I'll be interested to hear feedback on whether this is any better than, say, the Southpoint Melting Pot franchise (where the portions get smaller every year).

Resurrecting this thread to mention that the strategies I'd developed to occasionally score some Rise goodies--going in midmorning on a weekday, or in the hour before they close (2pm)--no longer work, the place is pretty consistently packed now. On the weekends you can at least do the 'express' service from the case (donuts only) if you're willing to squeeze in, sardine-like. Just in the last month, the last few times I did make it in, I had conversations with people every time who were visiting Rise for the first time--in other words, the buzz is still spreading.

Overall, the lack of accessibility is probably a good thing for me, dietarily, but I do occasionally wonder if they will expand the space, expand their hours, or open another location.

I got over to Sake Bomb for dinner tonight. I need to start with the following caveats: 1) Asian food is not among my frequent must-have cuisines; 2) a large group of diners near us had not one but two lil' screamers at the table with them, and steadfastly refused to do anything about it (even to take the wailing baby outside). My sympathies to the manager, I know that's a rough gig.

I had a generic sushi combo, my companion had the basil duck. Seeing my comment #1 above (I'm not a sushi connoisseur at all), I can say that the rolls and the nigiri definitely had a fresher mouthfeel than Shiki Sushi typically does. The ginger salad and miso soup openers were exactly what you'd expect and nothing more. (Neither of us were hungry enough to bother ordering real starters.)

My companion had some issues with his duck--ended up with some gristly bits and some bones, which I don't think I've run across in a typical Thai-style duck presentation. But overall he liked it, including the addition of some unexpected veggies like asparagus.

Service was a little wobbly--we had to ask for straws, and a knife for the duck dish (the duck slices were too big to handle without cutting up). My iced tea without lemon was consistently served with lemon, and no sweeteners are on the table or offered. Service was otherwise attentive and the manager stopped by to greet us.

Unfortunately, the bottom line is that, living pretty close to Shiki, I probably wouldn't bother driving the extra 15 minutes out of the way for the sushi, and for Thai I would go to Thai Cafe or Bangkok 54 instead. There were a fair number of diners for an early weeknight, though, so I think the place will probably hang on and be a decent option for that part of town.

(I do wish the "serve mediocre versions of all Asian cuisines at one restaurant" trend would go away, though. I vividly remember the time I tried the pho at Shiki. Heh. I think they used canned chicken broth as the base.)

They did end up calling me back about 45 minutes before my reservation time. Aside from the reserving hiccup, we had a very nice dinner. Top notch service, and the churrasco steak and dulce de leche crepes were awesome. We will return.

I was going to try this place tonight, but they don't take OpenTable and no one was answering the phone around noonish. I left voicemail, but received no callback. I just tried again (going on 5pm on a Friday night) and there's still no answer. I assume there's no way even a dinner-only restaurant isn't open by now and doing prep?

(I think I'm too spoiled by OpenTable, but I've also never had a problem getting someone to answer the phone at a restaurant, provided you weren't trying to call at 7am or something.)

So far I've got reservations for dinner at 5Church and brunch Sunday at Halcyon. Thanks again, guys.

Thank you, I absolutely loved Sunflour! I keep reading weird conflicting stuff about Amelie's (I may have mentioned this in that same thread), long waits/parking/rude service, but it's on my list to try nonetheless. The burger you describe at Halcyon sounds right up my alley.

Thank you! We're going to be primarily downtown (concert) but I'm used to urban sprawl. Oh, and the obligatory IKEA trip of course.

Me too. I've only had one or two off moments at Vin Rouge, and that was usually due to their being slammed for Sunday brunch.

Agree on the awful Mateo seating and too-dim lighting at times. (Have to say, it made me love the ultra-comfortable seating at G2B that much more when I went there for the first time--and the lack of massive ambient noise.)

Glad to hear the quality is still up there, though, will return soon.

-Mateo
-Vin Rouge
-Guglhupf
-G2B (LOVE.)

I'll be in Charlotte for the weekend, and I don't have a lot of time to research. I seem to typically land in the middle of chain-restaurant hell when I am there, but I've visited Soul Gastrolounge (not a patch on G2B, but maybe I caught them on an off night? everything was way overcooked, including a sushi roll that tasted like fried fish fingers), and Sunflour (loved).

Thanks in advance!

EDIT: I should mention that I have zero interest in BBQ, and not looking to do Asian/sushi this trip.

Seconding G2B for medium rare. Also, Firebird's at Southpoint served me a medium rare burger the other day (I was surprised because I wasn't aware of the new legislation--I only asked on a whim). It was more 'medium', and like everything at Firebird's completely overseasoned, but there you go.

