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December 31, 2020 by Ron Wen Leave a Comment

A Look Back at the Triangle Food Scene in the Year of COVID

What can be said about 2020 other than, don’t let the door hit ya where the good Lord split ya! Given the unprecedented COVID pandemic we endured during this past year, it’s been a challenge to focus on positive events and milestones in the Triangle food scene. The tough reality is that we still have four to six months of difficulties to manage, even with vaccines slowly being distributed and light at the end of the tunnel. It’s usually at this time of the year, I choose the best new restaurants that opened up but in all honesty I’ve had a hard time writing and reviewing for this food blog over the past 10 months given the seriousness of the times. But I did pull together a list of new restaurants that opened up in 2020, let’s give those brave souls a round of applause! At the very bottom of the list, I’ve also pulled together the restaurants that we have sadly lost in 2020 and I imagine that list will get longer in the upcoming months. 🙁

  

Some of the bright spots for me in this difficult year have been:

  • The Durham Food Hall finally opening up at the start of the pandemic. They are going to do some interesting things.
  • Bowstring Pizza and Brewyard in Raleigh which has an awesome industrial space and fun patio areas
  • The fantastic Hawkers Asian Street Fare in Chapel Hill which is putting out some really tasty SE Asian dishes
  • Seol Grille in Cary which is bringing a super modern take on Korean barbeque to the Triangle

Restaurants adjusted their menus by shortening them and focusing on simpler items that were comforting and worked well as take-out. Virtually every restaurant had to beef up their online ordering and delivery options to survive. QR code online menus and not accepting cash were the keys to creating contact-less dining experiences. And the industry expanded its outdoors dining by taking over sidewalks and streets, along with domes and pods to keep guests separated. It’s pretty amazing that all these creative efforts have kept a good chunk of our restaurants afloat while we fought the COVID pandemic.

And hopefully by mid 2021, we will be getting back to our new normal, I imagine I’ll be at the tail-end of the vaccination schedule but fingers crossed for everyone else. Looking into the crystal ball, I’m excited for the upcoming Boxyard RTP, a community spot built up with shipping containers. I experienced a similar development in New Mexico (Green Jeans Farmery) when I visited in early 2019. Both Sam Jones Barbeque and Lawrence Barbecue will be making some great smoked meats in 2021, another bright spot! DiFara’s Pizza Tavern along with Hank’s Downtown Dive will be opening up soon in the same little plaza off of Chatham Street in Cary. And while I’ve still seen some opening activity in Raleigh and Chapel Hill, Durham seems to have been very quiet, so hopefully things will pick up there. Fingers crossed for Saint James Seafood which has had to endure both a gas explosion AND a pandemic, wow.

So pat yourself on the back, we survived 2020, hooray! And with all the construction cranes still up in the Triangle, I have tremendous faith that our food community and area will bounce back with some positive energy this year.

 

Ron at NC Triangle Dining

 

 

Filed Under: Opinions, Overviews

June 5, 2020 by Ron Wen Leave a Comment

Thoughts and Notes on the Triangle Food Scene While Sheltering in Place

So think back on where you were on December 31st, 2019. Maybe walking around downtown, drinking with revelers. At a house party, celebrating with friends. Or maybe with your special someone, ringing in 2020 on television. Well I’m willing to bet that none of you anticipated what we have experienced over the past five months! All in all, I hope you’re doing well as we ride out this pandemic along with the commotion around protests (totally cool) and riots-looting (not cool) in the area. I never, ever imagined 2020 would be this tumultuous but here we are.

BLM mural in Raleigh

Like many of you, I’ve been sheltering in place or at home for most of the past three months due to new laws and curfews. I hope you’ve learned a couple of new dishes to cook up because let’s face it, very few of us have gone out to eat in months! My last two visits (March, pre-pandemic) were to Hawkers Asian Street Fare in Chapel Hill along with Lady Luck in Raleigh which were unfortunate to open up when they did. But thankfully, we were able to do some take-out and delivery during the Covid-19 pandemic and we’ve recently acquired the right to dine in restaurants during Phase II of North Carolina’s shelter in place order.

