A Trip to Chapel Hill

Last week, I went on another fun trip to the triangle area.  The main reason for going to was to take the intro level sommelier exam in Raleigh through the Court of Master Sommeliers.  My friend, Morgan, who works at McCrady's, also took the test.  It involved a pretty intensive two-day seminar prior to the exam, and I was happy to have a friend there with me.  There was a lot of information to absorb, and I think I might have felt a bit more overwhelmed had I gone by myself.

Morgan and I just before taking the exam

I couldn't help but to be a little nervous about the exam, even though I was overall fairly confident about it. Much to our relief, however, we both passed!

So that was pretty exciting. I've been pretty stressed out about the whole thing, and I'm glad to have one less thing looming over my head right now.

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The other purpose of the trip was to celebrate my birthday!  Tuesday was my actual birthday, but I didn't want to party too hard because the wine exam was the next day.  But, you better believe, on Wednesday after I found out I passed, it was on. 

We finally had dinner at Lantern, after having drinks there my last two visits.  My sister and I asked the bartender to just pick dinner for us because, truly, I would have been happy with any single item on the menu.  He happily obliged us, and I loved every bite.

To start, I got Chaat, which is kind of like a warm salad with roasted chickpeas and cauliflower, crispy potatoes, pickled red onion and a nice, refreshing herbed/minty chutney.  I absolutely adore both chickpeas and cauliflower, and I thought this dish was delicious and certainly unique, with lots of fun texture.

For dinner, I had the steamed wild striped bass, which was served with lots of herbs, crispy ginger, a fermented black bean-type broth, baby bok choy, and rice.  This was excellent as well, along with Margaret's lacquered pork tenderloin lettuce wraps, and Sam's crispy duck noodle soup.  Gotta say, though, I did enjoy mine the best.

The dessert was rave-worthy.  Roasted banana ice-cream with peanut brittle, caramel, and whipped cream. To.die.for.  And I'm really not even the kind of person who just raves over dessert.

Here's one of the sis and me at Lantern.  Sissy bought me the dress for my birthday :)

And one of the sis and her hunky boyfriend, Sam, whom I got to officially meet.

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So that's about all I have to share with you, except for a couple gem photos from our hungover trip to the Maple View Dairy Ice Cream Store in Carrboro the next day.

*mmm...*

Don't be jealous of the fact that I ate really delicious ice cream two days in a row.

Guest Post: Margaret's Mexico Trip

For this post, I'm going to let my little sister, Margaret, take the reins.  She recently got back from a trip to Mexico, and I thought it'd be fun to give her a chance to share some photos with you guys.  So, without further ado, take it away Margs!

 ~

Hola amigos!  I'm Margaret, Dani's little sister.

You might remember me from the Margaret's 21st birthday trip post.  After sampling some delicious treats on my recent trip to la Ciudad de Mexico (the city of Mexico), Dani has kindly invited me to be her first guest blogger.  So here I am- how could I resist such an offer?

I went to Mexico City over my spring break with a class called "Mass Communication in Mexico" that I'm currently taking at UNC Chapel Hill.  Now, if you know anything about the Craig family, you know that we plan entire vacations around our eating schedules.  Naturally, my mouth started watering weeks before my journey.  Unfortunately, the nature of the trip didn't allow me to seek out all the fabulous eateries I'm sure exist in Mexico City, but I did make a simpler mission for myself: eat some dope street tacos, get a hot churro, and drink some good Mexican tequila.

On the first day of the trip, we ventured out to the Teotihuacan pyramids, which are some of the largest pyramids in the Americas.  This was probably my favorite day of the trip; the ruins were absolutely mind-blowing and there's not much better than exploring all day in the warm sun.

 This is the Sun Pyramid, the largest of the group.  The pyramids seemed to go on for miles!

After checking out the pyramids all day, the whole group (all 12 of us!) went to a traditional Mexican restaurant for lunch.  Thank goodness we had a few locals and a fluent girl (hey Marlene!) with us, because ordering was a chore!  We all started with tortilla soup, which is a tomato based soup topped with crumbled homemade tortilla chips, fresh avocado, queso fresco, and some sort of delicious cream sauce.  Even though it was a hot day, this soup was amazing!  We tried a few other tortilla soups later that week, but none beat this one.

tortilla soup

I also had some taquitos, which are rolled up corn tortillas filled with either cheese or some sort of meat and then fried.  These were yummy, but I really just wanted another bowl of that soup!

 Everything was served with the best avocados EVER.  We were, however, advised against eating fresh fruits and veggies that don't have a natural peel because they were washed in the water.  Thank GOD for avocados having peels!

