I went with a group of 10 last Monday and we were all fairly underwhelmed. Reports ranged from okay to terrible. I had fish (I think it was mahi mahi, but I'm not positive I correctly remember) on a bed of spicy lentils. The fish was fishy smelling but only slightly fishy tasting. The lentils were the highlight of the meal. I heard reports of bad pasta dishes and just okay beef and pork dishes, but I didn't eat them so I can't comment. I felt like the dishes were on the pricy side and was surprised to see that they charge for bread. Overall, I feel like there are much better places in the immediate area that have similar prices and more attentive service. I will not be returning.

My vote is for Four Square. Like Tom, we preferred it over Magnolia Grill.

Estadio looks like a great choice for her and is less than 2 blocks from our hotel. I think I may replace B&B with Estadio. Thanks for the tip!

My husband, 6 year old daughter and I will be in Washington, DC for 3 nights in April. My daughter is well-behaved and an adventurous eater, but she certainly has her limits, so I'm trying to stay away from very fancy/long meals. My daughter's favorite food is Indian and mine is Turkish.

I've made reservations at 6:00 pm (to account for the child in tow) at Rasika, Zaytina and Birch & Barley.

Do you all have any thoughts about these choices, especially given that we will have a child with us?

Thanks in advance.

A few months ago, I was pureeing cashews for a curry chicken and cashew dish. The cashews gummed up my immersion blender, so I picked it up and started scraping out the nuts with my finger. I forgot to unplug the blender and my palm hit the switch blending my finger. My husband rushed me to urgent care and they glued it back together. I didn't even lose the nail! Interestingly enough, I was that office's second immersion blender accident of the week and I fared much better than the other cook.

Sauté them with lots of garlic and stewed tomatoes.

I purchased some at Harris teeter and they were great. Perhaps you were particularly unlucky. HT will refund your money.

I often wonder if this stinginess is a function of Subway franchise costs. If I recall correctly, Fast Food Nation claimed that Subway was one of the worst franchises to own because start-up costs were so high and they were forced to purchase supplies and ingredients at inflated prices from the Subway corporation. I'm not sure if that is still the case, but I just have always assumed that some stores were particularly conscious of vegetable use because their margins are so thin due to the way the franchise is set-up.

Great news! Thanks for the heads up.

Costco makes great sheet cakes (especially for the price). If we're serving a lot of people at a birthday party, we rely on Costco's cakes.

Fancier cakes can be found all around, but I highly suggest Guglhupf or Daisy Cakes in Durham.

Tickets are on sale now.

Last summer I bought Leblon at the ABC in Durham off 15-501 by Kurama and the ABC in Falconbridge.

I guess it's their version of poutine.

I can't second this recommendation enough!! We took our 4 year old to SNOB at 5:30. They were incredibly welcoming and she loved it. They have a children's menu for the small one that has standard kid fare, but our daughter ordered off the appetizer menu and stuffed herself with pate.

How much was the entire meal?

I agree with the Taco Boy recommendation as well as Lost Dog Cafe. About a year ago I ate at a seafood restaurant on the right just before the last bridge onto the island. The place had a great screened in deck over the marsh and good local shrimp. I recommend it, but maybe someone else can help me out with the name!

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Lost Dog Cafe
106 W Huron Ave, Folly Beach, SC 29439

Taco Boy
15 Center St, Folly Beach, SC 29439

I'm resurrecting this to add a bit about Crumb since I mentioned them here. Although the cakes were delicious at the Farm to Fork, the business owners seem to lack basic customer service skills.

http://jezebel.com/5553736/how-sweet-little-cupcakes-can-spark-controversy

http://thegloss.com/odds-and-ends/nor...

We had a great time and I totally agree with your assessment of the chefs; the chefs and the farmers seemed genuinely pleased to be there and enjoyed interacting with us. I was pleased with how smoothly everything ran and I felt like we got our money's worth. Going into the picnic, I was a little concerned that it would be too crowded with too small portions and we would be disappointed that we had paid $60 per person. That was not the case at all. Portions were generous and plentiful.

I think that rockycat is thinking of the cakes from Crumb, not Weaver Street Market (tall cakes, chocolate, strawberry and sweet potato). They were delicious!

We started at the end opposite from the entrance and enjoyed Neal's Deli subs first - the lamb sausage was outstanding! The lamby joes were not as good as they have been when I've eaten them in Six Plates, so don't feel bad about missing out on them - the rolls were harder/drier than usual and the meat was a little less juicy. I enjoyed the "zas".

I'm sorry to have missed out on the shortrib sliders as well as the strawberry donuts.

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Neal's Deli
100 E Main St Ste C, Carrboro, NC 27510

Weaver Street Market
228 S Churton St, Hillsborough, NC 27278

Here's a thread with answers to this exact question.

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/6940...

I agree!