So what have we seen in the Triangle dining scene over the past three months? Well I’d say a little bit of everything. Tough decisions had to be made, some restaurants closed entirely, some stayed open for take-out while others expanded into other services like groceries and produce. They’ve adjusted their menus to be simpler, offering up more comfort food and eats that fare better as take-out. Overall I can say that the restaurants in the area have shown a lot creativity and resiliency to keep their doors open during the pandemic. And then given the protests around the George Floyd murder out in Minneapolis, we reached another new and challenging era with local curfews being instated around North Carolina. But like a veteran boxer taking some huge body-shots, still the restaurants persisted.

New street art on Martin Street in Raleigh

And what’s amazing that even while they have been beaten up during the pandemic and knocked about with the curfew, local Triangle restaurant owners remain remarkably passionate about social justice and their communities. Even given property damage during the rioting and looting, most are still standing up for justice and accepting of the collateral damage that has severely impacted their businesses, wow. We all know that restaurants and hospitality professionals are all about serving their community and I can think of no better example than what I’ve seen over the past month or so. And we’ve also had many local citizens helping out with the clean-up in downtown areas.

Unfortunately, there have been some restaurants that have been permanently impacted over the past four months: High Horse, Chuck’s Burgers, Oakwood Cafe, Trophy Tap & Table, Virgil’s Original Taqueria, and Cameron Bar & Grill are all gone for good. My best guess is that there will be more permanent closings but it will be hard to track that news given how restaurants usually shut down (quietly).

Thankfully during these tumultuous times, we still see some positive news. Just like watching green shoots pop up over the burnt Australian landscape after this year’s wildfires. We have relief funds being created to support out of work hospitality personnel, offers to deliver free groceries and meals to people who have lost their jobs and new businesses like the Durham Food Hall, Lawrence Barbecue, Flying Mayan and Que Chula Tacos trying to spin up their concepts over the past month during these crises. Restaurants continue to move from take-out and delivery to the new normal of distanced dining and more during Phase 2 of our Covid-19 recovery plans. Please, please, please, check the social feeds of local restaurants to see where they stand in terms of their food offerings.

Durham Food Hall - nctriangledining.com
Durham Food Hall – nctriangledining.com

From my perspective, I’ve withheld on most of my blogging, reviews and social media given the seriousness of the situation. While I do believe in offering my readers the simple objectivity of dining at our local restaurants, most of them are under severe pressure making it unfair for me to provide any criticism in my reviews during these challenging times. They are all doing an awesome job keeping up with these hurdles so I will just try to stay out of their way and support them. And I hope that you will join me in supporting these local restaurants until we pull out of this mess. Tip well, be a patient customer and we will all get through this together. And let’s hope the second half of 2020 plays out better than the first six months, peace out!

 

Filed Under: Opinions

October 30, 2019 by Ron Wen

Ten Years of Foodalicious Follies and NC Triangle Dining

 The old Korean Grill Buffet in Raleigh
The old Korean Grill Buffet in Raleigh

“I don’t know when we will re-open…” the woman sputtered out over the phone. There was a brief silence, some muffled tears and then she hung up. It was the fall of 2009 and I had called up to check on my lunch favorite, Korean Grill Buffet up on Capital Boulevard. During my last attempt to visit, a “Closed Due to Remodeling” sign was hung up at the front door so we waited a couple of weeks before trying again for lunch. But I figured it would be wise to call beforehand and there you go. Korean Grill Buffet, a wonderful, family run restaurant that offered All You Can Eat (AYCE) Korean barbeque and Korean favorites like japchae and bulkogi was probably no more.

And I was angry, probably hungry too, but how could a great restaurant like KGB (my affectionate abbreviation) not survive? How could people not appreciate this wonderfully delicious Korean food at a total bargain price? And that’s when I decided I needed to do something, I needed to start food blogging and help tell the story for these great restaurants in the Triangle that were NOT getting credit and exposure to the general dining population.

