rockycat's Profile
Fire Pit BBQ, Wake Forest - First Impressions
I'm not sure where to start, but 3 of us went to the Fire Pit for lunch today. We all tasted each others' dishes so the review is an amalgam of all of our opinions.
When you walk in, the smell of smoke hits you right off, in a good way. The menu choices are all over the map, literally. Texas brisket, Carolina pulled pork, St. Louis ribs, smoked chicken, gumbo, and today's special - posole. I always get a little concerned when a 'cue place tries to hit too may geographic areas at once. Generally it means that they're not particularly good at any one of the regions and I'm sad to say, this seems to be the case at the Fire Pit.
We ordered the smoked brisket with a side of greens, house-made sausage sandwich with a side of pintos, and the 1/3 rack ribs with mac n cheese and lima beans. The brisket was bland. It was chopped rather than sliced and there was some pink. It looked and tasted like plain beef, not smoked beef. The greens were fine. The sausage sandwich was a bit overwhelmed by the bread, which I believe comes from Neomonde. There was nothing especially wrong with the sausage, but there was nothing particularly right either. It came with a whole grain mustard already on it. I happen to like that, but not everybody will. The pintos were very blah. No seasoning of any kind. No salt, and no flavor of cooking meat. The ribs were very disappointing. There was no dry rub on them at all. I question whether there was even salt and pepper on them. When I picked up a rib to check for the smoke ring I couldn't find it because the ribs had been cooked after they were cut apart. The edges of all of them were dry and a uniform grey. Too bad because the meat was otherwise well cooked and seemed to be of a good quality. The mac n cheese and lima beans were simply bad. The macaroni was mushy and didn't have much flavor. The lima beans had no salt but suffered from a very odd overwhelming dairy flavor. We were debating whether it was milk, buttermilk, or something else and eventually asked an employee. We were told that it was butter (unsalted, obviously) but none of us could pick up any butter flavor in the slightest. The best we could come up with was an unpleasant artificial dairy taste.
The hushpuppies were fine. I prefer mine with onion and touch of sweetness and these had neither. They were fine for what they were. The vinegar sauce was good but unremarkable. The House Sauce was interesting in that I would swear there was curry powder in it. It works, though.
Initially we thought that the prices were high, however the portions were generous. The problem is that the food isn't good enough to want to eat that much. Bottom line is that the Fire Pit is just kinda okay, not really good, not really much of anything. We don't feel the need to return.
Note to the owners: Please start seasoning your food with something, salt preferably. Also, when you feature baked beans as a special, please consider not leaving the industrial sized cans of Bush's baked beans in plain sight of the customers.
coloring cream
I would recommend using a liquid gel. It disperses better than gel paste and is nowhere near as wet as the liquids you get in the supermarket.
What color is it that you're trying for? Red and black will pose big challenges no matter what form of coloring you use. Pastels will work well, as will some more vibrant colors. If you're looking for a very vibrant color, look for a coloring that has the word "neon" in its description.
Farm to Fork 2012 [Triangle, NC]
Half the dishes vegan? I wonder if that's a cost-reduction effort on the part of the chefs.
Market Basket's Skirt Steak
I'm not sure what the Market Basket is, but we do skirt steak any number of different ways at home, even without marinating. Some of my favorites are
arrecheras, a simple marinade of lime juice, crushed garlic, minced pickled jalapenos, and salt
a simplified Korean-style marinade, meat then served as a lettuce wrap or over rice as a banged together bibimbop with whatever veggies are around, fried egg, and gochujang sauce
ropa vieja or vaca frita, not grilled but very delicious nonetheless
Perhaps not what you were looking for, but all easy, delicious, and relatively inexpensive.
Searching for Cuban recipe for Arroz con Picadillo
Try this website:
http://www.3guysfrommiami.com/food.html
Any recipe I've made from these guys has worked beautifully. They really know their stuff. Some day I have to get their book.
Saxapahaw General Store, NC -- Shall We Try Again?
I can appreciate all your points but, for the most part, I don't want to make a political statement when I eat out. I just want a good meal.
By inconsistent, I don't mean from visit to visit. I mean within the same meal. At one meal at the store, two members of my party ordered main course salads. One was served far more than most people can eat in one sitting. The other received a much smaller serving and was left hungry. At another meal at the Pub I was one of 4 people sharing an appetizer. My fourth of the app was larger than the entree that followed. Everyone at the table looked at my plate and wondered what was going on.
The food can range from good to outstanding. The service can be a total crapshoot. The kitchen can be lackadasical. And portion size is random. There are other places in the Triangle where you can get "real" eggs (my backyard, for one, but I don't do retail :-) ). Without having any idea what I may end up with, it isn't worth the drive out to Saxapahaw for me anymore.
Sai Krishna Bhavan in Morrisville (RTP)
We went for dinner this week and, in short, please visit. It's worth it.
