Go HERE to read Greg's review of the newest Rocky Top Hospitality restaurant. (Dean's Seafood Grill and Bar used to be Rockwell's.)
I've been remiss in posting links to Greg's recent reviews. (I've been sick or my toddler has been sick the last few weeks.) So here they are:
This is a post by N&O restaurant critic Greg Cox:
After more than a decade at the same address in Durham's Homestead Market, Shiki Sushi (219 NC Hwy. 54, Durham; 919-484-4108; shikinc.com) has moved a few doors down into a larger space in the same shopping center.
Snazzier, too, from the fountain out front to the lipstick-red upholstery of the chairs in the sleek, contemporary Asian dining room and sushi bar.
Shiki's menu has grown, too, and now includes a pan-Asian selection that will be familiar to fans of TASU restaurants in Cary and Raleigh. Tham Nguyen, who owns all three restaurants, has merged the menus while opting to retain for this location a name that has become familiar to many fans in nearby RTP.
Nguyen says he has plans for the space he just vacated, too. He's working on an Asian hot pot and lounge concept which he expects to open in a few months. I'll keep you posted.
Send restaurant news to Greg at ggcox@bellsouth.net. Be sure to tune in to Greg's radio show at 11 a.m. Saturdays on WPTF.
From behind a concrete bar shaped like the body of a guitar, the first Steel String craft beers are pouring in Carrboro.
A fiddlin’ tune played in the background as Cody Maltais, one of the four Steel String partners, said music helped inspire the beer. For years, Steel String was the invisible Carrboro brewery. The partners brewed at home and hyped their beer at festivals and local bars, handing out stickers, koozies and coasters well before they landed a commercial location for the operation.
The new seven-barrel capacity brewery opened Wednesday, but it took only the cracked door of a soft opening last week to draw hundreds into the antiqued, exposed-brick storefront in the heart of downtown. Read the full Pintful column here-- including big expansion news from Triangle Brewery in Durham and a tasting from Southern Appalachian Brewery in Hendersonville.
Addendum: Steel String is still rolling out it's full beer lineup (check back next week for more details). But I enjoyed Rubber Room Session Ale, a rye pale ale. I like the big grainy mouthfeel of a rye beer and the Motueka hops provide a nice flavorful touch.
This is a post by N&O restaurant critic Greg Cox:
Fondue restaurant Little Dipper (905 W. Main St.; 919-908-1023; littledipperfondue.com) has opened in the old Taverna Nikos space in Brightleaf Square.
The restaurant is the second in what now officially becomes a chain - and a chain with what appears to be a winning formula, at that.
The original Little Dipper opened in 2005 in Wilmington. The restaurant's historic waterfront location, combined with its made-for-date-night specialty, have made it a popular dining destination.
In Durham, the converted tobacco warehouses of Brightleaf Square fill the romantic-setting bill quite nicely.
The other half of the equation takes the form of an almost bewildering variety of fondues, cooked in pots over burners built into custom-made tables. The menu offers half a dozen variations on cheese fondue alone, from classic Swiss to Baja cheddar (spice it up with jalapeños if you dare).
Entrees are even more diverse. Individual fondues are offered as a mix-and-match combination of 12 proteins and vegetables, and six cooking styles (from chicken broth to peanut oil to Asian firepot). Entrees for two (The Full Moon, to name one: two lobster tails, filet, sashimi tuna, shrimp and chicken) and for four are also offered.
In the they've-thought-of-everything category, vegetarians sharing a table with meat-eaters can even request a separate cooking pot.
Rounding out the experience is an extensive list of dessert fondues, from simple chocolate (dark, white or milk) to Fluffernutter. You can optionally spike your fondue with the liqueur of your choice, or walk on the wild side and go for the Aztec: dark chocolate with Patron Café XO, cinnamon and red chile.
Little Dipper is open for dinner every nignt but Monday.
Send restaurant news to Greg at ggcox@bellsouth.net. Be sure to tune in to Greg's radio show at 11 a.m. Saturdays on WPTF.
The Charlotte beer scene is growing so quickly it's hard to keep up. I wrote about this in a prior column -- and saw it first hand at last weekend's Hickory Hops Brew Festival. Most new brewery tents I visited had one thing in common: Charlotte.
A handful of Charlotte breweries are starting to appear more regularly in the Triangle. Beer Study in Chapel Hill is a good source for Olde Mecklenburg bottles and NoDa taps. Even the new Steel String Craft Brewery in Carrboro has a full slate of guest Charlotte taps for its opening, including Triple C. (More on Steel String in next week's column.)
To help get you up to speed, our colleague at the Charlotte Observer has a good primer of the seven breweries now in operation. Bookmark it for your next trip.
This is a post by N&O restaurant critic Greg Cox:
North Carolina native Beth Flynn, who learned her trade from bakers up and down the East Coast, has sold her bakery in Virginia and returned to her home state to set up shop. Located in a strip mall across from Olde Raleigh Village, Groovy Duck Bakery (3434-110 Edwards Mill Road; 919-787-9233; groovyduckbakeryllc.com) offers a display case filled with a colorful assortment of cakes and pastries.
