7/21/11 Lunch.
This is our second trip to Elija's. We again ate lunch here. I think we like it because it has that perfect blend - nearby, easy to get to walking from the Hilton, good food, nice view, good atmosphere.
Today we ate at the bar. We both had crabcake sandwiches. My wife had spotted this on the menu yesterday, but it turned out they were only on the bar menu, not on the main dining area menu.
These were large crabcakes, with filler. They may have been 1 inch thick! The sauce was very spicy - too much so for my wife, but just my cup of tea.
They were serving Yingling bottled beer on special, so we each had that for our drink.
A really strong thunderstorm blew in while we were there, so we extended our stay about an extra hour, having another Yingling each.
The tab, with tip and taxes, came to about $38.
See other Elija's review for links.
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Dining Review - Ruth's Chris Steakhouse, Wilmington NC
Tuesday, 7/20/11 - Last night, in celebration of our 36th anniversary, we dined at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse in Wilmington, NC.
The restaurant is located within the Hilton Hotel of Wilmington.
Our reservations were for 8:00 PM. We arrived promptly at 8. We were seated in a corner location that proved to be very cool, as it funneled all of the cold air from the various cold-air registers into the corner then down to our table. It was a little bit much, but not too bad.
Our waitress, Brook, was very pleasant and professional. She presented the night's specials to us, along with some personal suggestions.
We opted for salads (I chose Ruth's special salad at approximately $11, and a regular salad for my wife at about $9). We each chose Filet of Tenderloin; my wife got the petite at about $36, and I chose the regular size filet at $40. We each chose to have our steaks cooked medium-rare. At Brook's suggestion, we also chose mac-and-cheese with lobster bits - I think this was about $12.50, but couldn't locate my receipt. We added a bottle of Pinot Noir at $85. For dessert, I had cheesecake, while my wife chose creme brulee, along with French-press coffee. We were also presented with a complimentary slice of chocolate cake for our anniversary. Since I don't have all of my receipts, I can't give a complete individual item breakdown. However, with tax, the bill came in at $233.42. We added $46 for the tip, for a total of $279.
We both enjoyed the salads. Mine was totally different from anything I had before; it was julienne and placed into a mold; it was interesting and I enjoyed it.
The steaks were cooked precisely to our desired temperature of medium-rare. This is aged beef, so it was fork tender. It was USDA Prime. It was exactly what I would expect for a premier steakhouse. The outer sides were blasted with high heat to form a light crust, while the interior was uniform in its color and temperature. I did software development for Bern's Steakhouse in Tampa FL, so am familiar with how a great steak should be cooked. This was on-target, and the meat was a top cut. We were both very pleased with our steaks. I requested sea-salt instead of the regular table salt, and it was delivered to me in a side dish to add to our steaks.
Our desserts were very good. The extra chocolate cake, which we could only sample because we had already eaten the other desserts, was also good.
The only disappointment was the coffee. We are used to being served really great coffee at a premium restaurant, but this was not up to snuff. Brook brought a 2nd pot to us, but it was only slightly better. I'm not an expert on preparing coffee, but I expect the beans were not as high of quality as we are used to being served.
Summary: We enjoyed the dining experience, our server was very good, the food was excellent, our steaks were prepared spot-on, and the wine was incredible. We would be happy to return for a future special occasion.
Ruth's Chris Steakhouse link
TripAdvisor Reviews
The restaurant is located within the Hilton Hotel of Wilmington.
Our reservations were for 8:00 PM. We arrived promptly at 8. We were seated in a corner location that proved to be very cool, as it funneled all of the cold air from the various cold-air registers into the corner then down to our table. It was a little bit much, but not too bad.
Our waitress, Brook, was very pleasant and professional. She presented the night's specials to us, along with some personal suggestions.
We opted for salads (I chose Ruth's special salad at approximately $11, and a regular salad for my wife at about $9). We each chose Filet of Tenderloin; my wife got the petite at about $36, and I chose the regular size filet at $40. We each chose to have our steaks cooked medium-rare. At Brook's suggestion, we also chose mac-and-cheese with lobster bits - I think this was about $12.50, but couldn't locate my receipt. We added a bottle of Pinot Noir at $85. For dessert, I had cheesecake, while my wife chose creme brulee, along with French-press coffee. We were also presented with a complimentary slice of chocolate cake for our anniversary. Since I don't have all of my receipts, I can't give a complete individual item breakdown. However, with tax, the bill came in at $233.42. We added $46 for the tip, for a total of $279.
We both enjoyed the salads. Mine was totally different from anything I had before; it was julienne and placed into a mold; it was interesting and I enjoyed it.
