Restaurant Reviews By Chef Paul

January 21, 2010

The Wine Cellar & Bistro

Here we go driving up Highway 321 looking for a restaurant to stop at for lunch. I always head toward the downtown area of Lenoir for a good meal. My friends and I see the Wine Cellar and Bistro and decide to have lunch. 

Lenoir has been devastated lately with the furniture layoffs but the culinary aspect has exploded thanks to the Culinary Technology Program at CCC&TI. The Bistro has given people in Lenoir an option of fine dining with a great wine selection for over a year now. Not known by many folks, they have been putting out quality upscale cuisine lately. 

When you walk in the aroma of fresh brewed coffee hits you. Then after being seated, the menu and wine list make you feel as if you were in uptown Charlotte or Atlanta. I enjoyed being in a historic building with character, too. Our server tells us about the soup and sandwich of the day and I am impressed with the selection at hand. A fresh tomato soup with a crunchy chicken and cheese quesadilla catch my eye quickly. 

I chose the quesadilla because I have made thousands. It’s the test of a restaurant kitchen. So a quesadilla as a Special had better be perfect. They did not let me down one bit, it was hot and fresh. The chicken and cheese melted beautifully in the hot and crisp tortilla, and the salsa brought everything together. My companions at lunch dined on the vegetarian sandwich which looked as appetizing as my quesadilla. After this fine lunch we were ready for the full day ahead!

So in downtown Lenoir check out the Wine Cellar and Bistro. They are making a name for themselves and I am glad the fork in the road led us their way.  128 Main Street NW, Lenoir, NC.

Village Inn

I have not written this column for very long. However, here is a bad story with a happy ending. My fondest memories as a child were going with my parents to the Village Inn Pizza Parlor. We had great salad and great pizza and it was better than going to Disney World. Then some evil person burned the pizza parlors down. Shame on you, pizza haters, you should go to a bad place. Thankfully the good people at Village Inn put a restaurant at 2467 Springs Road, Hickory.

Village Inn has the best pizza on the earth!! I recently went to the lunch buffet and loved it. First of all, the place is so clean you could eat off the floor, and the people are very nice. Their salad bar has got to be the best in Hickory, it is so fresh. They have a person tend it every few minutes and it is as clean and cold as I have ever seen. 

The selection of thin crust and thick crust on the buffet should make all pizza lovers happy. I love Canadian bacon and it was there. They had all types of pizza and none of them were cold. That is usually the problem: cold pizza. Trust Chef Paul, this is the best pizza buffet around. I put my reputation on it. I even bought a pizza to go for my  wife, who really knows good Italian food. Thank you for rebuilding Village Inn. Good job!