Eat at Joe's!

Mother's/Graduation Day In Durham

If you have any sense today, you'll stay out of just about any restaurant in Durham and Chapel Hill, and probably Wake County too.  If you had the foresight to make reservations a year ago, well, congratulations.  

Bob Fowler, R.I.P.

I was really sorry to read today in the N&O that Bob Fowler, the last family proprietor of Fowler's, died earlier this month:  

http://www.newsobserver.com/2013/07/10/3020680/robert-l-fowler-jr.html

I liked Bob, and liked talking to him when I went in Fowler's.  He told me once there was never any telling what he might be doing in the store at any particular time — helping customers, writing up an ad, or "swabbing out the john."  

There was a long time in Durham where there was not much in the way of resources for food geeks.  The big exception was Fowler's.  Bob was the one who successfully took a small family grocery store through the transition to a gourmet resource, with (at one time) the best wine selection between DC and Atlanta, and maybe beyond.  

Bob, I still miss your store, and we'll miss you.  

Alcohol: It's Not Just For Breakfast Anymore

Pretty much everyone and their mom has posted this article by Eric Asimov, featuring Michael Maller's smiling face behind the bar at Mateo (behind the NYT semi-paywall again).  It's not so much about NC wine, which isn't even mentioned.  It's about our food and wine culture here in Durham and the Triangle, one that has taken off like a rocket in the past 30 years.  I love it.  

But I did feel a little sad that our own beer and winemaking areas aren't given more notice (that's not going to be Asimov's focus for this article in the NYT, so no criticism to him).  All legal wine and beer production in the country had to start from scratch after Prohibition was over in 1933, but the Great Depression and WWII kept the industry down until the 40s.  When it did, it was largely the industrial producers—the ones who could serve an entire country—who took off.  A lot of smaller rivals were left behind in the dirt.  They stayed behind.  Not too long ago, Weeping Radish had a brewery off the corner of Duke and Morgan Street.  They didn't make it (which may have had more to do with their not-so good restaurant than anything).  Wineries like Duplin Wines have been going since the 70s, but with their focus on inexpensive wines appealing to what they feel are local tastes, they're not likely to see much more than local recognition.

But it's better now.  Durham itself has three breweries, and seems to have no problem supporting them all; North Carolina has over 60 breweries and brewpubs.  Wineries are doing well too, with three American Viticultural Areas currently recognized by (and I can't believe I'm saying this this way) the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms.  The AVAs are all west of us, near the Yadkin River valley, but wine and beer are made all over the state.  So, just in case you can't find a North Carolina producer of beer or wine:

NC Brewers Guild brewery map

NC Winegrowers Association wine region map

The beer map has a list of breweries on it.  For lists of North Carolina wineries, you'll need to pull down a menu or two from near the top of the page.  But for both beer and wine, find someone in the state, try them, and see if you like them.  When you find a match, tell us about it, will you?  :)

Reliable Cheese Closing

The downtown food scene just got a little less bright:

Reliable Cheese closing

Dammit.

More Buttermilk, Please

Surprised and pleased to find that buttermilk -- real buttermilk -- is making a comeback:

Buttermilk, Often Maligned, Begins to Get Its Due at the NYT 

But long-time EAJ! readers already knew what buttermilk really is, no?  :)  

It's also nice to see local author Debbie Moose getting a plug.

Mobile Vending Ordinance Public Information Session Tonight At City Hall

Interest in the city's proposed additional regulation for food trucks has really skyrocketed, with some folks getting organized pretty quickly:

Durham Alliance for Food Innovation and Entrepreneurship

City Hall is the place to be tonight at 5:30 pm if you want more information about what's going on.  If you do Teh Facebook: 

http://www.facebook.com/events/390823910965591/

Magnolia Grill Closing

From the N&O:

"Durham's Magnolia Grill closing May 31"

Wow.

TROSA Grocery Closing

"Lack of business closing TROSA Grocery" at the Herald-Sun

Let's Smoke This Thief Out

Some thief stole a smoker belonging to Fullsteam:

There's information on the Flickr post linked to above and on Fullsteam's FB page on how to contact them if you have any tips.  Please help them out if you hear anything.  I imagine it's headed to one of Durham's finer metal recycling locations; it'd sure be nice if they could get it back before something like that happens.

NCSSM Food Drive -- With Globetrotters

Food, Durham — sounds like a good reason for a post.  :)  The North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics is having their annual food drive this weekend, and apparently the Harlem Globetrotters are helping out:

"NCSSM enlists Globetrotters’ help in food drive" at the Herald-Sun

Fat Thursday On Tuesday

Had a whole plate of these this morning:

(No, not the little girl, smart-@$$, so there.)  

Of course, we started a little late: the above pastries are supposed to be eaten on Fat Thursday by good Poles, but we're not Polish.  Maybe we should have tried getting our pączki at, say, Halgo instead of a Publix in Savannah.  But being Amuriken, we get to rip off whatever culinary traditions we want from whomever we like without regard for decency, geography, religion, respect, or taste.  ;)  But we should get them eaten up by Mardi Gras in any case, right?  So down the, er, pie-hole they go.  And we had some yesterday too, on what I guess is Lundi Gras, so there.  

