RLJ Eats

It’s Restaurant Week in Raleigh, which is a great reason to get back into blogging.  We, here at RLJ eats…namely R, L and J, took a small respite in blogging due the fact that we were eating more in than out.  So we decided to start blogging our own meals too!  Soon to come…

For those of you who are not aware, this week through Sunday (only two more days left!) is Triangle Restaurant Week, where local restaurants create a 3 course meal for $20 or $30 for patrons to choose from.  Here’s a list of restaurants participating: Triangle Restaurant Week

I’ve been to two Italian restaurants so far this week, 518 West and Caffe Luna.  We’re grading them on a scale of 1 spoon to 5 spoons for the following categories: atmosphere, first course, entree, dessert course, and overall experience for $20 menu. 

Atmosphere:  When you first walk into 518 West, there is a bar with tvs projecting the night’s college basketball game and a room full of booths.  There are a couple of private rooms and we are seated in the one with the fountain; boys, ask for the one with the fountain.  It’s really nice to hear the water splashing in the background and you feel as though no one else is there, even though the room is full just from the background noice.  The tables are covered with a traditional italian setting of salt, pepper, balsamic vinegar and EVOO bottles. They bring out a basket of rosemary-kalamata olive loaf when you get there and tell you to dip it in a mixture of balsamic and EVOO on little plates.  I added a little pepper and salt to mine to taste, and it was seriously overwhelming in taste.  That bread was amazing.  I had our waitress, Jamie, bring out an extra piece so I could “soak up my sauce from the entree” but it was really only to have another bite of that bread.  

When you first walk into Caffe Luna, the walls are covered with art from Nicole Parker, one of the restaurant owners.  If you’ve got a bit of time to wait, read the article against the wall from Southern Living 2004 explaining how the restaurant came into existence.  The walls are covered in paintings by local artists and there is a story that makes this place seem cozy even though it is packed.  While you wait for the first course, they bring out a soft ciabatta bread with an EVOO dipping sauce with crushed black pepper.  This sauce, compared to the other, was more about appreciating the taste of Olive Oil.  Unlike the 518W, I actually just saved my bread for the meal, again for more dipping.  

ATMOSPHERE:  518 WEST:    Caffe Luna:  

First Course/Appetizer: For restaurant week, the choices are limited to a select few.  Surprisingly enough for an italian restaurant, the apps both included Ceasar salads or another choice, (Goat Cheese and Walnut salad at CL, and Tomato Basil Soup at 518W).  I tried the Ceasar at both, and got to try the Goat Cheese and Walnut at CL, but we’ll just compare apples to apples here.  

The plate of Ceasar salad at 518W has 3 kalamata olives on it with homemade croutons and a very light Ceasar dressing.  It doesn’t taste convoluted by parmesean cheese, and there is a healthy serving of iceberg lettuce on the plate.  

The Insalata di Ceasare at Caffe Luna is one you’ve had before. It is iceberg lettuce with store bought croutons, and the sauce is overwhelmingly coated in parmesean cheese.  

FIRST COURSE:  518 WEST:   Caffe Luna:  

Entree/Main Dish: At each restaurant, there are four choices to peruse through until you pick one that suits your fancy.  Check out the link listed above for the full listings for Restaurant Week.  

At 518 West, I tried the Wood Grilled Salmon, as they describe it is: Sustainable, farm raised organic salmon over fettuccine Alfredo with spinach and sun-dried tomatoes.  I’ve never been a dare devil enough to try Salmon in pasta really, and I have been missing out.  I got the salmon cooked medium rare, and it came out beautifully pink, laid on top of a creamy alfredo sauce with a plethora of spinach and sun-dried tomatoes.  They bring you a slice of lemon and you squeeze the heck out of it; afterwards, the plate comes alive (as if it already wasn’t) with taste, and every bite is citrusy, creamy, and a great balance between salt and wood flavoring of the salmon.  About halfway through of enjoying every bite of this dish, I noticed how much spinach was in it and that I was running out of sun-dried tomatoes.  Spinach is not very flavorful in dishes with so many aromas going on, so it kind of got drowned out.  Other than getting a vegetable in to my daily food groups and to get another color on the plate, I barely, tastewise, knew it was there.  Overall, the dish was great.  

