Great food, great drinks…greater cause.

Last night I had the amazing opportunity to attend Share our Strength’s Taste of the Nation Charlotte complements of Foodbuzz. I’m still pinching myself that I was able to attend the nation’s premier culinary event to end childhood hunger. It’s amazing what an impact people uniting & working together can have.

The Charlotte installment of this nationwide event was held at The Atrium Uptown, which is such a cool venue for an event- I love unique architecture!

The husband was my date for the evening 🙂 After we arrived, we took a few minutes to look around and scope things out.

It was a large venue, but it filled up quickly!

After taking a quick look around, we started off with a drink. I decided to be a locavore and sample our indigenous North Carolina wines. I started with a Cabernet Sauvignon from the Biltmore Reserve collection, then later in the evening I had a white wine blend from Childress Vineyards called Trio. I liked both of these wines a lot, although the Trio was a little sweet to be accompanying dinner foods.

While I sampled the local wine, the husband opted for a Stella Artois. I think he really just wanted to drink from a cool glass. 😉

The drinks were great, but we quickly learned it’s near impossible to hold a drink, a plate, AND eat. Let alone take pictures on top of all that. It was all about the food from then on out!

The first bite I sampled was shrimp with cocktail sauce from McCormick and Schmick’s. This sauce should have come with a warning! It was spiiiiicy! Absolutely packed full of flavor, but it had some roof-scalding heat!

Next up was a miso-marinated cod from MEZ, which ended up winning the “Best Hot Food” category.

These fish tacos from Bonefish Grill were one of the husband’s favorite dishes of the night.

The ways each restaurant displayed their dishes continued to impress me throughout the evening. Whoever said you taste with your eyes first wasn’t kidding.

These guys were seared tuna and poached lobster tail, each with their own dipping sauce, from Rockey River Grille. Complete with mini-fork. 🙂

Then came BrickTops‘ tuna burgers & deviled eggs. I’m not usually a burger fan, but I definitely went for the tuna variety. It was fantastic with wasabi & pickled ginger toppings.

There was definitely a tuna – wasabi- goat cheese thing going on. (Not all together…but they were definitely the prominent ingredients of the night!)

This was a beautiful display by Morton’s Steakhouse.

The International Culinary Schools at The Art Institute had an assortment of mini sandwiches. "Sandwiches" just seems like the wrong word when they’re of this caliber. 😉 This one was the chili rubbed sous vided chicken breast with housemade Grateful Growers bacon and Tega Hills micro cilantro.

At first I wasn’t sure what to do with the liquid on the side. It didn’t look like a dipping sauce, but I could be wrong. Au jus? Finally I got close enough to the table to read the sign: rosemary infused bitter English ale!

This beer was amazing, and perfectly complemented the sandwich served along side. The first taste was a little bit startling & unusual- I’m not used to herbs in my drinks! Then the flavor developed into the bitterness of hops- the transition of the taste was superb. I could have gone for a bigger glass 😉

Next up: shrimp & grits. I have to say, this was my least favorite dish of the evening. It was more like a polenta cake with a shrimp sauce on top.

You have to admit it was a nice presentation though.

The neighboring table was also serving shrimp & grits. (It’s a Carolina thing, I guess!). The 131 Main chef doing the plating promised me this would be my favorite dish of the whole evening. He did not disappoint me.

This version of shrimp & grits was probably my favorite “entree” dish of the night- that guy knew what he was talking about! I was pretty surprised since I’m not really a a grits-girl. (This may have changed my stubborn mind though.)

These little guys were probably a close runner up for title of my favorite dish. They’re from the Gallery Restaurant at the Ballantyne Hotel. In case you can’t read the sign, they were little servings of watercress salad with candied kumquat, vannilla bean cured shallot, and goat cheese. These were absolutely delicious. So many unique flavors all rolled in to one.

Enso Asian Bistro served up some fantastic sushi. It was a little dark at this point so I didn’t notice there was a huge serving of wasabi on the plate until my nasal passages were on fire and tears were almost pouring from my eyes. At least I entertained the husband with that one.

This was a seared tuna wonton from Firebirds Wood Fired Grill. I liked the tuna and the greens, but I wasn’t too big on the wonton going with the tuna. Pretty unique twist though.

The husband and I needed  a little break from all the amazing cuisine before we moved on to the dessert samples, so we went to check out the silent auction. They had a whole variety of interesting things up for auction. These were some of them: an autographed photo of Lance Armstrong, an ironic picture of the Rat Pack, and a photograph of the ‘Miracle on Ice’ team signed by all the players.

It’s amazing how far a dollar can go. You hear facts like this a lot, but when you truly think about it- it’s astonishing.

Then it was time for……the dessert round!! Most of the dishes were entrees or appetizer types, but there were a couple desserts, which of course we had to check out.

First up, a cupcake. It was cute & pretty, but the flavor didn’t do much for me. Sorry, cupcake….better luck next time.

At this point, the husband and I were sharing samples- I’m an impressive eater, but even I was getting stuffed.

Next up was a fudgy brownie wedge with vanilla ice cream & caramel sauce, another dish from Firebirds.

Then a mango panna cotta from the Gallery at Ballantyne which was really unique and very good!!

Last but not least was my all time favorite. Raspberry goat cheese ice cream in a black pepper tuile. I know, sounds scary.  That’s what I thought when the chef told me what he was serving, but I’m not easily intimated: of course I said, “plate me up!”

SO GOOD. I wish I could have had seconds. And thirds. And a whole bucket to go. It was like a rich, sophisticated raspberry cheesecake. Only better.

And that’s the perfect note to end on.

It was such a fantastic evening- it’s hard to go wrong with good food & a good cause, and they certainly didn’t go wrong!! I wish I could go back again tonight 🙂