The old Korean Grill Buffet in Raleigh
The old Korean Grill Buffet in Raleigh

And that’s the origins of how 10 years ago, I jumped into the food blogging scene for the Triangle. Starting out as Foodalicious Follies, I moved from off the cuff Yelp reviews to a format where I could tell a fuller story and offer up higher quality pictures to support restaurants I cared for. I can tell you that over the past 10 years of blogging and social media that a LOT has changed in the Triangle food scene. Mostly good, some not so good but that’s part of life and moving forward. With all the exposure this region gets showing up on Top 10 lists and articles in national publications, the dining and restaurant scene has really taken off along with all the people moving in!

The Rockford in Raleigh, October 2009 - nctriangledining.com
The Rockford in Raleigh, October 2009 – Yes, my smartphone camera sucked then…

But it wasn’t always that way. Back in 2009, the region was just entering the national recession along with the rest of the country. And all those cranes you see in the area?! There wasn’t much of that heavyweight building construction, either! Smaller developments like the Bloomsbury Estates in Raleigh would literally give you a Mazda Miata if you bought a condominium! What a difference 3,500+ days can mean and it got me a bit nostalgic about what has changed since I started blogging 10 years ago and what you may have missed…

  • I remember when City Plaza was boarded up with scaffolding from end to end. You could barely walk through the square as a pedestrian but wow, what an amazing urban renovation which was unveiled in 2009! All those nights I’ve spent at City Plaza for a variety of events have made all that work appreciated.
  • The impressive DPAC opened in late 2008 and I was a Broadway theater season subscriber early on. The DPAC’s arrival heralded all the amazing development in downtown Durham with regards to restaurants, bars and more. I never imagined it would have SO much impact on the area.
  • The old Enoteca Vin where Ashley Christensen worked as head chef.
    The old Enoteca Vin where Ashley Christensen worked as head chef.
  • Being served by Chef Ashley Christensen when she headed the kitchen at the old Enoteca Vin. She would hustle out eggs benedicts to brunch customers and she hasn’t stopped hustling after opening up her own restaurants starting with Poole’s Diner! She’s been a major reason why the food scene has changed so much in the area but y’all know that.
  • The loss of Rocky Top Hospitality’s Red Room, Bogarts and Hi 5! This trio of restaurants anchored 500 Glenwood and you would grab dinner, get a wrist-band and then bounce between three different parties and dance floors at each restaurant. So much fun!
  • Discovering Chef Mike Lee who owned Sono in downtown Raleigh, one of the few bright spots on the food scene for me. Watching him leave for Durham was tough but I’m really happy at how well he’s done in bringing Asian eats to the Bull City with his M Restaurants group.
  • The start of the Yelp community in the Triangle and becoming the first Yelp Elite in the NC Triangle. If you missed it, the original Triangle Yelp Community Manager Christina G threw the best parties and you’d mark them off in the calendar and get your costume/gear ready.
  • Meeting Chef Cheetie and her husband Paul after they opened up Garland Restaurant on Martin Street. What started as a take-out window offering casual Asian-fusion cuisine is now a restaurant with a James Beard nominated chef! So happy to see these two do so well on the food and music scene.
  • Soo Cafe opening up on Hillsborough Street and dishing out the area’s first Korean fried chicken, oh yeah! I remember my first bite (amazing) and while we have more options for KFC in the area now, the original is still running up on Capital Boulevard.
  • Watching the cocktail scene blow up in the area with Foundation and C. Grace! Mixologist Matt Bettinger really was the man behind the cocktail program at C. Grace and has continued his success at SideBar in Cary, very well-deserved.
  • The continued development of the Rigsbee Avenue corridor was all started by Fullsteam Brewery and Sean Lilly Wilson. He took a chance on this street and supported the Pop the Cap movement legalizing higher ABV beers. Over the years we’ve added Surf Club, Motorco, Hutchins Garage, Boxcar and much more. Such a cool little neighborhood to hang out in.

We’ve seen so many changes in the region when it’s come to food and drink and I’m glad to have been a part of the evolution. When I first arrived in North Carolina in 2005, downtown Durham was still a place people would avoid and everyone drank Bud Light and bad beer as their primary beverage of choice. Finding decent NY pizza and Asian food was really difficult, causing me to drive all over the Triangle in search of decent eats; many miles were covered. And here we are now with more great food choices then we know what to do with, not bad!

