Ratcliffe

Restaurant: Ratcliffe On The Green

Location:
435 South Tryon Street, Suite 100
Charlotte, NC 28202

Web: ratcliffeonthegreen.com

Phone: (704) 358-9898

Price Range: Lunch $7-20, dinner $19-$27 (tasting course $50/$75)

Ratcliffe Building

Number of visits: 3
Last visit before review: June, 2007

Randy had (dinner): Tega Hills Carolina Farmhouse Salad, Baucom's Best Braised Short Rib, Haricot Vert, Baucom's Best Burger, iced tea.

Rating
10 chunks
10
(of 12)
Excellent

Randy says: After eating at the hotel Monday evening, I walked around and passed by this place. A few items on the menu looked interesting, and I noticed that none of the visible tables had ash trays. I stopped in and chatted with Zach Goodyear, one of the owners. To my amazement, not only is the restaurant entirely non-smoking, even the small bar area, but they feature locally-grown organic vegetables and meat. The chef has a small farm and grows some of the vegetables himself (as well as makes his own bacon). They've leased a few acres and are about to start a bigger farm, with the goal of having everything sourced daily. Already, they don't have a freezer, and get most produce delivered daily.

Tuesday I went to lunch with two other conference participants. They were heading to a pizza place called Fuel, mostly by default, since it is visible from the convention center. I mentioned this place, and they seemed eager to try it. One of them had the Fried Chicken Salad ("Greg's almost famous fried chicken breast tossed with Nise's speckled romaine in a buttermilk basil dressing") but with Caesar dressing. He said it was the best fried chicken breasts he'd ever had. The other had the Grilled Shrimp Salad and was quite pleased. I wasn't very hungry, so asked for a mixed green salad and a side of the Haricot Vert. I got what I later found out was the Tega Hills Carolina Farmhouse Salad from the dinner menu (it isn't listed for lunch), which to my surprise came with bacon. I found it rather sweet on account of the candied walnuts, and the bacon got to me after a while, even though I tried to avoid it. I also had iced tea, which was very nice. They offer both unsweetened or classic Southern Sweet Tea. I never did get the Haricot Vert, but I didn't need it.

I returned for dinner Tuesday. My waitress brought out the evening's amuse bouche, a cheddar cheese soup. Jeff would have loved it, but it was too rich for my tastes. As a starter, I had the salad again, this time without bacon and with uncandied walnuts. Much better! I also had the Haricot Vert and Baucom's Best Braised Short Rib, which comes with stir-fried Shittake mushrooms with pea shoots (both are from local farmers and organic). The beef also comes from a local farm, and is all-natural; fed oats and such early on, and finished with grass. The short rib (listed as an appetizer) was somewhat sweet, but quite good. It was nicely braised, and fell cleanly off the bone when I cut into it. The mushrooms and pea shoots were perfectly cooked. The Haricot Vert were more buttery than I prefer, but were also local, organic, fresh, and tasted like it. Dinner came with a handmade buttermilk biscuit (made in-house) and organic honey butter. This is one of the best buttermilk biscuits I can recall. I liked it so much I decided to order the blueberry shortcake, since it was described on the menu as fresh blueberries on a buttermilk biscuit with whipped cream. I found it rather sweet for my tastes, both because it had blueberry compote instead of fresh berries, and the whipped cream was, in my opinion, over-sweetened. Personally, I think this would work much better with fresh blueberries and whipped cream that didn't taste sweet. When you have high-quality ingredients, let them speak for themselves. Larding it up with sugar just hides the flavor.

I also chatted with my server, Abby, who recognized me from lunch. She asked if I was local or with "the convention" and I admitted that I was with the convention, and from San Diego. She had been to San Diego, and wanted to know my favorite restaurant. I had to say that until it closed recently, it was Region, and she said they were also part of the Slow Food movement, and had even hosted a Slow Food convention earlier in the year. Later, the chef who is also the other owner, Mark Hibbs, came by and said he'd heard I was from San Diego. He knew of Region, and we talked a bit about food. He told me that he and his wife had their first dinner in Charlotte in the building, which was then the restaurant Carpe Diem, and he loved the space. He told me this is one of the oldest buildings in the area, having been built in 1928. Many of the other historic buildings have been torn down when glass towers were erected during a recent boom. Wachovia moved the building across the street while they built a bank building on one side, and condominiums on the other, behind, and above it (at which point Carpe Diem relocated to what is now a stadium), refurbished it, and returned it to it's spot, now nestled inside the new structures. It also features the first neon sign in the county (which reads "Ratcliffe Flowers," the name of the original business). It is a nice, open space, with gorgeous Art Deco columns, intricate decorative moulding, and wood panels and built-ins.

Wednesday I came by for a light dinner after my evening conference call. I didn't want a big item from the regular menu, so I asked if they still had any of the salmon or organic beef burgers from lunch (since so much of their food comes in daily, they do tend to run out of things). The salmon was gone, but there was still a burger available. I started with the salad again (no bacon and with uncandied walnuts). The burger was on a flakey and nice French roll, with lettuce, tomato, and onion. I had ordered it without cheese, as I wanted to taste the burger. It came with hand-cut super-thin French fries, and a small container of ketchup. I was also offered Dijon mustard. The burger was flavorful and juicy, the fries crunchy and way too fattening for me to eat more than a few, which I did only in the interest of research, of course.

Jeff says: This place might be worth a trip to Charlotte! I really want the Manning Ranch beef -- that's what Region used to serve! The cheese soup also sounds just wonderful.

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