Durham organic spa

This post is a little late coming, but better late then never, right? For mother's day this year (my first ever), I was gifted a massage, a brow wax and facial at a new organic spa in our beloved bull city, Orchid. What's an organic spa, you might ask? Well, they only use organic products. So for my facial, I was treated to masks, etc. made of all natural ingredients. No harsh chemical peels or acids that will give you cancer ;)

The location is the only negative feedback on the place. The staff was friendly. The services were professional, relaxing and not cut even a minute short. The atmosphere is relaxing and clean. Being directly at the intersection of Chapel Hill road and University drive though, makes for a massage not as relaxing as it could be. The cinderblock walls didn't do much to dampen the sound of cars whizzing by. Eventually I tuned them out and really enjoyed my massage.

My custom facial was fantastic and so was my brow wax. Jennifer took her time doing a personal skin analysis and studying the arch of my brows before proceeding with both services. I'd really like to see this place succeed, but perhaps another location would be more ideal? And if you're in the market for a massage, I'd still recommend Christine Hughes for the Durham and Chapel Hill area. She's got a location much more conducive for relaxation, decades of experience, and no, I'm not biased just because we're related ;)

411 West - Franklin Street, Chapel Hill

Friday night we had dinner at 411 West. A meal there never disappoints. We shared the crab cake special for the appetizer which had 3 lovely little crab cakes on a bed of baby greens with watermelon gazpacho and citrus oil. It was very tasty.

For my entree I ordered the scallop special. Four pan seared scallops were served around a pile of roasted fingerling potatoes, covered with apple-fennel slaw and topped with a tarragon yogurt drizzle. The apple slaw was the star of this dish for me, though everything complimented each other. The acidity of the vinegar in the slaw was perfectly balanced by the natural sugars in the apple. The thinly sliced red onion was softened and played nicely with the crisp julienned apples. I am not a huge fennel fan and I didn't even notice it in the slaw so it was perfect to me. The slaw was perfectly balanced by the buttery earthiness of the fingerling potatoes and the lightly seasoned scallops were brought to another level with the creamy tarragon yogurt.

For dessert we shared the Guinness chocolate and it was awesome. It had homemade chocolate chip ice cream and homemade sugared peanuts. It sounds overly sweet, but it actually was yet again, a perfect balance of flavors.

They were noticeably busy with the return of students, but our service was good and all of our food came out of the kitchen promptly and served warm. I was perfectly pleased!