bandregg

This is in response to Varmint's query about anyone dining at Vin Rouge recently. My wife, I, and too friends all went a few weeks ago and the food was as good as always. I started with the Onion Soup Gratin (French Onion Soup), which was delightfully beefy and cheesy. We shared a bottle of unclassified Chateaunuef de Pape, which was one of the cheaper wines on the menu and just delicious. Our waiter offered us the bottle for free if we could guess what grape was included that made it unclassified. I guessed Cabarnet (which turned out to be right), but he was just kidding and actually didn't know himself. Anyway, For dinner I had the tripe, which was rich and soft and a true delight to find on the menu. My wife had the Salad Nicoise, and our companions had the Macaronni Gratin, and another dish that I don't recall (it was a basic meat dish, pork loin or roast chicken [ I just tried the web site to check the menu, but it's down right now. ]). All of the meals were just delightful, warm, and just the right thing for a still cool spring's night. I can't recommend Vin Rouge enough, though my cardiologist might disagree.

If you are in Durham, the Durham Farmers Market on Morris St. just a little North of Morgan St. is every Saturday from 8 until noon. There are twenty five to thirty vendors these days and plenty of produce, dairy, meats, and other natural products to choose from. The craft vendors are horrid, but the food purveyors are great. My wife and I go every weekend. Highlights include Chapel Hill Creamery Cheese, Fickle Farm chicken, Randy and Rexanne's sweet potatoes, Miraboo garden's salsas, ohh the list goes on. I find it much less pretentious than the Carrboro market.

Transamerica, which is a Mexican market / money order sending operation at the corner of University and Old Chapel Hill Road has a little restaurant in the back. My wife and I were just in there recently and the tacos were very good (al pastor, suadera, and pollo), but they don't use homemade tortillas. BUT, they do use homemade masa in their sopes and papusas. These were fabulous. As an aside, I would have posted this earlier, but I'm in San Francisco at an Apple conference this week. Having been to the famed Mission for tacos it relieves me to say that our taco stands rate very highly. The key difference that I've noted is that most taquerias in Durham cook the orders when their placed, so the meat comes out crisp and sometimes charred, definitely the way I like it. In the Mission most of the meat is on steam tables and so al pastor, carne asada, pollo, etc. aren't charred at all, almost stewed. BUT (note emphasis again), this is the perfect way to cook lengua and tripes, which really benefit from the almost braise like cooking style. I'm up for a taco trial anytime, just drop me a line here!

15% ? Feh. I just brought back a wonderful ale from D.C. "The Beast" by Avery Brewing out of Colorado that is a huge 18.1%. Seriously though, I'm sending my missive to the legislator right away.

In my opinion the lack of truely good regional cuisines is based on a combination of the absence of members of that particular region (we don't have a strong cetralized community of chinese for instance) and more importantly, the age of the communities that we do have. New York and San Francisco and plenty of other places have chinatowns or indiantowns or whatever that are a hundred years old. That amount of time gives the other members of a locale time to come to terms with the food and learn to appreciate it. You have to give it time. Ethinc immigration to the Triangle area, excluding hispanics, is based on university and technology, and those are recent advancements. If you look at BBQ in the region you'll see what I mean. Most people in this area learn very quickly what restaurnat they prefer to eat BBQ at. Chains don't last in that environment. Similarly, because it lacks the BBQ food tradition, finding good BBQ in places like New York is a limited prospect. It's there, but in ratio to the population it may as well not be.

My wife and I recently stopped at Buz and Ned's in Richmond just off of I-95 on Boulevard this past weekend and it was wonderful. BBQ of all kinds, but I really recommend the spare ribs.

I never really cared for Sara's Secrets, so I can't say that I'm sorry to see if go. It always seemed the epitome of good idea, low production quality that Food TV has come to stand for. And, I can't stand it. "We can't hear you talking because the microphone is in the saute pan!" I wonder that no-one at Food TV ever watched the shows in editting and said, "Wow, I can't hear a thing." That and the number of times larger cooking mistakes have been covered by Sara just saying, "well, that's not actually the way to do that, but we'll just use it this time." I know reshooting has a cost, but come on Food TV, your margins aren't that slim.

For those of you still following this thread. Fowlers is having a huge wine sale this weekend. Jan 28-30.

I actually prefer the term "small plates" to Tapas as a descriptor for the latest trend to hit the triangle restuarants. After a trip to Spain nothing here is tapas the way tapas are meant to be. I want a neighborhood place where I can sip a small beer or glass of fine and munch on fried squid, or a piece of Spanish chorizo on a slice of bread, or a dish of marinaded olives, where every tapas is under 3$ per plate and you can gorge yourself on only the best.