I think Bliss in Chapel Hill is decent (better to me than the options at Whole Foods and Weaver Street), but nothing beats cupcakes from an Airstream.

I highly recommend MediTerra Grill on Erwin Road for good, inexpensive Mediterranean food. Very casual, but they are extremely accommodating for large groups. They have the best gyro meat in the area in my opinion! I also love their lamb.

http://www.mediterragrill.com/

I think Bliss is fine - not outstanding, but decent. I prefer Daisy Cakes, but if you're desperate for a cupcake, Bliss will fit the bill.

Being mother and daughter does not preclude people from being friends.

In Durham my top choices for private dining would be:

Nana’s
Revolution
Four Square
Vin Rouge

Other options
Blu Seafood
Ruth’s Chris
Parizade

In Chapel Hill
Spice Street
Weathervane
Jujube – semi private, up to 20 or so
Bin 54
Depending on the size, you could probably fill up Lantern or Elaine's

Pao Lim is still there. For a while, they tried to switch over to Japanese and called themselves Kimono (IIRC), but now they're Kimono (big letters on the sign)/ Pao Lim (smaller letters). I went in there not too long after the switch to Kimono and was very disappointed. I haven't been back since.

What's your price range? What's your preferred atmosphere?

What about Mondo's Delite on Folly Road? I've really enjoyed the meals I've had there.

We attended the Wine Authorities Austrian wine dinner last night and really enjoyed it. (I don't have the menu with me, so I may miss some of the details.)

Starter was fromage blanc and salmon on rye toast served with a pinot noir frizzante. Really delicious wine, okay starter. The toast should have been straight bread, or toastier toast.
First course was scallop with slaw. The two scallops were perfectly cooked and served with a vinegar-ish slaw that needed a little more acid. Paired with a Gruner Veltliner blend that was pretty fruity. (I think it was Steininger, Gruner Veltliner Young)
Second course was a slow roasted pork loin with lingonberry compote and herb salad. They paired it with Gruner Veltliner "T26" Tegernseerhof - not a blend. The pork was fork tender and nicely smokey. It went very well with the lingonberries. My dining partners wished they could put it on biscuitville biscuits, though.
Third course was potato dumplings with beef short ribs and foraged mushrooms. The beef was good, but not the best I've had, but the broth was delicious. The dish was kind of skimpy on the mushrooms. The dumplings were to die for -slightly crisp on the outside, tender on the inside. Delicious! This was paired with a red that I think was a blend of Blaufrankisch, Zweigelt, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot , but don't quote me on it.
Dessert was sacher torte with candied kumquats paired with a dessert wine, Steindorfer, Cuvée Seewinkel Beerenauslese. The sacher torte was exquisite.

Dinner was really very good, especially at $45/pp. They do have some logistical things to work out though. It was family style seating, first come, first serve and they didn't tell people ahead of time (or at least they didn't tell us). The hostess and wait staff was accommodating and helped shift some people around so our party could sit together, but it was a pain in the butt to the other diners. The hostess and our waitress told us that they don't like the family style seating and need to be better organized next time. I explained that Lantern did family style seating at their last wine dinner and that they still assigned seats and seated parties. They seemed to take that to heart, so we'll see how it works next time. Service was great. The Wine Authorities made a presentation, but since the dinner was upstairs and the presentation was on the opposite side of the room, it was hard to hear. Overall, we were impressed and we will definitely eat there for dinner again soon.

Since you like Austrian wines, you may already be aware, but if not, they're having an 4 course Austrian wine dinner on the 10th at 7:00 pm for $45.

There are quite a few places that have private spaces or space for a large group that's a bit cordoned off. I can't speak to the cost of using those spaces, but I have listed some below. I've added an asterisk to places that have expensive drinks (expensive being relative of course!). My professional group has happy hours at Serena in Durham. It's decent food, a nice set-up and they're really accomodating. We used to meet at Mez - also nice, but it ended up getting quite expensive.

Some of these have already been mentioned
Maggiano’s has 2 private rooms that can convert to one big one. I think about 50 people per room
Parizade has private rooms of varying sizes
Satisfaction (kind of dingy private room, but it’s good if it’s super casual). I saw it last week and it looked like it would seat 20 or so
Weathervane offers private rooms for dining
I’m fairly sure that Spartacus, the Greek place on 15-501 has private rooms
Sitar India has a room that they can turn into a private room for you
Bocci’s off of Fayetteville St. has a private room for up to 40 people
*Nana’s but it’s going to be really expensive
411 West (I'm pretty sure they have a small private room)
*Blu Seafood can host private parties
Johnny Carino’s has a private room for about 20 people
*Dos Perros - I think they have private dining
*Jujube – semi private, up to 20 or so
Champps - I don't like this place much, but they have a good set-up and will easily accommodate your group at the bar tables.