May 30, 2008
I’m a big fan of Kevin and Stacey Jennings and their restaurants. Frazier’s is one of the top places in the Triangle. Vivace is a hip Italian establishment with a great vibe. And Porter’s is one of my favorite every day type of restaurant. South, in Raleigh’s North Hills, however, is a different story. I never really loved the place, primarily because I never understood what they were trying to do. The food could be good, but it was inconsistent and disjointed.
Well, South shall not rise again as it will be closing on June 7. The good news is that the Jennings will be opening a French brasserie in the same location this fall. I’m looking forward to this venture, where I can get three different types of moules frites or a cassoulet when the cold weather hits. Breads will be made in house. The wine list will be all French, and I know Scott Lutgenau, their Director of Operations and Sommelier, is already salivating over that prospect.
Interestingly, just like the classic brasseries, this place will be open all day, serving breakfast, too!
The space will be completely renovated, which is essential, as South’s decor never worked for me. I’m looking forward to seeing the black and white tiled floors, accordion folding doors, and bistro mirrors.
I’ll see if I can get into the place while they’re renovating and provide you with some updates (including photos).
Frankly, I’m extremely excited about this change, and this should be a great addition to North Hills.
14 Comments | 
General, Raleigh, Restaurants | Tagged: brasserie, Food, French Food, North Hills, Raleigh, South, Urban Food Group | 
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Posted by Varmint
May 28, 2008
Shortly after my first child was born, my wife gave me a video camera. C’mon, every dad has to have a video camera, right? I used that sucker quite a lot, early on, but after a year or so, it got used less and less. I haven’t touched that camera in 10 years or so, primarily because I realized that I was no longer participating in the action. I was documenting it, trying to get the “perfect shot.” Those perfect shots often took 5-10 minutes at once, where you were more focused (no pun intended) on keeping the camera in frame and not really paying attention to what was truly going on.
The exact same thing happened to me with dining and the internet. I would go out to eat, taking my camera along. I ultimately found myself more concerned with taking lots of food porn, so that I could share my experience with my “friends” on eGullet. I paid less attention to my dining companions — my real, honest to goodness friends — than I did with my camera and the lighting.
That pretty much stopped a couple of years ago, however. As I spent more time with bloggers and the like, I realized that the people who spent so much time on the photographs weren’t all that fun to be with. It’s not that I didn’t like them, but they weren’t enjoying the meal itself. They weren’t engaged with the others at the table. I asked myself, “Am I like that?” and the answer was a resounding “Yes.”
Sitting at the table, sharing a meal with friends and family, is an activity that in many ways defines us as human beings. Our events of celebration and sorrow typically revolve around food. Every culture has their food-specific holidays, and the evening dinner is still considered to be the highlight of our daily family routine (although it’s certainly on the wane). The meal is incredibly important to us, socially and nutritionally.
But when the meal loses that social dynamic, I lose interest in it. The foodie with the camera makes me feel the same way as the person who has to tell me how many grams of fat are in every dish I eat. They take the fun out of it, turning my meal into a clinical exercise.
Yeah, I’ll still take food pictures now and then, and I’ll even chronicle every dish in a meal occasionally. But I’m glad that’s the exception and not the rule, as I truly love to interact with those around me and to appreciate the food that’s before me. Boy, meals are so much more fun now.
6 Comments | Food writing, General, Photos | Tagged: Dining, Food, food bloggers, food photography, Food porn | Permalink
Posted by Varmint
May 28, 2008
You’ve already heard about my train trip with my son to DC, but I have a semi-odd side story about that trip. Anyhow, Benjamin and I are sitting on the train, enjoying ourselves, and I manage to get involved in a discussion with a woman in the seat in front of me. She’s probably in her mid to late 50s or so, spending much of the trip doing needlepoint. We talk about France (she lived in Lyon, the lucky devil) and other things that have little substance at all. I tell her what my son and I will be doing in DC. We didn’t introduce ourselves — it was just small talk.
