Taqueria El Toro (Raleigh, NC)

January 13th, 2012

For those who consider Durham to be the place to go for authentic Mexican cuisine in the Triangle, you must visit Taqueria El Toro in Raleigh.  Aside from Durham’s Taqueria La Vaquita, this was my favorite taco experience in the Triangle. 

It’s a little hidden, in a small shopping center just south of Raleigh near the intersection of Tryon Rd and Hwy 401, but absolutely worth seeking out.  Inside, the space is suprisingly large and spotlessly clean.  I chose three tacos ($1.59 each): carnitas, al pastor, and chicken tinga.  We also ordered a plate of what appeared to be house-made chips ($1.99), which were very thick, and a large serving of delicious, creamy guacamole (for the astoundingly low price of $1.09).  Taqueria El Toro has an excellent salsa bar, featuring 6 or 8 salsas (complete with labels), plus less common garnishes like blistered peppers, sliced carrots, and a spicy cabbage slaw.

The carnitas taco was excellent – among the best I’ve had.  The pork was maybe a touch dry, but it did offer a nice crispy crust.   The al pastor taco was my least favorite of the bunch, and I’ve had better versions at a handful of other places.  But the chicken tinga was just fantastic – delectable shredded chicken with surprisingly subtle chipotle flavoring.  All tacos are served on double stacks of outstanding corn tortillas.

I encourage you to go check out Taqueria El Toro; in my opinion it rivals just about any place in Durham.  I can’t wait to go back!

Big Spoon Roasters

January 6th, 2012

As a long-time peanut butter lover, I am excited to share with you another of Durham’s culinary gems: Big Spoon Roasters.  The company, started by Mark Overbay, produces handcrafted nut butters from scratch, using locally sourced nuts and wildflower honey. 

With the exception of the peanut butter (which has a little organic coconut oil – sounds awesome), there are no other additional ingredients – just nuts, salt, and honey.  Simple, yes, but utterly delicious.  The company currently produces four nut butters: peanut, peanut/almond, peanut/cashew, and peanut/pecan, as well as energy bars and cookies featuring these.  You can order the nut butters online or find them in select area stores (see their website for details).

I’ve only tried the peanut/almond butter (it’s great), but I look forward to trying the others.  Here’s wishing the young company much success!

 

Geer St. Garden (Durham, NC)

December 30th, 2011

Geer St. Garden is the kind of place you want to love.  Located in a former gas station in a happening part of Durham, it has plenty of appeal.  It aims for that classic neighborhood joint, and definitely achieves the part in terms of ambience with a small but very charming interior to go along with sprawling outdoor picnic table seating. [In colder weather, plastic sheeting and heaters keep the outdoor section warm and cozy].  The restaurant cultivates a relaxed, easy feel, and it’s a great place to hang out with friends.

The menu is classic American fare, with a few Southern (fried chicken, collards, sweet potato stew) and Latin American dishes (tamales, fish tacos) as well.  Like any good self-respecting Durham restaurant, Geer St. Garden touts the use of local, sustainable ingredients.  I opted for the “pasture-raised” burger ($10) with cheese (additional $1).  My burger arrived next to an enormous mountain of fries.  It featured some nice fresh tomato and crisp lettuce, but the whole thing was just too plain.  The patty was under-seasoned and surprisingly thin.  The fries were similarly very average.  It was a very unexciting meal.  I was pretty hungry, so we chose to have dessert too – a brownie with ice cream and salty peanut caramel sauce.  It was a good concept, but the execution was really disappointing.  The brownie was exceedingly dry and lifeless – one of the worst brownies I’ve ever had.  There wasn’t enough of the sauce, and it wasn’t really salty either, even though the dish was loaded with peanuts.  The one bright spot in the dessert was the  creamy, silky ice cream.

In the end, I would go back to Geer St. Garden to enjoy the nice patio for a casual meal with friends, but I’d try something different and hope for better results.

Able Bar & Grill (Cary, NC)

December 22nd, 2011

I had been keen to try Able Bar & Grill in Cary, on account of its proximity to my house, and because it carried the promise of Chinese “street food” as well as the blessing of the N&O’s Greg Cox.  Unfortunately, my recent visit made me pretty skeptical about making a return trip there. 

On a weekday at lunchtime the place was absolutely deserted, save for one young employee.  There’s not much ambience to speak of, except that of a generic strip mall setting.  We waited patiently while he fixed up our food, but it took quite a while.  I ordered the dumpling special ($6.95) and chose pork/cabbage for my filling.  When the food finally arrived (you order at the counter and pick it up yourself, along with self-service utensils), it was one of the most uninspiring presentations I can recall: a bright blue plastic cafeteria tray, about a dozen limp pale steamed dumpling sort of mounded together, and a small tofu-carrot-sesame oil salad.  Unfortunately, the dumplings were almost as bland as they looked, although I did enjoy the vinegar-based dipping sauce.  A colleague of mine ordered the spring wrap combo (also $6.95) with chicken.  This was like a Chinese burrito, and I liked it better than my dumplings.  A side of boiled peanuts that came with it was fairly unremarkable.  A beef hot pot ($4.50) was the best deal of all, and looked good piled high with meat, veggies, noodles, cilantro, and more, although I didn’t get a taste.  Oddly, it was served in a cheap bright orange plastic dish.

