Review of Britt's Donut Shop, Carolina Beach

            Since 1939, there is only one place in the Wilmington area to get a truly classic and exceptional donut, Britt’s Donut Shop.    Located on the Carolina Beach boardwalk, you can literally smell the fresh donuts from blocks away.  The closer you get, the more your mouth will water, until you can’t help but purchase donuts. 

            Their menu is about as simplistic as it can get.  They sell glazed donuts, only.  However, when you can make every bite seem more magical than the last, that’s all you need to sell.  Sure, you can get fresh brewed coffee or milk to drink, but most people tend to take their donuts out.  My preference is to set my chairs up on the beach, take in some early morning sun, and then get my donuts as soon as they open at 8:30 each morning.  Even though they seem to open later than most donut places, the wait is worth it.  And if you get there after 9:30, then trust me there will be a wait, sometimes 20-30 people deep. 

The donuts are served in a simple, white paper bag. You can order them individually, by the half-dozen, or as I prefer, a dozen at a time for only $7.  Trust me, you can never eat just one…or two.  All of the donuts are fried and turned by hand once they are golden brown.  Then, they are topped with a house-made glaze that is just sweet enough to make you drool.  The donuts are always hot, whether you are there are 8:30am or at 11pm.  They are light, fluffy, and just so amazing that they are hard to describe. 

Britt’s donuts are classic, and something this good should never be messed with.  This place is historic.  Any trip to Carolina Beach is incomplete without donuts from Britt’s.  Families for generations now have been bringing their kids to Britt’s to get fabulous donuts.  And based on the lines I saw, many, many families will continue to feed their children amazing donuts for a long, long time.  

Category	Scale 1-5 stars
Food Quality
Food Creativity
Service
Atmosphere
Value for the Price

Carolina Beach on Dwellable

Review of Olde Salty, Carolina Beach

The Olde Salty restaurant on the boardwalk of Carolina Beach has been around for 19 years.  In that time, they have definitely learned how to make great fried seafood.  Its fun, colorful atmosphere and the fact that it is only steps from the beach, make it a great place for lunch.  Inside, the bar dominates the space as it expands almost the length of the restaurant, but there are still plenty of tables for hungry patrons.  We got there upon opening at 11:30.  While that may be a little later than other places, remember, this is beach time. 

            Megan ordered the Soft-Shell Crab sandwich with fries and slaw on the side.  The crab wasbattered and fried to a perfectly dark brown, with just hints of the red, soft-shell peeking through.  It came out piping hot and on a very fresh, plain Kaiser role.  The sandwich was great.  The fried batter was crispy, yet light and was perfectly seasoned.  Every bite of the crab was amazing.  The fact that they have soft-shell crab on their menu year-round is great, even though I thought soft-shell crabs were only around part of the year.  The fries were hot and fresh with a perfect pinch of salt added.  The slaw is definitely intended to top on the sandwich, but Megan opted not to.  It was just creamy enough to hold the slaw texture while adding bits of pickle.  It is not a stand alone side, but it is a perfect accompaniment to the fried sandwich. 

I ordered the Fried Shrimp sandwich with a side of fries.  If I had to sum this up on one word, it would be Fabulous!  Last year, I was highly disappointed in a “shrimp burger” from El’s Diner in Morehead city, so I was hesitant.  I am so glad I ordered it.  The medium sized shrimp were fried in a light batter that left them thinly coated with batter, but yet perfectly crunchy.  The shrimp were very hot and filled up the sandwich roll and about half of the remaining space on the plate.  I love generous amounts of food.  I took the waitress/owner’s suggestion and got their homemade tartar sauce on the bottom half of the bun and their slaw on the top half.  The taste combination of perfectly seasoned and cooked shrimp with slaw and tartar was virtually orgasmic.  I gobbled my sandwich with glee.  The fries were a nice accompaniment, but if I could suggest a slight change to the owner, advertise them as “beach fries” or “crab fries” and season them with some Old Bay spices.  I think it could be a big draw. 

            In order to successfully write about Olde Salty, I must bring up their most newsworthy accessory.  They have a sign near the front door that says, “Screaming Children will NOT be Tolerated.”  This sign has set off a huge debate among parents and has gotten Olde Salty mentioned in news sources both locally and nationally (MSNBC, youtube, etc.).  Some people claim that it is anti-child, but that’s not what it says at all.  My take is that they realize that other diners don’t like unruly children running around and screaming.  Now most good parents will voluntarily take their child out of any situation where their child is a huge distraction, but some parents today apparently don’t care, hence the sign.  I applaud them for doing finally saying what many people have been thinking quietly to themselves.  Yes, all children are welcome at Olde Salty, but parent need to be in control of them, as they should be in any situation.  Heck, I would ask the owner to take the sign to a new level and mention that “screaming or unruly children OR adults will not be tolerated.”  While some parents are very touchy on this issue (and probably are the ones who need their child removed), most adults are level headed enough that they do not want the experience of other diners ruined by an unruly person. 

