TRIANGLE - My personal faves thus far
Hi, RDU-ites.
I've lived in NYC, and most recently in Portland, OR. Now I'm down here in the Triangle, and I have to say that although a great many restaurants here are bad (especially in Chapel Hill [particularly Chinese restaurants in Chapel Hill]), a few of them are not. Here is a list of a few chowhound-worthy places that I have found thus far:
-Allen and Sons on Airport Rd, of course, and I think their down home (read--sticky sweet) desserts are almost as good as their bbq (if you can prevent them from being microwaved)
-Europa Turka in Carrboro, but the service is awful and the food takes at least a half hour to arrive. Nonetheless, it is light years beyond most Triangle food in terms of authenticity and freshness
-Korea Garden in Cary, for great pa-joon pancakes and mandu dumplings. While in the 'hood, poke around the Chatham Square complex for more ethnic eats and all the ethnic groceries you could ask for.
-Uncle Frenchy's Jamaican near Route 55/54 in Durham. Great curried goat, pretty good oxtails.
-Royal India in Raleigh on Capital Boulevard. Not stellar, but a cut above.
-Greenhouse Cafe, in Durham, for fine soulful creative vegetarian-y food. Not a better marinated tofu sandwich anywhere. Good peanut soup, too.
-Far East, Vietnamese on New Hope Church in Raleigh. Friendly little place.
-Guglhopf bakery in Durham. Man, every other week I get a craving for their spectacular Lindzer (sp?) Tart which is usually available at Cafe Driade
-Fortune Garden on Capital Boulevard in Raleigh for Chinese. Not only authentic and not tailored to Western tastes, but also skillfully prepared. Ask for the specials menu.
-When you need a thick juicy hamburger, try Carolina Cafe on Franklin Street
-Have not found great Mexican yet, but the cabeza tacos at El Centrale grocery in Carrboro are a local treat.
Can someone recommend a place to get eggs, grits, and Country Ham? Haven't found one yet.
More to come in the months ahead, and happy eating to you all.
-Paul
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Not sure why the knock on Chapel Hill was necessary. It is silly comparing a small college town like Chapel Hill to far larger metro areas like Boston and Portland. Chapel Hill has several top notch restaurants: Bonne Soiree, Lantern, Elaine's, La Residence and Il Palio are all very good to excellent. Throw in several good places in adjacent neighbor Carrboro and one can dine quite well. Then you throw in places like Locopops, Sandwhich, great coffee joints like Driade, Open Eye, Three Cups, goodies from Southern Season and few people can complain...
As for Mexican, you should try Tonali in Durham. Andres is a talented chef who is trying to expose people in the Triangle to what real Mexican food can be. Jibarra in Raleigh, while a little fru fru and expensive at times, is very good as well. Second the recommendation for Red Palace. They are very good with fish. Saffron is an excellent Indian restaurant in RTP. Thai Palace in Chapel Hill is a nice place to have a well prepared Thai meal. Waraji or Haru in Raleigh for sushi. The great joints that have opened up in downtown Durham...Federal, Piedmont, Rue Cler, Toast...
It requries a bit of driving at times but there are plenty of good restaurants in the Triangle.
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re: bbqme
i didn't enjoy that knock either bbqme but the OP seems to focus on asian food and if you are coming from nyc or portland, well, you aren't going to be blown away by the choices in the triangle -- no matter how good they are you can go to the west coast and prepare to be blown away by the quality and selection there.
that being said, one does struggle to find good bbq or southern cookin' in both places -- portland most notably. portland is, i think, an underrated food town -- lots of interesting things around and the wine country and hour away doesn't hurt.
whether you like acme or not (and i ate there last night), their burgers are very good. the kobe burger, when they have it, is so very good.
as for hillsborough burgers -- riverside has a good one i'm told (one of the previous incarnations of that space had a ridiculous 1/2 lb cheeseburger for about $3 that was unreal), the wooden nickel has solid burgers but they throw down a rockin' kobe for about $12 every now and again that rocks, gulf rim (makes their own patties so you can get rare), and tupelo's has a great $5.50 deal on a 1/2 lb patty.
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re: chili367
romansperson
Jul 11, 2008 06:12 AM
Y'all know the original post was put up in 2003, right? I'd expect a good part of it to be irrelevant at this point.
