Alphabet Restaurant Challenge

 If anyone finds themselves in a food rut I strongly encourage you to try this!!!!  We mostly cook, but when we do go out we go to the same handful of places...over...and...over! So a friend (thanks for this amazing idea Andresens) told us about this idea.  We call it the Alphabet Restaurant Challenge.  You start at the letter A and go to a new restaurant you have never been to before that starts with the letter A.  Our rules were simple: Go in order of the alphabet. Ryan and I had to be there. It had to be in the Charlotte area.  Simple enough!  It took us 10 months to complete and we have already started over! So here we go...
A: Aria.  They are located near Hornets games and have amazing $5 bar bites!  Get the brussel sprouts if you go!

 B: Bond Street Wines and Beef and Bottle.  We loved stopping by Bond Street for a wine tasting before heading to Beef and Bottle.  We joked because we met the Blanton's for dinner and found it funny we went to Beef and Bottle with Barr Blanton...that counts as 4 B's right!

 C: Comida.  At the time it was the new hit Mexican restaurant.  Their food was good, but there drinks were amazing!

The kids ate all the guacamole and chewy chips and chic peas!

 Margarita over slushy ice, yes please!

 D: Duck Donuts and Dolce.  We took the kids for their first donut!  Since they didn't have any gluten free donuts we went next door for some delicious Italian food at Dolce.  I hear their homemade gnocchi is the best (they only make it on Tuesdays).

 E: Earls Grocery and Elizabeth Creamery.  I loved this laid back market vibe and they had gf bread!

F: Fenwick's. I pass by this place daily and always wondered what it was.  I swear everything we ordered had pimento cheese and bacon on top, but I am not complaining!

G: Green's Lunch.  We park by here at all the panthers games and always heard it was good! It reminds me of an old soda shoppe. 

H: Heirloom.  There farm to table menu came with drink pairings.  We went with a large group and enjoyed it!

 I: Illios Noche.  This place surprised us and was one of our favorites.  The grilled octopus and lemon gf gnocchi rocked!

 J: JJ's Red Hots.  Again we know so many people who love this place!  We ate on the roof top and it was such a beautiful day.  My kids weren't crazy about the hot dogs (they take after their mom) but we still enjoyed it.

 K: Kindred.  This place is still on everyones top restaurants list in our area!  Although it was a drive and our waitress didn't blow us away, the food and cocktails were delish.  They are unique in their cocktails because they just ask you a few things you like/dislike and the bartender creates your own signature drink which is somehow perfect for you!

 I also loved that they wrote the ingredients of your drink on the coaster!

Some of our favorite foodies joined us on this one too!

L: Lumiere.  We did not know this, but it happened to be lobster night! We had lobster everything and loved every bite!

M: Moo & Brew.  This place had just opened when we went and although their fries were phenomenal, the rest was just ok. 

 N: Nakato.  This was such a fun night!

 The kids were so entertained by the chefs cooking in front of us.

 Bobo's favorite was when the little boy toy "peed" on the fire to put it out!

 Ellie ate it all here! She is very adventurous! and she loves some sauces!

 O: Open Kitchen.  Another one of our favs!  This is a very old school Italian restaurant.

 I had veal parm and it was baked in sauce and a bunch of gooey cheese!

 There is this little bear riding a bike on a string that goes across the restaurant and kids were very into watching him.

 P: Pinkys.  I have heard about this place and their delicious soul/bar food for a while.

 "Mommy that is too silly. There is a car dressed like a flag on the roof!"

 I mean pimento cheese waffle nachos.....words can't explain how good these are!

 It was also such a beautiful night out and that always makes it more fun!

 Q: Queen City BBQ.

Ellie decided she loves ribs this night!

 R: Rico's Acai.  This is a food truck and we love some smoothie bowls!

 There is some seating across the street and again it was a beautiful morning out so we ate our delicious acai smoothie bowls and people watched uptown!

 These are so flavorful and of course full of healthy ingredients!  There was not a single bite left!

S: Seoul Food.  Friends joined us for a night out!  This is a fun place to go with a crowd because it is family style food so the more people, the more you can order and try!

 Without meaning to we ordered this sweet wine that you have to drink out of a bowl!

 This spiraled potato on a stick was so good I ordered a second for myself!

T: Toscana.  Another Charlotte go to!  I was excited to go here, but when the waiter said the words "gluten free pasta" I almost jumped for joy!  I got the pasta carbonara and didn't leave a bit on my plate!  The wine, atmosphere and food was all perfect for a romantic night out!

 U: Uptown Catering. We could not find a good U so for Ryan's work party we hired Uptown Catering and sampled a lot of what they had to offer.  Besides the spread in the pic below we had a few carving stations.

V: Vivace. This may be the only restaurant I didn't get a picture at.  We went for brunch the morning after a big night out (After the Charlotte annual club ball where we went to bed way too late!).  So we skipped the fancy brunch food and bottomless mimosas and ate burgers and fries instead!

W: Wooden Robot.  Thank goodness for this alphabet challenge or it would have taken me a while to go here.  I went up to the bar at the brewery and asked if they happened to have a gluten free beer...she looked at me and said "sweetheart it is all gluten free"....wait what!?!  They brew their beer a certain way where it is gluten free.  I looked up again at their chalk board menu and it took me almost 5 minutes to decide which one to try first because there were so many options!  Since going to Wooden Robot I have seen their beer all over town!  Love me some local gluten friendly breweries!

We met some friends and everyone enjoyed both the beer and food! There is a food truck parked outside that had these over-the-top totchos!  No clue what was on top, but it was heavenly!  I left the happiest girl!

X:....there are no restaurants that start with X!
Y: Yama Izakaya.

After the high of Wooden Robot this was a little bit of a let down.  They had very very few items I could eat since most their menu is pre-marinated.  I did get a few yummy apps, sushi rolls and an awesome cocktail!

 Ryan loved his ramen bowl!

 Z: Zio. Great way to end our challenge!  Family Friday Pizza night!

 My twins love bread in oil more than we do!  Just don't fill up because the pizza is yummy too!

 They have grilled pizza and kids loved it!

I am so glad we stuck to this and found so many new restaurants to try!  I love seeing them all in one list because there is such a mix of date night spots, good places to go with a group and lots and lots of fun family ones!  Our kids are very into learning their letters, so we have already started the alphabet over! Let me know any good places we should put on our list the second time around!