Archive for the ‘27701’ Category
Thai Cafe Blogging : Ice Cream!
Thai Cafe has recently added housemade ice cream to their dessert offerings. Before they just had creme brulee and coconut cake, which is an unusually short list. Now they have housemade coffee, red bean, green tea, vanilla and strawberry ice cream. I had the red bean, which my 2nd Most Faithful Reader and I enjoyed. My Most Faithful Reader had the coffee, which was great. I would have ordered it or the green tea, which had both been recommended by our waiter, but I avoid consuming caffeiene in the evening. I rarely ever get dessert at Thai Cafe, because I'm usually too full after my meal to tackle their large serving of creme brulee, but one can always fit in some ice cream!In contrast, Rockwood Filling Station, right across the street, has quit serving their housemade ice cream, which was very disappointing the last time I went there. They still have root beer floats and milkshakes, though. Dear readers, were you not ordering their ice cream enough for them to keep it around? Shame on you. Actually, Scott Howell has a tradition of taking away my favorite desserts. I'm still dreaming of the fried pies that he used to serve at the Q-Shack. Fortunately, I love the Anchovy pizza at the Filling Station so much that I'll forgive him.
35th Annual DurHamFest
Once again, it's time for DurHamFest, the annual amateur radio swap fest run by the Durham FM Association. This year, it's the 35th annual hamfest, which is pretty amazing.
It's this Saturday, May 23rd, from 8am to 2pm, at the Little River Community Center. It's a great event for ham radio operators to get together and socialize and for everyone to look at or purchase new and used radio and computer equipment. There will be food available, of course, or I wouldn't even think of attending. Well, I might bring my own, I suppose.
If you're a ham, I hope to see you there. If you're not, it's an opportunity to learn a little more about amateur radio and gawk at geekiness. That's another way of saying that I anticipate that fun will be had by all.
Tyler’s Taproom Blogging : Now With Cod
Shortly before the Triangle Tweetup last Thursday night, I had a spontaneous dinner at Tyler's Taproom with @boraZ. Eating was rushed, because I was tweeting, talking and we were both looking for other people we knew or who just looked as if they might be going to the Tweetup. Bora ordered the blackened salmon salad.
As you can see, he was very eager to eat it. He finished it too! It must have been good.
I had the fish and chips. They've replaced the catfish with cod, which they announced in a separate page inserted in the menu. They said this was due to popular demand and I'm not terribly fond of catfish, so I naturally think this was a good move. I actually thought their fish and chips was quite good before, in spite of the type of fish, but this was even better. It was nice and crispy and they give you three big pieces accompanied by their garlic fries, which are great. Two of the pieces made a nice lunch on Saturday and no reheating was required.I also do love drinking at Tyler's. Their lemonade is still fantastic. It's so sour. It's perfect. It's really what keeps me going back again and again. I admit that I am powerless over good lemonade. That's the first step.
Green Leaf
I recently went to Green Leaf, which is on University Drive, between Eastern Lights and AutoZone, and where Taste of India was briefly. I thought it was good and the food was pleasantly spicy, much more so than any of the other Indian restaurants in Durham. As you can see, I started out by feeding my comparatively recent mango lassi addiciton. Green Leaf features southern Indian cooking, but they also have northern Indian food.
They started out by giving us some cauliflower pakoras, which were very good.
We ordered some Punugulu, which are made from rice and lentils, with onions, chillies and ginger. They're kind of like savory hushpuppies with a kick. They came with a coconut sauce, which was quite good.
I wanted to try their dosa, which are characteristic of classic southern Indian cuisine, so we ordered the Vegetable Kal Dosa. The Kal is what the pancakes are cooked on. They were served with a delicious concoction of vegetables and the same coconut sauce as the Punugulu. The owner noticed that I was picking out the mushrooms, because I'm still not fond of most of them and rushed over to offer to make a version without them. I explained that it was ok, because my friend liked them and I think they add a nice flavor. Many years ago, I tried dosa at the Dosa Inn, in Cary, and these were so much better. This dish was really fantastic.
We also shared the Kerala Fish Curry, which had tilapia and coconut curry, with southern Indian spices. It was also very good.
The curry came with a large serving of rice and I thought the few peas on top made it look sort of elegant. After all this and saving some for leftovers, we were too stuffed to try dessert. They have a buffet every night, which features the cuisine of specific regions on different days of the week.I am really looking forward to going back soon! Be sure to check out Carpe Durham's review of Green Leaf, too.