This is a limited review since there were only 2 of us and we couldn't order that much. We started with the garlic naan which was excellent, loaded with garlic and butter, and absolutely delicious. The cilantro on it was very mild which, since I am averse to cilantro, was a good thing. You may disagree, but my cilantro-loving dining partner also loved it. The naan is a real treat for garlic lovers.
Gobi Manchurian - We ordered the version with "gravy." I'm conflicted here. The dish itself was very well executed. The cauliflower was cooked properly and was obviously very fresh. The sauce was tasty and the cauliflower was fried crisply. In short, it was an excellent rendition of what a Chinese-American sweet-and-sour dish could be if someone paid some attention and took some care with it. My problem, and this is my problem only, is it just wasn't what I felt like eating at the moment. My fault for ordering the wrong thing. Don't let that stop you if you like Indian-Chinese food. It was very good. Btw, the Manchurian is served with plain white rice, not basmati.
Mysore Masala Dosa - I'm not convinced we got the Mysore dosa as I'm not sure the "spicy chutney" was anywhere to be found. The dosa itself was appropriately huge and crispy at the edges, softer towards the center. The potato filling was delicious. This leads me to the chutneys and sambar...At least to me, the coconut and ginger chutneys were unusual. They were also very tasty and went well with the dishes. The coconut chutney gave a great textural contrast. I ended up using some of the ginger chutney on the Gobi Manchurian and the combination was excellent. The sambar served with the dosa was smokey, spicy, and tasted like the essence of legume. More please.
In talking with the owner, we mentioned that we regretted not ordering a curry. He brought over a small sample of one of the curries which contained paneer and, I think, gobi. Wow. It was excellent, and made us regret even more that we hadn't ordered a curry. Next time. That's a promise.
On the down side, I have two problems. I feel that we were being steered into ordering a certain way because we are not Indian. We had to repeat a few times that we really did want a specific dish and the like. Also, at dinner time, the restaurant was very empty. The entire time we were there only two other diners ate in, both lone Indian men. Another person came in to pick up take-out and one more came in to ask about the menu. This may have led to what I felt was hovering by the staff. I was getting uncomfortable with the excessive level of attention we received. I hope it will be different if there are more customers to serve.
I can't comment on the lunch buffet at all but I'm looking forward to trying it. if you do go for the buffet, remember to ask for a dosa. They are not on the buffet for obvious reasons, but are included in the $8.99 price.
10970 Chapel Hill Road. Suite 108, Morrisville NC 27560 - (919)481.0910
http://saikrishnabhavan.com/index.html (WARNING - the website has music which can be paused. I hate music on restaurant websites.)
NC now allows rare burgers!
So does that mean I can order a rare burger for my kid, then hand it to her, since it's really "my" burger and was served to me? Will the restaurant call the food cops on me? I get the CYA aspect, but in practicality it's meaningless. I'm sure if your kid wants to eat a rare burger there won't be any problem.
Say what?? Cooking comments that baffle you
It was written by Gelett Burgess. He got so sick of the whole thing that he wrote a response to himself:
Ah, yes, I wrote the "Purple Cow"—
I'm Sorry, now, I wrote it;
But I can tell you Anyhow
I'll Kill you if you Quote it!
Say what?? Cooking comments that baffle you
I was close to 30 yo before I realized that well-done does not mean incinerated and I actually do prefer my steak cooked correctly well-done, not charred beyond all recognition. "Hockey puck" was the only way steak was ever served in my house growing up. When I think of all that high-quality steak that was just destroyed...
Say what?? Cooking comments that baffle you
We also have to ask for "well done" bagels. If not, you get what we call at home a ghost bagel - pale, soft, and squishy. All bagel stores in this area are the same in that respect. We once asked a counter person why all the bagels were so pale and underdone and the simple answer was, "That's how the customers want them. If they're crusty we can't sell them." To me, *that* is a very sad comment.
DNC barbecue sauce competition
I don't know about the 12 Bones sweet tomato sauce, but their blueberry chipotle sauce is off the hook. For the record, I know blueberry sounds weird in a sauce and I don't even like chipotle, but the sauce tastes like neither and the whole is much greater than the sum of its parts.
And when you come down to it, 12 Bones is a rib specialist and as tasty as their ribs are, ribs aren't exactly representative of NC cue.
Refills To Go at Sit Down Restaurants
This is a regional difference. In our part of the country (NC specifically), unlimited refills on both soda and ice tea are the norm. In fact, a menu needs to call out specifically if refills are not included. In a casual restaurant it is perfectly normal to either top of your drink before you leave or, less common but still entirely acceptable, to ask for a to-go cup. Sometimes it's even offered without asking.
Now I wouldn't do this at a white tablecloth restaurant, but at a quick serve or other casual lunch place? Absolutely. Oh, and I've never seen this done anywhere in the Northeast that I've lived. It just isn't the local custom.
