Eat at Joe's!

N&O Best Restaurants In Triangle

There are a lot of great places on the N&O's list of best Triangle restaurants, which was published yesterday:

We find the best Triangle restaurants for 2015

I was particularly pleased to see Aaron Benjamin in a photo of the front of his new restaurant, Gocciolina.  Aaron won best restaurant in the Triangle as a newcomer of sorts: it's not the first place he's worked, but the first restaurant he's opened.  Congratulations are due, I think.

The N&O's article continues with listings of gold and silver medal winners, a list of "best in class" winners by cuisine, and a final list of best new restaurants (where Aaron also landed).  

I think it's clear that the Triangle has a lot of good food to offer.  I haven't even eaten at half or more of the places on this list (particularly the Raleigh restaurants).  I imagine most of us have a lot of exploring to do, and then a lot of arguing over the results to enjoy.  :)  At least it's a pleasant, first-world-problem type of argument.  So go read, go eat, and have fun.  And congratulations to the scores of other restaurants listed.  You have a lot of competition, and you came out ahead.  

Heavenly Buffaloes, Or Why I Love Durham, Part 23

I'll be straight-up with you: one of my worst predictions ever was about Dain's Place.  I went in there not long after they opened, and told a friend I'd give them about 6 months before they closed.  I figured they wouldn't make it through the summer.  But years later, they're doing well.  And I'm glad for it, because I enjoy going there.  I was wrong, big-time.  So what.  I'm wrong a lot.  :)

Now about a block away, Dain of Dain's Place has opened Heavenly Buffaloes, a takeout (and delivery) wing place that sells... well... (oh come on, guess!)... wings, waffle fries, and beer.  Ok, so he's got a few other small things like sodas, brownies, and celery, but the three core items are... well, you can look back about as easily as I can type it.  It's that simple.  He's a block away from Dain's Place, and less than a block off East Campus.  Open 6 days a week (currently closed Tuesdays), with some nights being open until 3 am.  

I think it's going to work.  :)

Seriously, one thing Durham could stand is more late night food, so there's one reason this might work.  Another: Dain has a proven winner already with his focused approach at Dain's.  No real seating might be a problem, but on the other hand, who enjoys going to the Cosmic Cantina and sitting down?  Nevertheless, the Cosmic has done well too with a focused, close-to-Duke model, and I love them, even though their dining area has about as much charm as a barn.  So why not no dining area at all?  One possible negative indication: several other businesses have failed in the same spot in front of Books Do Furnish A Room on West Markham.  But I think it's going to work, and I haven't even been there yet.  :)  We'll see.  Early indications are that it's good food.  If you have an opinion, let us know.  

Durham is fun.  :)

Heavenly Buffaloes

1807 West Markham Avenue

Durham, NC  27705

Phone: 919 237 2358

http://heavenlybuffaloes.com/

 

North Durham Gets Aaron Benjamin's Gocciolina

It's been pretty hard hoeing for anyone trying to do nice food in Durham north of I-85.  The last I remember was Patrick's in the old Ole NC Bar-B-Que spot at North Duke Mall, which died an unnatural death at the hands of its landlord.  The farthest north I currently think of as decent food in Durham is Watts Grocery, which isn't even north of Club Boulevard.  

Enter Aaron Benjamin, who used to be chef at both Pop's and Rue Cler near downtown.  Aaron spent a year or so studying his craft in Italy; I also remember seeing Aaron working at both Pizzeria Toro and the now-departed Rockwood Filling Station by Scott Howell.  I heard a few months ago that Aaron was planning something, but very quickly thereafter Gocciolina opened, earlier this month.  Hours are currently Tuesday through Saturday, 5:30 to 10 pm for dinner.  Gocciolina currently has beer and wine, with a liquor license still pending.  Aaron told me there was a restaurant of some sort there before he opened, so that made it easier for him to get going, which is nice.  

Durham has an interesting history with Italian restaurants.  On the one hand, we've had Pop's for a long time now, and been very happy to have it.  On the other, we don't have a lot else:  Both of the chains Olive Garden and Romano's Macaroni Grill have bailed, leaving us to go all the way to Southpoint and Maggiano's Little Italy, and that's just for chain Italo-American.  Old local places have also fallen by the wayside.  Suddenly now, we have Gocciolina in north Durham, with The Boot scheduled to open before fall in Rockwood, and The Rollout somewhere, but currently operating in pop-up mode out of Tom Ferguson's Rise at Southpoint.  (N.b.: all these non-chain restaurants are linked in the sidebar.)  It should be self-evident that Durham could use more good Italian food.  And I guess location matters, which is what I'm scared about with Gocciolina.  Are people going to drive up Guess Road past Carver Street to go to Aaron's place, or are they gonna order a delivery pizza and call it a night?  It's not hard to get there.  On the other hand, Honey's just gave up its long, tenured existence for a McDonald's and a BP convenience store (I'm not saying Honey's was fine dining, but it was often not bad diner food, and it was open 24/7), and it was just barely north of 85.  So, Durham, what gives?  We've been friends for a long time now.  Are you locals gonna come out of those adjoining neighborhoods in droves?  Are you folks farther away gonna get on 85 and drive less than a mile north up that nicely widened Guess Road to get there?  If you need help getting there, it's just to the right of the Guess Road ABC store.  ;)