As we pull into Union Station and start gathering our bags, I wish her well. At that point, the young lady sitting beside her, with whom I didn’t exchange a single word and who had spent much of the trip with her computer, looked at me and asked, “Are you Dean?” I pause for a second and respond, “Yes.”
“I read your blog,” she states.
My first thought was, OK, this is very odd. And then she told me that she had read my post about going to DC with my son. She was guessing who I was, but it was an educated guess. My son sort of looked at me like he was saying, “Dad, you’re famous!” Too funny.
Anyhow, we introduced ourselves and went our separate ways. This reader says she’s never posted a comment on the blog before, so I encourage her to do so. I promise I won’t “out” you anymore than I already have.
I’m not sure if there’s a lesson to be learned here, other than there are no strangers on a train. Particularly when you announce your plans to the world in advance.
2 Comments | Family and Food, General | Tagged: Trains | Permalink
Posted by Varmint
May 26, 2008
This post isn’t really about food, and that’s just the way I want it. I just spent three glorious days in Washington, DC with my 9-year old son. As many of you know, I have 4 children — 2 boys and 2 girls — ranging in age from 14 to 7. When you have so many kids, you kind of lose sight of the little things. You’re too busy keeping everyone on schedule, with soccer or dance or other school activities. As a lawyer, I spend about 60 hours a week trying to take care of my clients and building (or maintaining) my practice. I get home from the day to feed my wife and me (neither of us really want to eat her cooking). Anyone who is a parent knows it’s a constant struggle to keep track of car pools, doctor appointments, soccer and basketball practices (I coach both sports!), and all the other stuff. Oh, and then I find myself spending time writing about food every once in awhile, too. Frankly, when I get to the end of each day, week, month or year, it seems I really haven’t spent enough time just being Dad. Read the rest of this entry »
10 Comments | Family and Food, General | Tagged: Family, Fatherhood, Food | Permalink
Posted by Varmint
May 20, 2008
I laughed at today’s “Shoe” comic strip. I often think that this is what has happened to our dining world, filled with food geeks and bloggers who want to photograph every dish presented to them.
5 Comments | Raleigh | Tagged: Bloggers, Comics, Food | Permalink
Posted by Varmint
May 19, 2008
I’m taking my 9-year old son to Washington, DC this weekend, taking the train, seeing the sights. We’ll eat pizza at 2 Amys, find a decent burger and some ice cream, and a Ben’s Half Smoke at the Nats’ game on Sunday. And of course, we’re going to my favorite cinema in the world, the Uptown Theatre just up the street from the National Zoo. The Uptown is very old school, where the screen is so big, it’s curved. I remember seeing Dances With Wolves there ages ago, and boy, it was a memorable experience. I’m going to take him to see the new Indiana Jones flick (yeah, it’s a PG-13 movie, but I think he can handle it). I’ve bought the tickets already and will be sure to get some popcorn.
And then I read this article about how our energy and food policies will likely drive up the price of movie tickets. How’s that? Well, the sales of concessions, and mostly popcorn, subsidize the costs of movie tickets. Without concessions, the theaters would have to double the ticket prices in order to make some money. And now there’s a corn shortage, with approximately 40% of the crop being made into ethanol. Granted, popcorn is different than the corn grown for ethanol, but there’s still a shortage. And with a shortage comes increased prices. So, in order to maintain accustomed levels of profitability, theater owners either have to raise the price of popcorn or theater tickets. The experts predict the increases will come at the box office rather than the concession stand — as much as a buck or two a ticket.
So, when you go to the Raleigh Grande Cinema for the new Will Smith movie in July, and you’re paying 10 bucks a ticket, just remember that it’s the humble ear of corn that caused the price increase.
