Three chicks walk into a Gastropub....

Last night I ventured off the mountain for a What If Greenville party thrown by Greenville Forward and OrangeCoat at Main Street Real Estate Gallery.  After a bit of preparty beverage and catching up at Josie's house, three of us set out for some crowd mingling.  I'm a chatterbox (go figure), so when the girls were ready to go, they had to drag me away from the forest of colorful balloons and sea of interesting people I hadn't gotten around to meeting yet. With our new yellow What If Greenville t-shirts in hand, we headed to Nose Dive Gastropub.  It's Foodie Fest week in Greenville, so the best of the best chefs are offering up special menus: one appetizer, a main course and a dessert for $30.  (We opted to taste our way through the regular menu instead.)   Nose Dive has a wine club called the Sniffer Society which offers two-three wine selections a month for $30-$50 ( you only have to purchase 6 out of 12 months... a pretty good deal!)  I ordered one of the August selections: the Maysara Roseena Rose, an Oregon Blush (but the waitress brought me a Savingon Blanc, which I quickly identified as NOT a blush, but sampled anyway) before sending back.  When the Rose arrived, it had a little more sour bite than I expected. It reminded me of summer almost ripe cherries, but it was nice.   The whole idea behind Nose Dive's fare is Northern comfort food. We started with a Maryland Crab Pretzel.   Think soft pretzel drenched in creamy deviled crab with melted white cheddar.  It was a weird little greasy concoction, but tasty and interesting. Next we sampled the Scotch Egg. I have to admit I went to Nose Dive's preview night when they first opened and I wasn't impressed with their fare... especially this dish, but tonight it was right on target.  For those who don't know, a scotch egg is basically a hard boiled egg encased in sausage.  Nose Dive's egg is encased in panko crusted rich in-house sausage, and it's topped with celery root remoulade. The dish is finished off with roasted red pepper puree. There was a good blend of spices in the sausage this time and it worked well with the celery root, but this is a HEAVY dish and definitely meant to be shared.

One of my cohorts ordered a sandwich that came with a thick cilantro pumpkin seed dressing. Everyone at the table sampled, and sampled again.  I also ordered Oxtail Tacos.  I've never eaten oxtail.  It was like a rich, heavy bbq.  The presentation was pretty cool. A DIY plate: steaming hot soft corn tortillas, a pile of crispy corn chips, a dish of spot on guacamole, a salad of cabbage and jalapeno, cilantro, lime, a bowl of pico de gallo and a big warm dish of shredded oxtail.   When assembled, a very nice taco, but super drippy.  

Dessert.  Ah, dessert.  And of this meal, the highlight!  Quite possibly the best dessert I've had out in a long time.  First, a story:  I was a massage therapist in one of my previous incarnations.  One of my clients was an old goat.  An actual. Old. Goat.  He was walking on his front knees a lot, so his owner called me in to get the big guy back on his feet.  He stunk.  Thus, when I eat goat cheese, I smell goat.  Old goat. So I'm not a big fan.  BUT.  The two goat cheese dishes I have eaten at Table 301 restaurants have turned me around a bit.  The fried goat cheese with pistachio dust and honey drizzle at Lazy Goat, and now the Goat Cheese Cheese Cake with Lemon Curd and Berries at Nose Dive.  We ordered two slices for the table and three of us inhaled them.  It had none of the pungent elements of goat cheese I hate.  It was just dense and smooth and mild.  Perfect.  With a full belly and satisfied heart, I made my way back to la casa de Livengood, fell asleep quickly, and dreamed of Bill Cosby and bees... we'll discuss another time.