Birthday cake ideas for 7 min frosting
I usually do a Devil's Food cake with 7 min. frosting. It's easy to make a completely dairy-free cake that way, but I just like the combination. The visual contrast is also attractive.
Seaffod in Raleigh??
The North Raleigh location of Cap'n Stanley's closed about a month or two ago.
Real Butchers in RTP area???
I know someone will recommend Cliff's in Carrboro and they're a great choice, especially if you're on that side of the Triangle. The closest I've found to a Northeastern style butcher is DaVinci in Wake Forest. They only make sense if you live on the eastern end of the Triangle, though.
DaVinci's
3325 Rogers Rd # 109 Wake Forest, NC 27587
(919) 453-2910
Need help with Science Fair food
Rice might be a little difficult to quantify. One thing I learned in a Serve Safe class is that by the time you can see or smell mold/spots/decay/etc. on white rice it has already been unsafe to eat for quite a while. The spoilage occurs on rice before it is detectable by smell or sight.
ideas for Green Tomatoes, Not Fried
As much as I love fried green tomatoes, I'm trying to cut back on the fried foods. I've tried making oven-baked "fried" green tomatoes, and wasn't too impressed. Does anyone have any ideas for cooking green tomatoes that doesn't involve copious amounts of oil? I'd prefer something warm, rather than pickled or marinated.
Thanks.
Magnolia Grill in Durham is Closing
Have you brought Lulu yet? I've been promising my daughter for years that I would take her when she was old enough. We were going to go, just the two of us, during summer break and have apps and dessert at the bar. Instead, the reservation we made is for all 3 of us. I really feel that this is a restaurant she must experience.
Magnolia Grill in Durham is Closing
She must have been having the grits souffle. :-)
Magnolia Grill in Durham is Closing
I have my reservation already. MG will be so, so missed.
A bacon alternative? ??? Think I may have found it.....
Yes, it's kosher. I believe that all Torani syrups, except for the grape flavor, are under the OK.
Is there any source for Kishka made with beef intestine?
I couldn't tell you about any specific FDA laws, but here in the South chitterlings (aka chittlins aka pig intestines) are available. They're not quite as easy to find as they once were, but that has more to do with changing tastes rather than regulations. I've heard from old timers who have experience with their mamas and grandmamas cooking chitterlings that you never ever eat chitterlings that you or someone you trust with your life hasn't prepared. That has everything to do with how difficult it is to clean them properly.
So if pig intestines are legal to sell, why wouldn't cow intestines be legal?
A bacon alternative? ??? Think I may have found it.....
My kid has added it to chocolate milk. The smokey taste was a bit odd, but strangely compelling.
Jade Palace (Carrboro) - Cantonese menu?
We just got back from dinner at Jade Palace. My feelings are a little mixed, but mostly positive. First warning - Do not go on Sunday, at least during the academic year. They were out of a number of dishes we tried to order such as the lamb with tofu skin casserole and a few of the vegetables such as pea tips, water spinach, and I think a few others. Apparently they had most of these things on Friday and sold out.
We ordered the fried fish and tofu casserole, beef chow fun, and "mixed Chinese vegetables." The fish and tofu was very good, mildly but distinctly flavored. The ginger was strong in a good way and the sauce was a deep brown and slightly thick. The chow fun was mostly as one would expect with the exception of the noodles. They were more delicate than what you usually get and that absolutely improved the dish.
My only real problem was with the vegetables. Since most of what we wanted was not available, we chose to go with our standby, gai larn in oyster sauce. The waiter/manager was pushing us strongly towards the "Chinese mixed vegetables" so we changed our order. I didn't feel to good about making the change and even commented that if we ended up with a plate of broccoli and carrots I would be very upset. Unfortunately we did get a plate of cliched American vegetables - broccoli, carrots, zucchini, white mushrooms, and the ubiquitous canned water chestnuts and baby corn - in a somewhat Americanized Szechuan-style sauce. It wasn't bad for what it was, I suppose, but it wasn't anything you couldn't find on any take-out menu in the area. Absolutely not what I wanted to eat and, as I result, I didn't.
The staff who were working tonight for the most part did not speak English well and I'm sure that contributed to the problem. They were very kind and interested in how we liked the meal and, oddly enough, did not seem surprised that we were disappointed with the vegetable dish.
We gave them a heads-up that their restaurant is getting talked up on line and that a menu translation is making the rounds. Hopefully they will not be too surprised when a bunch of Westerners start ordering solely off the traditional menu.
Long story short - if we lived closer I would be happy to go back much more often. I think I would just be more likely to stick to my guns about what I'm ordering.
Restaurants in Durham?
re: Magnolia Grill - that's not an experience most people here have had. Sorry that you feel that way. And why were you relegated to your third choice? Were the choices not appealing to you or were they out of multiple dishes? Again, not an experience I've had myself or seen reported here.