Able does offer karaoke at night, and a tempting selection of kabobs.  Combine that with the reasonable prices, and there’s enough reason to go back.  Here’s hoping for a more exciting experience next time.

Weekend Round-Up: Some of the Triangle’s Best

December 6th, 2011

This weekend I had the chance to visit several Triangle restaurants that just plain rock – these are some of the best the area has to offer:

Thursday night:
Poole’s diner (Raleigh)
Sweet potato soup with burgundy-thyme honey, braised short ribs over smoky collard greens, an excellent baguette with butter, and their renowned macaroni gratin.  I could eat at Poole’s every day.

Friday night:
Carrburritos (Carrboro)
Carnitas mejor burrito – massive, loaded with juicy meat, no rice filler, and deliciously fresh.  Although I’ve always liked this place, I hadn’t been here in quite a while.  I’ll be coming back soon – the burrito was outstanding.

Sunday night:
Chuck’s (Raleigh)
8oz “Spirit Animal” burger – cream cheese, roasted poblanos, grilled tomato, tortilla dust.  A little too much cream cheese, a little too little tomato, and virtually no tortilla dust(?) – but nevertheless sensational.  The best burgers in the Triangle are at Chuck’s.  I wasn’t wowed by the fries on my first visit, but this time they were incredible.

Review: L’Uva Enoteca (Durham, NC)

November 30th, 2011

Over a Thanksgiving weekend filled with food, we managed to fit in a great meal at yet another of Durham’s culinary bright spots, the newly opened L’Uva Enoteca.  Located at the charming American Tobacco Campus, L’Uva is chef Jim Anile’s second restaurant in the Bull City, after the well-received Revolution

The inside of the restaurant is small and narrow, almost cramped, with décor that is unforgivingly modern and sleek.  One wall of the space is lined with semi-opaque glass that looks onto an adjacent lobby.  If the interior dining lacks a bit of warmth, the few tables that spill over into the lobby surely enjoy even less.  On the plus side, there is a nice courtyard patio that ties the restaurant into the rest of the campus, saving it from office building oblivion.  It’s meant to be an expensive looking place, and it clearly achieves an upscale feel, but it’s not a romantic dining room. 

As a party of six, we were seated at probably the largest table in the room, a chunky wooden table whose quasi-rustic nature tempered the modernity of the experience.  In the right setting, it would have been quite a charming seating arrangement, but, within the narrow confines of the space, the table was angled into a corner such that the wait staff was almost constantly passing (squeezing) through right behind us on their way to and from the kitchen.

The menu is Italian in a modern way, and changes often, in very much the same vein as Durham’s Piedmont.  One thing I found very appealing about L’Uva’s menu was the option, for many of the pasta dishes, to order a small or large portion.  In the age of enormous servings, this is a great way to both eat a more appropriate amount and save a bit of money.  I opted for a rigatini with sausage, rapini, and roasted pearl onions ($10 small, $15 large).  Naturally when ordering I completely forgot the portion option, and ended up with the large.  My wife ordered the evening’s special: beef tenderloin/spinach-goat cheese raviolo/ porcini mushroom sauce ($22), and another in our party ordered the very tempting roast chicken/white polenta/orange marsala sauce ($15).

The bread brought to our table was a first rate crusty ciabatta, served with an unremarkable olive oil/pesto dipping sauce.  Entrees followed quickly, and were uniformly well received.  My pasta dish featured some beautifully delicious crumbled sausage, and was perfectly seasoned.  It had a subtle complexity and just of hint of spiciness.  I probably could have consumed the entirety of my “large” portion; I imagine the small portions might leave a hungry patron wanting.  My wife’s entrée was perhaps even better, with expertly cooked beef over a winning medley of artichoke and pancetta, with just enough sauce.  The chicken dish was a bit less successful: although the meat was juicy and tender, the white polenta was unexciting in terms of both texture and flavor, and there didn’t seem to be enough sauce to tie it all together.  A couple of side dishes ($3 each) were also ordered: some buttery asparagus and some outstanding roasted brussel sprouts. 