Honestly, now that I've had the G2B Burger, it's hard to bother going anywhere else anyway.I recommend their sweet potato wedges over the regular fries, though.

Yesterday around noon at HT/Hope Valley Commons I almost snapped a picture of the single, lonely, nearly-expired/marked-down package of top sirloin (on sale this week), to show you guys what I mean, but there were too many people around. :)

On the bright side, I realized Whole Foods is about the same price for the same cut, so at least I have another source.

As far as competitors go, I seem to recall reading here that we'll be getting Publix soon. I moved here from South Florida in the mid-2000s and I have only very fond memories of Publix.

The price difference in groceries between Publix in SoFla and HT in Durham when I moved here in 2005 was frankly astounding--I seemed to pretty much double my grocery bill by moving here, which was particularly disappointing because the food quality was so much better in Florida. I expect what with inflation and drought and whatnot we won't see a big difference in price if Publix really does go in, but hopefully they'll bring their excellent deli, and better stocking.

Tried this place for the first time last night, wow. Something about the reviews have kept me away, specifically the way they often mention the weird location (in a bank building) and how the location is often the kiss of death. I kept avoiding it because I feared the awkward "you're the only person in the restaurant" scenario, which I hate. Finally gave it a shot on a whim, really glad I did. The place was easy to find, the atmosphere was amazing, the place was pleasantly full, but--and this is important--NOT noisy. Unlike many restaurants in this area, they actually took the time to finish the ceiling and make some attempt at noise cancellation. You can actually hear your dining companions talk. (There is a separate dining room with live entertainment--I was sorry to realize this too late as we were leaving, as the jazz band sounded pretty good.)

Our starters (fried oysters and goat cheese croquettes) were amazing, as were my G2B burger and my companion's lamb burger. (Honestly, this was the best burger I'd eaten since I moved to NC, especially since I like my burgers medium-rare.) Fries were not quite up to Vin Rouge standard, but that didn't slow me down too much. The bacon fried mac and cheese was also good.

The waiter was perfect--just attentive enough, and steered me to a great beer after I explained I was a beer newb. Only off note was that he failed to mention a small plate special (a duck confit) until after our starters had already arrived.

The only truly underwhelming dish was the cinnamon apple crisp desert--not sweet enough, and put you in mind of eating unsweetened applesauce. (I say this as a person who doesn't eat a lot of sugar and likes more subtle desserts.) This was solved by my companion giving me several spoonfuls of the caramel that came with his sticky toffee pudding. I would have been disappointed otherwise.

Anyway, I don't see this place mentioned often, so wanted to put in a good word. It's also nice for Southpoint residents as it doesn't involve the drive all the way downtown.

I've noticed an ongoing trend with Harris Teeter lately, maybe in the last 6-8 months or so (these are stores I've been shopping at for years): while they will put certain higher-end cuts of steak on sale in the flyer, there are usually very few packages of them available (if any) in the cases. Sometimes they will have the more expensive-label item in the butcher case, but none of the 'normal' label pre-packaged. Usually I don't have time to ask them to cut it for me and I end up not buying any.

Today I decided to try the HT at Meadowmont in Chapel Hill, not my usual store, but I remembered them being well-stocked in the past. My two main objectives this morning were the sirloin for 6.97 and the skirt steak for 4.99. The sirloin was nowhere to be found, and there was a single ~8oz piece of skirt steak in the cases. I had time, and I'd gone out of my way to actually buy this stuff, so I talked to the first kid I found at the counter. I had to show him the flyer with the sirloin before he even knew what I was talking about. Then he went to ask his boss. His boss proceeded to try to talk me into buying higher-priced, smaller-cut pieces of the black label sirloin at the butcher counter instead ($9/lb), talking about how the typical shoppers at his stores were 'portion conscious', and then finally gave in and cut me a piece of sirloin for the $6.97 price.

When I told the guy I always seemed to have problems actually FINDING any of the sale beef in the stores, he mumbled something about changes going on with the various local stores.

Meanwhile I asked if there was any more of the $4.99 skirt steak, and the younger guy said he needed to cut more. He wandered off for a while, and eventually I realized he wasn't specifically cutting it for me, he appeared to be breaking down a pretty big piece (maybe) so I figured I'd come back after I finished the rest of my shopping and see if I could grab some from the case when he was done.

Less than ten minutes later I was back. No other customers around, he had seemingly put ONE package of skirt steak in the case.

