T h e F o o d L i f e

Trophy Brewing & Pizza Co. is a new spot in Raleigh that brings a bit of Durham cool to this side of the Triangle.  This place is the epitome of hip: it’s stylish without feeling forced.  Located on a overlooked stretch of Morgan St. heading into downtown, it has promptly become a place to see and be seen, but it functions equally well as just a nice place to hang out with your friends.  Inside, it’s small – almost too small.  It’s tough to even walk behind the bar on account of a couple rustic barrels that line the glass-fronted space.  Sure, there are handful of patio tables, and you can get full service at the lovely, expansively deep bar, but the bottom line is this: expect a crowd.    The decor is well executed in yellow ochres and browns.  A cadre of trophies lines a high shelf towards the back – it would be cool if these belonged to the owners (also of downtown’s “Busy Bee“) or to the chefs, but I didn’t inquire.

There is a small menu of pizzas and salads.  The pie toppings here are gourmet in the style of Durham’s Pizzeria Toro, but don’t sound quite as inviting (you can create your own too).  You can order a personal size (9″) or a large (18″).  I went with a small “Most Loyal” (basil pesto, chicken, mozzarella blend, tomato, honey, $10) and my wife chose a small “Most Outgoing” (mushrooms, caramelized onions, brie, mozzarella blend, tomato sauce, arugula, also $10).  The crusts here are Lilly’s style, thick and doughy, but perhaps not quite as good.  The amount of bread means though that even a 9″ pie is probably enough for most folks – neither of us were able to finish an entire one.  Overall, I found the pizzas fairly average, even a touch bland.  My wife liked hers a good bit, while I went back and forth on which was better.  I rather liked the honey on mine, which was just a hint but added some needed complexity.  Hers was piled high with fresh arugula and contained some nicely cooked onions, but I kind of missed the brie in there.  Not being much of a drinker, I didn’t try the beer, but it’s well regarded from what I hear.

Trophy kind of reminds me of Durham’s Fullsteam (minus the hangar-like space, and the games, and plus the food).  It’s got the laid-back vibe, the friendly staff, and the cool factor: it’s an easy place to have a good time.  The pizza may not be stellar, or even the best in Raleigh, but this is definitely a place to which I’d return.

image courtesy of flickr

My experience with this place dates back to the super bowl (sorry), but I encourage you to get over to this place soon and get some Korean fried chicken.  The crust is shatteringly crisp (the result of some rice flour and double frying(?)), and the pieces are bathed in your choice of sticky deliciousness: spicy, soy-garlic, or sweet.  I’ve tried the latter two, and prefer the sweet.  Note that this place has a miniscule, inconquerable parking lot and, perhaps more importantly, that it takes some time for your order to be prepared.  Calling ahead is a fine idea.  Best of all, the pieces don’t really suffer on the way home or overnight.  Their menu has other choices, but I wouldn’t choose take-out (or dine in) wings from anywhere else in the area.

image courtesy of flickr

Everybody’s been going here and writing about it, and I’d say it lived up to the hype.  The comparisons to Chipotle are apt, if inevitable, but the food here is fresher and more vibrant.  My wife liked the pork with beans arepa, while my favorite, surprisingly, was the steak with caramelized onions (not always a fan of the steak in these kinds of dishes).  The fish/plantains special was my least favorite.  Next time I’ll create my own arepa.  I loved the arepas themselves – think thick, moist corn tortillas.  The sauce for each is served on the side, which is nice but a little confusing: do you pour it on?  dip it?.  The house “guasaca” sauce (somewhat like a chunky guacamole/pico de gallo hybrid) is delicious.  The place is super clean and the staff is friendly.  I’m eager to go back for more.

