Restaurants Archives - Page 6 of 27

November Interlude: Dining Out in North Carolina

December 1, 2022December 1, 2022 JWF Leave a comment

We spent Thanksgiving week in North Carolina enjoying relaxing times with family, but also dining out with my sisters and brothers-in-law. Chapel Hill and Greensboro offer a range of choices; here are several we tried. I also admired the last of the fall colors, here and there spectacular red and blazing yellow foliage.

IN GREATER CHAPEL HILL

Tarantini

An inviting casual Italian restaurant in the Governors Club development. The menu offers pasta, pizzas, and both veal and chicken dishes. The house and Greek salads were good, and, our table had several orders of lasagna and one of the beef short ribs. I had their chicken piccata with capers in a nicely thick lemony sauce. Service was very friendly, but our waitress was too eager to clear the plates.

Flair

Flair is a sister restaurant to Tarantini in the same complex and somewhat more elegant in its décor. It is open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner with a menu that has some Asian touches. We had dinner and the food was delicious.

The entrée menu runs the gamut from sophisticated salmon and chicken dishes to shrimp and grits, lobster ravioli, and lamb osso bucco with risotto. There are also burgers, Asian noodle and rice dishes, and a wide range of starters including a tasty duck confit egg roll which I ordered. For my main course, I opted for rice vermicelli with veggies and shrimp in a scallion ginger sauce. A pleasant vibe and professional service make this appealing for a return visit.

PITTSBORO

The Modern Life Deli & Drinks

We always look forward to lunch and shopping in historic Pittsboro, just down the road from Chapel Hill. Our usual place is the S & T’s Soda Shoppe, but they are often closed around Thanksgiving. They were this time too, so we returned to The MOD for their good sandwiches, salads and pizzas. Noteworthy were the grilled cheese and bacon sandwich and the soft pretzels accompanied by mustard and an addictive queso which we all dipped into.

CARY

Academy Street Bistro

Located in old downtown Cary in Ashworth Village, Academy Street Bistro is an attractive casual place serving both lunch and dinner. For summer days, there’s lovely patio seating. We had lunch here and appreciated the warm welcome and the delicious salads. My Caesar salad with grilled chicken was just perfect; the thin strips of chicken did not overwhelm the greens. Others in our group had their salads with a tasty crab cake on top.

Ashworth Village is a charming set of shops including an olive oil and vinegar store and a gallery featuring works by local artists. This part of Cary is very walkable. We checked out the impressive new regional library and a grand red brick elementary school that is now a performing arts center.

GREENSBORO

Green Valley Grill

Located in the same area as the Proximity Hotel and its Printworks restaurant which we have enjoyed, the Green Valley Grill is adjacent to the O. Henry Hotel, Proximity’s sister property. The dining room is spacious and attractive with dark wood and high ceilings. The menu is creative, and the chef has upped the ante on some standards with intriguing twists. We began with za’atar spiced crispy cauliflower for the table.

The Chief Penguin and I each ordered chicken salads; he the peasant variation with a tomato vinaigrette and I, the grilled chicken Cobb with Gorgonzola dressing. A and P sampled the farro salmon salad and the white flatbread topped with several cheeses, mushrooms, and broccolini. Everything was very good. I’d be happy to explore the menu further!

BACK HOME IN SARASOTA

Bijou Garden Café

Under new ownership for a about a year now, the formerly named Bijou Café revamped and redecorated and became the Bijou Garden Café. Recently, we came to celebrate our anniversary. The new décor is lovely, even elegant. One of the dining areas, which we liked, has been given over to the bar and bar seating and seems to be very popular.

The menu has been streamlined, shortened actually, and a couple of my favorites like the chicken paillard and the trout are among the missing. The entrees emphasize meat—beef, lamb, and duck, with prices ranging from $38 to $43. I ordered the grilled swordfish on orzo with spinach which was delicious and less expensive at $30. The Chief Penguin’s chicken Provencal with roast potatoes was a bit under seasoned. This was our second dinner here, and we still miss the old Bijou. I don’t think we’ll hurry back.

Note: Photos of fall color in Cary and swordfish photo ©JWFarrington (some rights reserved.)

Tidy Tidbits: TV, Novel, & Meal

November 19, 2022November 19, 2022 JWF Leave a comment

RECENT VIEWING

FLUFF FOR FUN

Love and Gelato (Netflix)

Lina promises her dying mother that she will spend the summer before college in Rome. In this bonbon to Italy, she falls in love with the city and the people. Along the way, she has several romantic interests while being under the protective care of Francesca, her mother’s longtime friend. It is a summer of firsts for Lina as she wonders about her unknown father. The movie is based on a young adult novel of the same name. I happened on this when I was looking for some treadmill viewing. It’s cute and sweet, and less predictable than I expected.

LASTING TRAUMA OF WAR

Causeway (Apple+)

James and Lynsey in *Causeway* (Slant Magazine)

I had just read a review of this new movie starring Jennifer Lawrence when the Chief Penguin and I were settling in to watch something else and up popped a link to Causeway. It’s a slow measured film about returning Afghanistan vet Lynsey who suffered a brain injury from an exploding IED.