This has been going on for so long at this point that I really have to assume there is some bait-and-switch action occurring with these sales. I've tried multiple locations, multiple days of the week, multiple times of day. There are rarely more than one or two packages of any given sale steak cuts available, although strip steaks aren't as bad (but always, always have an inedible tendon running through them). I don't always have time to beg them to actually cut me some (or argue about whether they are even going to sell what's in their flyer, like I had to this morning).

I'm not sure what to do, food prices drought corn crop failure etc, but they need to stop advertising them if they aren't going to sell them.

Any suggestions? No, I cannot afford Whole Foods prices. I'm getting close to breaking down and getting a Sam's club membership. Thoughts?

Ok, I tried again at about 7:50 this morning (Thursday) and it was much more manageable, I was about fourth in line. From overheard discussions among the staff, they ARE still working out kinks. There weren't a lot of pastries on display yet, but maybe I had missed an earlier-morning rush. I was after a biscuit anyway.

I got a biscuit with ham and white cheddar. The ham comes in a thick (3/4"?) slab rather than typical thinner slices of country-style ham. It isn't...necessarily?...an issue, except it presents the problem of not being able to bite through your sandwich effectively. I ended up taking off the ham at work and eating it with a knife and fork. To be fair, the menu does specify that the ham is thick, so I won't pretend I wasn't aware in advance.

The biscuit was delicious--less greasy than Bojangles, with crisp edges, but not TOO floury and bland like McD's. (The fact that I have to compare to fast food joints tells you how bad off the local breakfast situation is.)

I'll probably go back at least once and try some of their sweet offerings.

Not a beach person. Most beaches in SoFla were private or gross.

This is awesome news. Publix is the only thing I miss about Florida.

New donut/biscuit shop next to Petco in Southpoint/Durham. I've made a few passes but mostly the line is out the door and/or it's way too claustrophobic in there to even attempt. Is there a good time to try?

I think it's a sign of how starved this area is for non-chain options, but they seem to be getting slammed.

Someone posted about this last month, but it looks like their grand opening was a few days ago.

http://aifujisteakhouse.com/index.html

I'm curious to see how they'll fare with the lunch crowd, with Shiki Sushi across the street.

Tempted to try it, but I'm one of those people with an overwhelming fear of being the only seated table in an empty restaurant.

Ah, see, I was trying to beat the crowds (which were indeed there by 6) and make it to a 7:30pm concert. I saw those pork belly tacos and almost went for it, should have trusted my instincts.

FWIW, we also ended up going to Soul Gastrolounge. I'm not going to claim to be the most knowledgeable foodie in the world, sort of a pre-foodie finding my feet, but I was sort of underwhelmed. The service was a bit weird. We came 20 minutes after opening but they kept putting the specials card on our table, then taking it back off because they weren't available yet (they placed it and removed it 3x, it was so weird), also something about the sushi station not being set up yet. (Again, we came in 20 minutes after opening, plus time to sit and order drinks, read menu, etc, so it was about 5:40 by the time they started telling us things that indicated they were not ready for dinner service.)

Food was hit and miss--could have been poor ordering on my part, though. Mini burgers were tasty but kind of overcooked/tough, like little meatballs. French fries were good. We ordered a sushi roll ("crunch roll") which came deep fried, and hot, so much so that the yellowtail inside was actually cooked through--basically like eating fried fish rather than sushi. Again, maybe this was just bad ordering on my part. Our dessert (two cupcakes) took about 20 minutes, so we thought maybe they were baking them, but they arrived at slightly below room temperature. Two salted caramel cupcakes. They were delicious, but one had a caramel topping and one didn't.

Place was certainly packed by 6pm, though, so I guess they're doing okay.

Thanks, we went to Sunflour for croissant sandwiches and coffee/french press tea. Food was great, services was excellent and friendly. Thanks again!

"Someone at Marshalls was nice enough to find a random lid in the stock room that fit."

Naw, it's listed on the packaging. "Heat and Shatter Resistant Tempered Glass Lid". I just literally cannot find this item (which is listed as a jumbo cooker) online anywhere. Their typical "jumbo cookers" have SS lid. No idea. I checked to make sure I wasn't hallucinating the brand name and had picked up a Calphalon or something, but no, Tramontina imprinted on it. Point taken about it not being worth counterfeiting. Maybe it's an old item.

My first impression cooking with it was "swoon" (turned out some perfectly cooked filet au poivre with a beautiful, richly-colored crust). For background, I haven't had any experience with high-end SS. I had a cheap "Linens N Things" SS pan I used until it warped. Since then I've been using cheap IKEA nonstick for finance reasons. I don't have very good luck with cast iron, can't get the hang of forming and maintaining the season.