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I'm monitoring the Triangle posts in preparation for our move down there in August (from Boston). I was interested in the "thick juicy burger" recommendation. Where else do some of you locals recommend for a comfortable place with good bar food (burgers, wings, etc)? The Boston board has recurring threads over the "best burger," with strong nods to a couple of local neighborhood pubs which you'd walk right by if you didn't know better. Anything similar?
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re: MelissaR
Burgers aren't really the thing down here -- the pulled pork BBQ sandwich sits in for the most part. I too love burgers but I can't say that I've had a notable one in North Carolina. For ambience, I would try the S&T Soda Shoppe in Pittsboro or Elmo's in Carrboro; probably the best burger I've had was at the The Loop in Eastgate Center in Chapel Hill, though the place is not much to look at. I also recall reading on Chowhound about a place called Char-Grill, which is supposedly good, but I have not been.
Coming from Boston, you had better get your fill of dim sum at China Pearl and sfogliatelle at Modern Pastry before you leave! You will find nothing remotely comparable down here.
Best,
David A. -
re: MelissaR
Most places in NCwill not prepare a burger any less done than medium--it's the law, I believe, unless the place grinds its own beef, which few bars or burger joints do. As a result, most NC burgers are overcooked.
Acme--a place in Carrboro that some here love and others adamantly do not--makes a big, rare-as-you-please burger for $8.95. My wife swears by it, but I haven't tried it yet as there's always something on the menu that appeals to me more.
For cheap burgers, I love Char-Grill. Their locations are like the old-style burger joints; some don't even have any indoor seating. Great fries, mega-thick shakes, and well-seared burgers. If they could only cook them medium rare, there'd never be any reason to eat elsewhere. ;) -
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Thanks very much for this helpful intelligence -- I had not heard of a number of these restaurants and will certainly give them a try. I posted my own list of favorites not too long ago under the title "Triangle: My Personal Dining Guide," which you'll find not too far down the list. You may want to have a look.
Can you tell me more about this Fortune Garden in Raleigh? A good Chinese restaurant is the Holy Grail among frustrated NC diners.
Thanks,
David A.›6 Replies-
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re: gary
Just go try it out. Even if you disagree with me about how great it is, at least then you'll have proof that real Chinese food exists in the Triangle.
As for ordering, just trust your instinct and don't be afraid to order strange sounding stuff. I went for the pork with taro and fermented bean sauce, and it was great.
The menu is actually not so large once you disregard the American side, though if you're interested in that stuff the gringos who eat here seem to be enjoying themselves.
Two other items that impressed the hell out of me were the whole crispy and salty shrimp, from the Chinese menu (otherwise there won't be any hot peppers) and the appetizer of conch with hot pepper sauce. The conch is served cold, and the flavor combination of cold scallions, sweet conch meat, and sour/spicy sauce was wonderful.
Some of the dishes are short on vegetables; to make up for this you can get a plate of fresh greens cooked in any style. I've only had 'em sauteed with garlic, but you can ask the staff about other preparations.
A note on the shrimp--you can just eat the whole thing, head and tail included, if you wish. It was the first time I'd eaten shrimp this way, and, sick as it sounds, the shrimp heads were quite tasty. Think soft-shell crab.
PAL-
re: PAL
Mmmmm...crunchy, salty, shrimp heads...I will second PAL's recommendation for the shrimps, they are quite tasty.
I'll also share my secret for carry out fried foods: If your item is packed in styrofoam, poke holes in the lid with a toothpick for ventilation. Otherwise the food gets steamed and gummy by the time it hits the table at home.
As far as what to try, for me the rule is the weirder, the better. I can get Kung Pao anywhere.
The appetizers from the Chinese side of the menu are pretty cheap and a good way to try different tastes. The chix in wine and the green pork were tasty.
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re: David A.
I agree that it's hard to find good Chinese restaurants in the Triangle (I'm a transplanted yankee). I work with a lady from mainland China. While a group of us were at a training class in Raleigh, she recommended that we go to lunch at the Red Palace. Some ordered Peking Duck ahead of time. They carve it at the table, then take the bones and make soup for your next course. I've been back there several times, and the food is head-and-shoulders above the other Chinese I've had in this area, or even in Manhattan!
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