drewpbrown

my girlfriend and i are visiting san francisco for a couple of days next week. we're eating at chez panisse and ad hoc, but we're also looking for some good sushi/japanese, vietnamese or chinese food. any suggestions? we're staying in between union square & chinatown if that helps, and we're not looking for anything fancy. more generally, we plan to drive north towards mendocino and beyond for the rest of the week and would be interested in any advice on eating along the north coast. i can't be specific about where we will be because we are kind of playing it by ear, but if anybody has some suggestions on eating anywhere along the coast between the bay and eureka that would be great. thanks, drew.

Yeah, the cocktail has potential, but we found that it was too easy to mess up. Our bartender Jake made a great version at the very beginning, then I had another one that tasted like a tootsie roll. Chambord is a dangerous mixer. We're searching for another use for the toasted fennel vodka. The final fennel countdown has been served at the Piedmont....

woah there! i'm not sure what restaurant you ate at the second time, but here at piedmont we would not have used either fresh tomatoes or berries this time of year. in fact, since we've been open not a single fresh berry or tomato has entered our restaurant. serving what is in season is very important to us, and we have stuck to strict guidlines when writing our menu. and the response has been overwhelmingly positive. i am very pleased to read that you enjoyed your meals at piedmont, tomv, but i think you may have us a little mixed up with someone else.

here's the scoop... abby dislocated her knee in a nasty spill in one of our bathrooms which set things back only slightly. shortly thereafter, our brand new walk-in went kaput which set us back a bit more. anyway, we finally have our stuff pretty much together and we're ready to open. dinner tonight (wednesday the 15th) is a private affair for friends and family to give our staff and ourselves some practice, and thursday is the big day. we'll be opening for lunch thursday at 11:30 and dinner that night. from then on we'll be open every day but tuesday. a couple of things to be aware of: we had some complications with our ABC license, and will not be selling booze right away. we think (or at least hope) that this will be worked out by the end of the week or the beginning of next. also, our webmaster's laptop was stolen, so our site will not be up and running for a few more days. once it is, y'all will be able to check it out for the day's menu etc. thanks for everybody's interest and we hope to see you there very soon! drew

yes, we'll be open on sundays. and mondays, too. we've decided to close on tuesdays. it may seem like an odd day, but it seems that most restaurants in durham close on sundays and mondays. we want to be open on those days in order to provide another option for diners and to give restaurant empoyees that have those nights off somewhere to go. hope to see you there jason, and i hope that everything is going well at rue cler! and for a quick update: we should be getting most of our permits this week except for the ABC (did y'all know that according to the ABC comission in raleigh, durham county takes longer than any other county in the state to okay a new establishment for an ABC license? encouraging isn't it). we will be, hopefully, opening by the end of next week. it should be the 10th or 11th.

thanks for your interest in what we're doing varmint. i definitely wouldn't use the word "smooth" to describe the opening of a new restaurant. first of all, this is, for all three of us, the first venture of this sort. i've cooked in restaurants from opening day (and that can be stressful), but nothing could've prepared me for the incredible amount of details, big and small, that need to be addressed for piedmont. the biggest headache has been the construction process. i don't want to point any fingers, so i'll just say it has taken many months longer than expected and has involved countless mistakes that needed to be corrected. it has been a hell of an education. i will point out that our mvp's of subcontractors has been the two fellows behind creative custom carpentry. they have built our bar, wine shelves and banquette (and have also built the lovely bar over at rue cler, also in downtown durham), and have done an amazing job. construction is finally winding up, so the next headache in line is the city of durham and it's crew of inspectors. hiring has actually gone pretty smoothly. we've been lucky to find a really great bunch of folks for the front and back of house. many of them have loads of experience, and those that don't have a really great attitude. all have been very flexible with our ever changing opening date (they're as anxious as we are to get started), and seem to be very understanding of the learning curve that we, as new restaurant owners, are up against. the place is definitely shaping up, though, so if any of y'all happen to be in downtown durham (maybe checking out the newly opened, aformentioned rue cler!) stop by and take a look and say hello. dpb

piedmont update: things at piedmont are moving right along. this week we're finishing the last of the construction, and we should be able to apply for our permits sometime next week. it's hard to tell how long it will take for the city to do their thing, but if everything goes well we'll be opening in the first week of november. when we have an exact opening date i'll post it here of course. i'll also let y'all know when our website is up and running which will contain our menus and stuff.

