Sitar India Palace - Durham (Indian) - ∆∆ 1/2

Food - ∆∆∆
Service - ∆∆
Atmosphere - ∆∆ ½

Sitar India Palace remains our favorite restaurant in the area for Northern Indian cuisine. They have a very reasonable dinner buffet on Friday, Saturday (and perhaps Sunday?) evenings that we enjoy because of its impressive variety of offerings and quality that matches the dishes you order off the menu.

The restaurant’s interior, while modest, boasts elements that take it a step above the banal. The lighting is dim, white linens cover the tables, tasteful artwork and taj-mahal-shaped arch cutaways separate dining areas to create an intimate feel. The interior certainly belies the abandoned shopping center in which it is located, which features a closed Kroger’s, a closed Baskin Robbins, and many other vacant storefronts. First time there, we almost drove away without getting out of the car because of its setting, but don’t let it fool you. The upside: parking is never a problem.

The host or hostess usually promptly seats us, unless there’s a wait, but the staff is extremely efficient at clearing tables. I always order a mango lassi with my meal, and the stuff they serve here is righteous (but then again, I’ve never found a mango lassi that I haven’t enjoyed). Highlights from the buffet line, which is constantly replenished, include the creamy palak, chicken tikka masala (ranks as the best incarnation of this dish I’ve had – tied with the closed Swagat in Mountain View, CA), tandoori chicken, deep fried potatoes, alu gobi, shrimp vindaloo, and buttery naan.

This is only a small fraction of what is offered, but I tend to stay away from the really spicy stuff, as I have a low tolerance of curry-style spiciness. Fresh paratha bread is brought tableside with regularity or at request.

While the newcomer Saffron is garnering the most buzz at the moment, my personal call is that Sitar remains a cut above. It’s always a pleasure.

La Shish - Cary (Middle Eastern) - ∆∆

Food - ∆∆
Service - ∆∆
Atmosphere - ∆∆


I drove to Cary this evening to La Shish to get my shawarma fix. Combo. platter of beef shawarma and lamb kabob. The beef shawarma came on a bed of rice, and the chunks were plenty moist, tender, and flavorful. The lamb was quite well prepared too and had a vibrant and smooth flavor to it. Based on a Bay Area standard, this was good Jordanian/Lebanese cuisine. Not as spectacular or generous portions-wise as some places back West, but also far better than some of the atrocious corner store dives I've experienced out there.

The BAKLAVA, however, was hands down the best I've had at a restaurant. Greg Cox had it right: "a triangular tower of walnuts, orange blossom-scented sugar syrup and shatter-crisp phyllo pastry that so far exceeds the sum of its simple parts as to defy description." The only baklava I've had that compares in quality was baked by the Greek (so different style) woman who was the Resident Fellow in college out at CA.

La Shish - a good happy medium, and I'll definitely return there.

Saffron - Morrisville (Indian) - ∆∆

(Reviewed 10/29/06)

Food - ∆∆
Service - ∆∆ 1/2
Atmosphere - ∆∆∆

This was our first time trying Saffron and a Saturday lunch buffet is always a test. We came in around the halfway point of their noon to 2:30 serving window.

The buffet is set up in a back room that looks like it's normally reserved for private parties. It is a bit crowded and is forced to fit in a U-shape of three tables with diners lining up on the inside of the U. That makes it rather shoulder to shoulder. The food items were being replenished pretty regularly and nothing looked tired and crusty. Fresh plates were replenished at the head of the line.

There was an assortment of both veg and meat items. I recall some fried lentil doughnut-type rings, chicken biryani, a goat stew, garbanzos and new potatoes in a mildly spicy red sauce, a vegetarian paneer in a creamy mild red sauce, white rice, curry leaf rice (that's three different rice dishes if you're counting!), and something completely unidentifiable in a thick white cream sauce. To my amazement, there was also a dish labeled as Kung Pao Vegetables. And it was! The classic Chinese flavor in an Indian buffet. Weird.

