Last night we met some friends for a lovely dinner at 18 Seaboard in downtown Raleigh. We discovered this restaurant when we ate next door at J. Betski’s for my birthday dinner, and when Eric noticed they had a flat-iron steak on the menu, we were sold.

I’m glad I made reservations online because this place was bustling at 7pm. I started with the peach sangria which I liked but Eric thought it was a little watery. For wine Eric had a glass of the Dr. Loosen Riesling and I had a glass of the Four Vines Zinfindel with my meal.

We split a field green salad that was really fresh and had just the right amount of dressing- and how can you go wrong with pine nuts? Eric had the flat-iron steak with the reduced-balsamic and blue cheese sauce and I had the bourbon-glazed ribeye with a brandy peppercorn sauce. Both were quite tasty. We finished with hot chocolate cake in a mug, which was rich without being too sweet.

Thankfully, even thought the restaurant was busy and nearly full, it was easy to converse at a normal level. The service was great, efficient and quick. They always seemed to be around at the right moment without being overbearing. Overall, we really liked our experience, and we’ll definitely be back.

Recently, we decided to try out Six Plates winebar in Durham and take advantage of their half-price bottles of wine Monday night special. We were the first people there at 6:30pm and were cheerfully greeted by the owner. We sat at the bar and perused the menu deciding that a sparkling rose (Cava Avinyo) from Spain would go with just about anything we liked. The decor is both comfortable and modern with couches and low tables for lounging.

Unfortunately, they were out of their signature lamby joes, so instead we had the flatbread of the day and the ribeye steak. The flatbread was delicious. Piled high with fresh tomatoes, blue cheese, arugula and local pork sausage all atop a creamy balsamic glaze. While the ribeye plate was tasty (garlic potatoes, local squash), I thought it was a little skimpy on the meat portion. I also noticed that after our visit, the meat had changed into tenderloin on the online menu and that certainly seemed more like what we were served. We finished our meal with a flight of gelatos. We could pick from flavors such as olive oil, green tea, chocolate, thai basil, roasted garlic and blackberry. We went traditional with chocolate and blackberry but I just had to try (and loved!) the thai basil.

Our overall experience was good, but I didn’t feel that the food was an excellent value for the money if you want to have an entire dinner experience here. The next time we would go back and enjoy a bottle of wine and try the lamby joes but finish the night elsewhere.

Our last post about San Diego (until we go back that is). :)

JRDN—Eric ate here last June, so we made a point to have dinner here on this trip. The food was very tasty, but I think our waitress was having an off night. One of my sides was wrong (quickly fixed) and Eric’s flat iron steak took forever to come out. Thankfully, the steak was still delicious. Our waitress wound up giving us an extra bottle of wine because of the mistakes, so we came out happy, albeit slightly sauced. The atmosphere of this place is very chic and modern. A wave design constantly changes color on the main dining room wall; this is one of those places where it is impossible to be overdressed on a Friday night.

The Eggery—As this place was located a block from our hotel, we ate here twice for breakfast. I had the best eggs benedict ever here on our second visit. Even though the place was completely packed, somehow my poached eggs came out perfectly cooked. Plus, they were sitting on toasted english muffins, a generous portion of avocado, dolloped with hollandaise sauce and sprinkled with crispy bacon. Yum. I didn’t hear Eric complain about his croissant breakfast sandwich, so it must have been good as well. :)

World Famous—This busy place right on the beach was actually attached to our hotel and although it took forever to get a table (we were watching this sunset unfold while we waited, so it could have been worse), the service was friendly and the food was good. I had a very surreal experience when our waitress introduced herself as “Leandra.” I suppose the novelty of meeting someone who shares your name wears off quickly for people with common names (Eric is very used to this), but I rarely meet other women with my name, so that was a nice surprise. My bacon-wrapped scallops and lobster bisque were both very tasty. Eric’s chicken ceasar salad was equally tasty.

Coronado Brewing Company—After our stint in Balboa Park we headed over to a brewery in Coronado. One of the nicest things about San Diego is that everything is close, so it only took us ten minutes to get from Balboa park to the brewery. Obviously the thing we were looking forward to most was the beer and I was disappointed when I discovered that they were all out of their dark beers. In winter! Grrr! Thankfully, the Mermaid’s Red Ale hit the spot and Eric really enjoyed the Islandweizen. We split an order of Spicy Potato Flautas and a Hawaiian calzone, both tasty. We left completely full and with a new pint glass for our collection.

Mission Cafe—This place is known for it’s comfy atmosphere and hearty breakfasts and our meal did not disappoint. Eric managed to almost finish his Mission French Toast even while nibbling the rosemary potatoes off my plate. I enjoyed the chicken apple sausage and fresh rosemary bread and a never ending mug of very strong coffee. All the breakfast places along the beach are busy, so you definitely need to get here early unless you want to wait for a while, even during the week!

As you may have noticed, we wrote about breakfast and dinner above, but not lunch. With a big breakfast we often aren’t hungry until dinner, and since breakfasts are typically cheaper then lunch, we’ll often eat two meals with a small afternoon snack when traveling.

New Years Eve dinner @ the Frisky Oyster in Greenport, NY. The entire ceiling was covered in white and red helium-filled balloons!

Voss Viognier on the left and a “girlie martini” on the right. Dinner was excellent by the way…