So you may be asking, what’s changed in the area that’s not so good?! I think that as we’ve seen the food scene boom here locally, we’ve also seen a boom in promotional food content, influencers and infomercials (social media, posts, magazine articles) that just don’t tell the whole story.

And unfortunately, not all of this sponsored content (or collabs as they call it) whether it’s in the form of free food, monetary payment or offering marketing services is being called out as such to the public. The FTC calls this issue “truth in advertising”.  I just don’t believe that sponsored content or collaborations will really reflect the experience you will have as a diner which bothers me. I mean, who doesn’t like free food or being paid to pitch a restaurant? But does it really reflect what your experience will be like when you dine there? Oh yeah, and in no way does an Instagram photo tell you if food is really tasty or if a restaurant is really good, shocker. It’s really hard to distill out what’s really good in the area given all this online chaff.

So an honest opinion (both good and bad) where money and prices are taken into account is crucial to help you find the best eats in the area. Constructive feedback is also important for restaurants to keep improving their product and services. I know as well as anybody else that accepting free food can influence your thoughts about a restaurant and handcuffs your opinions and words. A hat tip to the N&O’s food critic Greg Cox who keeps things real and the review bar, high. While I may not always agree with his restaurant opinions, I certainly respect his honesty, anonymity and perspective.

I’m not the most nostalgic person, but I’ve really enjoyed chronicling the progress and evolution of the food scene here in the NC Triangle over the past 10 years. It’s been a lot of fun! And I still think it’s important that people can get an honest and unbiased opinion, even more so given what’s changed in the food scene.  So if you’ve been following me for 10 years, 10 months or just 10 days, thank you so much! I’m honored that you’re willing to spend some time with me in your busy day and I hope I can bring you some news, insights and entertainment around the best food and drink in the area.

My pledge to you is to always keep it real and honest, you deserve that amount of transparency and I’ll continue to do my best to meet that expectation. One of my co-workers once told me that I was his “secret weapon” to keep up to date on the local food scene and surprise his daughter with hidden gems and great restaurants. And that’s fine by me, I’m hoping to be YOUR secret weapon in finding the best food in the Triangle in the years to come.

Peace out,

Ron at NC Triangle Dining

 

PS: There is an AYCE Korean barbeque down in Charlotte (Let’s Meat) and I’m dying to try it!

Filed Under: Opinions

January 24, 2016 by Ron Wen Leave a Comment

Putting Poison to Pen for Restaurant Reviews- My Take on Bad Reviewers

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Over the years as I’ve written over 1,300+ reviews on NC Triangle Dining, Yelp, Google, Zomato and other online websites, I’ve also read a ton of reviews.  If you want to improve your writing, the best way to do it is by reading a lot!  And I’m always looking to get a better handle on the restaurant and food scene in the Triangle.  What’s hot, what’s not and everything in between. So online reviews are super-helpful unless they aren’t helpful!  Like good and bad restaurants, you unfortunately have good and bad reviewers too. My reviews tend to skew a bit higher, I do have not so great experiences but sometimes choose not to review them.

My Yelp rating distribution, January 2016
My Yelp rating distribution, January 2016

What bothers me with nasty reviews is that we’re talking about somebody’s business and life-blood so taking unfair (and often anonymous) hacks online just doesn’t seem right.  And it happens all the time. Sometimes they are purposeful hack jobs (they fired me, the owner cheated on me, etc). Or sometimes legitimate concerns given a nutty owner/service person because it does happen. But most of them fall under the more subtle “just doesn’t know any better” umbrella. And here are some of my favorite transgressions that I’ve seen online and the reviewers behind them…

SouthPark-Cartman

Cheap-o Charlie typically goes to lower-end, inexpensive restaurants and demands white-glove service. Meal substitutions, extra sauce, and twinkling service delivered by his own personal waiter. In my opinion you get what you pay for so if you’re dining low-brow, don’t have unreasonable expectations on service and ambiance! But Charlie does and takes the restaurant to task for not delivering better service on their $6.50 lunch, sigh.