Flavors of all dishes were good, but not standout notable. The best items were brought straight from the kitchen to the table as complimentary accompaniments to the meal. The naan, as noted above, was very hot and fresh and coated with butter. It was just a tad thick and chewy for my taste, but still good because of the freshness. The winners were the complimentary dhosas, which used very light and crispy crepes and contained just a small appetizer portion of the potato filling. We got seconds on those because they worked so well alone or with the mint or tamarind side sauces.

Service was plentiful, swift, and pleasant. Everybody smiled, used dishes were cleared quickly, and we felt welcome. The buffet cost $10 without drinks.

Bonne Soiree - Chapel Hill (French) - ∆∆∆∆

(Reviewed 12/16/06)

Food - ∆∆∆∆
Atmosphere - ∆∆∆∆
Service - ∆∆∆∆

Bonne Soiree is perfection. It's so difficult to put the dining experience we had this evening into words because so many things were so sublime, but simply put, Bonne Soiree has redefined our standard of the perfect culinary experience.

We dined with high-enough expectations, given the previous reviews here and in print, but frankly, we never expected that the experience would outdo so many of the "greatest of the greats" that had previously led the top of our charts.

I'll mention that Bonne Soiree does offer a $25/person wine pairing that seems an incredible deal given Tina's breadth of knowledge therein. We overheard her rattle off varietals and vintages with abandon appropriately suited to each and every dish that other parties mentioned. It was impressive and is just one example of the jeu de'vivre that Tina seemingly possesses in operating this restaurant. Her passion for fine cuisine was palpable and exciting and added to our anticipation at what creations would be brought forth from the kitchen.
Her husband Chip Smith handles the dirty work in the back, and believe me, it's some of the finest tastes my palette has ever encountered. For our first course, I started off with an endive salad with carmelized onions, a most delectably ripe pear, toasted walnuts, a few other goodies, and a light dressing ($8.95). It was beautifully and tastefully presented on the plate, but the standout was definitely the perfection at which the pear was chosen. Couldn't have tasted better. My cohort ordered the ravioli filled with Carolina sweet potatoes and a broth comprising of Virginia ham, collard greens and pot liquor ($11.95). She was floored at its goodness.

Second course: I wish I could remember all the ingredients, but my memory eludes me, so you'll just have to excuse my generalities. I ordered oxtail ($27.95) (constituted in such a manner as filet mignon usually appears on a plate), surrounded by a wonderful brown broth (not sure what it was) with delicious morsels of sweet potato, porcini mushrooms, and other chunks of goodness (again, I apologize for not pinning this down better - if any of you go in time to catch their early winter menu, let me know). Anyway, all of this "goodness" intertwined and built upon one another is such a silken and unified manner that it was difficult to believe that something could taste so wholesome yet be wrought from such ingenuity at the same time. My cohort ordered a braised pork tenderloin ($21.95), also with a pork belly, with some wilted greens, grilled sweet potato chunks, and some other really delicious stuff (we're still trying to figure out whether the shaved purplish "stuff" on the side was shaved prunes or sweet pickled mushrooms of some sort, but in any case, the entire dish was heavenly and each ingredient complemented the other so nicely).

Service as impeccable beyond belief. I recall many prior complaints lobbied at high-end restaurants around here being seriously lacking in the service depeartment, but finally one bucks that trend, and bucks it completely asunder. The service was understated, smooth as silk, perfectly paced, respectful, and appropriately conspicious. Out of the many dozen restaurants of national and international renown at which I have dined, the service fell within the highest echelon - comparable to Gary Danko and Charleston Grill, and BETTER than Michael Mina, Jardiniere, Striped Bass, Charlie Trotter's, Daniel, etc.

Oh yeah, dessert: my cohort ordered the warm walnut and caramel crisp with fresh whipped cream over it ($8.50), and I had a pot de creme ($7.50) served in a dainty and tasteful...well...pot with a lid. What a beautiful way to top off a beautiful meal.

I hate how I've gushed so much, because it appears disingenuous. Yet, thinking back...and I do tend to harp on every little infraction when it comes to any aspect of the dining experience...I can think of none. I cannot imagine any dish that was ordered by either of us tasting any better, nor can I imagine how the service could've been any more impressive.

