The Gourmez

Now that those pesky recent publications have stopped getting in the way (yes, yes, I wish I could complain about more of them!), I can return to my pattern of posting oldest to newest credits in this self-promotion series. Next up is a short little guest blog post I did back in the fall of 2009 on the Muffin Blog. It was written as a way to vent my frustration after losing years of creative writing due to a hard drive failure.More importantly, it was an ode to all the characters I lost from the crash. Here’s your lead-in:

I lost six years of my life. Okay, I’m being a tad dramatic. I lost six years’ worth of word processor documents. They’re gone. They left for the great recycling bin icon in the sky and some jerk emptied it. I’m the jerk.

A few years ago, I decided the old college laptop had to go. It had been wacky since my roommate borrowed it for a night of feverish essay typing and spilled a mug of coffee on it. The keys sank down like molasses when you pressed them and came up 1. . . 2 . . .3 seconds later with a loud click. The down arrow key would possess the cursor, sending it on a race down the monitor, which no control-alt-delete combination could halt.

If your interest is peaked, read the rest at the Muffin Blog! And for your visual pleasure, I give you kitten Verdandi expressing the same rage at dirty laundry as I felt when I realized the files were gone forever.

I posted this review over at Carpe Durham earlier today. It’s of a practically secret restaurant—amp up your excitement levels! Okay, not too high, though.

The District
410 Blackwell Street
The American Tobacco District
$6–$11

Head inside the glass doors by the waterfall at the bottom floor of the Fowler Building in the Tobacco District, and you’ll find the District, a restaurant only open on Thursdays and Fridays from 11:00 am to 1:00 pm for lunch and from 7:30 am to 10:o0 am for breakfast (edited 2/3 to update hours and add breakfast!).


The Fowler Building is also the home of the Art Institute of Raleigh-Durham, and their culinary program is why the District exists in the first place. It’s a training ground for future chefs and a means for them to put what they’ve learned into practice for a few months at a time. The District is only open for part of each semester, and the husband and I decided to try it last Thursday on its opening day with this group of students.

Keep in mind that everything is student-run here, so be forgiving! The wait staff is also comprised of chefs-in-training, and they rotate with the back of the house each month so they can all experience all aspects of restaurant operations during a meal rush. The menu is small, consisting of about 5 appetizers and salads, 5 sandwiches, 3 entrees, and 3 dessert options.

It will stay the same throughout the semester. Worth noting is that they serve Joe Van Gogh coffee, and it was great! So many restaurants serve bad coffee, so I always celebrate the exceptions to that.

We started with the crab cakes, which were served with a red pepper remoulade. They were probably the best dish we had and delicious.

They were jam-packed with crab, fried nicely, and had a great kick from the diced yellow and red peppers inside. The remoulade was also good, though the salad was overly dressed with a strongly lemon vinaigrette. Those patties, though, they were wonderful.

My husband’s tuna melt sandwich was a simple affair—grilled white bread, lettuce, tomato, and swiss cheese that wasn’t melted.

He was okay with it, but probably wouldn’t order it again. At $7, it’s not a bad deal, but a little more imagination would have been nice. Personally, I was sorely tempted by the Asian short rib entrée but decided that the shrimp tacos were more up my alley, being as I’ve only recently started enjoying ribs.

First, the negative: they don’t make their tortillas, so that sacrifices some of the quality of a taco dish, but they do fry the chips in house (and the potato chips, too). The shrimp were cooked just right, and I enjoyed the unexpected and somewhat southern take on tacos—they were served with tomato, lettuce, very thinly sliced and grilled green and red bell peppers, and a green chile salsa that tasted like chow chow. Definitely don’t order them expecting taqueria-style tacos, but I rather liked the interesting take on the dish. The guacamole was some of the best I’ve had in the area, heavy on the lime and cilantro.

We passed on dessert, but what they had is worth mentioning. You can order bananas foster with vanilla ice cream, and they will prepare it tableside for you. Another patron had it while we were there—talk about a fun spectacle while dining! They also offer flourless chocolate cake and a changing ice cream flavor. This day it was cobbler themed with peach bites mixed into spiced vanilla ice cream and topped with crumble. I almost talked myself into it, but I was really full.

The District is a fun restaurant if you need a change from the Tobacco District’ above-ground options and you don’t mind being a training ground for cooking students. They could do with some better quality ingredients in terms of bread and tortillas, but I definitely recommend those crab cakes and the dessert sounded great. Give them a go and help these students gain the experience they need.

Reviewed 26 Jan 12.

