Firebird's

Firebird's! Finally, a steakhouse :) I hope you guys aren't starting to think that I don't like steak or something.

There are many things on the menu, but as I've been here a couple of times before, I'll just tell you this: if you're here for steak (and you should be), get the prime rib. Herb-crusted, rubbed with black peppers, oven-roasted to medium-rare perfection - pictured below. Top photo is my 10-oz, and bottom is the dinner date's 16-oz. As you notice, the difference is in the thickness of the cuts, so as you might be able to imagine, the thicker 16oz cut is better.

10-oz prime rib, cooked medium rare and served with sauteed mushrooms

16-oz prime rib, cooked medium rare and served with Colorado baked potato

The steak is served au jus and with a light horseradish sauce. I prefer the au jus, but the horseradish also goes pretty well, too. It's not so overwhelming that it covers up the taste of the steak, yet it provides enough flavor. A bit too creamy for me, though, I think.

There is an assortment of sides, although the default is a Colorado baked potato. I chose sauteed mushrooms, which were very delicious, although the flavors were just a bit too much for me towards the end of the meal.

Overall, we love Firebird's - one of my favorite steakhouses all around (and that's sayin' somethin', folks - my home is out in Fort Worth, Texas.)

Firebird's (located in the Streets at Southpoint)

Price Range: $20-$40

Watt's Grocery

Watt's Grocery is one of my favorite restaurants in Durham, and I was happy to have the chance to take my father there when he came to visit me. Their menu features all local items, and they have a bar with NC draught beers.

The atmosphere of the restaurant feels quite organic, although it's always packed. I recommend you to make reservations, otherwise you're in for a long wait. My dad and I didn't make the reservations, so we decided to sit at the bar instead.

Our food - appetizers:

Housemade terrine with artichoke pickles and seasonal compote

Terrine, in case you didn't know, is basically a pate, and they serve it to you with toasted crackers. It's a good combination, but I felt like the taste is really overwhelming for one person. If you get this, you might want to share it with someone...

Market Lettuce Salad with radishes, fried shallots, little tomatoes, and dijon vinaigrette

The salad, being local, is always an interesting combination of vegetables that you might not have seen before. My dad was pretty surprised. He didn't add too much of the vinaigrette because it was a little too sour for him, but the greens were pretty fresh.

Entrees:

Grilled Center-Cut Pork Porterhouse over brown butter apple galette with seasonal vegetables and Nut Brown ale reduction

This was AMAZING. The pork was so incredibly tender, and the sauce was just the right balance between sweet and tart. I absolutely loved it. Also, the sauce went quite well with the vegetables on the side - an added bonus. 

NC Fish of the Day: grilled NC trout with mushroom and peas sauce and a side of hush puppies & basil mayo

The trout was pretty tender, but I didn't think the sauce was too special. The hush puppies, however, are definitely amazing. It could be that I just love the basil mayo dip, but I seriously think that they're flavored and fried to perfection...

 

Overall, Watt's is always a great experience. Even though the trout wasn't too impressive, it still didn't make me love this place any less. I think the cheerful and friendly attitude of the servers, the speed of the service, quality of the food, and reasonable prices overall just makes this one of the best places to dine.

Restaurant: Watt's Grocery
Price Range: $25-40 (for entire meal)

Blu Seafood and Bar

Whew, I haven't updated so long that it's almost embarrassing. I suppose I should take this long weekend (currently on fall break for school) to catch up on some reviewing...

So, where to begin... Let's start with Blu Seafood and Bar, which I visited to celebrate a seafood lover's birthday.

First off, this place is super crowded. Thankfully, we made reservations - but our table in the corner was right below a couple of speakers, which was pretty annoying because the music was quite loud, and the waiter also never seemed to stop by our table throughout the night.

The waiter started us off with some sourdough bread, which was pretty soft but a bit cold already. However, my very hungry friends were displeased with the few pieces of bread, and since the waiter didn't stop by often, they couldn't keep asking for more...

Anyway, on to the appetizers. We ordered an array of different items:

Steamed mussels with chile and lime

Yellowfin tuna tatare with avocado and miso

I was kind of surprised at how much tuna they gave us, but the tuna also wasn't quite as fresh as what you'd find at a good sushi bar.

Crabcakes with mango salsa, cilantro oil

The mango salsa was great - wish they had given me more of it! The crab cakes themselves are just so-so, though. There's also quite a bit of cilantro oil...

Parmesan fried oysters with basil dip

And of course, the mandatory oysters on the half-shell

I didn't actually try this myself, but my friends told me that they were delicious. I think they'd be one of the best deals for appetizers.

