Eric and I have a list of restaurants to try that is added to constantly as new places open or we read a good review.

Last night we got to try two new places, Whiskey and Dos Perros. Originally, we were supposed to go to a furniture sale in Cary but after a quick look online at the traffic cams, we discovered a huge wreck between us and the store. And don’t these cocktails look like a nicer way to spend some time?

Eric’s Debonair and my Monkey Gland cocktails

We relaxed and chatted in comfy leather chairs for a bit before heading over to meet some friends a few blocks away at Dos Perros, the new restaurant of Jujube’s owner, Charlie Deal.

The setting is very nice and homey and the waitstaff was eager to talk about the food. Eric got a pork special that was very tasty, but my mole poblano from the menu was just okay. I would have preferred the meat more shredded so the sauce could coat more evenly. I also greatly prefer flour tortillas to the corn ones, but didn’t think to ask if they had any. On the plus side, the beans that came with my dish were excellent and I had Eric take his home for my lunch today. Overall, I thought the food was good but the prices were a few dollars higher than I would prefer to pay. I will give them another shot but order something different next time.

The third new place was Local Yogurt where I met a friend of mine and her kids for a snack this afternoon.

Above is a small bowl of peanut butter frozen yogurt with magic shell and peanut butter cups. And yes, it was as tasty as it looks. :)

This week is Triangle Restaurant Week, where many local restaurants feature prix fixe menus in order to encourage people to try new places, so last night we visited Four Square in Durham. After reviewing a half-dozen restaurants on Sunday we decided to make reservations for Tuesday night with a group of friends.

Unfortunately, it turns out the wrong menu was posted when we made our reservations, and we discovered a more limited menu on the day of our dinner reservation. When asked, the hostess was very nice and explained that they decided to do an entirely different menu rather than smaller portions of their existing dishes, and that they sent in the revised menu well before this week and it just wasn’t posted on time. This makes a good case for Four Square posting the special menu on their own website in addition to the Triangle Restaurant Week website (hint, hint!). While I was actually looking forward to trying dishes on the regular menu, the changes still looked appetizing.

We arrived about 15 minutes early and took a seat on the front porch rockers while we looked over the wine list and talked with our friends. The restaurant is located in an old farm house, where each of the rooms has about 3-4 tables, making it great for romantic meals. At 7p we were seated upstairs in the back of the house in what must have been a bedroom.

Seating was followed by a rather long 10 minutes before we could place our drink order and then another good delay for our drinks to arrive. Fortunately, this was the only problem and the service was otherwise excellent. We choose a Loire valley Rose that we thought would complement each of the courses.

There were two choices for each appetizer, entree and dessert, so we decided to get different things and share—except we both choose the beef entree as I wasn’t in the mood for mahi mahi.

The fried green tomato appetizer was crispy and the sauce was good but it could not outdo the baby artichoke and sundried tomato pasta with chicken and creamed spinach. Delicious. The skillet cooked ribeyes were both slightly underdone from how we ordered them, so my medium rare was more of a rare plus, and Eric’s medium steak was a dark pink. The gravy was rich and seasoned perfectly but I would have called the seasoned potatoes ‘wedges’ rather than ‘steak fries’ as they weren’t crispy after spending time soaking in the sauce. (Note: Only one couple split the mahi mahi and they thought the beef was superior.)

For dessert, the chocolate torte accompanied by a strawberry balsamic sorbet was the hands-down winner, but the strawberry shortcake put up a good fight. Personally, I would have preferred the vanilla bean cake to be lighter in texture and body, more like an angel food cake because it seemed like strawberries piled on a cornbread muffin to me.

Overall, we had a lovely time and would return. The service was great, and we thought the sauces used throughout were quite good. Although the regular menu is pricey, we found the wine list to be quite extensive and reasonably priced.

Eric has been wanting to try Revolution for weeks and after a little scheduling drama and realizing on Thursday that we should probably make reservations for a Friday night, we finally made it over there last week.

We sat in the back right corner, a table for two in a quiet spot all to ourselves. The attention from our waiter was immediate and friendly and he was good natured about our typical wine menu negotiations. :)  We decided on a Sauvignon Republic sauvignon blanc from Stellenbosch which we originally tried at Hope Valley Bottle shop last December. It was a great value here at $30, and all our dishes went spectacularly with the slightly creamy and peanut-y flavor of the wine.

I probably could have picked anything on the menu and been delighted, but I since I had to choose something, I went with the beef tartar with rosemary crisps, fried capers and roasted garlic as my starter. I enjoyed my tartar but wondered about the need of additional red onions on top when they were already (nicely) added to the beef mixture. The fried capers were a unique salty addition. Eric sampled the romaine salad which consisted of a romaine spear lightly coated in dressing and sprinkled with tomatoes and roasted peppers. He thought the dressing was a bit too sweet, but the presentation was lovely.

For our main courses, Eric ordered the pork chop with sweet potatoes and I got the beer-braised mussels with tomatoes and basil. Upon checking the menu online (which is out of date), I discovered that this dish used to come with frites… wonder why they were absent last week? Our waiter did mention that the chef revamped the menu that afternoon, so hopefully the online version will be changed soon.