Later that night, a few of us decided to get some dinner at a place called Samborn's.  I don't think there is an American equivalent to this place, but its kind of like a department store combined with a restaurant, a bakery, and a pharmacy.  Kind of like an upscale Wal-mart, but with no clothes.  Anyway, I had my first taste of tequila in the form of a margarita there - fab!

 That's Marlene's pina colada in the background, which she said was fabulous.

The second day we did a bunch of touring in the city, including Chapultepec Park which has Maximilien's castle and a TON of roadside tiendas (shops).  After seeing the castle, we were famished and decided to stop at a taqueria.  Hooray!

 Here is the sign for the taqueria we stopped at.  5 tacos for 15 pesos!

By the way, 13 pesos roughly equals 1 dollar.  CHEAP FOOD.  I ordered 5 tacos and told 'em to give me 5 different kinds of meat.

I was too hungry to figure out exactly what I was eating before I devoured every single one!

The sign has things like tripa (tripe), ojos (eyes), tacos de cabeza (tacos of the head), longaniza (sausage) and some others which don't have a clear translation, like campechano (hearty?) and birria (rubbish?).  I could have ended up with some interesting things, but it was all tasty.  Oh, AND mission one...complete!

That night, after getting back from touring all day, I couldn't resist stopping in at another taqueria because I was starving.  These weren't as cheap, but they came with a soda.

 All the sodas came in glass bottles and were much sweeter than the American stuff because they are made with real sugar.

These condiments were pretty typical of any eatery: salsa fresca, lime wedges, and 2 types of hot sauce.

And the tacos! I had chorizo and steak.  The chorizo was so good I ordered 2 more!

My buddy Brian and I searched fruitlessly for some churros.  Apparently, you have to specifically ask for the churro that you eat because, after asking about 50 different vendors and getting dirty looks from Mexicans all day, one guy was kind enough to let us know that churro is also slang for marijuana in Spanish.  No bueno.  Anyway, we finally found a place, and Marlene bought one for Brian and I.

Good pic.  Mission 2: completed

The only thing left: tequila!  I know, I know, I already had a margarita, but that hardly counts.  So, Brian, Zakiya, and I went out drinking one night.

 The bar special read something like taza por 84 pesos. We thought taza meant "pitcher"... turns out, it just meant GIANT mug of beer.

The beer was called El Sol.  It came light and dark, and I became pretty partial to both kinds in just one week.

 El Sol claro (on a different night)

To celebrate finishing the huge beer, we had tequila shots!

The tequila was strong, but I'm not really used to drinking it. They chase tequila with clamato juice, which I was skeptical about, but it was actually pretty successful.  Mission 3: success!

I ate a lot of great food.  I wish I would have taken more foodie pictures including the amazing gelato Brian and I got one night (I had cookies and cream and coconut, he had queso and chocolate) after we had tacos at another taqueria.  I had tacos de lengua (tongue!).  So weird seeing a huge tongue being sliced in front of you, knowing you're about to eat it, but it was actually really delicious.

So, thanks for letting me borrow Dani Dishes for a little while!  Hope you enjoyed my post.  Eat well, friends!  Viva la Mexico!

-Margaret

Chapel Hill

So, this week, I returned to Chapel Hill to go see The XX with my friend Cindy. It was the first time I have been to the Local 506, and I thought it was a pretty cool little venue.  We had a great time at the show, and of course, ate some good food while we were in town.

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We ended up pretty hungover the day after the concert, so Cindy and I went to Franklin Street in search of some good bar food.  We ended up at Spanky's, where we enjoyed a couple of Bloody Marys. I devoured a club sandwich with ham, turkey, bacon, and Russian dressing.

hangover cure at Spanky's

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For dinner, the three of us were all strangely craving some good sushi. So, we went to Margaret's favorite spot in Chapel Hill, Akai Hana.  We sat at the sushi bar, and the chefs gave us each a little bowl of cucumber, crab, and sesame salad to start with.  It was a really nice little palate cleanser.

 
Cucumber salad at Akai Hana

We ordered some edamame and several rolls to share.  Along with some beers and hot sake, it was a fun, enjoyable dinner.

Pretty little sushi platter at Akai Hana

 

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To keep up with tradition, Cindy, Margaret, and I ended up at Lantern for cocktails.  Still haven't eaten there, which is kind of a bummer, but we loved our drinks. This time, Cindy ordered the Strange Acquaintance, which sounds kind of strange but tasted pretty good. It had whiskey, ruby port, Blenheim spicy ginger ale, and egg whites. I got the Cunning Kimono, which was house infused jasmine flower vodka, honey, and a lemon twist.  Margaret had the Junebug, which was my favorite of the three. It was made with Pimm's liquor, fresh ginger, lemon soda, and a cucumber.