As for entrees:

Pound of steamed crab legs

The crab legs were pretty good. They were fresh, and also steamed well - not too overdone.

Cornmeal encrusted NC trout with corn succotash, chipotle butter

The trout was very heavy. I think the first few bites were great, but after that the taste just kind of overwhelms you...

Lemongrass marinated diver scallops with shrimp, coconut peanut Sauce, fried udon noodles

Whole fish of the day: blackened sea bass, served with mashed potatoes and green beans

Overall, the food was all right - just slow. The service, though, was pretty terrible - it was incredibly slow, and the waiter was quite inattentive to our table. I'm sure they were busy that night, and we did have a corner table, but that's not really an excuse for not stopping by our table, not refilling our waters, not getting us more bread, etc. Unfortunately, I think the service really ruined the Blu experience for us.

Restaurant: Blu Seafood and Bar
Price Range: $30-50 (appetizers + entree)

Bruegger's Bakery

Sorry, I've been running way behind on the posts. With the start of the school year, I suppose I tend to procrastinate everything...

Anyway, on to Bruegger's! It's a nice little bakery on the corner of 9th St & Perry St, and around lunchtime on Sundays, it is full.

They have your normal assortment of bagels: plain, everything, sesame, poppy, etc. But they also have interesting flavors like cinnamon, rosemary olive oil, and pumpkin! You can tell that their bagels are made fresh, since they're very soft. Also, there are "HOT" signs indicating which ones just came out of the oven.

Primo Pesto Chicken "panini" on a whole wheat bagel

I ordered a primo pesto chicken panini, but on a hot whole wheat bagel instead (they can't press the bagel for you, but I didn't mind). It was delicious! The overall environment of the bakery is just a great place to grab coffee and lunch (or breakfast, if you're an early-riser, unlike me...). I really encourage you to check out this little shop!

Restaurant: Bruegger's
Price Range: $5-$10

Five Guys Burgers and Fries

Five Guys is pretty well-known already for its great-tasting burgers, but I thought I'd give it a review anyway.

We went to the one in Southpoint Mall's food court:


The standard toppings on your burger are mayo, lettuce, tomatoes, grilled onions, grilled mushrooms, ketchup, mustard, and pickles. You can also request onions, relish, jalapeno peppers, green peppers, A-1 sauce, BBQ sauce, and/or hot sauce at no extra charge, which is pretty sweet.

The regular burger is a double, and the little burger is a single.

I got a hamburger with lettuce, tomato, grilled onions, grilled mushrooms, ketchup, mustard, pickles, green peppers, A-1 sauce, and hot sauce - and it was awesome. They didn't add so much sauce that the buns were soggy, and the patties were very juicy as well.


The fries are also delicious; they're fried in peanut oil, and you can get them cajun style or regular style. (Both are pretty unique; pictured here is the regular style.)


Compared to OnlyBurger, I think Five Guys' burgers win, only because they have so many different toppings and sauces. However, I still prefer OB's thin, crispy fries. It's still hard to pick a favorite burger place, but you should not miss out on Five Guys when you're shopping at Southpoint.

Restaurant: Five Guys Burgers and Fries
Price Range: $5-$10

Veggie burger adventure?!

Went to OnlyBurger's truck today to discover that they were out of hamburger patties! Well, since I'd already walked all the way over (and since I still love their fries), I decided to try their veggie burger. I've never had a veggie burger before, so I don't have much basis for comparison, but I can tell you that their veggie burger is equally delicious as their regular burger. The patty was juicy and tender, and it was a refreshing break from, well, meat (never thought I'd say that in my life).

So next time, if they run out of hamburgers, don't just walk away from the truck - order yourself a veggie burger. Or don't wait till they run out of burgers to do it - just order one anyway. Seriously. Just do it.

Tyler's Taproom

Another night of all-American grill & bar food - we decided to venture to Tyler's Taproom, which was listed under Indy's Best of the Triangle 2009 as, essentially, the best bar. Wednesdays are their pint night in Durham, which means that if you buy their featured drink, you keep the glass.

Tonight's featured draft was the Big Boss Bad Penny (a local brewery in Raleigh), which Sid ordered. It arrived in the drink's logo glass, which was pretty cool.

This place's drinks menu is seriously about 10 pages long, and mostly beer - domestic, Belgian, Canadian, British... so if you're looking for drafts that you've never heard of, this is the place for you.

The 1o-page long beer menu... it was incredible. (Sorry, the pictures today aren't in great resolution because I only had my phone camera.)

