The Gourmez

Time for another edition of Flavors of Spam, wherein I’m been pressed for time to write blog posts (stupid flu), so I resort to looking through my spam for tasty nuggets to share. Severe truth is expressed with some bitterness. Of course, that’s a quote from Thoreau, and the spammer even credited it correctly. Think [...]

Karen “Coy” Junmai Sake Niigata, Japan Note: In no way, shape, or form are those quote marks of my generation. The rose-colored bottle is very pretty, which counts for automatic bonus points—I’m not afraid to admit it. As the bottle description says, it smells like lychee, with a bit of cream in the nose, too. [...]

Panciuto 110 South Churton Street Downtown Hillsborough Website Entrees: $22–25 Panciuto is an upscale eatery with Italian flair on the main strip of Hillsborough. They display the names of the farms they source from proudly on the tables. It’s a cozy space with brick and cream walls, dark wood, a fireplace, and a subtle, curvy [...]

Hot Date Jujube Chapel Hill $9 Alas, no picture for this cocktail review, but don’t let the lack of visual stimulation stop you from trying it out. The Hot Date is made of jujube preserves, bourbon, cayenne, and lemon. And it is one hot date, as far as that cayenne’s concerned! The flavors of this [...]

Market Restaurant 938 North Blount Street Mordecai, Raleigh Website Lunch: $6—$11 Dinner: $6—$18 Market is a newer restaurant on the Raleigh food scene. They focus on using all natural products and on sustainability in all areas, from where they get their ingredients to how they run the restaurant. They’ve been getting a lot of buzz [...]

Zestos Red 2009 Madrid, Spain This 50%  tempranillo and 50% grenache blend is an attractive garnet. The nose is MIA. It tastes tart, like a raspberry jolly rancher but richer in flavor. Some molasses deepens the flavor and thickens its texture to medium-bodied. It’s quite good on reflection.

Jujube, Chapel Hill $40 per plate Last Tuesday, I had the pleasure of attending another Jujube wine dinner—it had been a while! These dinners are kept affordable by profiling wines in the $10 to $20 range from the Hope Valley Bottle Shop crew, of which Drew did the sommelier honors this evening. Alas, I was [...]

Escazu 936 North Blount Street Mordecai, Raleigh Website Tues to Sat: 11 am to 9 pm Escazu is a maker of small-batch chocolates that mainly trades in bars and truffles. A friend was headed out to their retail store last weekend, and as I’ve always wanted to try their wares, I joined in. The smell [...]

Christian Brothers Frost White Brandy This clear brandy, which is still aged in oak so I’m a bit confused how it manages to be clear, is definitely a departure from standard brandies. I could tell that from first smell, which was of peanut brittle and roses. Both scents were strong and such an odd contrast [...]

Just for the week, I swear! I’m currently cameraless, and I’ve got editing projects (you know, the type that actually pay me $$) to get done, so the blog has fallen to the wayside this week. See you Monday with pictureless updates on Jujube’s latest wine dinner, and hopefully, picture-filled ones on frost brandy, “coy” [...]