The selection varies, but you'll usually find Flynn's signature shortbread dipped in a yellow glaze. You can count on a rotating assortment of muffins, too, from her repertoire of nearly 50. There's typically at least one sugar-free option.
Other temptations cover the spectrum from homespun cookies and such (giant oatmeal raisin, Snickerdoodles, brownies, lemon bars) to pastries with a pedigree (Linzer tarts, almond horns, Rugelach). Flynn also bakes wedding cakes and other custom cakes for special occasions.
Espresso and coffees from Eastern Shore Coastal Roasters, a friendly staff and a setting as cheery as the bakery's name are icing on the cake. Groovy Duck Bakery is open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. every day but Sunday.
Send restaurant news to Greg at ggcox@bellsouth.net. Be sure to tune in to Greg's radio show at 11 a.m. Saturdays on WPTF.
The annual Brew Durham Homebrew Festival will be Saturday, May 4.
There will be more than 50 beers to taste from local home brewers plus a special one-time-only beer from Durham's Bull City Burger and Brewery. Food will be provided by Mateo, Monuts Donuts, Toast, Geer Street Garden, Dos Perros, Loaf and Daisy Cakes.
There are two tasting sessions: 1-4 p.m. and 5-8 p.m. Tickets cost $35 and can be purchased online at BrewDurham4.eventbrite.com.
The event is being held at Beltline Station, 923 Franklin St., near the Scrap Exchange, which is the beneficiary of the event. More info: brewdurham.weebly.com
No Pintful column today -- due to my furlough last week -- but two beer events this week I can't let pass without a mention.
The first is Casks for a Cure 4 at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at Big Boss Beer in Raleigh. The event -- which costs $10 -- raises money for the state's Leukemia and Lymphoma Society chapter. Top area homebrewers and Haw River Farmhouse Ales will offer a number of interesting brews. Here's the beer lineup:
--From Haw River Farmhouse Ales: Cask of Vuilaard, a sour-tart Flanders Oude Bruin.
--From the homebrewers: Paul Hobson and Lara Murphy: Blood Orange Saison; Dan Caswell: Chocolate Brown Ale; Matt Shellington: Farmhouse IPA; Allan Mason: Robust Porter; Andrew Turner: Top Withens, a strong pale ale.
And this weekend is the big Brewgaloo 2013 event in Raleigh's City Plaza from 3 to 9 p.m. The event features North Carolina craft breweries, local food trucks and bands.
Among the breweries: Big Boss, Lonerider, Aviator, Natty Greene's, White Street, Duck-Rabbit, Railhouse, Starpoint, Deep River, Four Friends and Bombshell. Buy tickets online and get more information here.
The guys behind the hidden bar in Carrboro called peccadillo have opened a second bar in Durham, Bar Lusconi. The grand opening is TONIGHT.
If you haven't been to or have never heard of peccadillo, it may be because the bar has no sign, a very plain website and no social media presence. People learn about it via word of mouth and learn that the bar's entrance door is on the left hand side of the building behind Al's Garage in Carrboro.
While peccadillo offers beer, wine and a minimalist cocktail menu, Bar Lusconi is strictly a beer and wine bar. It also won't have a sign on the door but co-owner Dean James said, "There is going to be a little bit more presence," referring to a Facebook page and a Twitter account. Eventually, James said, they will fill an outdoor window display with wine bottles as a subtle reference to what is going on inside.
Owners Timothy Neill and Dean James worked for years in bars in New York and California respectively before deciding to relocate to the Triangle. Peccadillo opened in December 2011 and Bar Lusconi opens tonight, April 24.
James said Bar Lusconi will offer Old World wines and European beers. "It is going to let us really get wild with the beer and wine list," he said. In Durham with its vibrant beer scene, James said they are interested in offering beers from some of the European brewers that have inspired local brewers.
If you are free tonight, Bar Lusconi opens at 5 p.m. Just head over to 117B East Main Street and open the door.
Next month's dinner with chef Thomas Keller at Fearrington House has a waiting list of more than 100 guests.
And so, McIntyre's Books in Fearrington Village has organized a book signing at 3 p.m. May 17 so those shut out of the dinner can still meet the superstar chef. Keller owns the famed French Laundry in Yountville, Calif., as well as Ad Hoc, Bouchon, Per Se and Bouchon Bakery.
The bookstore is asking folks to reserve a space at the book signing because the restaurant will be serving samples from Keller's latest book, "Bouchon Bakery." The bookstore is also asking that attendees purchase a copy of the book or any other Keller books at the bookstore beforehand or via the bookstore's website. Keller and his co-author, pastry chef Sebastien Rouxel, will be on hand to sign copies of the books.
To make a reservation for the signing, call 919-542-3030.