Visitors to Red Mango on Monday found this sign on the door. (David Boraks/DavidsonNews.net)

By DAVID BORAKS
DavidsonNews.net

After a year in business, the Red Mango frozen yogurt shop in Davidson Commons has shut its doors, citing high costs and disappointing sales. The local owners say they also won’t reopen a second shop off N.C. 73 in Huntersville that had closed for the winter.

The Davidson shop served its last customer on Saturday, then posted a sign saying “Sorry, Out of Business.” Continue Reading

Award-winning “farm-to-fork” chef Deborah Madison is spending two days at Davidson College this week, with meals open to the public. See below.

Davidson Beverage Co. will host another beer & chocolate tasting this Friday. Meanwhile, a group of Cornelius eateries is joining hands in the first “United We Dine” fundraiser for the United Way, on Friday, Nov. 16. Community School of Davidson High School on Armour Street is organizing a Food Truck Rally, on Friday, Nov. 16 as well, to celebrate the groundbreaking for a big renovation. Restaurants in Charlotte and the Lake Norman area will celebrate National Hospice Month in November with “Dining Out for Hospice.”And in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, local restaurants with ties in the Northeast are holding fundraisers to help with storm relief funds. Continue Reading

Chris Coleman of the Market Kitchen worked on his chicken and sweet potato hash. More photos below. (David Boraks/DavidsonNews.net)

By DAVID BORAKS
DavidsonNews.net

It was the Davidson Farmer’s Market’s version of Iron Chef: Competitors at Saturday’s 2nd annual Winter Market Chef Challenge were handed a box of ingredients from market farmers and given an hour to create something that would tickle market-goers’ palates.

Zack Renner (left) and Joe Kindred of Roosters were the crowd favorites. (David Boraks/DavidsonNews.net)

When the judging was over, Joe Kindred from Roosters Wood Fired Kitchen in Charlotte came out on top. He delivered a tasty Potato Gnocchi with Chef Charles’ chicken apple sausage, kale and goat cheese; and an Autumn Harvest Salad of beets, kohlrabi, and sweet potatoes. Continue Reading

Jeweled beet and arugula salad. (Nikki Sawyer Moore photo)

In honor of election day, I thought I would present a recipe for the one ingredient that might be more divisive and polarizing than politics: beets. There are no undecideds when it comes to this earthy, root vegetable. You either love them or abhor them. Those who recoil at the mere mention of this jeweled vegetable have all sorts of techniques for not eating them.

I’ve seen beets be carefully hidden under lettuce leaves, meticulously picked out of vegetable medleys, and scooted, neurotically, back and forth until the plate and its offending contents are cleared. Think I’m exaggerating? Serve beets at your next dinner party and watch half your guests regress back to their 7-year old selves. Continue Reading

Guests at last year’s Davidson Farmer’s Market Winter Market Chef Challenge sample the chef’s creations. This year’s competition is Saturday. (Davidson Farmer’s Market photo)

This Saturday, Nov. 3, marks the first day of Davidson Farmer’s Market’swinter season, and the market celebrates with its 2nd Annual Winter Market Chef Challenge. Five local chefs will prepare dishes using four mystery ingredients from the market to be unveiled when they arrive.

Competitors are Anthony Ascanio of Flatiron Kitchen & Taphouse; Chris Coleman, The Market Kitchen; Alyssa Gorelick; Nicolas Daniels, The Wooden Vine Wine Bar & Bistro; and Joe Kindred, Roosters Kitchen. Continue Reading

Squid ink linguine makes a fitting Halloween dish. (Nikki Sawyer Moore photo)

Peeled grapes for eyeballs and cold noodles for brains are what I think of when it comes to food at Halloween.  I’ll never forget helping to carefully peel dozens of grapes for the haunted garage that was painstakingly created by my parents for my brother’s October birthday years ago.

Visitors to our haunted garage would insert their hands through holes cut into black fabric and find themselves touching eyeballs (the grapes) and brains (the slippery noodles).  This combined with a creepy soundtrack, lots of cobwebs, and my father dressed up as the Devil made for an unforgettable party that was perhaps a bit too intense for my brother and his first grade friends, many of whom emerged from the haunted garage in tears. Continue Reading