L’Uva Enoteca
406 Blackwell Street
Tobacco District, Durham
Website
Lunch: $9–$15

L’Uva opened in the American Tobacco District last year, replacing a sushi restaurant that didn’t seem able to adapt to the crowds from the Durham Performing Arts Center. In its place is an upscale spot that focuses on using local ingredients to bring together Italian dishes that stray from your standard meatballs and marinara.

I’m sure the large patio area is a draw when the weather is warmer, but I was surprised by the late lunch crowd during the day. We arrived about 12:45, and the space was mostly empty, but many tables were full by the time we left close to 2. The picture doesn’t capture it well, but I’d describe the interior as full of light with modest touches of minimalist décor and attractive, red-cedar-colored wood.

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Would you like to know how good of a year 2012 has been so far? This is the second time I’ve had to replace one of my planned bragging posts with a just published one instead!  Let’s hope this is a trend that continues.

This week, I’m directing you to an essay I wrote for our local independent newspaper, sensibly named the Independent Weekly, or the Indy if you’re a local. The Front Porch column is open to readers to send in 500-word essays on any topic, and it’s often a great place to get a sense of what others in the community are thinking about or just taste a little slice of someone’s life. This week, it’s my life you can dig into, or at least my opinions on the running craze and the constant fundraisers around us. Here is your teaser:

On Facebook, I complete the circle of life every day by reading the status updates of friends and acquaintances. Births, weddings, deaths, more births: They’re all there on display. Lately, it seems, there’s a new element of living that I’d previously neglected. I’m talking about races, the running kind—anything that ends in “-athlon,” “-K” or red-faced racers clutching their stomachs as they breathlessly pass a finish line.

Ostensibly, it’s both the method of choice to raise money for every known charity and the trendiest way to announce a transition from out-of-shape blob to exercise hound. Watching from the sidelines, it’s a little bewildering . . .

For the rest of the Front Porch, either pick up a free copy of the Indy at pretty much any coffee shop and many local businesses or head over to the web version. Thanks for reading!

Southern Hot Toddy
Alivia’s Durham Bistro/My Review
Brightleaf, Durham

It’s been over a month since I tried the Southern Hot Toddy at Alivia’s Durham Bistro, so don’t be surprised if it was just a passing winter’s fancy on their drink list. It was made with Jim Beam Bourbon, orange wedges, sugar, and hot herbal tea.

Well, it was supposed to be made with those ingredients but the one I had definitely was not herbal tea—I think it was a Lipton black tea bag, if I remember correctly. That’s fine—I like black tea just fine—but it did make a difference in terms of expectations and quality. The flavors were nicely proportioned, however. The orange wedges were key to blending the bourbon taste in with the tea. Make sure you don’t let the tea steep too long, or those proportions will be thrown out of whack.

The Southern Hot Toddy wasn’t revelatory, but it was an interesting change and hit the spot that evening. If a better tea were used, I’d think of it much more highly.

Reviewed 17 Dec 11.

Nanotaco
2512 University Drive
Rockwood, Durham
Website
Meals: $5–$8

Nanotaco has been reviewed by multitudes of other bloggers—I’m always behind the curve in trying out new places. However, this sometimes gives me the chance to weigh in on differences of opinions on a newer spot, and the quality of Nanotaco’s margaritas is one of those local debates, especially in Carpe Durham’s comments. Some people think they are from a mix, some think they are too sour, some think they aren’t sour enough, and some think they are the perfect ratio of sour to sweet. So forming my own thoughts on the Nanotaco house margarita was high on my priority list for my first trip. Also high on that list was trying their torta, because I’ve been on a search for the perfect once ever since I arrived in Durham. That’s one quest that may now be over.

I love the iguana beckoning you into Nanotaco, and the red exterior is inviting to me. Inside, it’s mainly yellow with the chalkboard menu dominating the wall. Some people have mentioned difficulties with the menu set up, but I liked it and didn’t have any problems figuring out what to order.

Ingredients are locally sourced as much as possible, and the biggest draw is probably the types of meats they offer for fillings. It’s not just chicken or beef like Mex-Am fare, but it doesn’t stick with only more traditional meats like barbacoa, al pastor, and lengua, either. For an extra $2, you can opt for fillings that play more with Southern themes like crispy pork belly or braised hog jowls, and they are called the dirty meats on the menu. They also have a salsa bar with red, green, and pico de gallo options as well as pickled jalapenos and onions, limes, radishes, and a coleslaw option. Of the salsas, the red option was pretty tasty and packed with dried, roasted pepper flavor. I’d have like more peppers in the pico de gallo. You get a handful of chips with any order, and they were good, but not outstanding in comparison to other options we have in Durham—La Salamandra is still winning in that department.