Saigon Grill
Last Tuesday, I went to Saigon Grill with several friends and we had a lovely feast. Carpe Durham also just reviewed the restaurant, so I encourage you to read about their experiences. We started with two kinds of spring rolls, one with grilled pork and the other with shrimp and pork, both of which I liked.
They have a nice selection of interesting non-alcoholic drinks, which I find pretty exciting. As of Tuesday, they did not yet have their liquor license, but hopefully they will soon, if they don't already. I tried the Young Coconut Drink and definitely enjoyed it.
The owner waited on us and he recommended that we try the egg rolls, which contained ground pork and shrimp with beanthread noodles. These were delicious. There were four and I photographed the last one while I could.
One of my friends got the eel sauteed with curry and coconut sauce. This was probably my favorite of everything I tried. I'm a big fan of eel, but the entire dish was so interesting and good. This was the first time I'd tried eel with bones in it and it certainly had a different texture from typical sushi barbecued eel. We marveled at some of the unidentified vegetation in the dish.
Another friend had the pork chop and he seemed to really like it.
Two of us ordered the duck soup with egg vermicelli. I thought it was very good and thought that the only thing wrong with it was that eating it was a little awkward. It had huge chunks of duck that were still on the bone, large pieces of bok choy, large pieces of mushroom (one of which I intentionally ate), and a large mass of noodles. I ate half of it for lunch a few days later and thought it was miraculous that I didn't get any on my blouse. If you like duck in all its fatty glory, then you will like this. If you aren't sure, then order something else. It's just ducky.Overall, I enjoyed it and hope I can con someone into going back with me soon.
ShangHai House
Friday night, I was fortunate to go to a new Chinese restaurant with friends of mine who had lived in China for a year and who could order in Chinese. It was amazing watching them alternate between giddiness and being close to tears at being able to order some of the dishes that were extremely close to what they routinely ate while they were there. The location is where the No. 1Panda House used to be, across Guess Rd. from where the old Willowdale theatre used to be. The sign still remains, so, for now, that's what you'll need to look for. The take-out menu and their website state that the name of the restaurant is actually ShangHai House.
The sweet corn and minced chicken soup was the least exciting offering that I sampled. It was good and it would be nice on a cold winter day, though.
These green beans were the Pleasant Steamed Bean - Jam Bun Silk. The beans were excellent. They had a thin sauce that reminded me of fermented beans, but I wasn't exactly sure what it was and I was too busy chewing to ask.
This was Fried Tofu, Home Style and was my favorite of everything we tried. The tofu was crispy on the outside and creamy on the inside, with a delectable brown, ever so slightly sweet, sauce.
The Yu-Shiang Shredded pork was also wonderful and was served with a much sweeter sauce.
We each received a compimentary orange at the end, which was delicious.
The service was very friendly, but the restaurant, which was almost empty when we arrived at 6pm, was almost full when we left and it was challenging getting a bill, to say the least. We ended up having to just go up to the cash register with our money in hand.
I carefully photographed their entire menu and was thrilled with the results, but it turns out that their entire menu is online. Be sure to check it out, because it's at the least entertaining and at best exciting for the adventurous. They appear to serve dim sum all the time, so I'm craving pork buns and scallion pancakes, which I haven't had in years. They also have dishes listed like "Sizzling Cowboy Bone" and "Spoiled Chaotic Pork." There are just so many dishes I would like to try, but I'm not quite sure braised pigs' knuckles are on that list yet.
Definitely check this place out at your earliest convenience.
The sweet corn and minced chicken soup was the least exciting offering that I sampled. It was good and it would be nice on a cold winter day, though.
These green beans were the Pleasant Steamed Bean - Jam Bun Silk. The beans were excellent. They had a thin sauce that reminded me of fermented beans, but I wasn't exactly sure what it was and I was too busy chewing to ask.
This was Fried Tofu, Home Style and was my favorite of everything we tried. The tofu was crispy on the outside and creamy on the inside, with a delectable brown, ever so slightly sweet, sauce.
The Yu-Shiang Shredded pork was also wonderful and was served with a much sweeter sauce.
We each received a compimentary orange at the end, which was delicious.The service was very friendly, but the restaurant, which was almost empty when we arrived at 6pm, was almost full when we left and it was challenging getting a bill, to say the least. We ended up having to just go up to the cash register with our money in hand.
I carefully photographed their entire menu and was thrilled with the results, but it turns out that their entire menu is online. Be sure to check it out, because it's at the least entertaining and at best exciting for the adventurous. They appear to serve dim sum all the time, so I'm craving pork buns and scallion pancakes, which I haven't had in years. They also have dishes listed like "Sizzling Cowboy Bone" and "Spoiled Chaotic Pork." There are just so many dishes I would like to try, but I'm not quite sure braised pigs' knuckles are on that list yet.