14 Comments | Family and Food, General, Travel | Tagged: Food, Movies, Policy, Popcorn, Uptown Theatre, Washington DC | Permalink
Posted by Varmint
May 15, 2008
My wife likes chocolate, but she loves cherries. Seeing it was her birthday recently, I thought I’d combine the two and make a special chocolate cherry cake. Sounds simple enough — just search the internet for cherry chocolate cake, and something yummy will pop up, right? Wrong. Well, there are a lot of recipes for a chocolate cake that had cherry pie filling in the middle. I wanted there to be bits of cherries in the chocolate cake batter. And cherry flavor in the icing and in the filling, too. So I started to improvise. The results were pretty damn good — not perfect — but that’s where you come in! Read the rest of this entry »
8 Comments | Cooking, General | Tagged: Baking, Cake, Cherries, Cherry Chocolate Cake, Chocolate, Dessert, Food | Permalink
Posted by Varmint
May 14, 2008
Andrea Weigl has an excellent piece in today’s N&O on restaurants using molecular gastronomy techniques in the Triangle, including The Mint, 1705Prime, Four Square and The George. Included online are some of Shawn Rocco’s great photographs including a step-by-step overview of the preparation of The Mint’s “strawberry shortcake.”
22 Comments | Best Of the Triangle, chefs, Cooking, Food writing, General, Raleigh, Restaurants | Tagged: Andrea Weigl, Food, Molecular Gastronomy, News & Observer, Restaurants, The Triangle | Permalink
Posted by Varmint
May 12, 2008
If you’re a Seinfeld fan, you’ve heard of the Soup Nazi character (but I won’t call him that anymore). Well, Al Yegenah, the man who inspired the Soup Man episode, started a small franchise of Original SoupMan restaurants, and Raleigh resident Steve Lineberry will be opening up the Raleigh franchise in early June. Located at 6325 Falls of Neuse Road, the Original SoupMan restaurant will feature 50 varieties of soup, each presented with a piece of fresh, crusty baguette, fresh fruit and a piece of imported chocolate.
The grand opening is scheduled for June 3, and on that day, a lucky customer will win a special prize: a cup of soup for life. The company will also be donating $1,500 to the charity, Stop Hunger Now. Apparently, the company makes such a donation every time it opens a new franchise.
Funny thing is that the Original SoupMan website says that the press isn’t supposed to use the “N” word, but the press release I received from the PR agency certainly did use that term. Hmm.
I usually don’t talk about chains, but Seinfeld and the Soup episode are such a part of our lore that I had to make this announcement. And hey, I like soup, and I hope I never hear the words, “No soup for you!”
2 Comments | General, Raleigh, Restaurants | Tagged: Food, Original SoupMan, Raleigh, Restaurants, Seinfeld | Permalink
Posted by Varmint
May 12, 2008
Today is the first day of Triangle Restaurant Week, and if you’ve been jonesing to get to a local restaurant at a fraction of the regular price, this is the time to do it. A tradition in cities such as New York, Restaurant Week presents an opportunity to sample a three-course meal at reduced prices — $15 for lunch and $25 for dinner. Now I know not many people want to spend that much for lunch, but for 3 courses, it’s worth it. Give Glenwood Grill a chance. Or you might have read about The Mint somewhere. Heh.
For dinner, your options expand, and I’m thinking about heading over to Frazier’s or The Globe or Zely & Ritz, three places where you’ll definitely get your money’s worth. And tonight is half-price wine night at Zely & Ritz, so it could be an incredible bargain.
I know that the list of restaurants is very limited, but this is the first year of Restaurant Week. If you want more restaurants next year, go to several places this week, and the success of the program will generate more excitement.
And report back here with your Restaurant Week experiences. I’d like to hear what type of deals are being offered.
15 Comments | Events, General, Recipes, Restaurants | Tagged: Food, Raleigh, Restaurants, RTP, Triangle Restaurant Week | Permalink
Posted by Varmint
May 9, 2008
My friend Bryan Andregg is a second year culinary student at the New England Culinary Institute. As part of a financial operations class, Bryan is conducting a survey on a mythical restaurant. The survey has four questions and simply requires you to select which menu item you would order for each course.
Please help Bryan and take the survey here: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=K3Ky36LukvcSWkI1e63lcw_3d_3d
Bryan and I both thank you!
Edit: The survey is now closed. Thanks a ton!