Just my luck: after living five years in the San Francisco Bay Area and having dined at literally every single high-end restaurant out there (except for French Laundry), and Bonne Soiree beats them all. Go figure.
I think I'll stick around the Triangle for a bit...

Ye Olde Country Kitchen - Snow Camp, NC (Southern) - ∆∆∆

(Reviewed 7/26/06 - First of many visits)

Food - ∆∆∆

Service - ∆∆

Atmosphere - ∆∆∆

Folks, I think I found it. After being more than disappointed with most of the Southern food offerings in the Triangle proper, I set out yesterday on a late afternoon drive down the old Greensboro-Chapel Hill road about 30 minutes west of Chapel Hill to a one-intersection town known as Snow Camp. Left at the Phillips 66 station, then another mile or so on the right, down another road, signs announcing “Ye Olde Country Kitchen” and the “Sword of Peace” production at the outdoor theater just next door. I was skeptical upon driving out there what exactly to expect. After all, this place is practically in the middle of nowhere. Where would they find the clientele to operate on a Wednesday evening? Well, I had no reason to fear. Upon pulling up to the restaurant around 7 p.m., not only was the gravel parking lot full, but cars were parked along the roadside and across the street.

It’s one thing to fill up a Golden Corral parking lot in a large city, but to draw a crowd on a weekday night in the middle of nowhere must take something special, right? Indeed.
The place was hopping inside, and, to my relief, all non-smoking. The atmosphere inside seems that of an old converted house with many small dining areas encompassing what in total is quite a large number of tables.

(blurred to protect the identity of those besides the Triangle Foodie)

One has two choices, either order off the menu or go for the all-you-can-eat buffet ($7.99 for dinner, $5.99 for lunch). Everyone else was obviously doing the buffet, and I decided that following suit would provide a good survey of the versatility of this particular kitchen (and to determine whether return visits were called for).

Stepping back for a minute, I consider the mark of a good restaurant is the production of “wow” moments during the course of a meal. All restaurants that I hold in high esteem must produce at least one of these. Ye Olde Country Kitchen’s buffet produced three. The first was the beef stew, a hearty preparation chock full of meat, peas, potatoes, and carrots. Upon submerging a crisp-outside/fluffy-inside biscuit and spooning it in...oh my goodness, pure heaven. The second pure moment of joy came when tasting the fried chicken. A perfect batter, chicken meat underneath so juicy. No joke, best fried chicken I have had in my life (and I’ve experienced a lot of fried chicken in my days). The third “wow” came from the green beans – I have no idea how they do it, but the beans had the perfect firmness with a sweetness that suggests the beans came straight from the farm to the kitchen. This is Southern food done right.

Everything else scored major points as well. I was hesitant to take the collard greens since the condiment of green pepper vinegar sauce was not available, but I need not have worried – the greens were so tender and naturally flavorful that any addition would’ve been a distraction. Best greens I’ve had since my uncle’s grandmother prepared the Thanksgiving feast down in South Georgia a couple of years ago. Corn on the cob was obviously fresh but tasted just okay. Fried squash was amazing. My cohort also gave thumbs up to the apple crisp, peach cobbler, and banana pudding. I did not have room for dessert because I loaded up on two full plates of veggies in addition to the chicken and stew. Oh, and the sweet tea – as good as it gets.

Needless to say, I will be taking the pastoral drive out to Snow Camp many times to get my Southern food fix. They do a lunch buffet Wednesday-Sunday in addition to the dinner buffet/menu offerings. Friday and Saturday evenings they add seafood to the buffet as well. Dare I try their offering of Calabash-style fried shrimp, trout, or catfish? Absolutely...I look forward to it.

