Dear OnlyBurger,
Thank you for a grilled-onion-cheddar-laden burger complete with handcut fries. You made my workday. I've missed you! I promise not to stay away so long next time.
Seriously, if you haven't checked out onlyburger, do yourself a favor next time you have a hankering for a burger but don't want to sit down in a restaurant. Today was the perfect day to take advantage of an outside lunch! They take phone orders and you can always find them via their website and twitter.
Life has been busy.
We survived the holidays and had fun celebrating them for the first time with our rapidly growing baby girl. We've enjoyed watching her accomplish milestones and at the same time have been saddened by how quickly she's becoming a girl, and not so much of a baby anymore. Oh and did I mention she decided to get mobile exactly 2 weeks before we had to pick up everything and move?!
We decided to try to sell our house after much encouragement from our phenomenal realtor/friend. Much to our surprise, it was under contract in 2.5 weeks, the week of Christmas nonetheless. It was a pleasure to pass our family's first home on to a couple who truly fell in love with it. I know they'll take good care of it. We bought a bigger home, in a quieter area with more land. Though I miss being so close to downtown, we hardly ever actually dine at restaurants and it's just as easy to live the extra 10 minutes away and grab takeout on the way home for date night. Oh and have I mentioned the quiet? No bass-thumping, lawn-parking neighbors to speak of. Our first weekend in our new home we were greeted by our next door neighbors with a plate of homemade cupcakes, and our neighbors across the street offering to shovel our driveway. Niiiiiiiiice.
Last weekend we settled in more, hanging things on the wall and even getting out to do a little shopping. Our new home feels like home and I think life is beginning to slow to an almost manageable pace again.
**Shameless plug**
I am attempting to further my photography passion (and hopefully make a little extra money) by doing portraits. I've got a studio space in the new house complete with lighting and backdrops. If you need some photos taken, consider using me!! There are plenty of photos on this blog, but if you'd like to view a few samples, you can do so here.
Friday night I got take-out from Backyard BBQ Pit #2. While this restaurant is not my idea of a great place to dine-in, the take out was GREAT! They have an extensive selection, the food was hot, good and extremely reasonably priced.
We got 2 small BBQ plates which come with 2 sides and hushpuppies. Between the two plates we had well over a pound of barbeque, homemade baked mac and cheese, homemade collards (not from a can), black eyed peas and green beans. All of the sides were fantastic. The mac and cheese was amongst the best I've had out in the area. It was filled with gobs of cheddar, no slimy velveeta sauce. The portions of barbeque were huge and more then we could finish. My husband wasn't wild about the sweeter sauce that came on the side (he prefers vinegary), but I thought it was great on the 'que.
All of this for $12 made one of our cheapest "date nights" on the couch ever.
I snapped this with my phone last week and had forgotten about it until just now. I was making my normal trip home and had to do a double take. It's not everyday one sees a gazebo driving up Duke Street.
I'm headed out to the new West End Wine Bar in Durham tonight. Have any of my Durham readers been yet? What are your thoughts? How does it compare to Six Plates? I've never been to either one, but I've been to it's Chapel Hill counterpart.
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 ;)
I am not a huge lover of beer. I do like it and I will drink it, happily. However, if I am allowed only one drink (which I am since I'm nursing) and am given the choice of beer or wine, I will always choose wine. There are a couple of beers I hold quite closely to my heart and perhaps it's that they are so hard for me to get that I love them so much.
Beer number one is Fat Tire. It's brewed in Colorado. I used to live there with my father and when I went back and visited several years ago, I tried Fat Tire for the first time. I fell in love with it. I was treated to it again the last time I was in Arizona. I was sad not to find it on the east coast. That is, until 3 weeks ago. I was in Moe's (the fast food mexican joint) and they were selling the Amber Ale by the 22 oz. bottle. Later that week, I found one last bottle for sale at Parker and Otis. This weekend though, I was very very happy to be treated to it on tap at Tyler's as one of their seasonals. It seems Fat Tire has finally made the ride to the east coast.
Beer number two is Sweetwater Blue. I was turned on to this by two friends that had friends in Atlanta. It's a lovely ale with a hint of blueberry. I looked forward to holidays when the friends would make the trek up from Atlanta and always with some Sweetwater Blue. Well, life happens and people move, drift apart, get divorced, etc. I haven't had Sweetwater Blue for many years. That is, until last night. When I was shopping at my local Kroger yesterday, I traveled down the beer aisle to see if they maybe had Fat Tire. This is when I spied the six pack of my other beer love. At $9.14/6 pack, I find it a little steep for casual daily consumption (not that I drink beer daily), but this was a special occasion. I was celebrating my two favorite beers migrating to Durham!
