Amazing Restaurants

Chicken & Honey

Posted on Jan 22, 2012 | 5 comments

Hello,

This weekend felt surprisingly long. Probably because I didn’t have to work on Friday. It felt so amazing on Thursday evening when I remembered! I feel very lucky to be on this little detour in my career path right now:)

Saturday evening was the highlight of my weekend. My parents took us to Raleigh for dinner and we tried the new Beasley’s Chicken & Honey. It was a cold and rainy night, perfect for some southern food. The atmosphere was simple, but urban and awesome, and I loved the menu. I’m excited that inexpensive, casual, urban nooks seem to be very trendy right now.

Matt and I split the Highland Winter Ale (fabulous!!) and Lonerider Deadeye Jack Porter over the course of the evening. The table shared an order of fried black-eyed peas to start – these were so strange, but good! Almost like popcorn.

Since my stomach seems to hate chicken skin, I avoided the fried chicken options and went with the sides sampler. Above is the biscuits with honey, sweet potatoes with brown butter, and pimento macaroni and cheese. Oh my goodness – this was the best thing I’ve had in a loong time.

The biscuits were perfect and the mac and cheese was simply to-die-for. I’ve got to go back and try the other sides!!! And, I’ve got to try the sister burger restaurant. I’m obsessed.

Today has been very cold and dreary, but for some reason I’ve kind of enjoyed it. We haven’t really had a winter here, so an occasional cold day is nice. I’ve been working on finding another part-time job, but haven’t secured anything yet, so my week is wide open. I’m pumped to catch up on laundry, cook something (!), and finally try to establish a routine with the new job.

Any news out there?

Photos from Fernandina

Posted on Dec 30, 2011 | 5 comments

A crystal clear sunset to a dark and stormy drink. Heavenly.

The crab bruschetta and the lobster & escargot with sweet peas, mushrooms, sun-dried tomatoes over a puff pastry cake in an herb cream sauce. Extraordinary.

A day on the beach. Refreshing.

Games by the fire and a nap in a big arm chair. Relaxing.

A beer with a breathtaking view. Phenomenal.

A break from the real world. Fabulous

Revolution Review

Posted on Oct 24, 2011 | 5 comments

So I’m a bit late with a restaurant review from this weekend. I got home late from outlet shopping and a mexican feast with my parents and I didn’t want to rush the post last night. Because the food I had this weekend deserves attention. I tell ya, Durham restaurants continue to impress.

Since it was a birthday celebration and all, I made cocktails to kick off the evening. Amaretto liquor with sparking cranberry and lemon. Delightful.

A Foodie Birthday

Posted on Oct 19, 2011 | 13 comments

Last night’s festivities were so.much.fun. I just wish the evening didn’t have to end so quickly. Poor Matt had to stay at the library, so my mom & dad picked me up for a progressive birthday celebration.

My dad planned an evening in Carrboro to ensure that there wouldn’t be any repeat restaurants. I love trying new places!

Our first stop was the Milltown patio for the extensive beer list. I had the Bosteels Tripel Karmeliet and boy was it heavenly. Apparently the beer is based on a recipe from 1679. It’s made with three grains, including oats, so it must have been good for me!

M + D had pilsners!

The next stop was an adorable wine bar that made me feel like I was back in the city!

I had 3 oz’s of spicy tempranillo that went down really fast

And we got the cheese plate! Which also went down really fast because my family loves cheese and we are competitive eaters:) This was a soft blue with cranberries, a semi-soft sheep’s milk cheese from spain with pine nuts, and a sheep’s semi-firm from Wisconsin with honey. I liked the spanish the best, but all were awesome.

Our last stop was ACME, a southern gem that I’m so happy I got to experience.

I got the Aviator October Beast, which again, was fabulous! I ordered all the right things last night.

And then, I discovered peanut butter barbeque sauce – thick and full of salty peanut flavor, but balanced by tangy bbq. Served (on the bottom of) flash-fried NC shrimp and local okra. Holy moly was this good.

And just when I thought things couldn’t get any better, I ordered a spot-on entree of blackened salmon with green tomato salsa over cheese grits with black beans. Little did we know that ALL entrees are only $12.95 on Tuesdays. Steal.of.the.century.

Thanks for picking awesome restaurants, dad!

My mom and I LIVE for good cake, so we were pretty excited to return home to meet Matt for dessert.

I had a simple and delicious white buttercream cake from the new Daisy Cakes. Thanks Matt!

The cake was quite different than others I’ve had. The cake part was thick like cornbread and the icing was so buttery that it almost tasted more savory than sweet. But, in a good way.

I had three pieces like the one below to top of the night.

I also got a few gifts…

I’m so sad that the day is over, but so happy it happened. Thanks for the birthday wishes, friends. Goodnight.