Anyhow, onto the food. We ordered one of Tyler's specials, the Pulled Pork Sandwich, and an Ultimate Pork Sandwich. The pulled pork was a bit on the dry side, although the flavor was rich but not overwhelmingly sour. (The kaiser roll didn't help with the dryness of the meat; in the end, eating the meat without the bun actually made it much better.)

Pulled pork sandwich with garlic fries. Background: House-made chips and and the Big Boss Bad Penny draft its logo glass.

The Ultimate Pork Sandwich, on the other hand, was very tender, and fried pickles were a great complement to the juicy, crispy meat. Also, the kaiser roll was toasted, so it didn't seem as dry as the pulled pork sandwich. As you can probably tell, this one was the winner of the meal.

Their sides were house-made chips and garlic fries - we tried one of each. Both were delicious, but if you must make a choice, I would go for the fries. The garlic adds a pretty unique taste.

Overall, this was a very enjoyable meal - good food, fun atmosphere. It's definitely a great restaurant if you're catching dinner before a Durham Bulls game. (If you do go on a game night, though, be sure you get there early because they can get pretty full.)

Restaurant: Tyler's Taproom

Price Range: $10-20

- A great restaurant for a fun dinner out or late-night drinks. Worth checking it out!

OnlyBurger

I've had OnlyBurger once during the school year, but I didn't remember much about it and wanted to try it again. So when my friend told me that over the summer, they stop right down the street from where I work, I was super excited and hoped that they would make a stop there soon.

Basically, OnlyBurger is a burger truck, and it makes stops around the RTP area during lunch and dinner times. You follow them on their website or Twitter to find out where they will be. Its menu is simple: single, double, single combo, and double combo - which include fries or chips and a drink. You can add lettuce, tomato, onions, ketchup, mustard, mayo, cheese, and pickles to your burger.

OnlyBurger's truck

I got a single combo with chips (because I thought they had homemade kettle chips), but I was mistaken - I got a bag of Sunchips instead. My friend was smarter and ordered fries, which were very crispy and delicious. It also turned out to be a huge bag, so I got to munch on quite a few of them =9

Huge bag of crispy fries.

The burger itself is wonderful. It's very juicy, and the burger bun is also toasted with butter and grilled along with the patty, which means it has extra flavor. I added ketchup to my burger, but honestly, even without any condiments, the burger is juicy enough. It's really one of the best burgers I've had, and probably the only burger I'll want for a while.

My burger with lettuce, tomato, onions, ketchup, and pickles.

Truck: OnlyBurger

Price Range: $5-$10 (check their prices on the website)

- Definitely follow them on Twitter or check their site to find out if they're ever near you. And if they are, go and get yourself a burger and fries!

Carolina Ale House's Jumbo Chicken Wings

I’d had a craving for wings for a few days, so last night at 11:30, we went to Carolina Ale House, whose wings were voted the winner according to Indy Week’s Best of the Triangle (also, every Wednesday, Carolina Ale House has a special of $2.50 for all drafts, which is what caught Sidney’s attention).

We arrived at what I imagined to be a pretty typical bar scene, with (drunk) karaoke on the patio and people shooting pool and generally walking around indoors. The restaurant is quite spacey, so it didn’t feel crowded. We seated ourselves at a corner table to avoid the loud music, but the waiters still found us pretty quickly. We ordered the wings, which they offered in several flavors: teriyaki, honey BBQ, buffalo, honey buffalo, and spicy habanero. The honey buffalo sounded tempting, but I decided to go with the original buffalo.

The big surprise was how large each wing was! On the menu, they were called “Jumbo Chicken Wings,” but I had thought that was just a name. Now I know why they’re “jumbo”!


Upon first bite, I knew why they were voted #1 wings in the Triangle. It was a wonderful blend of crispiness from the fried batter and the tenderness of the meat, and there was just the right amount of buffalo sauce – not too little so that you’re not satisfied, but not too much so as to overwhelm the taste and soak up the “crunch.” (For the same reason, I also don’t dip wings in any dressing. It’ll also save you calories – although I suppose if you’re eating wings, you’re probably not thinking about calories in the first place.)

The wings were completely satisfying – I happily finished my whole tray quickly and licked my fingers at the end. It was an awesome experience, and I’ll definitely be back for more – perhaps to try the honey buffalo next time.

Restaurant: Carolina Ale House (Durham location)
Jumbo Chicken Wings
$7.79 for 10 pieces / $15.29 for 20 pieces / $34.99 for 50 pieces
- Definitely a worthwile appetizer for your meal or a great late-night snack!