 
 

Strange Acquaintance, Cunning Kimono, and Junebug cocktails at Lantern  

I love the little darkly-lit bar.  Maybe someday I'll actually eat there.

Chapel Hill: Margaret's 21st Birthday!

 The birthday girl and me

I thought it would be appropriate to make my first post about my recent trip to Chapel Hill for my sister's 21st birthday. Every time I visit the Triangle area I'm impressed by their food scene. We enjoyed several great meals while I was in town.

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We went to Bonne Soirée for Margaret's big birthday celebration dinner. It is a really traditional French restaurant in downtown Chapel Hill- no web site, no Open Table, and a handwritten menu that changes daily. It's a tiny little place, run by a husband and wife team, with the wife, Tina Vaughn, keeping up the front of house and the husband, Chip Smith, as executive chef in the back. Ms. Vaughn was extremely knowledgeable about wine, so we were happy to let her assign wine pairings for each course. Sean, who took care of us, assumed a maître d’ role- he was the only server, with a couple of server assistants to back him up.

After much debate, we decided what we wanted to order. First, we shared the Chef's Featured Terrine and the evening's Fresh Pasta selection. We thought the terrine, a traditional-style Country Pâté, was lovely. The mustards that were served with it were nicely spicy and made a great accompaniment. It was paired with a German Riesling, which offset the spiciness of the mustard and richness of the pork in a great way. The pasta was amazing. It was a little nest of angel hair pasta, with a sunny side up local egg lovingly snuggled inside, topped with a sprinkling of black truffle shavings. Oh God, it was good. I wish we could have taken pictures of the food, but we (rather gingerly) respected the restaurant's no photography rule so as not to disturb the other guests. I can't remember exactly which Italian white was paired with the pasta, but it was dry and crisp. Cut nicely through that rich yolk.

Okay, second course. Probably my favorite course of the evening. It was this gorgeous local goat cheese soufflé. I'm always curious to see different restaurants' presentations of savory soufflés. This was heavenly, melt-in-your-mouth delicious. Makes me happy to think about it now. It was paired with a nice little Vouvray, which happens to be one of my favorite whites.

For entrées, Margaret chose the scallops, which were served with a summer vegetable sauté, proscuitto, and a garlic cream. I swear, the scallops took a back seat to those vegetables. There were sugar snap peas, pearl onions, and mushrooms, and they were all so perfectly crisp-tender I was in awe. Her dish was paired with a white Chateauneuf-du-Pape, which I thought was a really fun little wine. I think it was mostly Roussanne, which always kind of reminds me of a full-bodied Chardonnay, and it worked really well with the cream sauce. I had the lamb special, which was a duo of preparations. There was a breaded chop and some pulled, braised, shoulder, served with a fried polenta cake. I didn't really think the chop needed to be breaded, but it was still delicious and flavorful. The pairing was some sort of Grenache and Syrah blend, maybe a Côtes du Rhône.

Finally, we shared a light, creative little play on peach Jell-o for dessert. The chef suspended a half of a (poached?) peach in a peach gelatin. It was so pretty, again, I wish I had a picture I could display. It was just right after such a great meal- I don't think I could have mustered up the energy for a heavy chocolate dessert. It was paired with a sparkling dessert wine, which cut through the gelatin texture perfectly. Overall, one of the most amazing dinners I have ever had.

After an amazing birthday dinner at Bonne Soiree

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After dinner, we had a cocktail at Lantern, which was the runner-up of dinner choices. I had their Hibiscus Petal, which was a concoction of Hibiscus-infused vodka, lime juice, and Thai basil. I love anything with basil in it, so I enjoyed it. Margaret had the Late Blossom, which combined Luksosowa vodka, Lillet Blanc, lychee juice, and orange flower water. She didn't really love the lychee flavor, which she had never tried before. Overall though, I really liked the bar atmosphere, which was dimly lit, with crimson walls and black bar furniture. Next time I'm in town, I'm going there for dinner.

Hibiscus Petal and Late Blossom cocktails at Lantern
 
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Right before I left, we grabbed lunch at Allen & Son barbecue, which I have been wanting to do the last couple times I visited the area. It was kind of in the middle of nowhere, and there was a line out the door at 1:30 pm. Good sign.

Allen & Son Barbecue 

It was not the mustard-based BBQ I've grown used to here in SC, but rather, a vinegar-based sauce, which was spicy, tart, and delicious. The portions were huge and the food was cheap. The slaw was great, too- I don't like too much mayonnaise, and it was just the right amount. For dessert, the peanut butter pie was to-die-for. I will definitely go back.

Loaded BBQ plate with slaw and hushpuppies at Allen & Son

So, that about sums up the foodie highlights of my trip. I had so much fun! Happy birthday Margaret!