"Bar Main," or "OK, I'll Lighten Up a Little Bit"

My regular readers will probably know that I'm a big old puffball.  (People who know me in person know the same thing, in a physical sense.)  I guess when I occasionally go off, it really stands out.  So in the interest of journalistic integrity, and to further expand the knowledge of my readers along with expanding my waistline to a size 100, I'm going to point out another area where I've been a bit harsh: bar food.  I've been critical of some bar food in these pages, and some bar food deserves criticizing, because some of it is bad.  But sometimes I get a little carried away.  So, I'll try to make up for that now. 

For instance, The Federal near Brightleaf Square has been serving an extensive selection of some pretty decent food for a while, and it's clearly popular.  They've had a selection of wines by the glass since they opened.  It's a good place for a nosh 'n' wash, especially in the back room, which is quieter and more intimate than the front.  Places like the Fed are (and I hope I'm not damning with faint praise here) the equivalent of some diners of 50 years ago, where one could go to a place close-by, eat a decent, good tasting meal with your friends, plus have a beer to wash it back with. 

Another example: The Down Under Pub.  Also on Main Street near Brightleaf, the Pub has a number of inexpensive, good sandwiches.  It used to be about the only place downtown where I could get a root beer (not any more, unfortunately, although I can get a birch beer next door at the 'Shmong); they also made a great BLT the way god intended.  Have I ever said anything about it?  Never.  Bad Joe!  No BLT! 

Every once in a while, I even get something genuinely inventive:  Last night at Cracky McManpurse's The Bull McCabe's (inside the loop on Main Street), I asked the new head chef what I should have to eat.  He suggested (forgive me if I get this wrong) "Kelly's Pittsburgh-Style Steak Salad."  Salad?  WTF?  Salad is for gerbils, right?  I got over it and ordered the thing.  I was glad I did.  Clearly an homage to an archetype whose best exemplars are the sandwiches at Primanti Brothers -- one of their manly piles is shown on their MySpace page -- the thing was yummy.  It was particularly good to a texture freak like me: spearing some crisp lettuce along with some crisp french fries and chewing them both at the same time was a really nice thing: the two different types of crispness play off each other in your mouth in a sensory experience I don't think I've ever quite had before.  There are other nods to a sub-sandwich-like experience: sliced purple onions and a scattering of sliced black olives.  To make sure you know this chimera is a "salad," you're asked for your choice for salad dressing.  Thankfully, it's served on the side by default: personally, I'd be scared any dressing would ruin the delicate crunch I liked so much.  It also comes with some good ketchup for those who can't resist pulling out the occasional fry and dunking it.  The morsels of beef tasted like they'd been briefly dunked in a soy marinade, another good match.  My only criticism was the tomato wedges, whose failing was that they were no better or worse than any other tomato served at any sandwich place; i.e., sucky supermarket tomatoes abound, so I shouldn't be critical of them in an otherwise good dish at a bar.  (Although I keep waiting for more restaurants to grow their own tomatoes: it's about the most food per square foot of garden that you can plant, and one of the most dramatic improvements possible in a fresh vegetable.  But I digress.)  Bonus: it was a lot of food.  I think this dish was a special, but I'm not sure.  BTW, the chicken tenders I had a few days earlier at TBM's could have stood some improvement.  But one bad dish does not a bad bar make. 

Speaking of chicken, my favorite chicken sandwich in town is also served at a Main St. bar:  I love the "Bob's Birdie" at Satisfaction.  Screw getting the cheese on it: ask for mushrooms instead, and "Satisfaction Sauce" (ranch dressing, I think) instead of mayo.  You also get bacon on it by default.  Used to, it wasn't on the lunch menu; I'd deliberately time my lunches to when the lunch menu expired, just so I could get a Bob's Birdie.  I think now one can get a BB anytime there's food.  Now if Sat's would just return to the fried mushrooms they had before the last ownership change, I'd be a happy man. 

If I'm lucky, this bar food post will encourage me actually to write something I've had in mind for a while: "Fast Food Heaven," a companion piece to "Fast Food Hell."  The problem is I've been chicken.  Maybe I still am; we'll see. 

Edit -- Corrections: There was no soy marinade on the steak pieces at TBC, and the dish itself is a regular item.  Thanks for the additional information, gang. 

 

Comments

[durhamfood]

I think (have I said this before?) that the Fed's $5 half-sandwich and soup is the best lunch deal in town. Especially that new smoked ham sandwich. Mmmm.

