Fallen Souffle

Back before the holidays I was treated to a dinner at Bin 54 in Durham. This is most definitely a special occasion restaurant. In fact, I was rather shocked when I walked through the restaurant and saw a family with their teenage daughter in a hooded sweatshirt, to each his own I guess but this is a place to get dressed up for.

Bin 54 boasts an extensive wine list and the sommelier will visit your table to check and see if you have any questions. I honestly don’t remember what we ordered but I know it was very nice. Upon reviewing the menu, we were confused as to how to order. All steaks and sides are served a la carte, traditional steakhouse style we were informed. However I have been to very few steakhouse that included no sides with the steak. Regardless, we were told that each side serves about two people so I felt a little better, but it is still very hard deciding between all of the scrumptious sides.

We started with an appetizer of tuna tartare served with wasabi crackers and creamy soy. The soy didn’t carry much flavor but I don’t think it was needed as the crackers pack an initial punch of wasabi and then once they melt a bit you can taste the fresh tuna. I really loved this combination.

There are a variety of steaks to chose from ; porterhouse, hanger, and even hamburger and french fries (seafood is also available, but come on, go with the steaks). We both chose the small filet mignon seared to a medium rare temperature. We each chose a different “sauce,” red wine and a bleu cheese butter. After much toil, we chose sauteed spinach and arborio risotto as our sides. Our steaks were cooked perfectly, tender and juicy in the middle and a crunchy sear on the outside. I think we both agreed that the bleu cheese butter was the best of the two, not to say the red wine sauce was bad. The sides were very generous, so much so that neither of us were able to finish them completely but they were both perfect accompaniments to our steaks.

Against my better judgment, I ordered dessert. I was full as it was but how much damage could a trio of sorbet do? We were presented with a cranberry, caramel and green apple sorbet with a few butter cookies. (Caramel was the best!) It was the perfect ending to the meal, not at all a disappointment like some other places.

Overall, this was a fantastic experience. The service, atmosphere, and food were right on and it is definitely a place I would recommend for a really special dinner.

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I am bringing back the restaurant reviews because I have been to some awesome restaurants in the area and want to share my experiences!

Wednesday night I visited EVOO, I’m not exactly sure how it is suppose to be pronounced…do we go the Rachael Ray route (E-V-O-O?) or say is like a real word (e-vue?) Regardless of how you say it this is one of my new favorite restaurants. One of my Dad’s friends had mentioned this place and commented about how dangerous it was to live across the street from it, and I can see why…I could eat here every night.

The restaurant has a wonderful ambiance, warm mustard/pumpkin colored walls, the popular high ceilings and an extensive bar area. It was the picture of a perfect intimate restaurant.

I have this habit of looking at a menu online and choosing what I will order before arriving at the restaurant. Well, I knew this place would be good because I couldn’t chose just one. Up until I had to order I was still stumped. One thing that was no question was the ordering of calamari as an appetizer, I think I am on a mission to find the best calamari. This was very well cooked, the usual fried coating but was accompanied by a slightly spicy creamy sauce, I was a nice change from the usual marinara which I now seem to turn my nose to.

The bread brought to the table was a bit dry but still had an interesting flavor and as expected a plate of extra virgin olive oil was brought to the table with cracked black pepper. Though the olive oil was not a nice deep green as I had expected it still had a nice fruitiness that kinda grew on me as I tried another piece.

I ended up ordering salmon with a fois gras hollandaise sauce upon a portabello polenta with balsamic reduction and haricot verts. Wow. This dish rocked all the way. The polenta was soft and creamy and had a wonderful saltiness. The salmon had a wonderful crust from searing and I was surprised about how much I liked the hollandaise as I thought this would be a bit too heavy with such a rich fish. But the balance was decadent and I literally cleaned the plate.

The one pitfall was the dessert menu. I was expecting some wonderful concoctions and spinoffs of the traditional dessert fare but was sadly disappointed as I was presented with the usual creme brulee, sorbet, profiteroles and cheesecake. *sigh* I guess it can’t be all perfect, though I appreciate the lack of guilt of a dessert I really didn’t need!

So I would definitely give this place five out of five forks, and I can’t wait to visit again!

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I now have 20 things completed on my 101 list!

I think that’s pretty darn good considering it’s only been 6 months!