Akai Hana - Carrboro (Japanese) - ∆

(Reviewed 7/25/06)

Food - ∆
Atmosphere - ∆ 1/2
Service - (box)

Before moving to the Triangle from the San Francisco Bay Area, we had devised a prediction regarding the nature of ethnic restaurants that we would find in the Triangle. Our theory postulated that while we would undoubtedly have to give up on experiencing the finest of epicurean creations for each and every ethnicity, we would also avoid truly dismal dining experiences for the more "exotic" foreign cuisines. Our rationale was that the Bay Area’s large ethnic population on the one hand draws culinary stars to pursue their art, but on the other, it allows for restaurants of "bottom-of-the-barrel" caliber to survive, simply because many individuals of a particular ethnicity do not find cuisines other than their "native" one to be viable substitutes, thus sustaining a niche market. In places like the Triangle, with its relative lack of a "native" population to sustain a restaurant on its own, we believed that a "survival of the fittest" mechanism would force ethnic restaurants to adhere to an acceptably high standard of cuisine because a greater proportion of individuals would gladly substitute away from a bad restaurant, even if it means eating another type of food altogether. Akai Hana proved us wrong...dreadfully wrong.

Our group of four arrived around 7 p.m. on a Saturday evening, after having unfortunately decided that Waraji was too far of a drive, and Akai Hana (just 10 min. away) had been given some sort of "Best of...Honorable Mention" award in the June edition of "IndyWeek Magazine" or what have you. The small parking lot in front was full, along with the gravel area behind the building. We parked directly across the street at a tire store (no Tow Away signs posted, which at least in CA means it’s fair game). We walked in. The manager sat us at an extremely ill-placed table at the confluence of the main drag into/out of the kitchen and the rest of the dining area, even though a couple of other tables were available by the window in a more peaceful setting. We asked our waitress if we could perhaps switch tables, and she gruffed, "fine, go ahead" and with a snarl left for the kitchen, leaving us to move our menus along with ourselves to one of the other tables. To make sure I wasn’t misreading her reaction, I said "thank you" to her as she was spinning around to leave, but she just turned her head away from me. Wow, sorry I offended her so gravely!

Anyway, service is only one of the three components of a dining experience I tend to weigh in equal parts, and I’ve experienced a good number of horrible service yet ethereal food combos. before, so I was willing to give this a pass. Similarly, I was also willing to overlook the lack of care taken with the décor, which without a occasional flag or wood carving pinned to the wall looked more or less like an American diner or oversized Waffle House. The crudeness and lack of attention to detail translated to the cuisine as well.

Our party was not in a strong mood for sushi after seeing what was being served to other diners, so we ordered individually three teriyaki dishes (chicken, salmon, beef $15.95-18.95) and one sushi/sashimi platter to split among us. These teriyaki dishes, holding with tradition, come with a salad and miso soup. The miso soups were no different than miso soups you find in every Japanese restaurant, except these lacked the cubes of tofu you normally find, and the seaweed was yellowish green instead of a more forest green color. The salad, however, was beguiling. The lettuce was shredded into thin strips, on top of which were dumped two cucumber slices and a whole load of ginger dressing. Zero care was taken in this preparation – it looked as if everything had been dumped randomly in about 5 seconds. I don’t understand why they had to shred the lettuce leaves – it does nothing to enhance the taste, nor does it make it easier on those unskilled with chopsticks. Perhaps to hide the wilt that could still be clearly seen/tasted?
This trend was augmented in the entrees. Salmon teriyaki presented a thick slab of salmon, but the seared crust was terribly oversalted to the point of being inedible, while the underlying meat itself had almost no taste and was dry. On the side were served steamed broccoli and carrots. These vegetables had been chopped into large and crude chunks of random sizes as if they were raw ingredients for a stew instead of a final presentation on a main course dish. Everything was floating in a sea of teriyaki sauce that covered the entire plate, so much so that any rice added to the plate quickly ended up soaked with sauce. Chicken teriyaki came with the chicken breast also chopped into random-sized chunks (why not slice the breast into strips and arrange them parallel to one another?), while beef teriyaki sirloin cooked appropriately at medium rare was still nearly tough as leather, a hallmark of poor-quality meat. The sushi/sashimi was standard as it gets – Kroger or even my lily-white hands could prepare better in my own kitchen at one-tenth the cost.

The only redeeming element of the meal was the side of vegetable tempura. Fried in batter that was light and fluffy, with a nice combination of onions, sweet potato, broccoli, green pepper, and potato.

The total bill – four entrees, one appetizer, no dessert, water all around, ended up at $78 - more expensive than our meal at Merlion, more expensive than our meal at Sitar India Palace, for an all-around unsatisfying experience. My entire party left the restaurant feeling utterly robbed, especially after having already reveled in the other two above-mentioned restaurants the previous two evenings.