For date night on last Friday, we ventured to George's Garage. I was craving seafood, and knowing our remaining date nights are dwindling, we opted to spend more then usual. While I love Blu, the menu is rather limiting to me these days due to my restricted diet and my distaste for oysters.
It was early (5:30ish) and it was nice and quiet, relatively empty save for a few of the after work folks at the bar. We were seated, given our menus and told the specials by our fantastic waiter, Patrick. Seriously he made our seemingly average experience extraordinary. We opted for our appetizer and entrees from the specials menu.
For our appetizer we ordered a seafood platter. This consisted of fried calimari, two seared large sea scallops and two jumbo sauteed shrimp. My hubby ate most of the calimari and one of the shrimp. I ate the scallops, the other shrimp and a few pieces of the calimari. My only complaints about our entire meal stem from this dish. The scallops and shrimp were almost room temperature. Other then that, I thoroughly enjoyed it. The cocktail sauce and tartar sauce were fantastic. The tartar sauce differed from the typical mayo-based, relish over-run stuff you're used to. It was creamy and filled with what seemed like a mild minced onion or perhaps even some celery. I loved it.
For my entree I ordered the pan seared red snapper served over shrimp lemon thyme risotto. The snapper was tastefully seasoned, perfecctly cooked and served on top of a generous pile of arborio rice with healthy chunks of shrimp. The risotto was a little off in it's texture, not the creamy stuff I'm used to, but it was still very tasty. This entree was a steal at around $12!
My husband had the NY strip with mushroom jus. It was served with homemade fries and broccoli. He said it was fantastic. For dessert we shared bread pudding (he'd never had it) with caramel sauce and vanilla bean ice cream. Typically I order chocolate desserts, but this was completely satisfying and I also thought it was a steal at only $4.
As I mentioned before, the entire experience was lifted to another level by a fantastic, informative waiter, who urged us to ask for him by name when we returned post-baby. That, we will definitely be sure to do!
Finally I get around to blogging our Valentine's dinner experience at Magnolia Grill. I'll try to make it worth the wait. It's funny that this comes just shortly after the announcement of the Barker's nomination in the Outstanding Restaurant overall category for the James Beard Awards (more info here). I regret to tell you I didn't take my camera, therefore, no photos accompany. I couldn't bring myself to do it.
I'd been looking forward to this dinner for two weeks (actually more like two years). We had an early reservation and the restaurant only had a handful of tables filled when we arrived around 5:30. It was filled with natural light and the music was low. The ambiance was relaxing. We were seated at a half-booth. This is one of those long benches that line an entire wall, where they throw table after table alongside it and flank the other side of the table with chairs. I experienced similar seating in Panciuto in Hillsborough (also a fine dining restaurant). I have to tell you, it's my least favorite seating setup. It's not as intimate as I'd like, and fellow diners can't help but look at what's on your plate with curiousity (since they're a whopping 2 feet away), myself included.
The host pulled out the table for my husband to sit down and then pulled out my chair. It was a nice touch. An extensive menu was placed in both of our hands and the hard selection began. For me, I'm limited with cheeses and seafood (not for much longer though), so it was a bit of an easier choice, but had I not been, I would have taken much longer to make my selections. The only complaint I could muster about the entire dining experience was that we waited quite awhile for our server to come and offer drinks initially. After that, she was top notch.
For my first course, I selected the smoked Eden Farm Berkshire pork belly in Sorghum-bourbon glaze on baby butterbean fondue with red mustard greens and pickled turnips. When this arrived, I was pleasantly surprised with not only the presentation, but the portion size. It was substantial for $10. I've never had pork belly before and I expected it to be mostly a big slab of fat, but it was quite meaty. It had a very subtle smoked flavor that was so well balanced with the sweetness and acidity of the bourbon glaze. The butterbean fondue reminded me slightly of the mashed peas I ate while in London. They were a nice accompaniament, both color and texturewise to the rest of the dish. The greens and turnips were minimal in comparison to the forementioned components but added lovely texture, color and subtle flavor to this excellent starter.
My husband had the cannellini bean soup with Carolina shrimp, apple bacon, escarole and roasted peppers. I tasted it and while it was very very good, I was happy to have all of my first course to myself !