I completed another thing on the list night by going to the ballet! I met up with some other girls (there was no way I was going to drag Evan to this!) We saw Swan Lake performed by the Carolina Ballet and it was really wonderful. It took me back to my dance recital days.

Before the ballet we met at a restaurant downtown near the theatre, Caffe Luna. I have heard only good things about this place so I was really excited to try it! The atmosphere was nice, it’s a small restaurant with high ceilings. The waitress was good and the menu pretty straight forward. The wine list is nice, but only 4 kinds are available by the glass. I started with a glass of merlot and the gorgonzola salad, which I liked considering I’m not a huge gorgonzola fan (thought I would give it another try). I ordered the farfalle pasta with salmon and pink sauce, I LOVE pink/vodka sauce and order it everywhere! The pasta was good but nothing I couldn’t get at Lubrano’s. The portions were nice, which is hard to find in the more trendy restaurants. Some of the other girls got dessert but I finished with a cappuccino which I needed a straw to get to the coffee part without getting an inch of foam on me.

One nice things is that the downtown trolley picks up across the street from the restaurant to take us to the theatre, no need to pay for parking!

Overall, it was a nice dinner, nothing that left me wanting more but a good quality place that I would visit again next time I go to a show.

Oh! I almost forgot, I completed another thing on my list…I took a dance class. But not any dance class, a pole dancing class! Yeah my Mom is going to think I’m a hussey! In all seriousness, this new studio Aradia Fitness has been written up in every publication around here so I had to try it! The ladies are super nice, the studio is awesome and the work out even better! I was definitely sore the next 2 days! I would totally recommend stepping out of your comfort zone and trying this! They have a teaser class which kinda gives you a taste of what is offered in their classes. I will be signing up for the next level when they get their new schedule out!

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I know I haven’t posted recipes lately, Evan and I have been eating out a lot recently. But I promise I have some in the works!

Monday was our 2nd wedding anniversary and we decided to use our gift certificate from Christmas to go to Spice Street in Chapel Hill for our dinner. I chose Spice Street because I went a couple years ago for a work function and really liked the food and the atmosphere of it. I figured it would be something different for us to try. I made a reservation online for 7:45pm to avoid any traffic and received an email confirmation letting me know everything was set. I really had high expectations for this visit, as I fondly remember my previous experience and was looking forward to a nice meal with my hubby.

Upon walking in to Spice Street, I was shocked at how loud it was, the restaurant has high ceilings but it was MUCH louder than I expected. I looked farther in the restaurant to see an ocean of blue, the UNC Radio Show was apparently taking place, the day after winning the ACC Championship over NC State. You all know Evan is the biggest NC State fan in the universe as well as the biggest UNC hater. The blood rushed from his face as we both realized what was happening. The band was playing, people were cheering; it was not the place for a red blooded fan to be. I seriously thought Evan was going to walk out. The hostess informed us it would only being going on for another 15 minutes. This would have been a nice thing to know when I made the reservation, I would have made it later or even picked another night to avoid this setting. Not the romantic atmosphere I was hoping for our anniversary dinner.

We were seated upstairs, thanks God, thought it was still really loud and obnoxious. I could see Evan was visibly uncomfortable. We placed our drink orders but didn’t received them until after we ordered, which was about 10 minutes later. I order the calamari appetizer and the marinated grilled shrimp and scallops while Evan got the New York Steak and potatoes. It was the most excruciating 20 minutes as we waited for the “pep rally” to finally finish, Evan getting more and more tense. He quickly finished his beer and ordered a whiskey on the rocks as she brought out my calamari. The calamari was actually very good, it came with a smoked chili aioli which was as good as I remembered, it is still the only good thing about the dinner.

We received our dinners, which had a nice modern presentation, of course the portions are always smaller than usual restaurants and Evan commented that he liked the fingerling potatoes but could have used 12 more. The shrimp and scallops were almost over spiced, I realize it is called Spice Street but it was way overpowering. The risotto was creamy but didn’t have alot of flavor. Evan didn’t say much about his steak until he found a piece of plastic wrapping in it. He mentioned it to the waitress but no one ever came over to address it. We didn’t want to make a huge deal of it, but it would have been nice for a manager to come over and address the meal and our experience. I kinda expect this when I am dropping $100 for a meal, gift certificate or not.

