Joule: Not Worth the Hype

    I visited famed local chef Ashley Christenson's newest addition to her mini empire of local establishments, coffee shop and restaurant Joule.  I was excited to try out their brunch menu to see if Joule is worthy of all the hype. My conclusion? The coffee is fantastic, but not all of the food was great nor was the service.  The brunch menu at Joule sounded interesting. I ordered the BLT with avocado and was grossly disappointed.  The roasted tomatoes were oozy like a ketchup and the avocado was in guacamole form rather than in slices. The lime of the  guacomole didn't meld for me with the bacon.  Texturally, between the sandwich was like crispy bread with a bunch of goo in the middle. The grits with bacon, cheese, and sour cream were good, but I like my grits to have enough flavor that they can stand on their own, which I found these could not. My boyfriend loves biscuits and gravy so I was able to tempt him with that to go with me having seen them on the brunch menu.  The Berkshire pork shoulder gravy was certainly not the sausage gravy he was expecting. I thought it was pretty good, but it clearly was not for him. The ultimate nail in the coffin for me was the service.  Our waiter didn't show for sometime, our drinks took even longer.  Other tables were seated near us and had their drinks and food from other waitstaff before we'd even gotten our coffee. My lack of enthusiasm for the dishes we ordered were generally matters of personal taste rather than poor quality, however that combined with the slow service will likely keep me from coming back.

BLT with Avocado

Biscuits and Pork Gravy

Grits

Birthday Take Two at Bida Manda

   As I mentioned in my last post, I firmly believe that birthdays last for a week, particularly if they take place on a week day.  For my weekend celebration with friends (or 30th birthday part II) I met a group of my favorite people for dinner at Bida Manda.  I've blogged about my love of Bida Manda before, and my affection has not abated in the least, but nor has the difficulty in getting a reservation.  If anything, as more people have come to discover it, reservations have become even more elusive. It was no small feat getting in a sizable group on a Friday!  In any case, I'm not going to wax poetic about Bida Manda AGAIN, but I will show some of the food porn that I documented.  Strange...when I look at my birthday pictures they all seem to be of food with none of people or of myself...hmm..  Read my old entry Loving Laotian at Bida Manda for a complete review.

Herb Salad with Shrimp and Spring Roll

Hayes Barton: Quickly Becoming a Birthday Tradition

     I recently hit the big 3-0 so to celebrate I hit some of my all time favorite special occasion restaurants. I'm of the breed that believe a birthday lasts a week, thus allowing me more than one opportunity to go out and celebrate.  For my weeknight birthday my gentleman and I went to Hayes Barton Cafe in Five Points. We went there last year for my birthday as well, because there are few better places for a slice of birthday cake. This also gave the boyfriend a chance to make up for not paying for my birthday dinner at Hayes Barton last year. (Can you believe that?!) The atmosphere of Hayes Barton is an intimate 1940s and '50s themed diner. Yes, I said diner, but upscale, not the Waffle House or burger and fry kind. The walls are filled with post WWII Hollywood kitsch and the menu even hosts dishes named after classic Hollywood movies and movie stars.

Crab Cakes

Filet and Macaroni and Cheese

  On previous visits (always special occasions) I've enjoyed the Marilyn crab cakes (very good flavor, good crab to breading ratio and funny play on words to boot!) and their filet with the mushroom demi glacé over mashed potatoes. They do this dish downright perfectly here. Even the green beans are impeccably executed. This time I mixed it up a little and got the even richer special, the filet over macaroni and cheese with a bordelaise sauce. The filet here is perfectly tender, but since we can only afford the four ounce (already 30 bucks!) it's definitely on the small side. Those with bigger wallets can afford a bigger steak.  The macaroni and cheese was sinfully creamy, not a light dish, but hey if you can't indulge on your birthday when can you?!  For dessert, because you would be amiss to go to Hayes Barton and not order dessert, if only to take one bite and get the rest to go like I did. As I child I didn't like cake, weird I know, but likely because I only got the kind from the grocery store bakery or out of a Betty Crocker box. I still don't like these for the record. In any case, I typically had  pie rather than cake on my birthday so I kept up that tradition by ordering strawberry pie. I do like the mile high cakes at Hayes Barton, particularly the lemon curd and fresh blueberry cake with cream cheese icing...although I wish the icing was a little sweeter, or the rich chocolate hazelnut ganache cake. Hayes Barton is quickly becoming my birthday tradition.

 

Triangle Restaurant Week Reminder

Remember, Triangle restaurant week started Monday, June 2nd and goes through Sunday, June 8th. Participating restaurants across Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill will be offering pre-fixe three course menus at $20 to $30 each. Some offer wine pairings for an additional fee.  This is a great chance to sample some high end restaurants that may ordinarily be out of your budget. I went to Buku last night with some friends, but unfortunately I still depleted my wallet since I couldn't resist the cocktail menu..you have been warned.  Keep in mind that many restaurants change their offerings from the options they have listed online. I was pretty broken hearted to see Buku didn't have the macadamia nut crusted wahoo or veggie samosa pot pie that were on the restaurant week menu once I actually got there. In any case, check out the participating locations on the website and enjoy!
Triangle Restaurant Week Site