The steaks were cooked precisely to our desired temperature of medium-rare. This is aged beef, so it was fork tender. It was USDA Prime. It was exactly what I would expect for a premier steakhouse. The outer sides were blasted with high heat to form a light crust, while the interior was uniform in its color and temperature. I did software development for Bern's Steakhouse in Tampa FL, so am familiar with how a great steak should be cooked. This was on-target, and the meat was a top cut. We were both very pleased with our steaks. I requested sea-salt instead of the regular table salt, and it was delivered to me in a side dish to add to our steaks.
Our desserts were very good. The extra chocolate cake, which we could only sample because we had already eaten the other desserts, was also good.
The only disappointment was the coffee. We are used to being served really great coffee at a premium restaurant, but this was not up to snuff. Brook brought a 2nd pot to us, but it was only slightly better. I'm not an expert on preparing coffee, but I expect the beans were not as high of quality as we are used to being served.
Summary: We enjoyed the dining experience, our server was very good, the food was excellent, our steaks were prepared spot-on, and the wine was incredible. We would be happy to return for a future special occasion.
Ruth's Chris Steakhouse link
TripAdvisor Reviews
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Dining Review - Elihja's Restaurant, Wilmington NC
7/20/11: we had our 36th anniversary lunch on the water at Elija's Restaurant in Wilmington, NC today.
We wanted somewhere that had the potential for good food, was on the water, and where we could have a view. Elija's satisfied all of the above.
We arrived about 1:30 PM on a Tuesday; they were surprisingly busy, we thought, for mid-day, mid-week.
We entered from the water boardwalk side, which placed us into the bar area. We went to the front to leave our names for a table, then returned to the bar where we had a drink while waiting for our water-view table.
The ambiance is nice, and all rooms are decorated in a nautical style.
I asked about Single Malt Scotch, and they only had one, McClelland's. This is not my favorite (I prefer peaty scotches from the Islay area, Lagavulin, Laphroaig, Ardbeg, as well as Talisker. They wanted $9.50 for it. I passed.
My wife and I each had a gin & tonic. They were cold and good. They were $6.50 each.
After a very short wait, we were shown to our tables. As promised, we had a water-view table.
Our server arrived promptly, and took our orders for another round of gin & tonic. While she went to obtain those, we chose our lunch.
For an appetizer, we chose the 'hot crab dip'. We both enjoyed it a great deal.
For our lunch, we each chose the fried oyster sandwich, which comes with french fries. We thought they did a good job with frying the oysters. However, almost every bite I had contained small pieces of oyster shell, while my wife said she never had any. I've eaten fried oysters everywhere, all of my life, and this is the most oyster shell I have ever encountered! In my opinion, they probably didn't wash the oysters off properly before breading them to fry.
The total bill came to about $65.00 for lunch, which included the two fried oyster sandwiches, one hot crabdip appetizer, and 4 gin & tonic drinks (2 each), plus tip.
We enjoyed our view, the interior, the service, the drinks, and the food.
In summary: we would come back for lunch or dinner.
Restaurant's website
TripAdvisor Reviews
We wanted somewhere that had the potential for good food, was on the water, and where we could have a view. Elija's satisfied all of the above.
We arrived about 1:30 PM on a Tuesday; they were surprisingly busy, we thought, for mid-day, mid-week.
We entered from the water boardwalk side, which placed us into the bar area. We went to the front to leave our names for a table, then returned to the bar where we had a drink while waiting for our water-view table.
The ambiance is nice, and all rooms are decorated in a nautical style.
I asked about Single Malt Scotch, and they only had one, McClelland's. This is not my favorite (I prefer peaty scotches from the Islay area, Lagavulin, Laphroaig, Ardbeg, as well as Talisker. They wanted $9.50 for it. I passed.
My wife and I each had a gin & tonic. They were cold and good. They were $6.50 each.
After a very short wait, we were shown to our tables. As promised, we had a water-view table.
Our server arrived promptly, and took our orders for another round of gin & tonic. While she went to obtain those, we chose our lunch.
For an appetizer, we chose the 'hot crab dip'. We both enjoyed it a great deal.
For our lunch, we each chose the fried oyster sandwich, which comes with french fries. We thought they did a good job with frying the oysters. However, almost every bite I had contained small pieces of oyster shell, while my wife said she never had any. I've eaten fried oysters everywhere, all of my life, and this is the most oyster shell I have ever encountered! In my opinion, they probably didn't wash the oysters off properly before breading them to fry.
The total bill came to about $65.00 for lunch, which included the two fried oyster sandwiches, one hot crabdip appetizer, and 4 gin & tonic drinks (2 each), plus tip.
We enjoyed our view, the interior, the service, the drinks, and the food.
In summary: we would come back for lunch or dinner.
Restaurant's website
TripAdvisor Reviews
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Dining Review - 22 North Restaurant, Wrightsville Beach NC
7/19/11: We will be having dinner there tonight. Will update this page with the review.
