Comments on: Ashley Christensen Brings the French Countryside to Raleigh with Poole’s http://varmintbites.com/2007/12/14/ashley-christensen-brings-the-french-countryside-to-raleigh-with-pooles/ Food and Family in the Research Triangle of North Carolina Sat, 11 Feb 2012 22:48:37 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: Watt http://varmintbites.com/2007/12/14/ashley-christensen-brings-the-french-countryside-to-raleigh-with-pooles/#comment-3630 Fri, 11 Jun 2010 14:25:38 +0000 http://varmintbites.wordpress.com/2007/12/14/ashley-christensen-brings-the-french-countryside-to-raleigh-with-pooles/#comment-3630 Sounds like a great restaurant….I will try and grab a bit there this weekend!!! You may want to try eating at Coquette, it’s a great spot to have an enjoyable French meal, and since it is located in North Hills the location is extremely convenient.

]]> By: Varmint http://varmintbites.com/2007/12/14/ashley-christensen-brings-the-french-countryside-to-raleigh-with-pooles/#comment-671 Fri, 11 Jan 2008 20:11:48 +0000 http://varmintbites.wordpress.com/2007/12/14/ashley-christensen-brings-the-french-countryside-to-raleigh-with-pooles/#comment-671 I just got a copy of Poole’s Saturday brunch menu. I wish they had one more sweet option:

Short rib shepherd’s pie $9

Biscuits and duck confit gravy $9

Eggs and bacon Niman Ranch house braised bacon with potato gratin and two eggs $11

Omelette du jour $10

Patty Melt half-pound house ground Niman Ranch beef served open faced with caramelized onions and gruyere on rye $11

Ricotta and lemon dumplings with warm maple butter $9

Egg and cheese souffle with roasted tomatoes $9

Crispy fried trout with lettuces in vinaigrette $12

Macaroni au gratin with egg $9

Lettuces with red wine vinaigrette $6

]]> By: Kelly Brink http://varmintbites.com/2007/12/14/ashley-christensen-brings-the-french-countryside-to-raleigh-with-pooles/#comment-610 Fri, 04 Jan 2008 15:37:45 +0000 http://varmintbites.wordpress.com/2007/12/14/ashley-christensen-brings-the-french-countryside-to-raleigh-with-pooles/#comment-610 Ashley.
I just wanted to tell you how much my friends and I have loved your place. Its warm ,romanatic, and inviting. Your food is amazing and has love in every bite.I am a district manager of five states and travel allot. Coming home on the weekends and being with my friends means allot to me
. We enjoy eating at your establishment and having good food with good friends. I wish you success in your new adventure.
Kelly

]]> By: Probono http://varmintbites.com/2007/12/14/ashley-christensen-brings-the-french-countryside-to-raleigh-with-pooles/#comment-566 Fri, 28 Dec 2007 20:28:51 +0000 http://varmintbites.wordpress.com/2007/12/14/ashley-christensen-brings-the-french-countryside-to-raleigh-with-pooles/#comment-566 First class!
First Class!!

]]> By: politipornster http://varmintbites.com/2007/12/14/ashley-christensen-brings-the-french-countryside-to-raleigh-with-pooles/#comment-542 Sat, 22 Dec 2007 15:28:42 +0000 http://varmintbites.wordpress.com/2007/12/14/ashley-christensen-brings-the-french-countryside-to-raleigh-with-pooles/#comment-542 Varmint – Me and Mrs. PolitiPornster, on a whim, decided to check this place out on Friday. Mrs. PolitiPornster is always kvetching that I don’t take her out, so I manned up, and took her out to dinner at Pooles.

The first observation is the space. I really like it and know that it will only get better as the construction projects in the area come to a close. Very much a neighborhood restaurant and I could easily forget that I was in Raleigh, pretending that I was back home sweet urban home, DC.

The chalkboard menu has got to go. It sounds nice as an idea but in practice it’s not so good. I realize that Poole’s is still working out the kinks with regard to service, but by the time our waitress got to us, we had both forgotten what we wanted and had to take another trip to the damn chalkboards.