I envision wedding programs with credits on the back, product placements in the best man's speech, and for something truly nice, the name of a first born child. "Have you met my son Cirque?"

It bothers me greatly that everyone involved in the original article and a large number of those responding to the discussion about the article seem to think that there is going to be "American Cuisine." I can't even imagine what that is or how one would go about judging it ... "Sadie's carne adovada was good, but it just didn't compare to the clam chowder at the Rockland Chowder House."

The exact quote from page 130 is, "I did not fall prey to the rarefied attitude that prevented my friend the North Carolina attorney from recognizing the genius of Karen Barker, ..." I was just guessing that could be you, or at least attributed to you. It might not be at all.

I was reading John T. Edge's "Apple Pie, An American Story" last night and thoroughly enjoying it when I came across a mention about a certain Lawyer from Raleigh who doesn't believe that Karen Barker walks on water for her pies and crumbles. Is that you Varmint? The book is a delicious read and in addition to Karen there is a good mention about Phoebe Lawless (also of Magnolia Grill). If you haven't tried Phoebe's delicious Phoebecakes you should definitely seek them out. I'm going to drag my book over to the restaurant one of these days and get some autographs.

I've started to have an uncontrollable desire for schweinhaxen, the slow roast pig hock found in beer halls in Munich and the rest of Bavaria. Has anyone seen a fresh pig hock at the market? I'll call Fowlers later to see if they have or can get one, but I thought I'd ask here first.

A good friend of mine from Longview, TX saw some poke weed growing in our yard once and told us about it. The comment that stands out most was something like, "That's poke weed, but it's poisonous unless you cook it right, and that's something only old, black, southern ladies know how to do."

I have to say, I just don't get Calabash style seafood at all. I mean, here we are with a bounty of fresh seafood and every place just wants to fry it! Damn, what a waste.

I don't make pepper jelly but I buy it from one of the vendors at the Durham Farmers Market (Amy something). I buy the hot stuff which is made with jalapenos and use it on bagels or toast on a regular basis. I buy a couple of jars at the end of the season to get me through the winter. Chipotle and Rasberry jelly is also very good.

At the end of this month my wife and I will be visiting Southern Germany and Austria. We're flying into Munich, training to Innsbruck and Salzburg, and the returning to Munich for a couple of days. I have a recommendation for Hangar-7 in Salzburg and some random notes about beer halls in Munich, but recommendations seem pretty slim. My wife and I eat everything I can think of so there aren't any limits. We're willing to spend for a couple of nice meals but I don't want to eat three stars every meal. Recommendations?

I know I'm asking for it here, but I spent a day a few weekends ago sharpening our knives on a Chef's Choice sharpener and they came out great. It did take some time though, I figure about 15 minutes per knife.

My wife has been through a number of juicers and swears by her Champion masticating juicer. http://www.championjuicer.com/ It's big, it's a bit pricey, but it's a bad-ass. Easy to clean and it'll make nut butters also.

Guglhuph is a German Bakery on Business 15-501 pretty much next door to Fosters. The owners are German and all of the staff speak fluent German. They were featured on a holiday episode of Food Finds for their Stolen.

This isn't food related so if that's all you're after, stop reading now. Buying a house in Durham is a great thing. I can't speak to living in Raleigh; I enjoy it's restaurants and try to get over there for some art stuff every now and then. My wife and I live in the Forest Hills neighborhood in Durham and either it or Trinity Park is perfectly located to be able to get to downtown, Ninth Street, and further afield in no time. Durham has lots of little neighborhoods that have little parks and are well priced. With the growth of tobacco warehouse restoration and the eventual openning of the American Tobacco project next to the Bull's stadium I'm hoping for great things. Did I mention that I can walk to the Bull's stadium from my house and there isn't a better way to spend a fall evening then at a game with fireworks afterward. Durham isn't hurting for good food either, Magnolia Grill, Four Square, Nana's, Guglhupf, Q-Shack, high-end, dive, good food abounds. I guess I'm just saying, give Durham a look, I think you'll like it. (Sorry for sounding like a fricken' civic booster).

The misses and I are up for dinner most any night during the week. Our little one has four legs and lots of chew toys (though he does sleep with a power-puff girls blanket ...) so he's not an issue. For the right meal we'll drive pretty far. We'll eat just about anything though better food for less is always appreciated.

I'm a little north of you, up in NC, but your post gives me much hope for the coming spring! I can't wait for that first trip to the big farmers market in raleigh to buy a bag of live, squirming, bliss.

A little north of Austin (take I-35 north and to Kansas City and make a left onto I-70 get off at Lawrence) you'll find the Freestate Brewery. They make amazing beer and the food in the restaurant is superb. Anytime I'm at home in KC I lose a day to a trip there and usually leave extra room in my bags to bring a growler or two back.