Definitely check this place out at your earliest convenience.
Blu Blogging : Trout Sampler
The last time I was at Blu Seafood and Bar, they had an NC Sunburst Farms Trout Sampler appetizer, which I had as my meal. It doesn't look like a lot of food for a whole meal, but pretty much everything was meant to be eaten with their delicious bread. I let my MFRs have a little of it, but most of the loaves were mine, all mine. From left to right, there was cold-smoked trout, hot-smoked trout and cured trout with avocado. In the back row there was trout dip and trout roe on creme fraiche, wth egg and onions. I'm very fond of trout, so this was all quite a treat.
For dessert, Chef Tim Lyons experimented with this maple creme brulee, which was excellent. I hope he makes it on a regular basis.This Wednesday night, they are having a Veracruz wine dinner, featuring four courses of Mexican food prepared by Tim and his cooking staff, from the Yucatan. Dinner starts at 7pm and reservations are required.
Taverna Nikos Blogging : New Website
Taverna Nikos finally has a new website, so if you haven't been there yet, you can take a look at their menu. It's always a relief to me when menus are available on-line, in case I've forgotten some of the details about what I've eaten. Of course, those pesky specials keep those of us with early symptoms of senility on our toes.
Anotherthyme Blogging : MSB Special
I went to Anotherthyme recently and my 2nd Most Faithful Reader had very elegant gumbo that he said was very good. I love the pepper placement.
I had the MSB special, which is an old favorite, heralding back from the days of Somethyme and Pyewacket. Of course, when Somethyme was open, I believe I was too young to appreciate such things. I didn't eat a lot back then. In fact, I didn't really start eating food until I was about 14. I suppose I've made up for it.The MSB special is an openface sandwich with fried egg, avocado, tomatoes, alfalfa sprouts and cheese. I believe it had mustard, too, but I'm not exactly sure. It's wonderful. Absolutely wonderful. Based on Anotherthyme's specials menu on the website, I don't think it's currently one of their specials, but I'm sure it will be back. Once it is, rush over there and get one.
Six Plates Blogging : Bacon and Eggs
While I sometimes enjoy dining at Six Plates Wine Bar alone, it's always a treat to share a cheese plate. This time we had, from left to right, aged Gouda, Mahon and Rogue River Smokey Blue. The blue, of course, was my favorite, particularly with honey.
My friend chose the pan seared tuna with apple and fennel farro and passionfruit caviar. What I tasted was excellent.
I had Six Plates Bacon and Eggs. It had Cane Creek pork belly, a fried quail egg and "breakfast" potatoes. The pork tasted like something between bacon and pork roast and the potatoes were simply amazing. Owner Matthew Beeson seemed disappointed that I didn't eat more of the house made ketchup, which he thought was "like crack", but I thought it was all perfect the way it was.
For dessert, my friend had an olive plate and I'll have to consider sharing one of these sometime, because my olive epiphany has turned into more of an olive obsession. In addition to several different kinds of olives, it had pimentos and lupini beans.
Finally, I had the flight of three small scoops of sorbet, but I, once again, chose three scoops of passionfruit, because it is exquisite.
Four Square Blogging : Pre-Appetizer
I forgot to include this photo in my previous post about Four Square. This was a complimentary pre-appetizer of hummus on some kind of chip. I thought it was both adorable and elegant. Of course, it was tasty, too.
Four Square
I've been remiss in bringing you all the details of my dining life. It's been over a couple of weeks since I went to Four Square, which, as always, was a wonderful experience. I went there with a couple of friends, just two days before I received my new camera. So, these photos were taken with my old camera and you'll just have to endure. My Hippest Friend had the baked Stump Sound oysters with yukon gold potatoes on whole wheat blinis and smoked char roe. It looks good to me, and, as you can see, he was eager to try it.
I had a bowl of the Orange Cranberry Bean and Housemade Bacon soup. It was very good, but somehow I was thinking that it would have cranberries in it instead of having cranberry beans in it. I was craving fruit and I thought cranberries and bacon would go well together. I enjoyed it, though.
For my entree, I had grilled mahi mahi with stir fried soba noodles, red kuri squash, green mango with coriander, coconut-shellfish emulsion and lime pickles. I think I ordered this mainly because of the mangos and they weren't very prominent in the dish, but there were some. Overall, it was very good and perfectly prepared.One of my friends had pan seared scallops with roasted apple and foie gras bread pudding, braised celery, saba and a creamy chestnut sauce. That was absolutely fantastic and I would definitely order that if I had another opportunity.