SouthPark-Wendy

Inexperienced Irene is not the type of person to go out too often and when she does, it’s pretty basic and simple. So when she ends up at a restaurant that serves more unusual eats like Asian fusion or Nuevo Latino, she doesn’t get it and dings them appropriately for her misunderstanding. Inexperienced Irene means well but needs to understand what the restaurant concept is before she comments and reviews online. If it’s not like the other “fill-in-the-blank” type restaurants, it may be trying to do just that!

SouthPark-Liane-cartman

Vegan-Celiac Valerie is tough because she has a gluten-free, non-leather wearing life-style that can’t be pleased. There’s unlikely to be ANY restaurant that really suits her dietary and philosophical needs so she goes online to take a flame-thrower to the decent and humble restaurant that unfortunately hosted her. While I may respect her dietary discipline and medical conditions, Vegan Valerie can not fairly review a restaurant because she can’t eat off 98% of the menu. Her reviews are just way too narrow and demanding to be taken seriously…

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Tunnel-Eater Thomas eats like a 12 year old and fixates on certain items. A restaurant that serves Pepsi instead of Coke?! What? I’m walking out. Or a Chinese buffet without General Tsao’s chicken? A crime. No Bud Light? That’s the most popular beer in the country, harumpf.  And of course the restaurant will be severely punished for not meeting their single-minded expectation, one star for you!

SouthPark-KyleBroflovski

Opening-Day Oliver is excited to be one of the first at a hot, new spot. And yes, while the place is really cool, service may be a mess. And yes, they’re gonna get one-star for that bad service! In my experience, it can take 1 – 3 months for a restaurant to shake-out and get its operations and service in order. There are a lot of moving parts and you definitely need to be careful (and generous) during the opening weeks for a new establishment. But Oliver just loves to hammer a new spot making sure it gets off to a bad start with negative online reviews…

SouthPark-Kenny

Often or not, one-star reviews by Charlie, Irene, Valerie, Thomas and Oliver will end with a statement like, “You’ve lost a customer…” And I’m pretty sure restaurant owners are thinking, “Thank God!” In many of the above cases, restaurant owners would prefer to lose this type of customer instead of going out of business trying to keep them happy. The unfortunate reality is that sometimes the customer ISN’T right.

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When you’re reviewing online, be aware that you can truly impact the word of mouth reputation for a small business. Try to present both sides of the experience along with specific examples of where things went wrong along with potential fixes. And if you’re a dining outlier or 1%er with “excessively high standards”, be aware of that too. There’s nothing wrong with liking what you like but be aware of where you are on the spectrum of diners.

Online reviews are meant to inform and guide the general public to better dining decisions and it’s not much help when you’re being unreasonable or extremely narrow in your expectations. You can certainly agree or disagree my friend, it’s fair game…

Save

Save

Filed Under: Opinions, Restaurant & Bar Reviews

December 13, 2015 by Ron Wen Leave a Comment

Cooking: Neapolitan Pizza Making at Home!

Home pizza oven searing green beans- NC Triangle Dining
Home pizza oven searing green beans- NC Triangle Dining

When it comes to pizza, I’m a bit of a pizzaholic. I just can’t get enough and while I like most forms of za, I love my traditional Neapolitan thin-crust. I’ve even considered taking pizzaiolo (Neapolitan pizza maker) lessons but they are so pricey and only given in large urban areas (over $2k in San Francisco). So of course I got a little bit excited when my friend Jeff (Chef Jeff who teaches at Whisk in Cary) invited me over for an impromptu and excellent pizza dinner at his place in Cary. If you’re a pizza lover, read on my friend!