I'd like to say it depends on the food.  And it does, somewhat, but I'm not so stupid as to predict Aaron's success on just that.  It seems like Aaron is making his pasta, which is a tribute to dedication if I've ever seen one (I love working with flour, but I hate rolling things out).  I hear rumors of curing meats in the future.  The word is getting out: I've seen news stories, and they have a Facebook page.  Gocciolina's WWW site is bare bones [edit: website upgraded now], but gets you their phone number, and a picture of what looks like some pretty good spaghetti carbonara.  The menu I saw looked tripartite: appetizers up top, most of which will come to table almost immediately; a second course of pasta in the middle, and I do mean a pasta course, somewhere between an appetizer and a main course in size; an entrée at the bottom, also a bit smaller both in size and price than what I imagine most Americans will be expecting.  There are also a small number of Italianesque desserts, and homemade grissini on the table.  

I say give it a shot.  They're still in shakedown mode, in my opinion, so things are gonna change.  Contact info is below.  

Gocciolina

3314 Guess Road

Durham, NC   27705-2106

Phone: 919 973 4089

http://www.gocciolina.com/

Of course if any of my current army of readers has already made it there, you're welcome to leave comments with tales of rapture, indifference, horror, or just plain yeses and nos.  All are welcome.  

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.  

Pompieri Pizza Open

Pompieri Pizza is now open for business.  They've been moved into the "Newly Open" section in the sidebar.  Go check it out.  

Interesting tidbit: they make their own tonic for bar drinks.  :)

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.  

No, It's "Containment Area for Relocated Yankees"

"... Now it's time to turn my attention to developing Rise #2.  If you or someone you know is a developer in the Cary area..."

God bless Tom Ferguson.  He knows Cary needs something, and he's going to try to give it to them good and hard help them out.  Maybe some culture will be just what they needed [for my extensive out-of-town readership, the following might help explain the situation in North Carolina's Research Triangle: http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Cary, and I'm not bitter.  ;-) ].

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?  :)

Mateo Bar De Tapas, or A Giant Bull Is Attacking The Southbank Building

If you get a chance to go to Mateo bar de tapas anytime soon, I suggest you do so.  The good thing about a tapas bar is that you can eat as little or as much as you want.  But at Mateo, you'll probably want to eat a lot.  :)  Mateo only has a placeholder web site up at the moment, but the N&O has a post on Mouthful by Andrea Weigl with links to a couple of PDFs for the food and wine menus.  

About those menus....  I can personally suggest the paté de hígado de pollo, the patatas bravas, and the costilla de cerdo all as being stand-out excellent, but there wasn't much on the menu that wasn't excellent.  The croqueta special we had was a delight: hot little golf ball-sized croquettes filled with a delicious melty cheese mixture.  The perro cerdito was fun on a stick: basically a small corn dog served with a light mustard sauce.  I could go on, and I did, but I'll leave some things for you to discover.  I was surprised to see no cod or olives, but there were boatloads of seafood in general, along with an olive tapenade.  We missed out on the gâteau Basque, but we made up for it on the other desserts.  Most of my examples above are warm dishes, but there are plenty of cool items to be scarfed.  

I'd also like to say what a delight it is for someone around here to be giving sherry its due.  The wine list contains at least 25 sherries: finos, amontillados, palos cortados, olorosos, and sweet sherries.  There are several straight-up Pedro Ximénezes, of which the two I had were raisiny and delicious.  

I know Matt Kelly has been busting butt for months to make this place what he wants.  It also looks like Michael Maller has worked hard to get a really good, creative, appropriate wine list, along with a nice full bar in general.  It shows.  Go eat there.  It's good.  :)

Contact information:

109 West Chapel Hill Street
Durham, NC 27701
1 919 530 8700
http://www.mateotapas.com/ 

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/

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, [email protected]$$, 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.]

Triangle Restaurant Week

It's Triangle Restaurant Week, and a lot of places are participating.  Go enjoy yourselves.

Surf's Up

Rhys Botica's new bar, the Kotuku Surf Club (aka Surf Club), is now open.  No food, just drinks right now.  It's at 703 Rigsbee Avenue, which is the northwest corner at the intersection of West Corporation St. and Rigsbee.  The building used to be some sort of temporary labor business, and is right across from Lloyd's/The Esquire Lounge, between Fullsteam and the old Liberty Warehouse.  Go get your drink on.  :)

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 World Beer Festival 2011

You folks know what's going on Saturday, right?  ;)

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.  

