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My Favorite Things
I’m a superlative kind of person. I like using words like: the biggest, best, brightest! It’s all well and good (for me) but my friends find it a bit overwhelming because I insist on knowing their superlatives. For example, say we’re having a great meal, I want to know which was their favorite dish. If we’re traveling or out, I want to know what portion of their day was their absolute favorite part. I often get an eye roll or guttural response, which gets me to nudge just a little bit more.
In the spirit of superlatives, I thought I’d share a few of my favorite things. (All things listed are Charlotte based unless otherwise noted.)
Best place to have a casual dinner: Dandelion Market
Best fried chicken: Price’s Chicken Coop
Best bartender ever: Paul at Capitol Grill
Best place to get a pint: Connolly’s on Fifth
Best Vietnamese spring rolls: Lang Van
Best Vietnamese sandwiches: Le’s Sandwich & Café
Favorite diner: Landmark Diner
Best Chinese food: 88 China Bistro
Best places for brunch: Pewter Rose (butterscotch scones), Boudreaux’s (beignets), Lulu (green eggs and ham), Custom Shop (pitcher of mimosa)
Best ice cream: Elizabeth Creamery
Favorite bagel shop: Owen’s Bagel and Deli
Best soup and dessert (I know, weird combo): Amelie’s Bakery
Favorite place for oysters: Capitol Grill (high end), Hickory Tavern (affordable)
Favorite casual places for lunch: PioPio, Kabob Grill
Favorite places to take out of town guests: Mac’s Speed Shop, Panthers game at Bank of America Stadium, US National Whitewater Center, Charlotte Motor Speedway Coca-Cola 600 Race, NoDa, Charlotte Cultural Campus (Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Arts + Culture, Bechtler Museum of Modern Art, and ‘coming soon’ Mint Museum Uptown), Ice skating at The Green (winter only)
Best outdoor festival: Speed Street
Best gift store: Paper Skyscraper
Biggest selection of designer jeans in petite sizes: Belk’s SouthPark
Favorite person at make-up counter: Joseph @ Bobbi Brown, Nordstrom
Favorite mascara: Too Faced Lash Injection (department store), Rimmel Glam’Eyes Mascara (drug store)
Favorite lip gloss: Lancôme ‘La Laque Fever’ Lip Shine (department store), Rimmel Vinyl Gloss (drug store)
Best acne spot treatment: c. booth DERMA 17 Salicylic Acid Problem Spot Treatment
Favorite treatment skin care line: Obagi (high end), Olay (affordable)
Favorite hair guy: Donald, Carmen Carmen
Favorite nail salon: Polished
Favorite sitcom: Modern Family
Favorite reality show: American Idol
Favorite drama: Grey’s Anatomy
Favorite books I read this year: Little Bee, by Chris Cleave // Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, by Jamie Ford
Favorite books I often recommend: American Wife, by Curtis Sittenfeld // The Blind Side, by Michael Lewis
Favorite books of all time: To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee // Joy Luck Club, by Amy Tan
Favorite books non-fiction: Game Change, by John Heilemann and Mark Halperin // The Girls in the Balcony: Women, Men, and the New York Times, by Nan Robertson
Favorite dog park: Fraizer Park
Favorite online shoe store: www.Heels.com (local), www.Zappos.com (everywhere)
Favorite non-profit to donate money: www.DonorsChoose.org
Fundraiser that’s most fun: Mustaches for Kids
Favorite school: KIPP Charlotte
Please tell me about some of your favorite things in the comment section below!
Tags: books, charlotte, favorite things, food, fun, make-up, restaurants, visitors
Thanks for the shout out Susan! I’ll definitely be trying some of the restaurants you suggested. Might I add: Pho Hoa for great Pho! And if you like Mexican Food: Loco Lime, La Paz and Taqueria La Unica (very authentic) are great spots. Cheers!
i can’t believe i left out pho hoa!! will def be visiting the mexican suggestions you left!!!
Great list! (And I second La Unica for Mexican!)
Best fried pickles/PBR combo: Penguin
Best dive bar in a mobile home: Jay’s at the Lake
Best small plates: Rooster’s Wood Fired Kitchen
Best burger: Lulu (w/ fried green tomato and pimiento cheese!)
Best salon: Escape in SouthEnd
Best county park: Jetton Park
Cheers!
love your list and all the stuff to our north! i hope we can visit y’all while we’re there!!!
oh that lulu burger is killer. good call. and fried pickles at the penguin, nice.
Check out the Never, never burger at The Liberty.
Fried pickles at Alexander Michael’s.
Beer Selection at Mac’s.
Chicken Wings and Beef on Weck at Tavern on the Tracks.
Tacos at Phat Burrito.
Soup / Noodles at Tin Tin Box of Noodles.
Indian Food at Copper.
German Beer Garden – Olde Meck Tap Room
Concert Venue – The Fillmore
sweet! i love the diversity! we have so many places to go and eat!!!
Loving this list!!! A few more to add –
Best bargain sporting event – Charlotte Checkers game
Best free place to bring kids – Imaginon
Best brunch buffet – Pike’s
Best Italian – Dolce Ristorante (mmm… Gnocchi)
Best view of the Charlotte skyline – Marshall Park
Best nail salon – Matrix
Best BBQ – Mac’s
Best Sushi – Nikko
Best Cornbread – Mert’s Heart & Soul
Best Biscuits – Bojangles (chain, I know, but they’re still the best)
Rest In Peace, what used to be my favorite dish in charlotte: Seared scallops w/coconut rice from Latorre’s
Best Dessert EVER – Salt caramel brownie, Amelie’s
Best Place to Workout (especially after all the great food) – YMCA
jules… i should have totally consulted with you first! i totally forgot sushi!! i have to add Room 112. for me it’s a tie with Nikko’s!
[...] My Favorite Things « Sue Tran [...]
Joseph, Joseph, Joseph. He is my man. I love him. he was here for me before my dear Samantha, and she knows I am still hooked on Bobbi Brown.
The two of them cause me mixed emotions and make me want to have the two of them together. It would be cosmetic genius!
Isn’t he awesome! And you have 2 makeup people! You’re a lucky woman!
Social comments and analytics for this post…
This post was mentioned on Twitter by ThomasJArmitage: RT @joeromanelli: I’d have to agree, helluva good list. RT @susantran: favorite things in Charlotte: http://bit.ly/9p4NcX...
Hello All, I just wanted to start by saying that the contribution here is simply amazing. I think everyone does a fine job here and just wanted to make that known. Have you ever thought about blogging for money? there is a website http://www.skin-parlour.com that pays you to write articles, you would be good at it.
thanks, but right now it’s just a hobby!
Nice post!You should have way more subs than this =(
i definitely will on future posts. in the meantime, list your favorite things in the comment section as others have!!!!