Wednesday, August 27, 2014

Yelp Elite Event- Magical Dining Month Kickoff Party!

I was so excited for this Yelp Elite Event that I skipped my softball game for it!!  (luckily the other team forfeited, so I didn't miss much).  But anyways, it was totally worth it!

The event was to kick of Magical Dining Month.  Magical Dining Month is amazing.  There are tons of restaurants that have three course meals for only $33!  I love this promotion because I get to try tons of restaurants that I might not normally try!

I had never heard of the Church Street Ballroom before but it is absolutely GORGEOUS!  I could see so many weddings happening there! (I have never heard of this place before the event, but I honestly think that if I hadn't gotten married at Disney and had done research into venues, I would have chosen this place.  This picture doesn't do it justice but looking at weddings pictures taken here, they're breathtaking!)







Upstairs we were in a large room.

There was music being played by a wonderful musician!


And tons of food!



We started out at Cuba Libre with the Mango Mojito.


I'm not a fan of Mojitos. I don't like the mint flavored.  But I tried this because I was thirsty and it was free.  And it was delicious!  No hint of mint at all.  I might have gone back for seconds later.


You know Meghan and I had to take our traditional picture!


The pork dish was good, but a little too spicy for me.

Chef Jose was so friendly!


For dessert, they had Tres Leches cake.  My favorite desert of the night!  So so tasty!

Up next we went over to Onli to try their water which they were mixing with Tito's vodka.



 I asked for the sweetest variety they had and it tasted wonderful with the vodka.

Next we headed to Ruth's Chris Steak House.
(I've been here many times and apparently been pronouncing it wrong!  I've always said just Ruth Chris!)


We had the filet and shrimp.  The filet was pretty rare but that is exactly how I like it!  My only complaint was that the slices were too big and there were no knives so I didn't look very ladylike shoving the whole piece in my mouth at once!  Definitely didn't stop me from going back for seconds at the very end though!

We headed over to Napa.


There we had Seared Yellowtail Snapper, Preserved Lemon Risotto, Broccolini, Charred Bell Pepper Coulis



Pretty tasty!

Right by them was Fiorenzo

They were serving Vesuvio Pasta, Butternut Squash, Baby Spinach, Ricotta Salata, Fresh Pear, and Roasted Pine Nuts.


This was my favorite food of the night!  I loved the pasta with the butternut squash and cheese!  If I hadn't been so full, I would have gone back for seconds!

Up next was Hemingway's, which has special meaning to us since that's where we met Meghan at the Elite event!

They had their delicious crab cakes!


We already have plans to go there for magical dining month and I'll definitely be getting these suckers again!

Over at Siro they had three items.  For the life of me, I cannot remember the first one, even after looking at the menu.  Oops!  I remember it was good though.


The second one was their tomato salad with watermelon and burrata cheese.  I had my hands full and meant to go back so I could try the cheese, although I hate tomatoes, but I forgot.


The third one was Vanilla Bean Panna Cotta with Raspberries on top.  I also tried a bottle of the water from Onli.


The dessert was delicious but the water by itself wasn't sweet enough so I passed it off to a friend.

Puff 'n Stuff had some delicious desserts out


The chocolate one even had real gold flakes on top!

K is one of my friend's favorite restaurants


I had the Seafood "Minestrone" and the Roast Palmetto Creek Farm Pork.


The pork was pretty good.  For the Minestrone, I didn't like the broth but the seafood in it was delicious.  I found a HUGE oyster in mine!!  Score!

There was a fun twitter contest going on.  I thought mine was pretty creative.


My caption said "Onli Yelp does Magical Dining Month the Elite way."  Get it..it was a play on words from the pictures!

Our own Pam won the contest!!  She won a stay at one of the hotels and dinner for 2!!!  Woohoo!!

It was such a great night!  I was so stuffed with delicious food!  Thanks to Andi and Yelp for spoiling us once again, and to the restaurants for such great food!


2 comments:

  1. Wow, that looks awesome! How do you get to be involved in these elite yelp events?

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    Replies
    1. You have to do a bunch of reviews on Yelp and attend the regular events (which are free). Then you can be nominated to be an Elite. Its so much fun!

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