For my second course, I ordered the grilled Maine scallops in red wine essence on couscous carbonara with oyster mushrooms, roasted root vegetables, apple-smoked bacon and arugula. I am not even slightly exaggerating when I say these are the largest scallops I have ever seen. There were two of these monsters on my plate, which again was beautifully presented. They must have totalled near a half pound together. They were the most perfectly cooked scallops I've ever eaten. They weren't gritty, or even slightly chewy. They were seasoned to perfection. Their perfect texture was well complimented with the meaty oyster mushrooms and the earthy root vegetables. The couscous was also a welcome punch of texture. It was the largest couscous I've ever had (the grains about half the size of barley). I also adored the red wine essence that graced this dish. It was a perfect dish and I ate every bit of it.
One of the things I really appreciated about the experience was that the server knew all of the dishes well, and she offered information about how things were prepared and made sure we were okay with them. For example, she mentioned that the scallops were grilled and just slightly translucent in the center and wanted to know if that was okay with me. For my husband, who ordered the grilled Berkshire pork rib chop in Bourbon jus on cornmeal spatzle with sweet potato, turnips, country ham and southern greens, she noted that they typically served this medium rare (reddish-pink) and inquired if that was acceptable to him. He opted for medium, which was perfect to his liking and he too ate up every bit of his dish.
The food was served warm, not hot, perfectly cooked. They pay attention to such small details here, that you definitely feel the difference between eating here and somewhere else that also uses fantastic local ingredients, like Piedmont. For example, when returning from my visit to the ladies room, I found the napkin I had left balled up on the table, refolded. It's small touches like this that make the extra money spent feel worth it. For two courses for the two of us, and a bottle of Pelligrino, the bill totalled out around $75. Add tip to that and we topped out around $100. I look forward to going to Magnolia Grill again for a special occasion in the future. It was the perfect dining experience.
There's a restaurant here in Durham that I've been wanting to go to for almost 3 years now. Magnolia Grill has received much critical acclaim and the menu always looks so inventive and tasty, without being too bizarre. Budgetwise, it's definitely a special occasion place.
Normally we regard this holiday as a greeting card holiday and wouldn't bother trying to fight the crowds for a meal, but with baby quickly approaching, we decided to go for it this year. Plus we're going a day early so it shouldn't be quite as bad. I'm looking forward to getting dolled up and digging in! You can bet I'll be reporting back on my experience.
How about you? How (or even) will you celebrate the day with food? Baked goods, chocolates, heart shaped pancakes, a special dinner at home? Do tell!
Want to be an extra in a locally filmed movie? They're filming a small indy film at Northgate Presbyterian Church in Durham this Saturday. Free cookies and doughnuts! More info here.
Spicy Hummus
Whatever you end up choosing, make sure to enjoy the eating and the commercials because that's really what Sunday is about. GO CARDINALS!!!!
I'm feeling a lot less like cooking these days, despite all my cooking last week. By the end of the day, I just want to get off my feet. So we ate out a good amount this weekend. For date night on Friday, we ate dinner at Pop's. I ordered the housemade gnocchi. This was a slightly crispy on the outside, delightfully light potato inside gnocchi served with venison meatballs, spinach, mushrooms, pomodoro and romano cheese. This was a great dish. I wasn't completely into the sauce, but I think my palate has been a little off lately due to pregnancy so you should definitely judge it for yourself.
My hubby ordered the angel hair with smoked chicken, pickled banana peppers and a bacon cream sauce. This dish was creative and very tasty. If you like pickled banana peppers, I urge you to try it. They shone in this dish. Speaking of banana peppers, have you ever tried the deep fried ones at Bull McCabes? Or the Wooden Nickel in Hillsborough? Soooooo good. I'm off topic here, sorry.
Saturday night we ate at Shiki Sushi. As always the sushi was fantastic, the service was okay and the place was loud as hell. I don't know why they blast the music in there so loudly. All it does is force everyone to shout over it. I ordered the bagel roll and the shrimp tempura roll. The bagel roll is such a treat. It's salmon, cream cheese and avocado, battered and deep fried and garnished with eel sauce. Battered and deep friend sushi, it just doesn't get more delicious then this...
We also ate again at the Silver Spoon on Saturday morning. Having gotten enormous dishes the first time, we both ordered what we felt would be smaller portions and still were unable to consume it all. I had the egg croissant sandwich with home fries. Hubby had an omelet with homefries. We both loved our dishes. The only thing I felt could be improved upon are the homefries. I like mine a little crispy and these are monster potato slices, amply seasoned, but I think they're most likely baked and not crispy. Still the service was phenomenal, the portions huge and the food was served hot and exactly as I ordered it.