The two boxes we got were mislabeled.  One was the advertised "cheese" coated with chocolaty goodness (with the filling being more like what one finds in a Boston cream doughnut, but a little richer and a lighter, less smooth texture).  The other was the above, but with additional apple filling.  I think we've eaten 6 in ~12 hours, which is pushing it.  :)

Anyone know where I'm supposed to get a pączek (apparently paczki is the plural form of the word) in town anyway, if not Halgo? I don't actually know that Halgo has them.

[A personal note:  Thanks to our special Georgia correspondent, code-named "Agent K," for making the trip & bringing back the goods.  :)  That's right up there with other such culinary odysseys.]

New Grocery For Northeast Central Durham?

On the one hand, the area in question is not well served by grocery stores or decent places to eat (or a lot of other things for that matter).  On the other hand, a close friend's family describes the chain in question as the "Dented Can Store":

"City approves incentives for new Alston grocery" at the Herald-Sun

Given that the chain is getting $150,000.00 of Durham's money to open the store, on top of the chain's getting $1,000,000.00 to open a distribution center in Lexington — well, I hope it works out.  Otherwise that $1,000,000.00 will not do much for the city or the state.  ;-D

Merry Christmas

Eat at Joe's! wishes you and yours a merry Christmas.  We hope you're all doing well and eating well.  Personally, I'm still recovering from this morning's brunch: waffles, eggs, ham and bacon from Harrington's, coffee, and mimosas with hibiscus flowers floating in them.  It was pretty, and pretty tasty.  It took about two hours for the food coma to wear off enough so I could get up, move to another room, and lay down.  :)  I'm hoping I'll be recovered for the standing rib roast this evening, along with (in part) rolls, creamed spinach, and Châteauneuf-du-Pape.  Mmmm....  Anyway, wherever you are, and whether you're observing the holiday or not, I hope you are doing well and enjoying yourself.  Merry Christmas.

The Missing Pizzeria

When did the Randy's Pizza at Northgate close?  Wrong, bad, mistake, they're open and fine, thankfully.  And thanks for the help, folks.

Is It Fair?

On the one tentacle, there's still time to get your Deep Fried on at the N.C. State Fair.  I suggest finding some deep fried Oreos; if you want something more like real food, I suggest an ear of corn, as they're delicious.  

On the other tentacle, Sean Wilson of Fullsteam points out that while the North Carolina State Fair awards three hundred forty-three — 343 — medals to North Carolina wines, there are none — 0 — for North Carolina beers.  That's right:  One of the most active food and drink scenes in the state and its newly active — dare I say fermenting? — and growing industry gets absolutely no recognition.  Zero.  Zilch.  Nada.  To wit:

"No win, no place, no show: craft beer at the N.C. State Fair"

Think about it.  

And enjoy your autumn, however you choose to do so — it's kinda nice out there.  :)

Durham Historic Restaurant Hunt

Gary Kueber at Endangered Durham is going to be doing a sort of treasure hunt of historic restaurants.  He'll be posting clues on his Facebook and Twitter sites, as well as on the ED post above.  I won't be able to attend the dénouement/tour due to prior ditch digging commitments, but I think I'd really enjoy it.  Gary is also giving away small prizes as part of the treasure hunt.  

By the way, this activity is in part to publicize Open Durham, Gary's new project to re-work ED while adding a bunch of neat stuff.  

Looks cool.  Y'all have fun.  

A/B & "The Beast": The Battering

An article on beers folks in the US supposedly no longer drink:

"The Eight Beers Americans No Longer Drink"

What the article doesn't state is whether any of those big beer companies are actually suffering from declining sales or profits.  Many of them have merged or bought other companies to the point that they're hardly recognizable.  They're also, arguably, no longer American companies, although I imagine their brews are still made in the United States.  I also imagine it's not cheap to ship fluids stably and in drink-sized containers.  :)

Kick Durham When It's Up

Right, Raleigh -- you don't want to be "like Durham," which is why you're changing your laws to be more like Durham's:

“I don’t think the city of Raleigh is going to fall apart if we don’t have food trucks,” Odom sniffed. “I’m not looking forward to being like Durham.”

I love the way people treat us as a city, don't you?  I also love that the Durham Herald-Sun is covering this.  Thank you.  :)

We Were Doing Flash Mobs Before Flash Mobs Were Cool

Started in 1998, an annual "secret" Parisian picnic draws thousands.  Now the idea is coming to New York.  We'll see how that goes.  

After 6 Years & 2 Floods, Nana's May Be Drier... After A Bunch More Work & Money

Herald-Sun: Drainage work OK'd for Nana's building

What Fine Dining Options Are Available On Memorial Day?

I actually dislike the term fine dining, but for lack of a better term....  Or to expand it a bit, who's open where I'd like to eat?  ;)  More reasonably, I guess not everyone is out grilling burgers with family.  That includes me: I'm digging ditches today.  But where might I eat tonight?  Enquiring Joes want to know.  ;)

For those of you in the service or with family members who've served (and perhaps died), thank you for your service and your support of your serving family members.  For those of you with your meals and freedom already secured for this holiday, Happy Memorial Day, and enjoy your time off.   

