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| - After listening to an omnivore rave up and down about this place, we decided to make this our first meal in Charlotte. Initial impression is that this place is way cute - styled to somehow resemble a cozy little earthy dining room I guess? Very "fern-like" and I think this would be a fantastic date spot.
Sadly they were out of the particular wine we had in mind, bummer! It being half-off wine night, our server suggested a bottle of something not yet listed. I can't recall the name, but it wasn't terribly good, sorry to confess. And I think it was notably pricier than what we originally selected . . .
No big deal because the leeks appetizer ended up being glorious! I was almost sad about the modest sizing of the portion as we hastily gobbled down the leeks pieces drown in various delicious sauces. My entree, the the BBQ tempeh steak was not very aptly named as the pieces were more like modest tempeh slices. Seemingly steamed and coated in an more unique BBQ sauce - sweetest, maybe heavy on the fruit content? It was good, but definitely not the best tempeh I've ever had. The accompanying green grits and braised greens with sorghum vinaigrette were also nice, but I almost felt like I could have made much tastier versions myself (not that I'm an awesome cook, almost the opposite). The serving size was ample for a nice and satisfying meal, but I resisted gobbling down everything on my plate because I wanted to imbibe in the hand pies - which we ordered to go, as it was getting super late and we didn't want to be "those people keeping the restaurant staff from their homes." The hand pies were good, but the candied pistachios were what I was totally in love with.
My companion had the zucchini ramen dish, which he proclaimed was surprisingly tasty. I think he didn't know what to expect, mostly. I nibbled a bit at the dried salty seaweed flakes, which are indeed super pungent (as per our server), but quite good.
Since this is like a 3.5 experience, I'll go ahead and 4-star it. I wouldn't mind trying Fern again, but it didn't quite blow my mind. I feel like I would have been more enamored with another entree selection.
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