Returning home after rehabilitation, she struggles to put a life back together. She meets car mechanic James who lost a leg in a car accident, and the two hesitantly gravitate toward spending time together. They are about as dissimilar as can be, one white, one Black, one straight, one gay, but both broken in some way. The performances are moving, Brian Tyree Henry’s as much as Lawrence’s. It’s painful viewing at points, but a meaningful film.

UNUSUAL HEROINE

The English (Amazon Prime)

Emily Blunt stars and is an executive producer of this western set in 1890 on the plains in Kansas and Oklahoma. Based on the review I read, I was predisposed to like it, but I’m finding it hard going.

Blunt is Lady Cornelia Locke, an English woman bent on revenge for the killing of her young son. On her journey, she encounters and is rescued by Sgt. Eli Whipp, a now retired Pawnee scout, played by Chaske Spencer. His goal is to file a land claim for an allotment in Nebraska. They are an unlikely pair, but slowly they begin to accept each other, and a fragile trust is born. It’s a lawless time out west with every man out for himself.

The scenery is stunning, the violence gruesome and gory, and the pace is deliberate and slow. I’ve watched almost three episodes of the six while on the treadmill, but it’s so slow, that I may return to it when I am not moving.

NEW FICTION

FAMILY SAGA

French Braid by Anne Tyler

Tyler’s most recent novel, French Braid, was my book group’s pick for November. While I didn’t love this book, most of the group didn’t care for it at all. We grappled with whether Mercy, the mother, was the focal point and if she was a typical woman of the 1950’s and 60’s, frustrated in middle age in her attempts to have a career.

Over 60 years, the book follows the Garrett family of Mercy, her husband Robin, and their three children, Lily, Alice, and David. It begins with their first family vacation in 1959 through the children’s marriages, Robin and Mercy’s 50^th wedding anniversary, and the arrival of several grandchildren. They are a diffuse collective who are often detached and aloof from one another.

Mercy, an aspiring artist and unfulfilled mother, effectively leaves her husband for her art, but neither she nor the other family members publicly acknowledge that fact. David, the youngest child, seldom communicates with his parents or sisters and quietly marries a work colleague. In later years, a grandson doesn’t socialize with relatives believing they are unaware that he is gay and has a partner.

Tyler’s writing is always engaging even if you don’t care for the characters. You can appreciate what she is doing and how she demonstrates that common personality traits or actual gestures persist through the generations. They connect these seemingly disparate individuals like the kinked strands of hair in a French braid. (~JWFarrington)

DINING OUT

Scuderia Italian Cuisine, Bradenton

Located next to the Oakmont Theater on Cortez Road West, Scuderia is a new addition to Bradenton’s dining scene. It specializes in pizzas and pasta in an open space with an industrial feel to it.

We dined here recently with friends and found the service friendly and welcoming and the food very good. The portions are generous, and several of us had some to take home for the next day’s lunch. Among us, we sampled the penne pasta with meatballs, clams with linguini, and several of the chicken dishes. I thought the chicken franchaise with spinach was particularly good. Side salads came with a wide choice of dressings. Good for casual dining. Next time, we should try a pizza.

Note: Header photo is a scene from the film, Love and Gelato (Netflix Life).

Manhattan Moments: Screen, Page & Plate

May 22, 2022May 22, 2022 JWF Leave a comment

DC SOCIAL SCENE ON SCREEN

Georgetown (Amazon Prime)

Georgetown, a movie offering from Prime, is inspired by shocking real events. Mot, an immigrant to the U.S., aspires to grand adventures and a role in the diplomatic world. Charming and debonair, he meets a grand dame socialite and former journalist, invites her to lunch and flatters her. When Elsa’s husband dies, he re-establishes contact and then marries her. She is several decades his senior, but he is not above using her connections to host Washington notables at elegant dinner parties.

From there, with her smarts, he parlays his way into advising and counseling heads of state and other eminent individuals. When Elsa dies, the manner of her death raises questions, and Mot’s behavior gets a thorough examination.

The narrative arc is shallow and the ending predictable but watching Mot maneuver makes for good entertainment. And the cast includes notables Vanessa Redgrave and Annette Bening.

RISING TO THE TOP IN THE STATE DEPARTMENT

Lessons from the Edge by Marie Yovanovitch

Former ambassador Yovanovitch (theguardian.com)

Foreign Service Officer Yovanovitch gained fame and notoriety when then President Trump fired her from her position as ambassador to Ukraine. Her testimony during Trump’s first impeachment trial was riveting. Her memoir is a fascinating account of the political climate after the Cold War and the end of the communist state in the USSR. Of Russian heritage and an immigrant to the United States herself, Yovanovitch was very interested in serving in Moscow and the former Soviet countries.

During the 1980’s and early 90’s, the Foreign Service Office was a male bastion; the very few women there were routinely either ignored or discriminated against. Ms. Yovanovitch details both her professional struggles and her personal insecurities in her climb up the diplomatic ladder.