7/20/11: Review:
Restaurant's website: http://www.22north.net/
Chef Brent Poteat's comments (video)
7/20/11: Review:
- Insight: I feel that it's important to understand that this restaurant is on an resort island, where real estate is at a premium, and where businesses have only 3 months to make their profits for a year. Because of this, prices are higher than they would be on the mainland, and issues, such as parking, are inherently going to be difficult for a merchant to resolve. E.g., the bigger the parking lot, the more premium land that has to be purchased, and the higher the prices will have to be to offset this investment. So, with that, let's go!
- Ride over to Wrightsville from Wilmington is an easy drive.
- Parking is difficult to find near the restaurant, but we managed, so you can too.
- Prices: given the insight above, I thought they were reasonable.
- Appetizers - we had two; bacon wrapped scallops, and crabcake. My wife liked both. In my opinion, I found the bacon to be overcooked and crispy, which overpowered the scallops, which I also thought were overcooked. In my opinion, the crabcake also had something in it that overpowered the crab. I liked both apps, but felt they could have been better.
- We both had the Wahoo fish. My wife liked hers. In my opinion, mine was slightly overcooked (my wife also agrees), but we both thought they were good.
- Service: a little spotty, but OK overall.
- Wait for food: reasonable
- Impression: Overall, we would go back.
Restaurant's website: http://www.22north.net/
Chef Brent Poteat's comments (video)
Experiencing Wilmington NC
This will be the master link to reviews of restaurants, hotels, and attractions we dine at, stay at, and visit while on our 36th anniversary trip to Wilmington NC.
We intend to try as many of the places noted by the local newspaper as being among the best in town, while running it by restaurant and other reviews in TripAdvisor and Google.
DINNING
GIFT SHOPS
We intend to try as many of the places noted by the local newspaper as being among the best in town, while running it by restaurant and other reviews in TripAdvisor and Google.
DINNING
- 7/19/11 Dinner: 22 North Restaurant, Wrightsville Beach, NC. 22 North Restaurant, Wrightsville, NC
- 7/20/11 Lunch: Elija's Restaurant, Wilmington NC (on the Cape Fear waterway).
- 7/20/11 Dinner: Ruth's Chris Steakhouse, Wilmington NC (in the Hilton at Wilmington on the Cape Fear River).
- 7/21/11 Lunch: Elija's Restaurant, Wilmington NC (on the Cape Fear waterway).
- 7/21/11 Dinner: Dock Street Oyster Bar, Wilmington NC.
GIFT SHOPS
- A Proper Garden. This is located one block off the waterfront area of Wilmington. This had a lot of interesting items that were both unusual as well as original. There was a garden theme to a lot of these items. My wife bought some candles that are inserted into a wine bottle from here.
- Creations by Justine. These are art objects that are created by three ladies. They are all very unusual. I haven't seen items like these anywhere else, in any city. We thought they were very reasonably priced. We bought a couple of wine bottle stoppers (one a shark with a hat smoking a cigar, the other a shark with a foot sticking out of its mouth), as well as a 'mushroom' for a potted plant. We liked a lot of what we saw, but couldn't quite figure out where we could put it in our house, so we passed on items we really liked.
- Una Luna World Gallery. Also down by the water, one block off. This too had a lot of interesting and original pieces. We found a bar and two stools that we thought would look great on our back porch, but didn't feel that we wanted to put that much into them. The bar stools, each hand-made, from Wando SC, were hand tooled leather. Looked great, well made, and a piece of art unto themselves. We didn't feel that the $495 price for each was too much, but it was more than we wanted to put into bar stools. The bar top was a big slab of Oak suspended over two wooden wine barrels. I didn't price the bar, since the stools were past our budget.
- Crescent Moon. This is in the Cotton Exchange, across from the Wilmington Hilton, where we are staying (we have a river view). They had very pretty pottery, hand crafted art-glass and metal sculptures. My wife felt their prices were very reasonable.
LODGING
The Good: We stayed at the Wilmington Hilton, which is on the river. We felt it was reasonably priced, and the room we had (river view) was a nice room. Nothing fancy. The King bed had 'memory foam' mattress, and we both liked it very much. I stayed here once in 1974! It's been updated some since then, so it looks freshened. It has wide-open (not secured) wifi. It also had a hard wired connection, but I didn't have a cable and they didn't supply one. I set up the Ipad for my wife on this, while I used my secure Verizon Wireless broadband card for my laptop for stock transactions. We plan on eating at Ruth Chris' Steakhouse for our anniversary, which is located at the hotel. Parking is available off-street, but you have to pay for it. The hotel is convenient to the tourist stuff down by the water.