Eric thought the pork was delicious on the outside but lost a bit of flavor toward the whiter interior meat. The sweet potatoes in a tomato sauce were very unusual and tasty. All I can say about my mussels is that I would have bathed in the broth had it not seemed rude to do so at such a nice restaurant!  Instead,  I soaked some of our bread in the delicious liquid.

Thankfully, we both left a bit of room for dessert and split a chocolate icebox cake with fresh whipped cream and ginger cookie that was just the right size and sweetness to end the meal.

Throughout the meal, several people were serving us, and all were very friendly and courteous. We really liked the atmosphere, and besides a few minor dings on the food, were happy with our meal. We will definitely be back.

In the midst of throwing together my bags and papers before the flight yesterday, I met my friend at Toast in downtown Durham for lunch. The first time I attempted to eat here I was thwarted by a sign stating the restaurant was closed for a week back in the summer. Disappointed, I was looking for an opportunity to try again.

We arrived just before the lunch rush and ordered our food at the small counter and grabbed an open table with our number sign and drinks. They serve all sorts of specialty sodas and beers as well as the standard tea and water.

It only took about ten minutes for our food to arrive. I ordered a lentil, speck and parsnip soup that was very pleasant and had a interesting minty flavor to it. I also had the bruschetta with NC shrimp, pancetta and raddichio. I could have handled more pancetta and less raddichio, but the overall flavor was good and the bread was perfectly toasted. They should probably add garlic to the list of ingredients, however!

My companion mentioned that her three cheese sandwich was a bit greasy, but good, and her turnip soup inspired her to try something with the root veggies currently sitting in her pantry.

It got quite noisy in the small place as a crowd piled in for lunch, but I saw the food servers consistently delivering food, so it didn’t look like people waited very long. Overall, I thought the price was reasonable for the amount of food and everything tasted freshly made. I would definitely go back.

Eric and I headed over to Wine Authorities last night to celebrate their first birthday with a glass of cava/champagne and grab dinner at Only Burger, Durham Catering‘s newest addition.

(I like that a guy from Q-Shack across the street is standing in line for his burger!)

We arrived around 5:30pm and there was already a huge line, so we put our order in then headed inside to grab a glass of champagne. The wine shop was absolutely mobbed and I saw Seth hurry by with his arms full of champagne, so I’m sure the night went well for them.

The highlight was definitely the burgers! We were very sad when Starlu closed last year and these burgers are reminiscent of Sam Poley’s numbered specialty burgers that we enjoyed at Starlu. It’s a great concept, you get either a single or a double with all the fixings (including cheese) for $4 or $6.50, crispy seasoned fries are $2, and add a coke or sprite for $1.25.

The burger was perfectly cooked and the fries were delicious. They missed the mayo on mine and Eric’s had mustard and tomato even though he asked for none, but they were pretty swamped and probably overwhelmed by the turnout. At least it wasn’t pouring like it had been all day!

We’ll definitely be keeping our eyes to the internets to see where the truck pops up next, what a great addition to Durham!

(Definitely have your sound turned way up when you click on the restaurant link, I think Riesling is still recovering.)

Eric had lunch at Papa Mojo’s (I was still in NY) during an interview back in June and he has been wanting to get back ever since. We met our friends for dinner on Monday night and stumbled upon a drink special, $2 pints! The waiter only listed three beers on tap, so I got the amber and Eric settled on the pale ale.

Now in an even better mood, I turned my attention to the menu… po’ boys, bbq, cornbread… mmm. Three of us got the Cochon de Lait (cajun bbq pork) and Eric spent the entire meal guarding his deliciously crispy fries; I managed to snag a few in between bites of my cornbread with tasso cream gravy.

The pork was very nice, grilled with a light smoke flavor, but the spicy dipping sauce is the best part. Equal parts sweet and hot, it complimented the crispy pork perfectly.

Apparently there is all sorts of live music going on during the weekends (with applicable cover charges), and that’s not really our thing, so perhaps we’ll stick with $2 pint nights. Dinner for two with beer was only $25 including tax and tip, tasty and inexpensive!

We spent yesterday indoors avoiding the cold and rainy weather, but come dinnertime Eric suggested a few options to get us away from our computers. We settled on Parizade, located in Erwin Square in Durham.

Our first impression was positive, large paintings covered the walls and the open kitchen was bustling. We ordered a bottle of Spanish cava (sparkling wine) and the gnocchi appetizer to begin our meal. The delicate gnocchi were clearly fresh and the mix of roasted chicken broth and pancetta were just salty and hearty enough. Plus, it was the perfect portion to split for a starter.

I surprised Eric by getting a pasta dish as my main course, but the combination of salmon and artichokes in a tarragon cream sauce sounded too good to pass up. Eric ordered the bolognaise with beef tenderloin and pancetta. Both dishes were delicious and chock full of the advertised ingredients. I can’t tell you how annoyed I get when I have to hunt for the tasty elements supposedly included in my entree. My cream sauce just coated the pasta, so I got all the flavor without the cloying, thick texture of some creamy sauces.

We ended the evening with a monster slice of the 3-Chocolate Torte, and even though we aren’t typically big fans of orange flavored chocolate, the flavor was subtle and overall rich and tasty.

The service was also stellar, our champagne glasses were never empty and Michael was even kind enough to keep us updated on the Davidson/Kansas score. :)

Overall, atmosphere and food were great, I would definitely make it back here in the near future.