            Olde Salty is quickly becoming a Carolina Beach classic.  With their great quality, fresh food, and fun atmosphere, it is the place to take a break from the hot sun and fill up your belly.  I’ll definitely be back and trust me, for a simple, quality lunch at the beach, this is the place to go (unless you can’t control your kids). 

Category	Scale 1-5 stars
Food Quality
Food Creativity
Service
Atmosphere
Value for the Price

Carolina Beach on Dwellable

Review of Tangerine Caribbean Grill, Carolina Beach

            For a place that touts itself as bringing the Key West island magic to Carolina Beach, I expected just that.  However, I found myself feeling as though the magician’s biggest trick was a failed, simplistic card trick.  I really should take Urbanspoon’s ratings into more consideration, especially when only 33% of the people who visited Tangerine actually liked it. 

            Let’s call it like it is, the Tangerine Caribbean Grill is more of a bar than a restaurant.  The massive bar inside takes up almost half of the interior.  However, there is a patio and rooftop dining in case you prefer outdoor dining.  Inside the dining room, it is alive with color, as any Caribbean restaurant should be.  It is a fun atmosphere to dine in, with a fake palm tree in the center of the room for added ambiance. 

            For our appetizer, we ordered the Paradise Crab Dip (they need to correct the spelling on theirwebsite too, unless they are serving a Pradise Crab Dip).  It combines crab, supposedly lump, with horseradish, and melted cheeses.  It is then served with warmed pita bread.  Honestly, it was a very good dip; not the best I’ve ever tasted, but far from the worst.  There was just enough horseradish to add a mild heat to the crab, making it rather delectable.  Also, the slightly charred top surface added a nice texture difference to the melted combination underneath.  If we ever go back, we won’t, but if we ever did, I would order this again. 

            Megan ordered the Jamaican Crab Cakes.  They were, as advertised, blue crab with red and green peppers in the cake.  It mentions a roasted corn and mango salad, but on the crab were chunks of mango and a few kernels of corn.  The cakes themselves were overcooked, but they did have a decent taste to them when lightly dipped in the Dijon sauce.  For her sides, Megan got the sweet potato fries, which she said was the best part of the meal and the fried potatoes.  Neither one really deserves much writing, as I couldn’t even tell the fries were house-made.  The Crab Cake meal was decent enough that I would recommend it to someone who ventures into Tangerine, but I have no idea what makes them Jamaican other than their name. 

I ordered the Yellow fin Tuna served “Island Spiced and Seared” style.  First off, the tuna was small, very small for the $20 price.  It was seared nicely and was clearly very fresh.  That’s where the niceties end.  The Island spices were barely present.  Flavor did not exist in this dish.  Perhaps I should have tried one of the other styles like blackened or rum and citrus grilled, but I didn’t.  And if a restaurant is going to advertise island spices, then they should produce them.  My sides were pasta salad and French Fries.  The fries were without salt or seasoning and most likely came from a frozen bag.  Additionally, they were slightly undercooked.  The pasta salad was inedible.  It was multicolored rotini pasta with julienned carrots and black olive slices.  Then, what I believe was the powdered, grated Parmesan that Kraft makes, was mixed into the pasta.  No Italian dressing, no flavor of any kind, just dry, chalky pasta.  It was horrible. 

            The Tangerine Caribbean Grill has no idea what Caribbean is.  Caribbean food is about big, bold, spicy flavors.  Sure, I understand that restaurants need to pander to the moderate eaters and not the adventurous, but they need some help in a major way.  They are Caribbean in name alone.  I’ll be honest, I really wanted to like this place.  I love Caribbean food, culture, and ambiance.  But the food was just flat and uninspired.  Maybe it was the fact that we were there at about 4pm on a Sunday night, but time or day should never impact quality. 

Category	Scale 1-5 stars
Food Quality
Food Creativity
Service
Atmosphere
Value for the Price

Carolina Beach on Dwellable

Review of Circa 1922, Wilmington

            Rarely is there a restaurant where our experience was so bad that it makes me feel as though my time and money were wasted.  Circa 1922 in Wilmington is one of these restaurants, and I’d encourage everyone to avoid it.  Our best opinion is that they were overly pretentious for the sake of being pretentious. Given their reputation, I expected a great meal, but from the poorly sized, overcooked food, to the rude service, to the snooty hostess, we won’t even return here for a free meal. 

