Meat on the Bone - Noodles and Edamame

My son never fails to amaze me.  My parents have been in town visiting for the past two days and we've been enjoying Asheville's restaurant selection for dinners while they have been here.  He's such a trooper and has been fighting a cough and has still been happy and excited to visit his grandparents and eat late and just generally be a great kid.

The first night we decided to pick up dinner from Luella's Barbecue on Merrimon Ave.  This was the second time I had picked up to go, and the food and the process were just as smooth as the first.  My memory of this location was that it was an unremarkable pizza joint when I was in college, and possibly because of that memory, I had kind of dismissed this new restaurant when we moved back simply because it was in that location.  Well.... that was a mistake.

If you know me, you know I am a die hard Eastern NC barbecue fan.  I didn't even know barbecue was a verb until I moved to California!  However, I can appreciate other sauces and styles, as long as I know what I'm getting into.  The pulled pork from Luella's is simple.  Pulled, not chopped, and cooked with just a very slight amount of vinegar sauce so that it's delicious just mixed with their vinegary slaw, or with the addition of mustard or tomato based sauces too.

Declan, however, prefers the St. Louis style (I can't confirm the authenticity, just the claim on their menu) dry rubbed ribs.  He always wants to know where the bone is and is SO proud of himself when he gets all the meat off.  For some reason, he refuses to keep the bones on his plate once he's done though, so I end up with a pile of bones on my plate that takes up most of the plate by the end of it all.  And he can put down some ribs.  I find the ribs are better with one of the two thicker sauces to moisten them up a bit, but the dry rub has great flavor, not too spicy, and while not quite 'fall of the bone' tender, they are definitely not tough in any way.

Sides of Fried Okra, Mac & Cheese, Collard Greens, and perfectly sweet hush puppies round out the meal.  I always feel like I'm ordering WAY to much food when I start getting pints of this and that, but it never fails that we find a way to finish it all.  And really... what's the harm in leftovers!  Declan's favorites are the fried okra and the mac and cheese, but he always gets a few good bites of collards in as well (he actually prefers the collards from Cracker Barrel of all places - less vinegary and more meaty in flavor is my guess).

While I can't comment on the service or atmosphere aside from walking in to pick up to go food, I can say that every time I have been through the door, it has felt warm and inviting, and the employees have been attentive and helpful.  I plan on returning many times, and am quite hopeful that the feeling from the staff I have gotten in my brief appearances is an indication of the dine in service as well.

Restaurant number two that we frequented during my parents' visit was Doc Chey's downtown.  This has been Declan's favorite restaurant since we have returned to Asheville.  He does very well in the noisy busy atmosphere of this restaurant.  The staff is always very aware of the fact that we are dining with a young child, and that as long as the edamame comes out quickly, it will be a pleasant experience for everyone.

We discovered last night that Declan not only loves his coconut chicken noodle soup as expected, but also the lo mein with shrimp that my mother ordered.  My husband and I tend to order fairly spicy dishes when we go to Doc Chey's, so we have always ordered the soup to share with Declan for his meal.  He LOVES the chicken, the angel hair rice noodles, and even eats the red peppers and onions that are mixed in, which he tends to avoid in other situations.  He demands the big white chinese style soup spoon, which barely fits in his mouth, but looks so cute as he pushes noodles and soup around and slurps the soup out of the spoon.  We could never have him eat at Doc Chey's in fancy clothes though.... he tends to end up fairly covered in noodles and soup by the end of it all.  Last night, I laid a napkin across the high chair and tried to block some of the drips down into his lap.  That, and the fact that he's definitely getting more adept at spoon handling actually resulted in a fairly clean eating experience... at least comparatively.

Once he finished his soup (and we had finished the rest), he started asking for more noodles.  My mother volunteered hers since mine was quite spicy (DELICIOUS... chinese black bean noodles with beef is my absolute favorite).  Hers were fresh lo mein egg noodles with vegetables and shrimp and a 'traditional' stir fry sauce.  I put some on a side plate and handed him a fork.  Nope.  After a request to move the noodles into his soup bowl, he proceeded to attack them with his white spoon.  A few comments of "Mama!!! It's not working!!" and then he figured out that these noodles worked much better when he pushed them onto the spoon with his hand.  Then "Mama!! It's WORKING!" and he proceeded to finish off two more bowls.  I kept only filling up the soup bowl about half way, thinking he must be getting full, but it just goes to show that I have no idea how much he will eat when he is entertained and the food is good.

I love that Doc Chey's finished the meal with orange slices and fortune cookies.  It's a perfect 'dessert' and they always bring plenty so Declan can have a few orange slices.  Overall, the dining experience is always smooth and pleasant when we visit Doc Chey's, and the waitstaff makes me feel very comfortable having a kid in there.  They bring him whatever he needs, and it allows me to actually feel like I can actually enjoy an adult conversation for a few minutes.  I will definitely be frequenting Doc Chey's as much as I can.  I love it, Declan loves it and therefore it is at the top of the list.