I don't really like Down Under or Sat's. The former is a bit on the creepy side and the latter is, well, Sat's....decent pizza and good wings, though.

I haven't been to Bull McCabe's yet.

[durhamfood]

By the way, the Fed has not just beer. It has GOOD beer...

[Maura]

I'm becoming a big fan of Bull McCabe's. I'm always in search of a great fish sandwich, and hadn't been able to find one that even comes close to what I used to get at my favorite bar in Harrisburg, PA, until I had one at McCabe's on Friday. It was fabulous. The fries were also very good. Also, having nothing to do with the food there, I love the bar. There's a place to rest my feet, and the bar stools have good sturdy backs. Very important for a gimp like me. I prefer to sit at the bar instead of a table, and I'm impressed with how comfortable it is.

I love bar food, and I think the James Joyce has the best bar food around here. The Chips and Curry are the perfect hangover food, and the potato skins are so good I almost cried the first time I had them.

I can take or leave Satisfactions. They're pizza is OK, but it's certainly not worthy of the fuss that's made.

Joe, a shoutout to Primanti Brothers! Awesome.

[Joe]

I think the pizza at Sat's isn't what it used to be. :(

[bill lee]

contrary to other comments here, i've found that the food at the joyce took a nosedive around the same time the food at sati's got better. joyce's curry had a complete change of recipe and even the fries went downhill (and i've heard the burger has taken a hit too).
but sati's seemed to improve dramatically with the change of ownership (fried mushrooms notwithstanding), with both the pizza and sandwiches getting better.
2nd the approval of the bull mccabe's fish sandwich, good stuff.
but really, tough to beat the fed for bar food. then again i haven't had a chance to try the watts grocery late night menu.....

[durhamfood]

I'm with bill lee here. I've never had better than mediocre food at the Joyce, and the beer selection isn't great. I never go there any more, because the Fed is just next door. Ditto for Sati's.

[Joe]

It's been pointed out to me that expecting a decent fresh tomato in October is somewhat unreasonable. To clarify: it wasn't a bad tomato, particularly, but just a store-bought one. It may have even been a little better than the run-of-the-garden store-bought tomato. I guess I spoiled myself a long time ago when I put in about 10 tomato plants one year.

[weege]

Is Satisfaction any better now? I went for lunch about 6 months ago with a couple friends, sat down, waited 15 minutes and then we went across the street to the Fed. Nobody ever came by our table and the music was so loud you couldn't hear people speak. Haven't been back since. Sati's had been one of my favorite hangouts in Durham.

[GIMMEthatMEAT]

three words: burgers at Dain's

[Maura]

The only place I'll go for pizza around here is Randy's. I used to like Cinelli's, but the last time I had one, it was awful - as in, I'd rather eat at Papa John's.

I've only eaten at The Federal a few times. The Italian sandwich (heated!) is so good I can't even come up with a word for it.

The Joyce's curry recipe was changed, but I believe they changed it back. I think they were putting tomatoes in it for a while, which didn't do it any favors. The last time I had it, it was fine. Their fries were never great. It's the curry that makes the dish.

[Rob]

Subjects near and dear to my heart.

The food at the Joyce did take a bit of a nosedive. Their burgers used to be superb and now they're merely good. Their fries are definitely not at the same level, though they make up for it a little with the bacon/cheese options.

I've always loved the Fed, though IMO they do better with nontraditional bar food. Their burger is just OK, but their standard risotto is super (and a great value).

Satty's is still a greasy favorite. London broil saute + their chips 'n dip = yum. Pizza is good, which means better than the horrible chain pizzas in the area but not anywhere near the level of actual Good Pizza.

Dain's is the best place to get burgers and fries in Durham--period. I also like the Steak Soup. Their cheese steak is pretty good but falls apart in my hands. Everything is fresh and made to order.

I do miss the weird burger Anar used to have at Xiloa, which was ultra-tasty and had like 10 different kinds of meat and pork in it.

[durhamfood]

I think the risotto is no longer offered at the Fed :(

[LBR]

Yeah, the Fed revised their menu within the past couple weeks. I think there's a pasta of some sort in place of the risotto. Also, the back room is only quiet if the diners back there are quiet -- those acoustics + a big group or a couple loud people, and I find it almost unbearable. I'll take the general roar in the front of the restaurant over that any day.

I've never had more than mediocre food at James Joyce; glad to hear I'm not the only one.