Once our appetizers got there, and this took a while, we were very pleased. We indulged in the Orange Roasted Beets with Bleu Cheese as well as the Shrimp w/Mussels. The broth hidden underneath the generous portion of mussels and shrimp was incredible. The portion of bread served along with it was sizable but I really would have loved more to dip into the broth.

Beets are not really my thing, I tried it but couldn’t pass judgment. My better-half however liked the dish but thought that it lacked acidity and could be improved by using blood oranges perhaps.

For my main course, I had the Duck Confit PotPie. As a lover of all things potted in pie, I thought I couldn’t lose with this choice and I wasn’t disappointed. One suggestion would be to up the quantity of carrots which would balance out the bitter items in the mix. The duck was succulent and very tasty. It was very weather appropriate.

The wife had the flounder which came with the Tomato Slaw. She reported being generally pleased with the entree, but felt that the flounder did lack seasoning. She felt that the fried to perfection being crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, but overall it lacked any real flavor.

For the finish we shared the Pots de Creme. Words escape me here. It was the perfect finish. Word of warning, if you plan to do anything after the meal like maybe see a movie, you may want to skip dessert. We never made it to our movie and beat a path for home, bellies full and in the throughs of a full blown food coma. We are looking forward to returning to Poole’s and trying more of the menu. Maybe next time, we’ll make it to the movies.

]]> By: Varmint http://varmintbites.com/2007/12/14/ashley-christensen-brings-the-french-countryside-to-raleigh-with-pooles/#comment-532 Fri, 21 Dec 2007 10:27:49 +0000 http://varmintbites.wordpress.com/2007/12/14/ashley-christensen-brings-the-french-countryside-to-raleigh-with-pooles/#comment-532 Went back to Poole’s last night, and the service has picked up quite a bit. Was able to get in and out in less than 2 hours. Still some glitches with the service, but it’s dramatically better.

The place was rocking, with the bar pretty full and not an empty table in the joint.

I had the very nice fried frog legs, a mizuma salad and a duck confit pot pie. The food was rich and comforting. Followed with a lovely bread pudding with caramelized apples, it was a solid meal. One comment on this dessert: the bread pudding itself was not sweet at all. Instead, the sweetness came from some raisins and the apples. I really liked the non-sweet aspect of this dish.

]]> By: politipornster http://varmintbites.com/2007/12/14/ashley-christensen-brings-the-french-countryside-to-raleigh-with-pooles/#comment-493 Sat, 15 Dec 2007 15:11:58 +0000 http://varmintbites.wordpress.com/2007/12/14/ashley-christensen-brings-the-french-countryside-to-raleigh-with-pooles/#comment-493 This place sounds great and I’m very eager to check it out. Thanks for the review and tip.

]]> By: Teran http://varmintbites.com/2007/12/14/ashley-christensen-brings-the-french-countryside-to-raleigh-with-pooles/#comment-491 Sat, 15 Dec 2007 04:45:24 +0000 http://varmintbites.wordpress.com/2007/12/14/ashley-christensen-brings-the-french-countryside-to-raleigh-with-pooles/#comment-491 I will have to check Poole’s out sometime. I was in France the first part of this summer and haven’t had any good french food since then!

]]> By: Varmint http://varmintbites.com/2007/12/14/ashley-christensen-brings-the-french-countryside-to-raleigh-with-pooles/#comment-486 Fri, 14 Dec 2007 16:36:23 +0000 http://varmintbites.wordpress.com/2007/12/14/ashley-christensen-brings-the-french-countryside-to-raleigh-with-pooles/#comment-486 Well, the story of the sign is quite simple. According to Ashley, the sign has been part of Poole’s for years and years, and old timers still remember it from long ago. They pulled it out of the rickety frame it was in and put it above the bar. Ashley kept hearing people say,”There used to be this sign, I think it said . . .” She loved the sound of the expression, so she took it one step further with the obscured mural of it on the back wall.

Goddamn, I love that. ;-)

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