My wife, the inimitable Michelle Smith, is helping establish Kindred, a boutique and retail incubator in downtown Raleigh that will feature the work of emerging North Carolina designers.  It’s going to be awesome, and Michelle has been working super hard at it, but there’s still a lot of work to be done.  Michelle has a vision for a beautiful store, and, to achieve that, Kindred is raising money through a new Kickstarter campaign for the upfit of the space.  With your help, the space will feature really cool modular shelving, nice lighting (to replace the low-hanging fluorescents), and lovely signage.  So check out the link to the campaign at the right and help bring something really cool to the Triangle. The goal is to be able to open the store by the end of October.

As this is a food blog, note that one of the rewards for your donation of a certain amount is a sampler pack of 3 nut butters from Big Spoon Roasters.  Let me tell you, their stuff is delicious!

AND, on another food related note, on Friday October 5th, from 6pm-9pm, there will be a cool event at Kindred featuring some local products for sale, including Sweet Water Ice, Slingshot Coffee, and, last but not least, 100 free donuts from Rise Biscuits & Donuts!!

Backyard Bistro is the closest restaurant to the PNC center in Raleigh, and it’s adjacent to a large hotel.  From these facts alone you might surmise that the menu features burgers, wings, and beer, and that the ambiance caters to those who desire the the closest approximation to being in the stadium for a sporting event, without having to actually purchase tickets.  You’d be correct.  For some, tailgating is the event.

The restaurant was sparsely populated on a recent event-free night at the stadium.  We were seated at a huge booth that was angled for better viewing of an enormous wall of TVs, each tuned to a variety of – you guessed it – sports programming.  In fact, scarcely a free surface in the place remains untouched by sports theming or memorabilia.  With the lights dimmed, the experience felt more like being in a theater than in a restaurant.  Backyard Bistro does have an appealing, and big, outdoor tented area, a large bar, and a section of tables a little farther removed from the wall of sports TVs.  But they clearly know their audience: the game comes first; food is more of an afterthought.

The menu is expansive and includes pretty much all of what you’d usually find at a large suburban American restaurant.  I ordered a bbq sandwich with regular fries.  My wife ordered a taco salad ($9).  In keeping with the nature of the restaurant, and the general status quo of such establishments, the portions were enormous.  My dinner in particular was a great value at only $7.  Sandwiches are served on light, airy La Farm brioche buns, which is a nice touch.  The meat part of my dish was fine, tender and moist, but the vinegary slaw and odd sauce (served in a little plastic cup on the side) were really underwhelming.  That said, the worst part of my meal were the fries, which were soggy and seemed almost uncooked.  I couldn’t eat them.  My wife reported her entree to be pretty run-of-the mill.

It’s just one visit, to be sure.  The fries might have been an aberration, and the guys over at The Straight Beef liked their burgers just fine.  Still, I doubt that I’d return, even if I had a nearby event to attend.

image courtesy of flickr

Raleigh’s The Pit has received so much attention over the years that you’d think it was some kind of legendary establishment – the kind of place that makes Raleigh.  In fact, the place is more of a curiosity, in terms of ambiance and popularity, and, unfortunately, not terribly exciting in terms of food.  It’s about as far as you can get from Allen & Son’s – a little shack lost between Chapel Hill and Hillsborough, where the meat cooks over wood for most of the night – and still be called a North Carolina barbecue restaurant.

The interior of The Pit is moderately swanky, mostly as a result of the building’s previous incarnation as an upscale steakhouse, but partly, one suspects, as a deliberate branding angle.  It’s not a white tablecloth affair, but the wait staff does wear all black and shuffles to and fro discreetly.  It’s certainly a far cry from your average no-frills bbq joint.  There’s a large bar area with plenty of high tables near the front door, and a couple of more stately dining areas.  The place is huge, but it gets packed, always.  You can take a date here, or your family, but it seems best suited to a business meal.