Pumpkin Sampler

Posted on Oct 16, 2011 | 11 comments

This weekend was just fabulous. I couldn’t have asked for better weather and I did a lot of relaxing. I wasn’t able to go out Friday night because of a stomach ache, but I got a great night’s sleep and was feeling energized on Saturday morning. I went to the mall to run some errands and eyed some things I might like if I’m lucky enough to get any birthday cash:) I made some last minute plans to hang out with my friend Meredith and discovered she had never tasted a pumpkin beer! What? I was in shock, so I drove directly to Sam’s Quick shop and prepared for a tasting.

I picked Cottonwood and Dogfish Head because I know they are good ones, but I’d actually never tried Big Boss’s Harvest Time. All three were delightful. Too bad they don’t make Pumking in smaller bottles or I would have added that to the line up. I believe the intervention was successful.

I said goodbye to Meredith and joined Matt for our anniversary celebration at Guglhuph. Ever since we ran into the chef back in July, this place has been on our list. We set aside $5′s and $10′s here and there and finally sat down to dinner in the adorable space last night.

The restaurant is German, so naturally I ordered a German beer – The Ayinger Celebrator which was divine. It was thick, sweet, and perfect for a chilly night.

We sampled a mushroom soup with plenty of bread. The soup was on special and we ordered it last minute, so I cannot remember any details, but it was very good.

Matt and I split two entrees. The first was German dish that I would describe as the cross between a ravioli and a dumpling. These were stuffed with butternut squash, mushrooms, spinach, and smoked gouda and served in a herb cream sauce with spicy walnuts

This was AMAZING. Seriously, the waiter came to take our plates and I had sopped up every last bit of the sauce with my bread because it was that good. I just wish there had been more than three!

The other entree we split was a slow braised all natural pork shank with potato dumplings, green beans, and a whole grain mustard sauce. Again, amazing. The portion was huge! I spent about 20 minutes eating this and there was still a ton of meat left. The potato dumplings balanced the meat perfectly.

We had trouble with the dessert menu and, despite not being huge chocolate cake people, we ordered the Duck Rabbit milk stout cake. BUT, the waiter came back and said that he thought we would prefer the special pumpkin sampling platter. How did he know?

Spiced pumpkin cake with homemade marshmallows and pumpkin compote, house made pumpkin ice cream, and pumpkin brittle.

Everything was delish, but I loved the pumpkin brittle and was surprisingly very impressed with the marshmallow.

I cannot even express how wonderful this dinning experience was. And the service was excellent. I’d say it has my vote for best Durham restaurant experience thus far.

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Today, I went for a jog, drove to UNC to watch Matt’s sister’s soccer game, and I just finished Pride & Prejudice (the movie). It was a fantastic day.

What’s the best dining experience you’ve had in your current city or town?

Weekend of Eating & Drinking, Part XXXII

Posted on Oct 2, 2011 | 3 comments

Last winter, I had one sip of Southern Tier’s Choklat stout and nearly died. Aside from Pumking (also a Southern Tier beer), this is one of the greatest substances on the planet. Both beers taste just like cake!!! What you see below is actually the Choklat stout mixed with Southern Tier’s Jahva imperial coffee stout. Surprisingly, this is a spring release and my sister gifted it to Matt over the summer.

We’ve been waiting for the temperature to drop to drink it. Matt and I were totally in awe over this beer and we sipped in silence for the first five minutes. Love.

After The Experience, we make the trek to Chapel Hill to use a Living Social deal at Queen of Sheeba. I’ve had positive experiences with Ethiopian food in Boston, so I was pretty excited to try a new place. We only wish our Boston friends could have joined us this time around:( I had hoped to try an Ethiopian beer, but they didn’t have any, so I ordered a South African Cab.

The Injera (sponge bread) at Queen of Sheeba was a lot darker than the others I’ve had – perhaps it was wheat?

I was quite excited to see local, pasture raised grass fed beef on the menu – seems rare for an ethnic restaurant. We got the beef in a sauce similar to bbq and tilapia in a curry-like sauce. The sides were mixed vegetables in two different sauces. I was a little disappointed that we couldn’t choose the sides, but they were still really good. The portions were much smaller than our Boston place, but the flavor of the main dishes was outstanding!!! The beef nearly melted in my mouth and the fish was perfectly seasoned. I was very impressed.

We obviously cleaned the platter.

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This morning, I finally got around to making some pumcakes. T’was exciting to kick off the Autumn season.

With peanut butter and hazelnut butter!

I would like to say I sat around all day and enjoyed the fall sunshine, but I had to work. It wasn’t too bad though and I earned some comp time, so I’m happy. I’m in bed and ready for the week. Night.