Chef Chris Coleman (formerly of McNinch House and The Asbury) does it again!!!
Stoke is one of the best new restaurants Charlotte has to offer!
We were lucky enough to partake in a Family Style meal at the Chef's Table. From beginning to end, a broad selection of amazing wood fired dishes inundated the table!
Chef Chris makes "embered eggs" - basically an egg that has been smoked and cooked in embers. The white part has this incredible smoky flavor. The Frisee salad with slab bacon, avocado, bleu cheese and embered egg really highlighted this concept. Even better were the Deviled Embered eggs with Lusty Monk mustard and fried chicken skin - bites of heaven!
Homemade pretzel brioche with blueberry butter, bacon jam and Lust Monk Butter were up next - fluffy, light, buttery - do it!
The main dishes included Wood Finished smoked chicken, Sheepshead (the fish - meaty and mild like Grouper) on a sunchoke puree and my personal favorite, the Sticky Pork Shank.
All of the sides were delicious - the rustic BBQ carrots were glazed with their own house made carrot BBQ sauce. The Butternut squash was accompanied by a lemon ricotta bed and mushroom (hen of the woods?). The Roasted beets with ricotta had a wonderful surprise at the bottom - sunflower granola with cocoa nibs - great crunch and great contrast.
The grand final e was "the Donut" - this thing is large and in charge - it served six people easy - the house made brioche made an encore appearance filled with pastry cream and covered in Heath bar crumbles = unreal!!!! I loved how the brioche was warm and the pastry cream was nice and cool - so good!
Chef Chris was an awesome host and walked us through each dish and its ingredients! Service was also spot on. Bottled wine prices were very reasonable.
I recommend you check this place out before everyone else finds out about it and you can't get a table!!