It being a celebratory dinner, a round of desserts was also ordered.  A chocolate crostata ($6) was like a fudgy brownie, and better than average, although my wife didn’t care for the thin pastry wrapping.  Better was an almond-apple tart ($7), featuring some sugared almonds, ultra thin apple slices, and a heavy hit of almond extract.  I thought the pastry in this case was a bit soggy/insubstantial, but the overall flavor was certainly delicious.  The downside to both of these desserts were the extremely unripe strawberry garnishes.  Best of all was some excellent coffee gelato ($6).

To sum it up, L’Uva is another feather in Durham’s cap.  If it doesn’t quite fall into the uppermost echelon of Durham’s finest, it’s because the competition is very stiff.  But it was an excellent meal, and L’Uva should most certainly be considered among the top upscale Italian eateries in the entire Triangle. 

 

Rock & Shop Market (+ Food Trucks!) – Dec. 17

November 18th, 2011

Coming up on Saturday December 17th is the Rock & Shop Market, an awesome event that will feature about 100 designers selling handmade goods, a bevy of food trucks, a fashion show, and two bands!  The festivities will occur at three adjacent venues in Durham: Motorco Music Hall, FullSteam Brewery, and the Trotter Building.  Admission to the shopping and music experience is $5.  There’s no admission fee for access to the food trucks, and the following trucks are tentatively slated to appear to feed the masses:

The event goes from 12 noon – 6 pm. For more information, please visit http://www.rockandshopmarket.com

I look forward to seeing you there!

 

Escazu hot chocolate bar

November 13th, 2011

Escazu just got even better!  The chocolatier is certainly one of the Triangle’s culinary gems, and now, just in time for the cooler weather, they’ve introduced a hot chocolate bar in their cute little shop in Raleigh’s Mordecai neighborhood.

The menu consists of a handful of hot chocolates from which to choose, ranging from the historic to the whimsical.  The historical ones are referred to by country and year: Spain 1549, France 1692, Italy 1670, and, for the purist, Xochiaya (Aztec/pre-Columbian).  The others – with peanut butter, with white chocolate, or “the Southerner” with a dash of Tabasco – are perhaps more off-the-wall but nearly as tempting.  These choices (5oz servings) are all in addition to their delicious classic and spicy varieties (available in 10 or 16oz servings).  The 5oz specialty selections run about $3.50 each.

We recently tried a round of the historical selections.  Spain was potent but good, with a black pepper and licorice bent (courtesy of star anise).  The Xochiaya was borderline undrinkable – the menu claims it is lightly sweetened, but you wouldn’t know it by tasting it.  It was as bitter as baking (unsweetened) chocolate.  France was the clear winner among our group.  It was decidedly creamier even though, for historical accuracy, all are made with water (not milk), and had a strong cinnamon presence.  Although we didn’t try Italy or the other concoctions this time around, there are always lots of reasons to come back to Escazu.

Char-Grill (Raleigh, NC)

November 9th, 2011

image courtesy of flickr

If it’s true that some things never change, then that has to be a big part of why the Char-Grill on Hillsborough St. in Raleigh continues to thrive, having unwavered in its devotion to deliver that most quintessential of American meals – a burger, fries, and a shake -  since 1959.  The large sign out front says all you need to know about the place, and, for over 50 years, there have been no frills and probably no surprises to the steady stream of customers: Char-Grill maintains its commitment to the classicly simple even into this age of gourmet burgers, extravagant toppings, and duck-fat fries.  Place your order on a slip of paper, slide down a little metal chute, wait for the flames to erupt on the grill, and, a few minutes, later, your name is called.  There’s no ambience except the nostalgia of an institution, and there’s hardly anywhere to sit, but where else can you have the exact same experience that your parents, and maybe their parents, did?

As for the food itself, it’s cheap and reliable, even if the burgers and hot crispy fries aren’t much better than average.  For this style of burger and fries, Five Guys does it better, and Only Burger easily surpasses them both, especially with it’s commitment to sustainable beef and the offering of occasional specials.

Over the years, the restaurant has expanded to a handful of locations across the Triangle.  But the atmosphere and history of the Hillsborough St. one lends it a distinct charm.  And that makes Char-Grill something to hold on to in Raleigh.  So here’s hoping that some things never change.

Best Pizza in the Triangle?

November 2nd, 2011

I obviously still have a lot of places to try (see below), but here are my thoughts on some of the places I have been to.  What are your favorites?  What other places do I need to try?

1.        Bella Mia

2.        Salvio’s

3.        Lilly’s

4.        Klausie’s

5.        Bocci

6.        Brixx

7.        Fuhgeddaboutit

8.        Maximillian’s Pizza Kitchen

9.        Moonlight Pizza

10.        Pop’s Backdoor South

11.        Cinelli’s

12.        Z Pizza

Still to try: Al Dente, Pie Pushers, Randy’s, Pizza Italia, Schiano’s, Vivace, Marilyn’s, Pepper’s, Piola, Rosati’s, IP3, Capital Creations, Paparazzi