And I think the Down Under is a perfect dive bar. I can't really speak to their food, but it's a great place for people watching. :)

[weege]

I haven't had them because I'm vegetarian, but I have friends who swear by the DU's sesame hot wings.

[Joe]

I'm glad someone weighed in on Dain's. I figured with the small space and tiny menu they have that they'd never even make it through the summer. Boy was I wrong. I don't know how they're doing, but the place usually seems like it's pretty busy.

I haven't been fed at the Fed in a couple of weeks, but I've noticed in the past they'd occasionally have a risotto special (even though they had the other risotto on the regular menu). So maybe there'll still be an occasional risotto.

There was a pork+ burger as Xiloa? Damn, I'm sorry I missed that. To get more of my predilections and idiosyncrasies out of the way: I tend to be tone-deaf about Latin American food. It's not that I particularly dislike it, I just never think about it. I don't have a lot of experience at either eating it or making it. I think about thee only generalization I can make is that most of the gourmet Mexican places I've tried are inferior to their less expensive counterparts.

Speaking of cheap eats and food from points south of the U.S., how do you folks feel about Cosmic Cantina?

[durhamfood]

Cosmic - mediocre Tex Mex for Duke students who are terrified of going to a real taqueria or just don't know that they exist (can you say 'bubble'?)

Boy, am I an opinionated jerk or what?

They use a very cheap brand of packaged tortillas, hardly season their meats, etc etc.

Full disclosure: I used to eat there once in a while in my dark first year or two in Durham. My life became much better once I discovered taco trucks, then taquerias.

[Joe]

I used to have an arts class that met very near the Cosmic at night. The class was very tiring and dirty. I often wouldn't to fix dinner when I was done because it was so late. But I discovered the Cosmic's cheese quesadillas. I know they're really plain, but they cost a dollar. Yes, just $1. I'd order 2 or 3 to go, and pound a beer while I was waiting for the food. The beer was often more than my food. They were like getting a really good grilled cheese sandwich for... a dollar. :) I sometimes would supplement my menu with an "old school" burrito, which was like $2.

[Maura]

Cosmic - mediocre Tex Mex for Duke students who are terrified of going to a real taqueria or just don't know that they exist (can you say 'bubble'?)

I've eaten there twice. The food was OK but the service was so bad both times that I refuse to go back. I'm generally really patient when I don't get great service, but the combination of bad service and the refusal to rectify it, or even acknowledge it with more than a shrug, was enough to make me swear off of it forever. The food's not good enough to climb those steps again.

Rob, good to see someone else who doesn't think the burger at the Fed is that great. I've had better. And now that Dain's has been mentioned twice here, I'll definitely be checking it out. It's a nice little place (even if I can't smoke there). I'd like to see it survive.

[Joe]

Maura, let me know when you'd like to go and maybe we can gang up: I imagine JP would want to stay away from there, but maybe not.

[Maura]

Joe, we stopped in for a beer at Dain's one afternoon and liked it a lot. We'd probably both be up for it.

Someone mentioned wings at The Down Under. I agree they're good, but I have yet to find any that actually taste like buffalo wings. MR Wings in Apex is the closest I've found. And what's with the fascination with ranch dressing down here? It's supposed to be blue cheese.

[Joe]

There's some wing joint over behind The Area Formerly Known As South Square, but I don't remember its name.

[John]

Go to Bull McCabe's for as authentic as possible Buffalo Wings. I know this is a shameless plug for my own place, but I love the Buffalo style and have them on the menu.

[Maura]

Update on the Joyce's chips and curry: We had some a couple days ago. Although it's still good, it's missing something. Or has too much of something. Anyway, not as good as it used to be.

I'm taking John's recommendation seriously about his chicken wings. I'm looking forward to trying them.

[noah]

John, may I make one suggestion.... get a new DJ. I love Bull McCabe's but every time I go I hear the same ten songs. Honestly, if I have to hear the original version of "Tainted Love" again I am going to be forced to crossed Bull McCabe's off my list. Maybe I am just a huge music snob but I think it is just as important as good food and drinks.

[Maura]

John, may I make one suggestion.... get a new DJ.

I must disagree. Maybe I haven't been there enough, but I love the DJ. He makes our time there better, and the two girls sitting next to me on Friday night agreed.
He plays lots of funk (and not just the really familiar stuff), which always makes me happy.

Still haven't tried the wings at Bull McCabes, but they're on my list.

[Maura]

Oops. Didn't mean to put everything in my last comment in italics.

[Joe]

NP -- I fixed it.