I did manage to prepare a good Italian Sunday dinner. I made egg parpadelle tossed with spinach, mushrooms, shallots, chicken and pesto. I served it with a big side salad. I was just too tired to photograph and write down the process, so I can't really share much beyond the description. I am going to work on making a lot of casseroles and food that freezes and reheats well over the next couple of weeks so stay tuned! I plan on stocking up the freezer prior to baby arrival :) Any suggestions for dishes are welcome!
Months and months ago, I read about Silver Spoon over at Carpe Durham. I had been wanting to try it, but often just didn't feel like that extra little bit of drive when starving for breakfast on the weekend. Today we ventured there and I can honestly say, I don't know that we'll eat breakfast anywhere else in this area again. We liked it that much.
It's quite obviously in an old Pizza Hut building and the atmosphere isn't changed much from it's predecessor. The staff is excellent: attentive, friendly and efficient. Coffee, water and to-go boxes were all brought prior to asking. It's very much a local's place. And my husband, being from New Jersey said it really reminded him of the diners up north.
The breakfast menu was expansive and some of the choices reminded me a bit of Brigs in RTP, but Silver Spoon far exceeded Brigs. For one, we didn't have to wait. The food wasn't even slightly greasy and it was seasoned perfectly. The portions were huge and definitely well worth the price. I loved the assortment of frittatas, omelets and skillets to choose from.
I ordered "The Duke" skillet. This was a plate full of homefried potatoes covered with sauteed mushrooms, onions, tomatoes, red and green peppers, crisp steamed broccoli, smothered in jack and cheddar cheese and topped with 2 eggs cooked to my preference (scrambled hard). All of the vegetables were fresh and cooked perfectly. The cheese was abundant, but not overwhelming and not greasy. The eggs were perfect as well. All of this came with an english muffin with strawberry preserves. I was unable to finish it. And ask I sit here typing this three hours later, I don't see eating lunch at all today.
My husband ordered "The Knight" skillet. It was homefries topped with onions, tomatoes, bacon, turkey, ham, loads of cheese and eggs. He loved his dish too. I can't wait to go back. The hostess strongly recommended trying the fried chicken and after reading about it at Carpe Durham, I'm sure I'll give it a try.
It's amazing how different things look at night versus during the day. My commute transpires during daylight hours so it wasn't until this weekend, when I ventured out of town, that I was able to see all the amazing lights that are now flickering downtown.
The Lucky Strike tower dazzles with her rainbow colored lights on the American Tobacco Campus. Brightleaf flickers with lights and is adorned with decorations. Then there's the light sculpture at the new Durham Performing Art Center. I was amazed when I spied it from the Freeway. I'm sure to never miss my exit at night!!
I received my Neighborhood Association Newsletter this weekend and was tickled to see that Sunday is our "Night of Lights". They are selling luminaries to put out in everyone's yards and will be lining the park with them. I can't wait to see it all aglow. It probably won't be as magical as recent years due to the construction and re-routing of Ellerbee Creek, but I just love the mystery that night brings and enjoy even more the calmness and comfort of soft flickering lights.
I suppose I should probably wait to write this until I've finished the movie, but I just can't resist. I rented Bull Durham and we began watching it last night. I'm ashamed to say I had never seen it, Durham lover that I am. And watching every scene thus far has been thrilling. I love seeing places I am familiar with on the big screen.
It's also pretty fascinating to see how much has changed just in the last 20 years (and not just Tim Robbins hair). It was really funny to see even the evolution of Wool E. Bull. Even though I grew up just 10 miles (give or take a few) away from Durham, I didn't frequent the downtown area much until I moved here a few years ago. I must admit that as a teenager, I was intimidated by the maze of one way streets.
There's so much growth and development going on Downtown, I am curious what it will look like when things lull to point of non-construction. It seems the skyline is forever changing. I can't imagine what it's like for those people who have lived in and loved this town for decades.
We only got an hour in last night before I needed to head to bed, but I can't wait to finish it. If anyone has any input on things in the movie that are true to history or not, I'd love to hear it.
Over the last few weeks, I've had the opportunity to dine at Akashi a few times. I can't believe I'm just now getting around to writing about it. Akashi is my new favorite for sushi in Southwest Durham.
Currently, I'm only able to order cooked sushi, but their menu is helpfully labeled to aid me in making a quick, easy decision. I also like that they break their expansive sushi menu into descriptive sections (rice on the outside, fish outside, etc). They do a lot of business during the lunch hour, but they are still very efficient in taking orders, and turning good food out quickly and at a good price. The service I've experienced each time has been attentive and friendly.
One of the things I really like about their sushi is that with the shrimp tempura, the end shell that most places leave on, they actually remove. So you don't have to dismantle your last bite of the roll to eat it! Genius!
