Nantucket

I could have written about this before, I can’t remember, but I have been eating this dish every few months for the past three or four years. Nantucket Grill & Café is a great restaurant on the corner of the 40 and 54 intersection, a great family atmosphere, nice outdoor seating, and now a bar that not only serves beer and wine, but also liquor! When I lived across the street I used to eat here at least once and week, and almost every time I would have this salad. A small piece of salmon expertly blackened and placed upon a bed of mixed greens, red onion, walnuts, carrots and feta cheese, all lightly covered in a delightful raspberry vinaigrette. Filling, light and a great meal to eat with a cocktail outside.

-J

Samosa Chaat

I have written about Kabob and Curry many times. I almost always top off any order with the vegetable samosas. One night I ordered these samosas and received a surprise, but a very pleasant one. A new dish was placed on the menu and I had ordered it without even knowing. The Samosa Chaat is very similar to the samosas but they are samosas that have been busted open with a topping of additional chickpeas, sour cream and Indian spices. They are like the samosas but better.

-J

Toast

There have been tons of gourmet sandwich shops popping up in the area over the past few years.  The most delicious and well known, would definitely be Sandwich in Chapel Hill and Neal’s of Carrboro.  Now Durham can lay claim to its own, Toast.  A great Italian sandwich shop, where authentic paninis and tramezzini’s are served with crostini, bruschetta, soups and salads.  All of their sandwiches are made with local farm raised ingredients or flown in directly from Italy. 

On my first trip to this fabulous sandwich shop, I had a tasty cured salmon tramezzini, served with watercress, pickled red onion and lemon aioli.  All of the sandwiches are six dollars, which is the thing that sets Toast apart from its Chapel Hill and Carrboro counterparts, where some sandwiches can be more than twice that amount. 

Toast is a great place for lunch, dinner or just an afternoon with a bottle of wine and a nice snack.  

-J

Triangle Brewing Company

My friend Steve has lived in Durham his entire life. He knows just about everything there is to know about this city. His expertise has led me on countless culinary and cocktail laden adventures. This past Saturday he took me to the Triangle Brewing Company in downtown Durham. Every Saturday at 1pm there is a brewery tour. Other than the actual 20 minutes you are touring the brewery, the beer is flowing from the tap and it’s free. This is the perfect way to spend a Saturday afternoon, drinking free beer with your friends while learning everything you need to know about brewing beer. And you can bring a growler home, so even though the party ends, it is just beginning.

-J

IP3

I’m not the biggest fan of pizza, but when I have a hankering for good old fashioned Italian Pizzeria style pizza, and the possibility of eating with a UNC basketball player, Italian Pizzeria #3 is where I go.  I have been in IP3 at least 3 or 4 times a year since I started going to college at UNC, and I have never sat down and eaten a complete meal without seeing a UNC basketball player.  I’ve even had Marcus Ginyard make me a soda one time.

A great place to watch a soccer game, to have a pitcher of beer with a group of friends, or just to check in on how the team is looking over the summer, IP3, Franklin Street’s best choice when you are looking for pizza.    

-J

Tomato, Tomatoe

Summer is a great time for fresh tomatoes. Gee and I planted a few tomato plants in the back yard and they have grown out of control, but due to their lack of sunlight, they have produced more vines than fruit. I love fresh salsa, tomato sandwiches, tomato and cucumber salads and a myriad of other tomato dishes. In restaurants all over North Carolina you will find some form of an heirloom tomato plate, bruschetta or caprese salad. I had a dish at Watts Grocery that was a blend of all 3. Grilled sourdough bread, Heirloom Tomatoes, Local Goat Cheese and pea tendrils with a lemon vinaigrette. This was an excellent celebration of the tomato and another bullet point in the long list of reasons to go to Watts.

-J

411

During my first two years at UNC no one helped me out more than my best friend’s sister Katie.  She was always there to share some sage advice or take me out to a nice dinner when I was having a tough time getting acclimated to college life.  

For the past few years Katie has lived on the west coast, but luckily she is now back in The South where she belongs.  The other day the two of us had a nice lunch at 411 on Franklin.  She had The Crab, a red pepper papardelle in a rich dill cream sauce, with scallions, bacon and fresh crab.  It is a pasta dish that 411 is famous for, it is one of my favorite dishes in Chapel Hill, but too much for me on this day.  I had the dry packed scallops pan seared with house gnocchi, wilted spinach and a balsamic red wine reduction.  The scallops and gnocchi were made to be indistinguishable which gave the dish a nice touch of whimsy, and other than a heavy hand with the salt, this was a delectable lunch on a beautiful summer afternoon in Chapel Hill.

-J