I’m about a third of the way into her memoir and find it an informative look at the U.S. diplomatic efforts in Somalia, Moscow, and Ukraine. She is candid to the point of rawness and does not stint on criticism of herself and some of her superiors, while praising those who listened to her and gave her opportunities.

ETHIC DINING

One of the pleasures of being in Manhattan is the wide range of ethnic restaurants. As has been the case for a while, Italian cuisine predominates, but there are good Chinese, Indian, and Turkish restaurants too. Here are a couple we enjoyed recently.

Wa Jeal

Chicken broccoli and Shrimp with peppers

This Upper East Side Sichuan restaurant interior is light and attractive. We had lunch here and were delighted with the warm welcome from our waitress and with the clean flavors of the dishes we ordered. The scallion pan cakes and the Sichuan pork dumplings were excellent. Sliced chicken with broccoli and the sauteed shrimp and green peppers in a hot pepper sauce were equally delicious. Pair those offerings with white rice and a Tsing Tao beer, and you have a fortifying meal! Take out and several delivery options are also available.

Agora Turkish Restaurant

We like A La Turka restaurant on 2^nd Avenue but decided to venture farther up that avenue to Agora for lunch. Paintings adorning the walls and Turkish oil lamps on each table give this restaurant a charming Old-World feel. We liked our waiter and ordered hummus to start followed by chicken shish and lamb adana. Each entrée was accompanied by rice, onion salad, red cabbage, and tomatoes and green pepper.

The chicken seemed a bit dry, but the Chief Penguin found the lamb very tasty. Another place to add to our list of regulars!

Manhattan: Cooking & Dining Around

May 8, 2022May 8, 2022 JWF Leave a comment

MOMENTOUS MOMENT

This has been a dramatic week with the leak of the Supreme Court’s draft opinion upending Roe v. Wade. For many of us who were of age in 1973, contemplating a return to when abortion is no longer a legal right/option is positively medieval. It feels so very wrong. Pro-choice protests erupted in cities near and far. This one we noted in Union Square.

FUN WITH KIDS IN THE KITCHEN

Our granddaughters have both developed an interest in cooking and baking. After school one afternoon, the 6-year-old and I, at her request, made mini-muffin pancake bites from the latest issue of Highlights High Five. F knew where all the necessary ingredients were along with the essential mixing bowl, measuring cups, and muffin tin. She scurried around to assemble them and kept a close eye on the oven gauge as it proceeded to preheat to 350.

As we began the mixing process, she reported every few minutes, “It’s at 350 Fahrenheit, Grandma,” and then, “It’s still at 350 Fahrenheit,” always precisely including the word Fahrenheit. The mini muffins use pancake mix as the base with the addition of the requisite milk and eggs and then some cut up blueberries and strawberries. Once baked, they were served with maple syrup for dipping. A sweet success!

Her older sister, E is becoming an accomplished cook. Her current bible is Melissa Clark’s Kid in the Kitchen, and she has already tried several recipes. The other evening, she boiled the pasta and made a sauce of cherry tomatoes, olive oil, and slivers of garlic. After adding the sauce to the pasta, it was topped with dollops of ricotta cheese along with fresh basil and mint. Delectable and a pretty dish besides! The Chief Penguin and I were eager tasters for both creations!

Fusilli with cherry tomato sauce & fresh basil and mint

DINING AROUND—MOSTLY FISH

Seamore’s

Seamore’s on the Upper East Side is the newest location of a local restaurant chain. It’s an airy, two-level space with white walls and light wood tables. A blackboard on one wall outlines the shape and characteristics of some of the fish they serve. Once we were seated at a fine table (we rejected the hostess’ initial attempt to seat us in the back next to the restrooms), we were pleased with our friendly waitress and the very good service.

Since we’d had a large lunch, we stuck to the smaller items on the menu. Between us ordered the fried cauliflower appetizer, clam chowder, and the shrimp tacos on corn tortillas. A place to return to with an appetite!

Avra Madison Estiatorio

Friends introduced us to this upscale Greek seafood and fish restaurant. It has one of the most beautiful outside dining areas. Inside is an expansive two-level space with lots of activity and noise on the main bar level. Fortunately, we were seated downstairs where the tables were set apart, and we could easily converse.

Whole fish is their specialty, and the prices reflect that. We shared a bunch of appetizers: zucchini chips, spreads, and hummus, and we all ordered the fish of the day which was fillets of dorade accompanied by roasted Brussels sprouts. Everything was delicious. This is a great place for special occasions and expense account dining!

Disappointing Reprise

Tue Thai Food used to be a favorite West Village spot for an inexpensive lunch. We hadn’t been back since pre-Covid and were desirous of the same good food. This time the curries were thin and watery and somewhat bland, while the whole ambience was shabbier than we remembered. We wonder if they have a new chef or if a lack of business has made them lax.

Category: Restaurants

November Interlude: Dining Out in North Carolina

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