1 Comment | General | Tagged: Bryan Andregg, Culinary school, Food, Surveys | Permalink
Posted by Varmint
May 9, 2008
I’ve always thought the N&O’s Greg Cox did a good job with his restaurant reviews. But when he reviewed the Umstead Hotel’s Herons restaurant, he didn’t love it as much as I did. In fact, he admitted on his blog that he has somewhat of a price-oriented bias when he said about Herons, “My experiences at Herons were for the most part very good, and certainly showed Top 20 potential, but – especially given the price – didn’t quite live up to expectations.” (emphasis mine) Those restaurants that have higher prices have to perform better to get the highest ratings. Thus, Herons didn’t get the love it might have received if its prices were lower.
I guess I can live with that, but it creates an awkward situation when he gives 3-1/2 stars (on his 5 star scale) to a counter-service fish and chips place and the exact same 3-1/2 star rating to The Mint, which is serving some of the best and most creative food in North Carolina. Nowhere on Cox’s star rating guide does it list that “value” is taken into account, but he certainly has built that into his equation. I love fish and chips as much as the next guy, but to say that a low-priced counter-service joint is as good as The Mint is ludicrous.
But the real kicker came from when I read today’s review of The Mint — frankly, I just about lost it. It was bad enough for Cox to give it only 3-1/2 stars, but he’s offering his objective opinion. Good enough. I’ve disagreed with him before (he loves Bloomsbury Bistro, and I’ve yet to have a good meal there after 4 tries). But when Cox referred to sous vide cooking as “a type of cooking with pressure,” I had to ask, “Huh?” Greg, “sous vide” means “under vacuum,” and maybe the food that’s in the vacuum bag might be under some pressure, I guess, but that’s not what sous vide cooking is about at all. It’s the bag and the anaerobic conditions and the water bath with controlled temperatures.
And then he gave us this gem: “[T]he lukewarm temperature and semiliquid white of the accompanying sous vide-cooked ‘hot spring egg’ isn’t likely to win many fans.” Um, Greg, that’s what the egg is supposed to be like. The egg white is barely set while the yolk has turned a bit custardy. They’ve been serving ‘em like that in Japan for centuries. And it’s not cooked in a bag, sous vide style. It’s cooked in its shell. No vacuum at all.
To give The Mint 3-1/2 stars is laughable. But to not understand cooking methods or the way the food is supposed to be is inexcusable.
Edit — 8:30 AM, 5/9/08 – I posted this review of Cox’s review at something like 2:30, Friday morning. At 5:07 AM, Greg Cox posted this on his blog:
Note: I just read the final copy of my review in the N & O, and noticed that someone – presumably a copy editor trying to be helpful – had inserted a “definition” of the term “sous vide,” describing it as “a type of cooking with pressure.” While that description may be scientifically correct (I’m certainly no scientist), it misses the point. “Sous vide” is French for “under vacuum,” and it’s just that: cooking under vacuum, usually in an airtight plastic bag. Just wanted to clear that up.
Interesting.
47 Comments | Food writing, General, Raleigh, Restaurants | Tagged: Food, Greg Cox, News & Observer, Raleigh, restaurant reviews, The Mint | Permalink
Posted by Varmint
May 8, 2008
Apex resident Chad Ward has been my go-to guy for knives for quite some time now. I was in the market for a new chef’s knife several years ago and sought help from the eGullet community. Chad, who was then living in Iowa, even mailed me a custom-made knife and a steel to try. Talk about trust, as I had never met the guy. This special knife was really cool, but it wasn’t perfect, and it was a little pricey. Anyhow, I ended up getting a Kershaw Shun, and Chad was there to help throughout the process.
Chad knows his knives. He’s obsessed with knives. Hell, he’s now even managed to get a book on knives published — by Harper Collins, at that! An Edge in the Kitchen will be in stores on June 10, and I encourage all my readers to buy a copy from Amazon, your favorite internet retailer, or from your local friendly bookstore. You’ll learn how to choose knives, how to use knives, but perhaps most importantly, how to sharpen and maintain them.
Chad’s no knife snob, either. He knows that some of the best knives for the home cook are pretty damn cheap, and he can steer you to a $25 bargain. If you want to spend a buttload of money, he can help you there, too. The book has a ton of photos, so you’ll have step-by-step guides on how to use that new sharpener you got for Christmas in 2003.