            We walked in at about five minutes after five and the hostess gave us a glance up and down that made us feel very unwelcome. Then, she asked, “Can I help you?”  Well, it is a restaurant at dinnertime, so we mention that we’d like to dine.  Then, we asked if we could sit in the bar area (as they had tapas specials at the bar).  Her response was “I guess” and led us to our table.  I’m sorry if we offended her by our desire to eat at her restaurant. 

            Once seated, we were met by our middle-aged British waiter, who was could possibly be the rudest man in the food service industry.  I’ll explain why, later in the article.  When he asked for our drink order we both said sweet tea.  His response was that “we don’t HAVE (emphasis on a drawn out have) sweet tea, but I can get you unsweetened and some sweetener.”  Nice enough, but it is rare to see a restaurant in the south that doesn’t make sweet tea.  In fact, as Megan pointed out later, all three restaurants that we have been to that did not have sweet tea, were a let-down.  Perhaps that should be our new standard, no sweet tea, we leave.  It would have saved us this experience. 

            What kind of place is this?  Looking at the menu, it seems very unfocused.  I mean, they have sushi, tapas, bar items, pastas, meats, seafood; it is like this restaurant is in the midst of an identity crisis and is going to try many foods of many origins, until they figure out their future.  Once we got a look at the tapas menu, we decided against it, instead favoring the half-price sushi menu.  We ordered the Trio of Tuna and the Lobster Roll.  The Trio of Tuna consists of 3 bites of spicy tuna roll, 3 miso-seared sashimi covered in black and white sesame seeds, and 3 pieces of tuna tartare with light crackers.  The spicy tuna roll was missing the spicy.  No sriracha or spicy mayo anywhere on this.  The seared sashimi was very fresh, but we couldn’t taste any miso.  The tartare was realistically just thin slices of sashimi, not the normal chopped tartare found elsewhere.  When Megan, the tuna lover of our couple said that the best part was the thin crackers, that isn’t a good sign.  The lobster roll was lobster with julienne mango and cucumber, then the whole roll was tempura fried.  While there were seven pieces, notice that each one is roughly half an inch thick, whereas normal sushi is almost double the width.  Then notice that the lobster and mango get smaller in amount as the roll goes on, with the end piece having no mango at all and just a hint of lobster.  Also, aside from the sweet chili sauce dip that accompanied it, there was no flavor to this sushi roll at all.  We were very glad that this was half price sushi night, because if we had to pay the full price for the amount of sushi that we received, we would have been irate. 

            For dinner, Megan couldn’t decide between the Lobster Ravioli and the Filet.  So she did what she normally does, ask the waiter for his preference.  Instead of offering a suggestion or describing the dish in better detail to help her decided, he just kept asking, “what have you eaten most recently” and saying that these are “two very different dishes.”  Wait, lobster in pasta and beef filet are different?  Really?  Come on, throughout the whole meal, he treated us like serfs, unworthy to dine at the king’s table.  When Megan even asked him what his preference of the two was, he just said that she would “have to make the decision on her own.”  Thanks a lot for your guidance.  She went with the Filet.  It was served in a tower with a rosemary polenta cake on bottom, wilted spinach in the next level, balsamic glazed mushrooms in the next, then the filet, and topped with thinly sliced onion vines.  Starting from bottom, the polenta cake was not the creamy polenta you would hope for, instead it was rather dry and the rosemary was subtle to the point of indistinguishable. The reduction sauce dressing the meat completely overpowered the polenta.  The mushrooms consisted of two slices of mushroom; believe me, we had to search for them.  Then, the medium-rare steak that Megan ordered came out without any pink whatsoever in it, meaning it was well-done.  As we normally do not send food back, Megan asked the waiter for a steak knife to cut the obviously overdone filet.  Our favorite Brit’s response was “you shouldn’t need a steak knife to cut a filet” and then he continued to the next table to pour their drinks.  Afterward, seeing Megan fuming at being insulted he walked by and said “I’ll get you one anyway though.”  Are you kidding me!?!  Yes, a filet should be tender enough to cut without a steak knife, but this one was drastically overcooked, and regardless, who is he to tell a customer that they can’t have a readily available knife. 