That friend was on a roll, because he also ordered the almond cake with olive oil ice cream, coriander-honey croquant and an orange-cava sauce. He described it as the "sleeper hit dessert of the year".
I had a dessert special, tangerine "but not so tangeriney" smores. Aside from the fact that the top half was camera shy and kept trying to escape before I could photograph it, it was a delightful dessert. This photo was taken after I had reassembled it twice, so it may not be quite the presentation that was originally intended, but it's pretty close. I like tangerines and I was still in the mood for fruit at that point, so I was happy. The cookies were almost like granola bars and the tangerine marshmallows were subtly flavored.In addition to getting our own desserts, we all shared a bowl of sorbet and ice cream. We got chocolate mint chip, blood orange sorbet and brown sugar ice cream. These were served with a madeleine cookie and were delicious.
I believe this was the fourth time I'd been to Four Square, but I hadn't been there in many years. It's in a quaint and potentially romantic four square house with tables that are spread far enough apart to allow conversation. The service is exceptionally attentive and Chef Shane Ingram came to our table to introduce himself. It's a perfect place for a special occasion or when you feel like splurging on a leisurely evening out.
New Sitar India Palace Location
Today I got to try out the new Sitar location on Chapel Hill Boulevard. As far as I could tell, the food tasted exactly the same, which was very good. The decor was fresh and new as their renovations almost completely obliterated any traces of the Lonestar Steakhouse, with the exception of the back porch area.One exciting thing is that they apparently have a drive-through-window. I absolutely love drive-throughs and will be sure to take advantage of it soon.
According to Bull City Rising's post, their old location will continue to remain open, but it will concentrate on catering.
Blu Blogging : Special Oyster Night
Tonight Blu Seafood and Bar had a special oyster night with all kinds of wonderful oyster dishes. They offered seven different kinds of raw oysters, which could be ordered individually. I got nine Lockwood Folly oysters from North Carolina. I also got one each of Malpeques, from the Chesapeake Bay region, Chef's Creek and Kumamoto, both of which were from Washington State. I thought the Chef's Creek oyster, pictured above, was the best tasting. It also had a beautiful shell, with undulating edges.
This Kumamoto oyster was gorgeous, too. It was also delicious.
Tonight they had both Oysters Casino and Rockefeller. I ordered the Casino, which had bread crumbs, bacon, butter and shallots. They were very good.
I also got an order of fried oysters with horseradish cream sauce. I've shown this to you before, but their oysters are just magnifiscent and I have a new camera.
Vit Goal Tofu
I recently went to Vit Goal Tofu with a bunch of co-workers, which was a real treat. It's a Korean restaurant and from what I understood from my friends, Hugh and Anastasia, (I can use their names, because they're already famous.) who lived there for a year, it's fairly authentic. We started off with some non-caffeinated barley tea, which comes with the meal.We also ordered some ginseng wine, baekseju, and My Little Pony Whisperer offered her full glass as a model. I had just a taste of it, but I thought it was quite good.
MLPW had japchae with beef and it looked very good, particularly the green noodles.
Assorted side dishes also came with our meal, including three types of kim chee (cabbage, daikon radish and cucumber), salad and potatoes. I particularly liked the cucumber kim chee. All were pretty mild.
I had the seafood tofu soup, which was delicious. The soft tofu was lovely and it had two whole shrimp (the heads and eyes were no extra charge), clams and oysters. The clams were the best, but I seem to be getting fonder of clams all the time. This photo was after MLPW had stolen a spoonful while I was trying to take the picture. No, I didn't stab her with my fork, but I did consider it. You can actually see a video of what the soup was like as soon it was served. It remained hot, temperature-wise, throughout most of the meal, but it wasn't overly spicy, despite my requesting "medium". Overall, it was very nice.
Hugh is very tall, so he was able to provide the satellite view of our table during the meal. I am definitely looking forward to going back soon, because there are a lot of interesting sounding things on the menu that I want to try.
Blu Blogging : New Dessert Menu
What dessert is this? Where was this photo taken? Ok, ok. I didn't actually plan this juxtaposition with my previous post, but I do find it amusing. This is Blu Seafood and Bar's newest dessert offering. It's delicious. It's a banana spring roll with ice cream and toasted pecans, chocolate and caramel sauces. This may be my favorite dessert that they've had so far. They've also added the apple strudel that I tried as a special once before.