Parking Downtown

Why is it that making three-point turns on a busy narrow street is considered safer and better than parking, er, "left side of curb"?  The statement in the linked article is bogus, as one has to cross the yellow line both to make a 3-point turn and to park on the left of the street. 

[N.b. -- it took me longer to find the above link than it took for me to get the parking ticket in question.  :(  I gave up on finding a statute, but I guess that's county or state, not city.]

Dog-Gone-It!

After decisions by various local planning organs, Mr. Joseph Scarfo of Joey D's NY Dogs may be moving to another town:

"Food laws send Durham hot dog vendor packing"

That'd be unfortunate, especially after leasing the space.  I'm wondering what the hell "lease" even means when you can't put a hot dog cart on the leased spot.  I'm also wondering if it's typical for ordinary citizens to be asked to pay for the cost of changing a local ordinance.

Edit:  The "supply customers with bathroom" thing is particularly ridiculous: my understanding is that a brick & mortar food business only has to supply bathrooms if they have seating.  That's why all the places like Wimpy's had to get rid of their picnic tables outside.  Why would a mobile cart be forced to have a bathroom when a building doesn't?

Herald-Sun: "Panel discusses dining in Durham"

Wish I'd known about this before it happened, because I would have publicized it:

"Panel discusses dining in Durham"

Another Personal Note

You know, I've really grown to dislike all the stoopid crap I do to remain semi-anomymous.  Mostly it's the separate web browsers, sets of cookies, and e-mail accounts I dislike.  I screw up all the time too, and it's not like half of Durham doesn't know who I am anyway.  Then there's the people I want to out myself to because I like them or whatever, but that causes its own set of problems.  I even set up a Linkedin profile after someone sent me a request.  I still think it's a good idea for reviewers to be anonymous, but it's not like I do a hell of a lot of reviewing.  I should just give up.  

Chickens Come Home To Roost... On The Corpses Of Outlawed Taco Trucks

About 4 years ago, I posted about something I'd read in the N&O about Raleigh's restrictive ordinances for mobile food vendors ("Taco trucks get the runaround").  Instead of adapting to the new climate, Raleigh responded to an increase in mobile taquerias by applying, er, selective enforcement.  When it was pointed out that many existing food carts were also prohibited by the same ordinances, those ordinances were re-drafted to exclude, say, that Sabrett's hot dog truck that hangs out in front of a Home Depot.  Taco trucks and their ilk were still suppressed.  A lonchera noted in the article was cited in March 2005, and eventually run out of business.  

Fast-forward 5 years or so to today.  Food trucks in Durham, at least, happen to be booming.  So it's with a certain amount of satisfaction that I read in Durham's Independent about how Raleigh is now reconsidering, at least, how badly they're restricting such trucks ("Food trucks starving for Raleigh approval"), and what to do moving forward.  

Raleigh, congratulations.  Please try not to be so racist this time about what you're doing.  It should be easier for you now that garden-variety White folks are starting food trucks too.  

Durham Farmers' Market Thanksgiving Hours

When you're picking up things for this Thanksgiving, consider stopping at the Durham Farmers' Market.  They'll be open their usual fall hours this Saturday morning from 10 to noon, but they'll also be open on Tuesday, November 23rd, from 2 to 5 pm.  This gives folks who ordered, say, a fresh turkey from a vendor a chance to pick up their food before the big day.  If you're a regular shopper at the DFM, or even if you aren't, you might want to take advantage of the extra session, as they'll be closed the Saturday after Thanksgiving (27 November).  

The El Dorado: Maple Sugar Cotton Candy

If you haven't been to the NC State Fair yet and had your favorite deep-fried nastiness, your last chance to go is this weekend: the fair closes down for 2010 on the night of 24 October.  My "chicken on a stick" was actually very good, but I spent hours looking for maple sugar cotton candy, and never found any.  If anyone who knows me personally finds some, buy me a couple bags, and I'll pay you — seriously.  Or maybe it's only found at El Dorado: after all, what I thought I saw was kind of golden colored.  ;)

Actually, Yes, I Do Want To Go On The Cart

Via Fullsteam: Farmhand Foods, and a meat wagon

This is the day after I'm yet again losing a job (albeit hopefully temporarily), so I am so going to this. 

I'm so brain-addled these days I didn't even post anything about the World Beer Festival in Durham this year.  Sheesh. 

Edit: Farmhand Foods makes the N&O. 

Carolina Farm Stewards Tour This Coming Weekend (18-19 September 2010)

The Carolina Farm Stewardship Association is sponsoring its annual Eastern Triangle Farm Tour this coming weekend -- September 18th and 19th, 2010.  If you have an interest in food or farming, this is a neat thing to do one afternoon.  You basically pay $25 for a ticket for your car, then load up your car with whomever wants to go, and drive around to whatever farms you're interested in.  There are two dozen farms this year and they're scattered over several counties, so it would be worth your while to plan out what you want to do.  The information on the CFSA's PDF flier for the tour would probably be useful.