AKA The Mixmaster

The Mixmaster: a highway interchange in northwestern Durham, N.C. confusing enough to warrant its own map. 

Rockwood Area Notes

1. Nanataco, Scott Howell's latest venture, is open across from University Green behind the Q-Shack.  It's casual Mexican-American, with a large helping of outdoor seating, and delicious extras like pork belly and duck confit to go in your creation.  They also have inexpensive beer :) and "traditional" things like chips and salsa.  The "'fondito'" with house-made chorizo was yummy, and had so much meat in it that it was more like eating chili than cheezy dip. The "Big Daddy's" burrito will turn you into a big daddy in about 3 seconds: without being messy, it was like eating a delicious meat stew in a flour tortilla.  The main offering seems to be 3 tacos for $6, with your choice of 5 meats or roasted veggies.  4 more "dirty meats" are an extra $2: hog jowl, lamb cheeks, duck confit, and crispy pork belly.  Lunch: yes -- 11 am to 3 pm; lunch special.  Vegetarian options: yes.  Fish tacos: yes.  Margaritas & mojitos: yes.  :-D  Hours: 11 am → 9 pm, Sunday→ Thursday, 11 am → 10 pm Friday & Saturday.  

   Joe E. says check it out.  

   Was that a review?  Wow.  :)

2. Wine Authorities had their 4th birthday party last week.  Some of us weekend ditch-diggers missed it, and also miss their regular Saturday free tastings.  

   So we're happy to learn they've started a series of free Tuesday tastings.  They start at 5 pm until they close at 6:30.  The wines so far have been different from the wines on the Saturday tastings, so you can double-dip if you like and, um, not be harmed.  :)  I certainly wasn't harmed when I stopped in one night after some, um, canal work, and actually managed to buy something delicious.  So enjoy that.

3. Local Yogurt now has a food truck.  They're apparently expanding all across the state, with new stores in Elon and Greenville.  They also have a second location in Durham at Erwin Terrace that's really convenient for the west side of Duke's campus, as well as anyone near The Mixmaster.

4. Happy China Sushi and Bar, formerly known as "Red Zen," formerly known as "Kimono," formerly known as "Pao Lim," is open.  I've read that the owners after this last transition are different, but I don't really know.  Nor have I tried it.  I imagine they'll have a hard row to hoe going against Thai Cafe in University Green (which I think is OK, not great, but most of my friends love [but this isn't the Chinese restaturant post ;-} ] ).

5. The fried chicken at Shrimp Boats is, in fact, typically pretty good.  Thanks, Phoebe.  :)

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.  :)

501 Diner: Chapel Hill, NC

A year or so ago, I said I wanted to increase my coverage of Chapel Hill.  That's unfortunately fallen to the ground with the new ditch digging job.  While I get to Chapel Hill on occasion, I don't post enough about Durham to satisfy myself.  I have to work, eat, and buy food, but I still love this blog, even if posting is currently thin.  I'm trying not to turn into my own bitch for it, but I miss you folks, and I miss posting here.  Thank you, Gentle Readers, for your continuing readership and support.  You are, as always, awesome.

Having gotten that out of my system:  I did get a chance to go to 501 Diner in Chapel Hill several days ago.  Some of you may remember 501 filling a hole in Durham's restaurant scene several years ago.  I thought they were a great little place in a great location, and did a much better job of being a mid-list restaurant than, say, Elmo's (another diner-esque place that's co-located in Durham and Orange County).  

This isn't an extensive review, but:  I was greeted by friendly staff, seated quickly, got good-sized portions, and was really pleased at the quality of food I got for the money.  I thought the specials looked particularly good.  The inside is not large, but it's cozy, clean, kitschy-cute, and not at all crowded for dinner on a weekday night.  It's far enough west in Chapel Hill to be extremely easy to get to from Durham, and definitely not walking distance from UNC-CH  :)  [Full disclosure: I have friends who work at this restaurant.  The Agents of EAJ! are Everywhere.  ;)]  

I've bemoaned the waning of the mid-list restaurant before.  On the bottom end, we have fast food places, which are always as cheap as possible.  On the top end, prices can continue to go up, and probably should, given the crazy increases in food prices we've seen over the past several years.  There's a real squeeze on, it seems, and the mid-list restaurants are going to be hit the hardest.  So it's good to see places like 501 Diner working hard to bring affordable, decent dining to our area.  Thanks, folks.

Triangle Restaurant Week

For some reason, I feel obligated to mention that Triangle Restaurant Week started Monday & runs through the 12th of June (yes, we already had one this year: it's apparently semi-annual now).  Check with individual restaurants for participation and details.