Chad’s got a blog, Chadwrites.com, and I encourage you to visit it and leave him a comment. Or better yet, ask him a question, as he loves to teach. Now if I can just get him to sharpen my knives!
5 Comments | Books, Cooking, Food writing | Tagged: An Edge in the Kitchen, Books, Chad Ward, Cooking, Cutlery, Food, Kitchen, Knife, Knives | Permalink
Posted by Varmint
May 7, 2008
I promised back in October when I wrote about the best burgers in the Triangle that I’d update my list from time to time. I have one new addition.
Players’ Retreat: Although I’ve lived in and around Raleigh for seemingly forever, I have never been to the Players’ Retreat, generally referred to as “The PR.” It’s an NC State hangout bar that’s really smoky. I just don’t usually want to eat meals at such places. I was at the PR last night, attending an election day party for a candidate I was supporting and ordered a burger. The menu said the burgers were from black angus beef, ground in-house, and cooked to order. In fact, the menu recommended you order them RARE. Very cool. So I got one, and damn, that’s a mighty fine burger. One of the best around. Maybe THE best. I then learned that the PR has over 60 types of scotch available. Obviously, they want my business. And with LocoPops right around the corner, well, I might have found a second home.
6 Comments | Best Of the Triangle, Raleigh, Restaurants | Tagged: Best Of the Triangle, Burgers, Food, Players' Retreat, Raleigh, Restaurants, Triangle | Permalink
Posted by Varmint
May 6, 2008
When The Mint opened several months ago on Fayetteville Street in downtown Raleigh, I was incredibly skeptical of the place. The menu appeared to be tired and derivative. The decor appeared to be chintzy and downright tacky. The chef appeared to have a pedigree of having worked at a couple of Rocky Top Hospitality establishments, which might be a fine job, but it’s not something to base your resume on.
Folks, I was dead wrong, and I’m now ready to eat crow. Cooked en sous vide, of course, medium rare. Read the rest of this entry »
8 Comments | Best Of the Triangle, chefs, General, Raleigh, Restaurants, Video | Tagged: Eric Foster, Food, Jeremy Clayman, Molecular Gastronomy, Raleigh, Restaurants, The Mint | Permalink
Posted by Varmint
May 2, 2008
I visited the Moore Square Farmers Market a week ago Wednesday (yes, it’s been a busy week for me) before meeting a friend for lunch, and I stopped by the Coon Rock Farm booth. I like Coon Rock Farm, because they’re local, they’re organic and they do things the right way. Many of their vegetables are heirloom varieties, and they raise and sell pasture raised pork. But one of the things I like most about Coon Rock is their freshly laid eggs — from hens who roam freely around the farm. We’re not talking about “free range” chicken eggs, where the chickens have access to the pasture — these chickens spend their days walking about, foraging for food in addition to what Coon Rock feeds them. I think it’s that extra foraged food that makes the difference.
This isn’t a watery, mass-produced egg. The yolks are a deep, rich orange, filled with flavor — they look much more like the eggs you see in France or Italy. The whites firm up quickly and tightly. As a shameless lover of poached eggs, this made my Wednesday night pasta dish so much more unctuous and tasty. Even my daughter, who does not really like egg yolks at all asked me if I can make that dish for her sometime soon.
I’m not a Slow Food zealot. I do most of my shopping at the Harris Teeter, buying industrial-style meat and produce. But my food budget is slowly shifting to the local producers. The artisans. The ones who know how much better sustainable practices are for our environment while truly recognizing that these practices result in tastier food. If it didn’t taste good, I wouldn’t eat it. But these eggs, even at twice the price of the supermarket version, are so worth it. We’re all trying to keep our costs down as the price of gas and food and everything else keeps climbing. But I’m not going to sacrifice on those things that taste good, particularly when that food has been brought to the table humanely.
5 Comments | Best Of the Triangle, Family and Food, Farms, General | Tagged: Coon Rock Farm, Eggs, Farms, Food, Organic | Permalink
Posted by Varmint
