons (brie, surrounded by rasp jam in phyllo dough) instead*
*Our starter is my favorite course of the entire menu. AMAZING. It's fried greens tomatoes with bacon ranch dressing... and a slice of the most delicious perfectly cooked piece of bacon with a maple chipotle drizzle. My mother even liked this and she doesn't even like tomatoes! This dish is going to be the star of the show!*
*Now here are our entree options. First one... Filet of Beef with truffled whipped potatoes an vegetable in a peppercorn sauce. OH.MY.WORD. This was literally the best piece of beef I have ever had. It was melt in your mouth tender, cooked perfectly with the inside being a bright pink. Don't even get me started on the potatoes. My mom, who NEVER has liked steak, loved it. We were already getting full so we could only take a few bites but we almost to take it home!! PB was getting pics via BBM throughout the tasting and he got plum angry that he couldn't be eating this with us! I know what he'll be having!*
*This is the option that I made mandatory. This was non-negotiable. Shrimp & Grits. This is the one dish that I can never pass up. Now, I've had my share of shrimp & grits. My favorite is at Crooks Corner in Chapel Hill, NC. They make the best s&g in the south, so the bar was raised really high on this dish. Boy they did NOT disappoint. Grits were SO creamy that they bordered on being polenta. LOVED them. The tasso ham & sauce were spicy and added a perfect bit of heat. The shrimp were huge and cooked perfectly. I wanted to eat all of it but my stomach would NOT let me!*
*The third option is a veggie tart with goat cheese with truffled whipped potatoes and vegetables. I forgot to take a picture but it was really pretty and the goat cheese was amazing. It was the smoothest goat cheese I've ever had!
Then it was time for the most important part.
CAKE TASTING!
The pastry chef was this super tall, manly dude, which was unexpected. He brought us out 3 mini cakes. We had red velvet, carrot and a pound cake with strawberries in the middle. I had requested red-velvet, carrot and coconut, but we had an AWFUL wedding coordinator there who has now left this Ritz, who did not convey that request! Anyway, despite that blip, I managed to pick an option.*
* I tried the pound cake with strawberries first. It was tasty but not really my favorite. Then I tried the carrot cake. OHHHHHHHHH the carrot cake. I LOVE carrot cake. It was most, full of flavor, chunks of pineapple, carrots and nuts. It was DIVINE. Finally, I tried the red velvet. LITERALLY the best red velvet I've ever had. Super most. SUPER tasty. I ate BOTH slices of the carrot and red velvet dithering. I decided, after consulting with PB, Madre, Noortje (Sales Manager) and the pastry chef, that the carrot cake was the way to go. I've since decided that PB needs a grooms cake, and that will be red velvet. I decided this because a) I love him and b) I'll die if I can't have the red velvet too. :) *
They gave us the rest of the cakes to take home. I shared some with my computer lab boss on Saturday but I had to throw the rest away. I simply could not be trusted. COULD NOT be trusted.
I think our menu is going to be the highlight of the night! Now, I just need to decide on flowers and the linens.
What color linens do y'all think I should have?
White? Grey? Silver?
PS- I can't finish this post without raving about Ritz Sales Manager who helped us. Her name is Noortje and she was there helping out from the Toronto Ritz Carlton since my original person left. She was PHENOMENAL. She helped with everything, was patient, honest, helpful, funny, sweet and I wanted to keep her forever! I am SO sad that she won't be there in March and won't be the person helping me plan everything. I told PB that we now have a reason to try out the new Ritz Carlton in Toronto when it opens. I absolutely LOVED her and loved our experience!
(I also adored the catering manager who was helping with the tasting... They seriously have an amazing staff!)