Cheese and mushrooms for pizza- NC Triangle Dining
Cheese and mushrooms for pizza- NC Triangle Dining

As much as I love my pizza pies, Jeff takes things a bit further. With a background and career in food and the culinary arts, Jeff is such a huge fan of Neapolitan pizza, he has a serious clay pizza oven at his house which is a small but similar version to what professionals use. Domed and wood-fired, it takes two or three hours to get it up to temp before you can get your cooking started. And we are talking h-o-t, hot! Pizza ovens will run 800 degrees and up, allowing you to bake your pizza pie in like 3 or 4 minutes, crazy huh? And that’s why pizza in your oven at home can never compare.

Meat toppings for pizza- NC Triangle Dining
Meat toppings for pizza- NC Triangle Dining

When I show up at Jeff’s place, he’s got everything prepped and ready to go. With a group of friends of over 10 people, you have to be neat and orderly. The dough (type 00 flour) has been mixed and stored for more than 48 hours which allows it to rise and develop that great texture needed for Neapolitan pies.

Jeff making the pizza- NC Triangle Dining

Jeff has got the usual meat toppings along with roasted and mashed root veggies, fresh basil, fresh mozzarella, other assorted cheeses, olive oil and a pizza sauce made of imported Italian tomatoes. While he will be putting together the pies in the kitchen, my friend Tripp will be the official pizzaiolo, tending to the pies in the oven and making sure they are cooked properly.

Margherita pie ready for the oven- NC Triangle Dining
Margherita pie ready for the oven- NC Triangle Dining
Meat pie ready for the oven- NC Triangle Dining
Meat pie ready for the oven- NC Triangle Dining

Jeff spreads out the dough with his hands and sets up the base with some red sauce and sprinkles the cheese and basil on top. Tradition at Jeff’s house is to do a margherita to start the meal off, a basic but simply delicious red pie. Tripp gets the stainless steel peel out and the fresh, unbaked pizza goes on top, about 16″ across. At the oven, Tripp pushes the wood to the side and scrapes the base of the oven floor to minimize ash.

Wood-fired oven- NC Triangle Dining
Wood-fired oven- NC Triangle Dining

We’ve already prepped up a pan of seared green beans to start the meal but in goes the first pie. You have to watch that pie carefully, letting the dough set initially and then spinning it at regular intervals to make sure the crust bakes evenly. With the wood and heat coming off of the back of the oven, it’s the only way to ensure it cooks properly. And the pie bakes fast, once it’s just about done, Tripp “domes” the pie by raising it on the peel toward to the top part of the oven which is super-hot and finishes off the bake process. Inside he quickly slices it with a circular cutter and we are ready to mangia!

Cooked margherita pie from the oven- NC Triangle Dining
Cooked margherita pie from the oven- NC Triangle Dining

As a pizza freak, I know it’s all about the crust and Tripp has done a great job with the pie resulting in a black speckled char around the edge (or cornicione) of the pie. And it’s an amazing crust. Jeff has salted it a bit and the texture is perfect: stretchy, chewy and fresh. Balanced with a light red sauce, light muzz and fresh wilted basil, a margherita pie is the base version of a Neapolitan pie that you use to judge a pizzeria and Jeff and Tripp have knocked it out of the park.

Meat pie from the oven- NC Triangle Dining
Meat pie from the oven- NC Triangle Dining

As the evening goes on, the variations get more adventurous with prosciutto, salami, mushrooms, honey, gourmet cheese and more. And they are all excellent, I only wish we had a pizzeria like this one in Raleigh. The closest options in the Triangle would be Pizzeria Toro and Pompieri in Durham but we are currently lacking in the Raleigh-Cary area.

Nutella dessert pizza ready for the oven- NC Triangle Dining
Nutella dessert pizza ready for the oven- NC Triangle Dining

Jeff decides to finish things off with a dessert pizza of nutella, crushed graham cracker and marshmallow, a wonderful finish to the meal. I mean who can resist warm nutella over a delicious crust? So yes, it was a fun, delicious and educational evening. I got to eat some amazing Neapolitan pizza right here in the Triangle but unfortunately Grimmarelli’s is not open to the public. Yet. And maybe I’ll still get to those really expensive pizza lessons some day because my love for great za seems to be a life-long romance, pizza out!

Filed Under: Cooking-Recipes, Opinions Tagged With: Neapolitan Pizza

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