So we tried to end the meal on a sweet note with dessert. Evan ordered the “World Famous” wonton sundae and I got the “Signature Flavored” creme brulee. I also ordered some champagne because damnit it’s our anniversary! We were again disappointed. The creme brulee did not have a thin layer of crisp sugar but instead had a thick candy coating that got stuck in my teeth. The center was also grainy, not the smooth texture I love in creme brulees. Evan’s sundae was essentially wonton noodles mixed with ice cream with hot fudge sauce. He said it was weird having to chew his ice cream. We kinda expected the wontons to only be on top, then again there wasn’t much description of them available.

So overall we were very disappointed with our experience at Spice Street. The food did not leave me “wanting more”, the service could have been much better and the atmosphere was really ruined with the ongoing pep rally. It would have been much nicer if we were made aware of this event going on beforehand. I think we would have reacted the same way if it were another team, the principle is that the mood was really ruined.

I am hoping we can find a nice restaurant during our trip to Park City that can make up for this! See Evan’s review of Spice Street here.

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I am sure you are all well aware that Evan and I met in Italy, if you are not well I am sure I have mentioned it in previous posts Anywho, when we visited we went during a heat wave; a heat ave unlike anything Italy had seen in quite some time. Italy, like many European countries, is not equipped with air conditioning as we are in the US-namely in the South. So went spent most of our free time finding big bottles of ice cold water and gelato. Gelato, is the Italian form of ice cream but is in my opinion it is better than any kind of traditional ice cream you would find in the US. The flavors are bold, the texture is super creamy and it is never too sweet.

Evan and I became expert gelato tasters and we knew what to look for in a good gelateria (hint: the banana flavor should never be yellow). When we came back to the US we found nothing to quench our desire for our favorite creamy, cold dessert. We found a few places here and there when we moved to Morrisville but either they didn’t make the cut or they went out of business. Until we found Henry’s Gelato.

Henry’s is located off of Cary Parkway in the Preston Walk Shopping Center (Biaggi’s and Stonewood Grill are in the same shopping center). The store is absolutely beautiful with stonework on the walls, beautiful photographs and uber cool flat screens TV’s that project the menu and other images. The flavors are beautifully displayed in front of you and customers are encouraged to try different flavors before deciding. I prefer fruit flavors so I gravitated to the blood orange gelato, which led to a taste of grapefruit and strawberry. All three were excellent but I ended up with the blood orange. Evan prefers the richer chocolate and caramel flavors. He chose a Creme Caramel that was absolutely to die for! Henry also concocts flavors such as Chili Chocolate and Mediterranean Lemon and carries desserts such a tiramisu and profiteroles.

I can’t say enough about this place, it is totally worth the drive if you don’t live in Cary. The staff is friendly, the product is top notch and it definitely deserves a 10!

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So I have decided to write about different restaurants each week that Evan and I try around the Raleigh area. I figured there are enough people in the area reading this blog so I thought others may find his useful! Evan and I eat out every Friday, it is really the only time we do eat out so we try to pick really unique places with fabulous food. Sometimes we go to sit down places, sometimes more casual cheap eats but we are always searching for good food at a good price.

This past Friday night we tried a place recommended by one of my coworkers. Jumpin’ Jonny’s is a small place tucked in the Brier Creek area near the Red Robin and Walmart. I never even knew it was there, probably because I try to avoid that area with all the crazy drivers. This place claims to have the best cheesesteaks in the area, they serve made to order cheesesteaks and subs. The menu is not extensive but they offer a good variety of options for your sandwich. I got the Steak Philly Deluxe, a cheesesteak with onions, peppers, mushrooms and provolone. Evan got the Triple Cheesesteak with swiss, american and provolone cheese. We also split an order of fries, really good fresh cut fries. The bread was really good, you have the option of white or wheat but come on if you are going to have a cheesesteak get the traditional white bread. The ingredients are fresh but I feel like the cheesesteaks were missing some seasoning. I would have also preferred a bit more cheese, maybe melt the cheese throughout the meat instead of melted on top.

Overall I would give Jumpin’ Jonny’s a 7. It is a good value (on Fridays you can get 2 combos for $14) the staff is friendly, and the product is fresh. We will probably return again when we are craving a cheesesteak but don’t have time to fly to Philly.

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