All of their rolls are half price (listed on the sushi menu) and I've yet to go with someone else who didn't love what they had. They also have a hibachi menu and offer bento boxes at lunch time. While I'm always tempted to try them, I opt for sushi instead. I'm a little sad that my work recently moved farther away from Akashi, but I'll still manage to get a lunch visit in here and there :)
Yesterday afternoon we met for our regional mystery trip awaiting further details. Last year our local mystery trip was to the Carnivore Preservation Trust. It was great learning about the meat-eaters and being so close to such huge cats. Yesterday's trip, however topped it.Yesterday we were given an envelope with $25 cash and the name, age and needs of a person to shop for. There were two envelopes for each person, so we paired up and went to Target. I was assigned an 8 year old boy. Luckily I was paired with a male so he definitely guided the toy shopping. For our $50 (actually we spent $70) we got him a transformer, a pair of cargo pants, a hooded sweatshirt, two pairs of really cool gloves, some boxers and socks. We also chipped in with another team who had this boy's brother and we bought laser tag for both of them.
Then we headed off to a sports bar where we wrapped all the gifts, snacked and had a couple of drinks. It was a great end to the day and it was energy very well spent. 
I think how each person views the holiday season is probably pretty different. But for me, it's always been a time to reflect and appreciate on how fortunate I am and how much I can help and offer others. I'm sure charities are hurting this year with the economic problems that everyone seems to be experiencing, but they are still in need and it felt great to give.
Yesterday my angry post was fueled by a nasty headache and memories of frustrated hunger. Though I was extremely disappointed with my last experience at Vita, I do have to admit that I didn't comment on the food, our table placement or the fire alarm while I was there and therefore I didn't give them a fair opportunity to correct where I felt we were wronged.
In retrospect, I do feel a bit at fault for that. I think I was just really disappointed, not because I wanted a free meal, because I expect certain types of restaurants to handle the unexpected with the customer in mind. This wasn't the case during my visit. Now, if you look on my previous post, you'll see that Chef Yianni took the time to post a comment on my experience. I'm a little humbled by the gesture (and the offer of a free meal) and I really appreciate the time he took to express his concern. Thanks Yianni. We won't swear Vita off. Everyone has a bad day once in awhile.
Date night at Vita on Friday was a shit deal. It's only fair that I share it with you because I've given them two other shining reviews. Perhaps I'm being a little harsh in considering never returning after one bad dinner, but I'll let you be the judge.
1. We were one of three couples seated in the entire restaurant and we were seated directly between the other two couples. Nevermind that there were 20 other empty tables, I mean god forbid a couple have an intimate meal. Normally I wouldn't complain about this, but it was just the first thing of several to make my experience there bad enough to blog about.
2. I ordered the pancetta, spinach and goat cheese salad as my entree. Having had this before, I was sure that it was an entree portion and that it was a well balanced meal. What I got was literally two handfuls of spinach, three nickel-sized portions of goat cheese, about half a jar of roasted red peppers and about 1/8 cup of fried prosciutto or bacon. This salad was not an entree portion, didn't have the walnuts it was supposed to, nor the pancetta and it was covered in slimy roasted red peppers (which aren't supposed to be on it). I ate it nonetheless and didn't even comment on it to the waiter.
3. About 10 seconds after bringing our salads out the fire alarm started to sound. We were assured that we didn't need to evacuate and that it's just really sensitive. While the alarm went off, we were treated to a skipping Radiohead cd. After about 15 minutes of flashing lights and sirens, the fire department showed up and managed to shut the audible alarm off. The strobing lights continued, along with the skipping radiohead cd, even as we left 10 minutes later. The waiter and bar staff apologized a few times while waiting and I jokingly said, "Don't worry, you can just give us free dessert."
Perhaps my expectations are too high, but if I ran a restaurant with only three tables occupied on a Friday night at 6:00 and they were all couples that had to sit through 25 minutes of a fire alarm going off, I'd comp SOMETHING. Not a damn thing from Vita. Not a free beer, dessert, voucher, NOTHING. Nevermind that they own the restaurant next door too and could have offered to move us over there for a drink or something while we waited for the racket to end. NOTHING. Bad, bad, bad, bad Vita.
We left hungry and irritated (well mostly it was just me that was still hungry since 1 1/2 cups of raw spinach doesn't get it for dinner for a pregnant woman). We headed over to Cinelli's and got an appetizer sampler and some yummy chocolate cake. While the service was a little underwhelming, the fried platter was decent and the atmosphere was much better.