On a recent lunch visit, I ordered the chopped bbq plate ($7.99), which comes with two sides, a biscuit, and a couple of hushpuppies.  The plate is a much better value than the bbq sandwich, which comes with only one side (and no biscuits or hushpuppies), but costs only $0.40 less.  At dinnertime, the cost of the plate entrée jumps up 50% to $11.99, so beware.  The barbecue itself was rather flavorless, even with a liberal application of sauce at the table.  It lacked smokiness but at least it wasn’t mushy.  I chose collards and cole slaw as my side items.  The collards were pretty bad – too vinegary and not tender enough; the cole slaw was average.  My biscuit was also lackluster.  It was soft and buttery, but it seemed like a frozen biscuit rather than a scratch-made creation.  The Pit does have good sweet potato fries, and some regular fries I tried were also pretty tasty.  But the best part of my meal was the excellent hushpuppies.  I would have traded all of my side items for a basket full of those.

In the end, it was an uninspiring and forgettable meal.  While the value at lunchtime is good – you get a lot of food – I’m not really eager to return.  I have heard that the ribs are very good, but I’ve yet to try them in several visits.  [Although former head chef and NC bbq icon Ed Mitchell defeated Bobby Flay in a rib "throwdown" a couple years ago, he is no longer associated with the restaurant].  So, even with a general lack of good bbq restaurants in Raleigh, The Pit doesn’t really stand out.  I’d rather drive a little ways out to the aforementioned Allen & Son’s, or perhaps to Stephenson’s (near Benson), or The Pig (Chapel Hill) for a more rewarding bbq experience.

I’ve been quite excited to try out Battistella’s, the new(ish) Cajun restaurant in downtown Raleigh.  I’d heard great things about their former location (out near Crabtree Mall), and the menu looks enticing.  I finally had the chance for brunch on a recent lazy Sunday morning.

The restaurant is located in Raleigh’s City Market, a historic area that has charm but has seemed to me to have always struggled to fulfill its potential.  The cobblestone streets are lovely, sure, but, until recently, the lack of exciting tenants has rendered the area more of a curiosity than a destination.  In the past few years, the additions of the Epona & Oak boutique, Benelux Cafe, Troy Mezze Lounge, and now Battistella’s offers hope for revitalization.

The inside of the restaurant is divided into two spaces – one primarily occupied by the bar, the other by the small dining area.  Despite its size, the ambience was not especially cozy, though I imagine at night it could be rather charming.  The restaurant is clearly aiming to capture the mystique of New Orleans, with large pictures of that city along the artfully decrepit walls, blues music on the radio, and an interesting chandelier lending intrigue to the space.  There are a few cafe tables out on the sidewalk as well.  At 12:30pm, there weren’t many people in the place, and it oddly felt as if lunch service was wrapping up.

The menu for brunch was a bit different than what’s posted on their website.  The choices that day were much more limited, with quite a few of the starters and entrees, and all of the side items, missing or different.  The prices were also off by a dollar here and there.  A chalkboard lists the day’s specials, and another one shows off an impressive list of local farms that provide many of the restaurant’s ingredients.  I ordered the pain perdu ($10) and my wife chose the “Blount St. Benedict” ($12).  Both were very nicely presented.  Mine was an elegant stack of four large bread slices, a large hunk of split andouille sausage, and a dollop of cinnamon whipped cream.  It was good french toast, if not excellent.  The sausage was very good, although spicier in some spots than others.  I loved the use of cane syrup.  This was my first experience with it, and with luck not my last.  It offered a darker, more complex flavor than maple syrup – like a cross between that and molasses.  Unfortunately there was just too much of it, and the whole dish was too sweet as a result.  I didn’t try much of my wife’s eggs benedict dish, except for a few bites of outstanding tasso ham.

While it wasn’t the most exciting meal ever, and it might not be my first choice for Sunday brunch in Raleigh, I definitely want to return and try more of the menu.  The biscuits in particular looked fabulous, and I’ve got to try a poboy or some beignets.   Battistella’s certainly fills a void in Raleigh’s dining scene, and brings some upscale flavor to City Market, so here’s wishing them great success.

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!

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.

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.