Plan to Stop at Joel’s on the Way to the Beach – Joel’s Asian Grill and Sushi

Photo from Joel's website

Susan says…

I have to thank Urbanspoon for this one.  We were headed to the Lake Norman, North Carolina area to spend the night with friends before continuing on to St. Augustine for a New Year’s vacation.  I checked the Urbanspoon app on my iPhone for Mooresville and Joel’s was the top rated restaurant.  The phone makes it very easy to obtain directions from my current location so we had no trouble finding it, just a few minutes off Interstate 77.

Previously, we have enjoyed several delicious meals at nearby Thai Lanna but I was up for exploring this evening.  There are a lot of eateries off the exits in the vacinity.  We have also frequented Monterrey Mexican Restaurant on previous trips – a favorite for my kids.  I could eat Asian food practically every day so when Joel’s popped up on my screen, I needn’t look any further.  My mind was made up. 

According to their menu, Joel was born and raised in the Lake Norman area.  The restaurant has been locally owned and operated since 2001.

Thai Lanna

Susan says…

Our second visit to Thai Lanna was as satisfying as the first.  Ron has a friend living in the Mooresville/Lake Norman area of North Carolina and we have overnighted here many times.  He suggested Thai Lanna on a previous trip after learning that we like Thai food.  Driving around exit 36 off I-77, we spotted this gem of a strip mall tenant and knew our decision was made.

The interior is nicely adorned with Thai-themed statues, florals, artwork and music.  White linen tablecloths cover all the tables and red linen napkins are artfuly folded at each place setting.

The menu has something for everyone.  Well, unless you don’t like Thai food.  And if you don’t, you probably would have steered clear of a place with “Thai” in the name.  And you’d be a fool – Thai food rocks.  The creaminess of the curries, the tender, thinly sliced meats, the HEAT!  Yowza, it’s good.

Ja-makin Me Crazy! – Jamaican Cuisine

Dan says…

Jamaican Cuisine located in the China Town of South Charleston has been Ja-Makin me crazy for several months. We have been teased by their impending opening for for awhile now. It is finally open, and I’ve been craving this authentic island food. Several readers had reported that they were suffering from new restaurant hiccups, such as no menus and off service. After giving them a couple of weeks to work the kinks out it was time for a visit. So when my good friend called me as I was leaving Kanawha State Forest and asked if I wanted to dine at Jamaican Cuisine I said, “Does Bob Marley like the Ganja!”

If Only You Could “Tie One On” at the – Thai House

Susan says…

When Thai House moved into a Winfield location, I was excited to add another restaurant to our rotation in anemic Teays Valley.  You’d think with all the dual-incomes, single incomes that don’t need a dual to help out, and those trying to keep up with the Jones’, there would be a lot more to choose from in this suburb of both Charleston and Huntington.  Not so in reality, though. 

It took me a while to get to the Thai House, mostly because I wanted to coordinate a group dinner with Misty.  When you have 4 children and 4 jobs between the two couples, synchronization can be a bit tricky.  We did meet there once, only to discover management suffered an unfortunate kitchen mishap and there would be no dinner service that evening.

We enjoyed one meal at the former location in Dunbar, noting tasty food, interesting service, and a small dining room packed with customers.  (Ron will tell you why I used “interesting”.)

Susan’s Travel Journal, Day 4 – Rice Spice Noodles

Susan says…

Drunken Vegetable Soup

Given the rainy forecast for tomorrow, today I decide to wander around the streets of Mystic, shopping and snapping photographs. 

The outing begins at noon with a meal at Rice Spice Noodles, a contemporary Thai restaurant just outside the Main Street shopping area.

Sparse inside and out, it evokes a minimalist calmness.  The “screen” door is covered in a dark gray fabric which surprised my fingertips when I grasped it.  The open dining room is full of small black tables, each one adorned with a single brightly-colored gerbera daisy in a small vase.

ReStoring the Community – Underground Kitchen

Underground Kitchen – Charleston, WV

Dan says…

I have said to several people that the internet has made the world a smaller place, but at the expense of our own communities. People are more likely to have a friend in a different state or country, but don’t even know their neighbors. Every Tuesday I Skype with friends from FL, CT, IN, AR, DC and Australia. When were setting up the Fork You blog a couple months ago, I added links to several food related sites. One of those sites was Kitchen Geeking. It was an interesting, local, food related blog. I subscribed to the feed and one day this thing called Underground Kitchen popped up in my Google Reader. It was a little like Dinner: Impossible, but for the guests. Initially I thought it was a group of trendy East Enders and getting an invitation would be as easy as getting your beverage order taken at the Power Alley Grill so I put it out of my mind. Then a website popped up, followed by a blog and then chatter on the Twitter.