The facts: The street address is 401 Foster St., Durham NC 27701. The phone number is 919-430-0261. The web address is www.piedmontrestaurant.com The opening date is not set, but should be late October. The hours: dinner 5-10 Wednesday to Monday, lunch 11:30-3 Monday & Wednesday to Friday and brunch 10-3 Saturday and Sunday. In between lunch/brunch and dinner we’ll be open for cocktails and a few bar snacks. The owners are Drew Brown, Andy Magowan & Abby Pearce. Andy and I are the chefs, and Abby is the general manager. Abby and Andy have been married for a little over two years. Andy was formerly the chef at Federal, but prior to that he has worked all over the triangle (including the Magnolia Grill, Fowler’s & the original Henry’s) as well as in London. I have also worked around town including Four Square, Pop’s, Fowler’s, etc., but most recently I was living in Las Vegas working at Thomas Keller’s Bouchon. Abby has worked the front of house at Federal among other places, but most of her experience has been in gourmet stores like Fowler’s and Foster’s. She was the cheese buyer at Fowler’s back when they had one of the best selections in the state. In the spring of 2005 I returned to Durham from my stay in LV with the intention of opening a little restaurant of some sort, and I discovered that Andy & Abby had been thinking the same thing. We decided to join forces and set off to find the right place, concept, etc. It all came together when we met Andy Rothschild of Scientific Properties. He was in the process of renovating an old warehouse on Foster St in the Central Park neighborhood, and was looking for a restaurant. The other tenants are galleries and artist’s studios including Branch Gallery. The concept we decided on for Piedmont was to provide straightforward, rustic Italian and French inspired food at a reasonable price using fresh, seasonal and, when possible, local ingredients. The dinner menu will change daily (not all of it, but bits and pieces) according to what is in season. The lunch and brunch menus will be more static with a few seasonal specialties added. There will be a focus on artisnal cheese and charcuterie as well. We will be selling local cheeses as well as classics from Europe and the States. We will be making some of our own charcuterie such as pate, hams and foie gras terrine but will be buying dry cured salamis that we don’t have the facilities to produce in house. (maybe some day!) The wine and beer list will be very small (about 25 bottles of wine all together, three beer taps and an additional 8 or so bottles), but will have some really exciting stuff from primarily small, traditional producers. In the case of wine it will be all old world with the occasional exception, and will often feature wines that are organic and biodynamic. Because of it’s size we will be changing the list from to time to time to fit the season and to try out stuff that we’re excited about. Along with that there will be a full bar featuring a small list of specialty seasonal drinks (a la Lantern, one of our favorite places). We’ll be making our own bitters, grenadine, etc. We want to have some fun behind the bar, and to make it a little more creative than most people would expect. A big part of our philosophy is accessibility. We will try to keep the prices as reasonable as possible (for example a local, grass fed steak will have to be $25 or $30 and a foie gras terrine likewise, but we will also have plenty of great lower end options like hand made pastas for around $10). In addition we will be avoiding loads of esoteric culinary language and descriptions that include a million ingredients and their origins. We like simplicity, and feel that the food should speak for itself. Another major part of our mission is to work with and support the local farming community. This is a long-term goal. At the moment the local farming thing is fairly small, making the products often expensive and not consistently available. In order to keep our prices low we won’t be able to use everything local, but we plan to grow and evolve as the community does. In addition to private farms we’ll also be working with SEEDS (the local after school urban gardening organization, see www.seedsnc.org) by buying their produce and working with their kids. They also plan to create a sizeable garden at the new farmer’s market space on Foster with which we’ll be directly involved. Oh and on the 10th of October they are having their annual Harvest Dinner fund raiser (this year featuring author Michael Pollan) for which we’ll be providing a course. Why does Durham need us? First of all, Durham is growing and there is simply a need for more restaurants. With the rapid development of downtown there is a particular need for good options in that neighborhood. At the moment there seem to be plans for a million condos and little plan for the infrastructure that makes an urban area exciting to live in. We would like to part of that much needed infrastructure. In addition, while Durham has a great history of culinary establishments (Mag Grill, Four Square, etc.) we believe that it’s time for something a little younger, hipper and more accessible. We love those places, but after seeing the success of Federal it is clear that there is a need for a place that provides a more casual, affordable experience that still maintains high standards of food and service. (note: Just to clear up a common misconception, none of us ever owned Federal, but we were all employed there. So Piedmont is in no way affiliated with the Fed).

hey this is my first post here on eGullet, but i wanted to jump in on this one. i would reccomend strongly against fearrington. i have a couple of good friends that externed there in the last couple of years and they basically hated it. there were many complaints, but one of the biggest problems was the lack of movement in the kitchen. one fella spent his first ten months (out of 18) in garde-manger. he was very dissapointed by the poor learning environment, and felt as though he were being exploited not educated. you don't want that in an externship. one of these guys also did a stage at lantern (in my opinion the best restaurant around here) and had a great time. andrea and her brother are really knowlegeable, passionate and gracious, and they would be great to work with. the potential problem would be that the kitchen there is pretty small and always busy, so i don't know if they have the room for a full time extern. i would agree, also, with the previous posts that mag grill and enoteca vin are both really good restaurants with a good staff and a really good reputation. definitely worth a call. finally, would it be totally against the forum etiquette to mention that i'm opening a new restaurant in durham, and that i might be a good person to speak to??