Tuesday night was a whirlwind of food, music and fun at the Best of Augusta celebration at the Sacred Heart Cultural Center in downtown Augusta.
It was my first time at the event orchestrated by Augusta Magazine, whose readers vote on what they think is the best of everything we have in town – including dining, shopping and local celebrities.
I wasn’t prepared for how much food there would be, but there was an abundance from some of the super fancy restaurants I’ve never tried before. Some of the samples gave me ideas for places to go for the full experience; some made me wonder what they were doing there.
With an estimated 20 vendors, a couple of buddies and I had to formulate a strategy that included going down one of the four lines at a time before taking a break to lean on a table, listen to the live music and digest the respective rounds.
The vendors included La Maison, Bee’s Knees, Partridge Inn, French Market Grille, Calvert’s, Wifesaver, Mellow Mushroom and more. A couple of places I knew I would skip were Pizza Hut, Moe’s and Publix. These are places I don’t need to try at a special once-a-year event.
I kicked off my sample adventure with She-crab soup from California Dreaming, which was hot, white, creamy and tasted like the ocean.
The next deliciously notable stops included Calvert’s with their chocolate chip bread pudding; bruschetta from Mellow Mushroom; lettuce wrap and pad thai from Bee’s Knees.
After a short break, we made it to the Partridge Inn table just in time to get the last of the grits with our shrimp, and I thanked my lucky stars. I have a love affair with shrimp and grits in general, and this version rocked my socks off. The shrimp was rich and spicy against the creamy and buttery grits. My buddy Robin could not get over how good they were, and she doesn’t even like grits. The shrimp and grits are available every Sunday for brunch I was told upon further inquiry.
Another highlight of the night was eating fried rice from Shangri-La with Brad Means of WJBF News Channel 6. Shortly after I did a review of the Chinese restaurant in January, he wrote to me saying how much he enjoyed the fried rice there as much as I do. I was thrilled to find him and let him know our favorite fried rice in town was just steps away. He was voted Augusta’s Best TV personality, and his dance moves aren’t too shabby either.
I had an amazing hush puppy from the T’s Seafood table, however it was twice the size of the fried catfish that it accompanied. T’s Seafood won top honors in the Best Seafood category.
As the night was winding down, it was time to track down some desserts. Boll Weevil was there with just three pieces of toffee chocolate cake left. Luckily, there were three of us in my group. The cake was heavenly, and I didn’t hesitate to help finish off Robin’s piece either. To top that off, I tried the pumpkin cheesecake ice cream from Bruster’s.
A few things didn’t turn out as great. I wasn’t planning on hitting up the Publix table, but my friend Channing was very unhappy with the chicken tenders and wings they had there. They weren’t hot or even room temperature; they were ice cold, according to him and some others at the event.
TBonz, which earned the award for the Best Steak again, perplexingly had all kinds of meat except steak. They were serving up chili and a chicken, shrimp and sauce concoction leaving us to wonder, “where’s the beef?”
Overall, it was a marvelous evening. Making new friends in line for the samples, asking the experts what everything was and savoring each bite was so much fun. Too bad this even only comes once a year.
Check out more Spotted photos from the event.