What I'm saying here is that while I love cooking, the bar was set pretty low for this pan to feel like it excels. =)

It does have a lid, but it's glass, and I can't find a similar Tramontina pan with this glass lid online. I suppose it's possible it's some sort of counterfeit? Heh.

It says:

5QT/4.7L
Jumbo Cooker
Stainless Steel Handles
Heat and Shatter Resistant Tempered Glass Lid
Dishwasher Safe

Tri-Ply Base System
18/10 Stainless Steel
Aluminum Core
Magnetic Stainless Steel

I've been haunting every TJ Maxx/Marshalls/etc lately trying to find a large SS saute pan. Apparently this line is pretty good if you can't afford All Clad (I can't, particularly because I wanted a large pan), but Wal-Mart doesn't carry them in stores (only online order), Amazon doesn't carry the one I wanted, etc. Honestly I haven't even been seeing the usual All-Clad suspects in my local discount stores, just this same Calphalon 'sauteuse' everywhere, surrounded by smaller nonstick pans and a ton of dutch ovens.

Finally, in Marshall's over the weekend, I looked down, and there it was--the only large SS saute pan in the store, AND Tramontina (Tri-ply), and $29.99 vs the $70-$90 I'd been seeing online.

Well, I'm calling it a saute pan, but I think Tramontina calls it a 'jumbo cooker' or something. I mean the All-Clad type saute pan, with straight sides and a lot of flat cooking surface, 12" diameter.

I'd been using cheap nonstick for a while due to personal circumstances. I did some steak au poivre last night. I had completely forgotten what an amazing color you can get on your steak with a decent pan.

(Don't get me wrong, I'd still love to have the All Clad equivalent at some point.)

Mateo Tapas review for this past Saturday--

Party of five, two had been there before, mixed non-foodies and wannabe foodies like me.

We went at 6:45 on Saturday (reservations), were seated promptly. The noise wasn't quite as bad as I expected, but we were near the door, not the bar. The lighting really is dim, and the specials board is also hard to read because of someone's faint cursive handwriting in chalk. The place was packed, with a line the entire time we dined.

Standout dishes for me:

Queso Frito (manchego fried in omelet shape with a duck egg inside, ready to burst). Everyone loved it. I came very close to ordering a second round.

Gambas (their basic shrimp dish in olive oil, lemon, etc): These were basic but good, and we sopped up the liquid with bread.

Calamares - I suppose it could be argued that this is a hard one to screw up, but it was a good-sized portion and nice finger food to snack on while we awaited other dishes.

Patatas Bravas - I'm not usually a person who lusts after potatoes in any form, but between the fries at Vin Rouge, and now these, I could be turned. It seems to me that an order of these fried potatoes (with the dark smoky tomato sauce and garlicky aioli) paired with the queso frito/duck egg might be the ultimate hangover breakfast.

We also had several of the specials, including a chicken croquette, basic but good enough that we ended up with two rounds; some stuffed peppers with lamb sausage which were the spiciest thing we ate all night, but still very popular; and a bone marrow dish. I've never had bone marrow before and wasn't sure what to think--I liked it well enough but no idea if it was 'good'.

We also had several bread dishes (pan con tomate with fixins, pan a la parilla, and chevrellette (my favorite)), and they brought us more bread for the sauces we had accumulated pretty regularly. They seem to only have two kinds of bread, though, and I'm not a huge fan of the small crostini type rounds.

I noticed they seemed to have addressed some of the portion concerns--the devilled egg is now (2) quantity, and the churros were enough to share, although pretty bland.

Service was about as has been described before--sort of off and on. Dishes arrived in reasonable time, and drinks were refilled promptly. Main waiter was distracted-seeming; we didn't get one order (were also not charged for it), and the bill splitting looked like it was done pretty much at random, although we warned up front about the bills and tried to be clear who was ordering what.

I'd definitely go back, although probably on a weeknight.

Is Amelie's the one that's always crowded? I think I found this one somewhere (yelp, tripadvisor, something) but people mentioned difficulty parking and long lines.

I'm new and not sure of the rules regarding external links, especially commercial ones, but apparently KitchenAid has a good deal today that can bring a refurb 5QT stand mixer down to the $130-ish range.

http://www.shopkitchenaid.com/more-wa...

Price varies by color and you have to use code "PGA30" at checkout to see the large discount.

Not affiliated and haven't tried it myself.