            I ordered the Crabmeat Cheesecake.  It comes in a bowl with a Pecorina (similar to a romano or parmesan) crust encasing the fresh blue crab and roasted garlic.  Outside of the “cheesecake” was a Champagne and brie cream sauce with a few green onions tossed in for color.  Now, when I, or probably anyone, hear cheesecake, I expect a creamy, decadent concoction served in a large slice.  This was nothing like that.  It was more of a tartlet-sized crust that was severely over baked to the point of dryness and topped with wilted sprouts and shaved cheese, probably more Pecorina.  Inside was only crab, no creamy cheese and anything remotely resembling a cake-like quality.  The cream sauce that my tart was swimming in was very bland, and I doubt even the most discerning of palates could have found a hint of champagne in it.  Honestly, I thought it was just a basic béchamel sauce of cream and flour.  It added nothing to this dish.  My biggest problem with it was the size.  It would have been great as an appetizer, not a full entrée.  Oh and it does not come with any side or anything else to help fill your starving stomach. 

            We couldn’t believe how ostentatious this place was.  They give off the reputation of fine dining, but they don’t come close to living up to the hype.   The service was rude, the food was of poor quality, and aside from the appealing décor, there was nothing redeeming about this restaurant.  Without question, it was the worst fine-dining experience we have ever had.  I really have to take pause and think before I try one of the other 5 restaurants in this dining group.  Yes, it is possible that they just had one really bad day of operation, but based on some of the other comments that are posted about Circa 1922, I doubt it.  Sure, you can eat there and make your own opinion, but if you read this far into my post, you were warned. 

Category	Scale 1-5 stars
Food Quality
Food Creativity
Service
Atmosphere
Value for the Price

Review of Mixto, Wilmington

       When you are in Wilmington, forget Mexican food!  That has been overly done.  What you really need is the Latin cuisine from Mixto. Megan and I  have never had Latin food before, and we were very excited about trying Mixto.  In addition to our desire for new cuisine, we chose Mixto due to their dog friendly patio.  See, we took our furry babies to the beach for the day, and we planned on having lunch with them.  Mixto gave us that opportunity, as well as some great food.  I can now see why Chef Eric Gephart was named best chef in Wilmington in 2010.


       To start our meal, we were brought fresh-made tortilla chips along with salsa and their house sauce.  The salsa was extremely finely chopped tomatoes, peppers, and onions.  It was very smooth and flavorful and is now one of my favorite restaurant salsas.  The house sauce is harder to describe, as our waitress said it was their secret sauce.  I know it includes vinegar, molasses, and honey along with vegetable flavors and spices, one of which I am guessing is cumin.  These are all reduced together for an amazingly sweet, yet slightly spicy sauce.  Honestly, this sauce was epic, and so different from the norm.  We also ordered the queso dip, as you can never go wrong with cheese and jalepenos.


       For our appetizer, we both ordered the Corn Sweet Potato soup.  This combines a chicken stock with pureed sweet potatoes and spices, with roasted corn in the soup.  This dish is so different from a normal soup, but like us, you will love every bite.  It is a thick soup, but aside from the corn, it is not chunky, it is just that the broth has a great density.  At this point, we realized that we were really in for a treat at Mixto.


       For my lunch, I ordered the Baja Fish Burrito.  Yes, I had heard great things about their fish tacos, but I was in the mood for a burrito, as I love rice.  This dish consists of Dos Equis Tempura-battered fish, mango, pickled pink onion, salsa verde, guacamole, rice, and black beans all wrapped in a fresh burrito.  While, I am not a fan of black beans, once I took them out, this was burrito was exceptional.  All of the fresh ingredients together made magic in my mouth.  Both Megan and I loved this burrito and would easily order it again.  
   
        Once Megan saw that their Avocado, Mango, and Crab salad won the Taste of Wilmington award, her dish was set.  It consists of mixed greens (predominantly baby spinach), diced mango and avocado, chili spiced tuna tartare, and tons of fresh crab claw meat all topped with a lemonade vinegarette.  Fresh crab and avocado is one of our favorite combinations, but when you add Megan's favorite fruit, mango, and fresh diced tuna, then I can easily understand why this is an award winning dish.  It was fabulous; I was jealous that I didn't order it myself.  Chef Gephart definitely showed off why he is one of the hottest chefs in the Wilmington area, all in that one dish.


      Our time at Mixto was great (as were our puppies who slept until the horse tour strolled by, then they were scared).  I can easily see why this is quickly becoming one of the best lunch spots in all of Wilmington.  When you can have a filling lunch that is made with exceptional quality for under $10 per person, then you have found restaurant gold.  Latin food made a huge impression on us thanks to Chef Eric Gephart, and I guarantee that we will be back.  If you are in the area and are craving Mexican, then upgrade to the Latin cuisine of Mixto and have an experience as great as ours.

Category	Scale 1-5 stars
Food Quality
Food Creativity
Service
Atmosphere on the patio
Value for the price