I will never again enter the doors of Akai Hana. I wouldn’t eat there if it were on someone else’s dime. In Palo Alto, CA, there’s a casual Japanese restaurant named Miyake, as ubiquitous and Americanized as they come, that serves "Bento Boxes" for lunch and dinner. You get a miso soup, salad, teriyaki, and either gyoza, California roll, or tempura. For the same amount of food, for better quality, the meal there would’ve cost $40 for four, which is reasonable at CA prices given the quality. But $78 for this? Never again. Why was this place nearly full? Why do people throw their money away like this when there’s Merlion and...Hardees...to be had out there?

Merlion - Chapel Hill (Singaporean) - ∆∆∆

This is the first of some archival reviews that I've written over the past nine months, revived because they remain fresh and relevant to the particular restaurant. While photos are lacking for each review, which I promise will be plentiful for new reviews, I believe the descriptions alone can be found quite useful. This particular review is the very first restaurant I tried upon moving to the Triangle from the Bay Area, on July 23, 2006:

Merlion-
Food - ∆∆∆
Atmosphere - ∆∆∆
Service - ∆∆∆

For my first dinner out, I took a group of four to Merlion in Southern Village, Chapel Hill, upon the previous high regards posted on this forum. Simply put, my expectations were surpassed. After sampling all of the acclaimed Malaysian/Singaporean restaurants during my residence in the San Francisco Bay Area, I can easily say that Merlion beats all of them by a large margin.
Stepping into this restaurant, one finds sophisticated and tasteful décor - white linens on the tables, dark wooden chairs and paneling, with an atmosphere that can probably best be described as “British influenced” with understated touches of Malaysian.

Our party ordered four dishes. The Roti Prata with Chicken Curry ($9.95) presented a sizeable dipping bowl filled with generous chunks of high-quality chicken breast and potato curry, into which a hot and fluffy paratha pancake is dipped. Although Roti Prata is pretty much a flagship dish of Malaysian/Singaporean restaurants, Merlion’s rendition was better than any I had tasted previously, mainly because of the perfection with which they prepared the chicken curry.
Singapore Hainanese Chicken ($9.95) again arrived with a generous proportion of quality chicken breast meat. I keep reiterating this because all too often one finds that Asian restaurants shortchange tremendously on meat quality to cut corners on cost. To the contrary, it seems that Merlion pays attention to the quality and authenticity of their creations over all else. They deserve major kudos for this, for Southeast Asian cuisine at its best is a beautiful thing, while at its worst can be outright atrocious.

I myself ordered the Sizzling Beef ($14.95) which arrived on a sizzling plate (surprisingly enough) with a black pepper sauce with broccoli and bell peppers. WOW. The meat was ribeye, and some of the finest and most tender I have tasted in any restaurant, across all ethnicities. Each piece was juicy and flavorful, and the sauce and vegetables complemented the disk wonderfully.

Our party split a Mixed Vegetables ($10.95) dish, which was stir-fried in a brown sauce and large enough to split amongst four individuals with some leftovers.

The owner greeted us on the way out and invited us back. She was extremely personable and obviously places a great deal of pride and care in her restaurant. After having lived in the San Francisco Bay Area, a mecca for Southeast Asian cuisine, I don’t hesitate to say that Merlion beats all such places I tried out there. Truly a gem for the Triangle area or any city in this country.

The countdown begins

Our mission is to expose the culinary bounties of the Triangle area of North Carolina. From Raleigh to Durham to Chapel Hill to Carrboro and points farther afield, we will chronicle our restaurant experiences and call the shots as we see them.

-We are not professionals.
-We are not trained in the culinary arts.
-We accept no cash, donations, or bling from restaurants in hopes of influencing our reviews.
-We support local restaurants, not chains, and pay for all our meals out of pocket.
-No hearsay involved: we eat at every restaurant listed.

Purpose? to fight the fight for good restaurants, and disincentivize bad ones. To inform locals and visitors alike. To have some fun. To promote the culinary arts right here in our hometown.