The Gourmez

With spring comes new dishes at many restaurants, and that includes Noodles & Company, a chain I’ve sampled a few times before. Well, readers, it’s your and my lucky day, because I was invited to come to their Erwin Rd. location in Durham to try their spring asparagus menu and you get the chance to [...]

b. a. b. c. Revolution, Downtown Durham Restaurant Review $9 The b. a. b. c. is a delicious cocktail made by the talented folks over at Revolution. Many people love their drink list, but it’s been hit and miss for me. File the b. a. b. c. under hit. It’s made with bourbon, mole bitters, [...]

Graniwinkle Watts Grocery Review/Website Watts Hillandale, Durham $9 This is a seasonal offering at Watts, and it’s the second I’ve had locally featuring Foggy Ridge cider—I must check into that label to see why our bartenders are experimenting with it! Including the cider, the Graniwinkle is made of house-spiced apple cider syrup, brandy, lemon juice, [...]

Argiolas Costamolino 2009 Sardinia, Italy This Italian white wine made with the vermentino grape smells of orange blossoms and vanilla. It is very stony with herbal qualities like tarragon or majoram (though that may be the majoram butter from the corn on the cob I had for dinner talking). Banana, vanilla, and lemon notes abound, [...]

Bolla Soave DOC 2009 Veneto, Italy This is my first experience with wines from the Soave region of Italy.  Plenty of smells rise from the glass: lemon, peach, and vanilla. The peach is prominent when drinking the wine, and it lends a great flavor overall. It’s a buttery white but not nearly as much so [...]

Mirwinator Blu Seafood 9th Street, Durham $9 The mirwinator is made of Evan Williams brandy, thyme, orange juice, and lemon juice. Except for the thyme, that’s a pretty standard list of ingredients, and there’s a reason for it. The combination of those flavors always makes for a first-rate cocktail, and the mirwinator is no exception [...]

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 [...]

2 Copas White 2009 Mendoza, Argentina This smells of flowers and oranges: it would make a great, subtle perfume. It tastes very floral also, with a bit of pine that adds more depth from the outdoors. There’s lemon but not in the off-putting, dish soap way (thank god I haven’t had one of those in [...]

Pomegranate Martini W XYZ Lounge, Aloft Hotel Chapel Hill This cocktail is made with pomegranate juice, citrus vodka, and lemon juice. I find it too thin by far, and I think that would be fixed by using triple sec instead of the flavored vodka. The lemon juice tries to help balance the drink’s flavors, but [...]

Hawaiian Orchard My Place 2 shots vodka 1 shot triple sec Juice of ½ lemon 1 shot pineapple juice Shake all the ingredients together and pour into a martini glass. I loved the color of this drink, yellow as you might suspect. It was really pretty and spring-like, with the cloudiness of the pineapple juice [...]