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PieBird
618 N. Person Street
Downtown Raleigh
Website
Lunch: $4 to $10
Dinner: $10 to $14

PieBird is a cute little restaurant situated in the northern end of downtown Raleigh, almost at the Mordecai neighborhood. As one might guess from the name, its primary focus is on pies, both sweet and savory. For lunch, salads and hand pies are available until they are gone, and dinner has a focus on pot pies and shepherd’s pies, though there are daily specials as well. Dessert pies, however, are where they are making the most waves in the Triangle food scene, and I think that’s an earned acclaim.

The setup is one long brick wall of seating with bar seating across the way.

I especially liked the pastel blue napkins and the bird salt and pepper shakers that my friends insisted on posing for me.

We went at dinner time, and most of the entrees come with a choice of changing sides. I decided on the panzanella salad for my side.

I was very pleased with it. The last time I ordered a panzanella, mysteriously, there was very little bread. Not so at PieBird! It had plenty of croutons about halfway between crunchy and soggy, the right texture I think of when I picture panzanella.

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Yellowtail Shiraz Grenache 2010
Southeastern Australia

Blueberry flavors come first with this wine, but they melt away into something that reminds me of the fig butter I just picked up from Trader Joe’s. But this wine is bitterer than the fig butter and pretty dry. There’s a heat to it, and I’d call it medium bodied.

None of that combines especially well. It’s not horrible, but it’s not far off, either.

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As you may have heard, we rang in 2012 two weeks ago. Crazy, right? Crazier is that I unexpectedly ended up hosting some friends at our place to celebrate and was reminded by one of them that there was a challenge on the table.

You see, two friends, Steve and Chris, have this habit of facing off over cocktails. They each have their specialty drinks, usually ones that’ll please the ladies. For Chris, that’s the Girl Scout Cookie, and for Steve, that’s the Caramel Apple. Those have both made appearances in their past competitions, along with a variety of other crowd-pleasing drinks—I remember a 4th of July competition that ended up in red, white, and blue concoctions all over the place. Both men have been evenly ranked in those competitions, but you see, I throw a bit of a wrench in their standard operating procedure. I’m most assuredly a lady—okay, I honestly prefer chick—but I’m much more inclined to stronger, more classic cocktails than the sweeter ones typically associated with the female taste. And I have a thing for absinthe. I won’t even pretend it isn’t related to imaging myself as an American ex-pat writer in 1920s Paris.

Needless to say, I’ve talked up the need for Chris and Steve to compete in an absinthe mixology challenge for months, and this New Year’s Eve just happened to provide the perfect opportunity. With only a day’s notice, both Steve and Chris accepted, and the competition was on.

The competitors, back to back in my kitchen.

NV Absinthe Verte was the absinthe chosen for the competition, because, well, I had it on hand. It’s not my favorite absinthe, but we don’t have many choices here in NC, and the Pernod Absinthe, which I do prefer, is around twice as expensive. Steve and Chris mostly used ingredients in our alcohol cabinet, which is really more of an alcohol stand—yes, I’m proud of my collection and display it. Some shaking and stirring later and the first two competing drinks were ready.

Round 1

Steve inspecting his handiwork.

Steve’s handiwork, the Absinthe Minded.

This was my absolute favorite drink of the evening, which is especially noteworthy because I’m not a big gin drinker, and gin was the base liquor. Yes, I’m a sucker for presentation, and the lemon peel just looked lovely in that glass. But the taste was perfect for me: strong, but without an overpowering absinthe presence. My other two judges disagreed, finding it pretty unappealing. For the record, they were both men, and they both preferred the sweeter drinks this evening. That means I’m badass, right?
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Espresso Martini
Watts Grocery
Review/Website
Watts Hillandale, Durham
$7

The espresso martini is hiding on Watt’s dessert menu. Combine a shot of Joe Van Gogh’s espresso, Stoli Vanil vodka, Chambord liqueur, and a splash of Bailey’s Irish crème liqueur, and you have a unique coffee cocktail that still manages to hit all the elements I expect from one. First of all, the aroma of this drink was wonderful, and the frothy presentation with three little beans was quite appealing. The taste of the espresso comes though nicely without bitterness and imparts a welcome nutty note. The raspberry flavor is light and rather soothing in combination with the Irish crème. None of these ingredients overwhelm each other. They simply work well together to make a delicious drink.

Reviewed 3 Dec 11.