The Bad: Somehow, our room didn't get serviced by the maid service this morning. We did have a 'do not disturb' sign out first thing, but later removed it while they were still servicing our floor. Maybe that was the reason....anyway, we called at 4:00 PM to have our garbage removed and new towels, etc delivered. We called back at 5:00 PM and commented that we needed to shower and get ready for going out, so we needed our linens delivered. It's 5:30 now, still no one has come by with our linens. I'm on the phone with the 'guest services' person right now to let her know I'm coming into the lobby with the dirty linens and garbage in 10 minutes to drop it off. Update: the management came up while I was putting my shoes on to present my garbage and linens to the lobby. He apologized, and presented us with free breakfast passes in the hotel for our troubles.
The Bad: Somehow, our room didn't get serviced by the maid service this morning. We did have a 'do not disturb' sign out first thing, but later removed it while they were still servicing our floor. Maybe that was the reason....anyway, we called at 4:00 PM to have our garbage removed and new towels, etc delivered. We called back at 5:00 PM and commented that we needed to shower and get ready for going out, so we needed our linens delivered. It's 5:30 now, still no one has come by with our linens. I'm on the phone with the 'guest services' person right now to let her know I'm coming into the lobby with the dirty linens and garbage in 10 minutes to drop it off. Update: the management came up while I was putting my shoes on to present my garbage and linens to the lobby. He apologized, and presented us with free breakfast passes in the hotel for our troubles.
Overall: We would return.
ENTERTAINMENT
River Cruise. On Thursday, 7/21/11, we went on the noon river cruise. We chose the larger ship "Henrietta III" for our cruise. It was $15 each, as we opted to skip the onboard lunch. We are glad we did, as it didn't look all that interesting to us later when we saw it onboard. However, the cruise itself, which lasted 1.5 hours, was a lot of fun. While going against the wind, we sat on the rear covered deck. The outside temperature on this day was around 97 dF, and we were OK while going against the wind. However, on the return back to the dock, we were going with the wind, which meant we didn't have any wind at all; we ended up moving inside to the air conditioned sitting. This is an important consideration if you are going in extreme temperature conditions, such as hot hot summer! We first headed north for a brief ways (upriver) before turning around and heading downstream towards the ocean. We went under the bridge, and up to the state-ports area before turning around to come back to the dock. We enjoyed it very much.
Note: the city offers a lot more in the way of entertainment, but we opted to limit our entertainment venues. The heat index during our stay was 115!
CRIME
Crime near the waterfront in the tourist section appears to be a problem, based upon city information supplied by the local newspaper. Here's the link to a map. We noticed the crime mainly consisted of car break-ins. During our stay, we never had any issues or problems. While the potential to be crime victims concerned us, we took steps to avoid problems:
TRIP SUMMARY: Since both Charleston and Savannah are closer to our home, we think we would opt to go to one of those waterfront cities instead of Wilmington, so we probably won't be back this way anytime soon. However, if the city of Wilmington is closer for you, then I would certainly recommend it.
ENTERTAINMENT
River Cruise. On Thursday, 7/21/11, we went on the noon river cruise. We chose the larger ship "Henrietta III" for our cruise. It was $15 each, as we opted to skip the onboard lunch. We are glad we did, as it didn't look all that interesting to us later when we saw it onboard. However, the cruise itself, which lasted 1.5 hours, was a lot of fun. While going against the wind, we sat on the rear covered deck. The outside temperature on this day was around 97 dF, and we were OK while going against the wind. However, on the return back to the dock, we were going with the wind, which meant we didn't have any wind at all; we ended up moving inside to the air conditioned sitting. This is an important consideration if you are going in extreme temperature conditions, such as hot hot summer! We first headed north for a brief ways (upriver) before turning around and heading downstream towards the ocean. We went under the bridge, and up to the state-ports area before turning around to come back to the dock. We enjoyed it very much.
Note: the city offers a lot more in the way of entertainment, but we opted to limit our entertainment venues. The heat index during our stay was 115!
CRIME
Crime near the waterfront in the tourist section appears to be a problem, based upon city information supplied by the local newspaper. Here's the link to a map. We noticed the crime mainly consisted of car break-ins. During our stay, we never had any issues or problems. While the potential to be crime victims concerned us, we took steps to avoid problems:
- We removed everything from our car, and parked it in a highly visible area.
- We did not walk around after dark. Instead, we drove anywhere we were going to go.
- We walked to and ate in the area for lunch, and drove out of the area for dinner.
TRIP SUMMARY: Since both Charleston and Savannah are closer to our home, we think we would opt to go to one of those waterfront cities instead of Wilmington, so we probably won't be back this way anytime soon. However, if the city of Wilmington is closer for you, then I would certainly recommend it.
Banjo
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