At Caffe Luna, I tried the Tortelloni di Funghi, Porcini mushroom stuffed in a cremini mushroom cream sauce.  If you don’t like mushrooms, don’t get this dish. I LOVE MUSHROOMS!!  Cremini mushrooms are a small, italian, brown mushroom commonly used in place of portabello or button mushrooms and they pack a lot of flavor.  This sauce was amazing.  There are little bits of ground up mushroom mixed into the cream and it is covering everything.  There are little slices of cremini mushroom on the plate with the 10 tortellonis.  The tortellonis are lacking in mushroom punch, but really highlight the sauce well.  There is just the right amount of sauce so every piece of pasta can be thoroughly dunked and a little extra for bread dipping at the end to clean the plate.  I thought about asking our waitress to bring a ladle of extra sauce just so I could take it home to try to replicate it (ps…there is no chance of replicating this amazing sauce…it’s amazing). This dish was great!

ENTREE:  518 WEST:   Caffe Luna:  

Dessert: Now, to be fair, 518 West ran out of the Tiramisu they were offering and so we got to pick anything off their menu of dessert, but having had their Millionaire Pie, I feel as though my life is now worth living.  It is a chocolate glazed peanut butter mousse on a graham cracker crust served with whipped cream and white and dark chocolate sauces. To be honest, I don’t think their description does it justice.  The top layer is a decadent chocolate ganache, and the peanut butter mousse is light and sweet, and the graham cracker crust is topped with another layer of chocolate.  Every bite of it was worth the entire $20 experience.  You get to take bites of it and dip it in the white/dark chocolate swirls that cover the plate and make it even more magical.  I think people should go here just because of this dessert.  Seriously.  I also think people should run after eating it. 

At Caffe Luna, I tried their Torta di mousse ciocolato.  (PS. I like that all of their menu items are written in italian, but still easy enough to read. Adds flair and atmosphere to the menu).  It is a vanilla layer cake with chocolate ganache, marscapone, and chocolate mousse in between the layers of this tall, thin slice of cake topped with a dollop of whipped cream.  When you eat this cake, you kind of have to eat it as two different cakes.  There’s the ganache/marscapone layers and there’s the mousse and vanilla cake layers.  Both layers are equally delicious.  The marscapone flavors really make for almost a sweet cream cheese taste (but a little healthier), and the mousse layer had hints of cocoa and espresso.  It was definitely worth tasting. 

DESSERT:  518 WEST:   Caffe Luna:  

Overall Experience for the $20:  Now I know Restaurant Week makes eating at these places extremely affordable for what we got for our money, but in this category we’re pairing the price tag with what we feel like we got for our money.  

At 518West, we had an awesome Ceasar Salad, amazing bread, a salmon alfredo (seriously, this dish alone is almost $20 on their regular menu), and that pie…oh that pie, I sing your praises, Millionaire Pie.  

For the $20, I’d have to say this was an absolute steal.  Looking for somewhere to go for Restaurant Week, Pick this place and you won’t be disappointed with the money you spend.  

At Caffe Luna, we had a good Ceasar Salad, good bread, amazing entrees, and a good dessert.  The entrees listed for Restaurant Week are not listed on their regular menu, which looks as though it changes frequently.  But we didn’t see a single meal priced over $16.95 on their regular menu.  So you could actually recreate getting this meal to a similar price that you got today, and that’s a real steal any day of the year!

Wanna try a restaurant that won’t break your wallet any day of the week? Pick this one, and you won’t be disappointed.  

OVERALL EXPERIENCE:  518 WEST:   Caffe Luna:  

FINAL SCORES:  518 WEST just beats out Caffe Luna by a point, scoring 19 spoons over 18 spoons!!

Either way, try them both on your own and you be the judge! We had a great time trying them ourselves!  

Eat what you Love…Love what you Eat!

So it’s time for you to do your part, followers!! Start posting ideas of places you’d like for us to try.  We’re ready for a challenge, or an easy bite, but we want to post about your ideas!

Hence…the other night we were driving around with no idea of where to go.  We were in a dinner/tavern kind of mood and thought of Poole’s diner.  It was…too fancy for what we were thinking. Probably delicious, but not appropriate for hoodies and boots.  We drove around downtown and were close to City Market when we remembered Woody’s. 

It’s the bar where everyone knows your name, at least that’s what it feels like.  You come in, grab a table, and order food.  They have an impressive draught beer selection, so if you like to wet your whistle, this is a good place to do it.  They had ESPN on no less than 7 TVs and a jackaloupe. Needless to say, the atmosphere was not lacking.

We started off with the Buffalo Rangoons.  I know it sounds crazy, but they were amazing.  The rangoons look just like what you’d expect from your local China Chinese or Hong Kong #1, the sharp wonton dough prongs make it easy to pick up with your fingers.  The only difference?  They are stuffed with buffalo shredded chicken and doused in a sweet and spicy hot sauce.  AMAZING! Really. It’s one of the Woody’s signature dishes, and it’s definitely something I’d like to leave my fingerprints on. 

We had a guest diner tonight, Andrew Lee Baucom, fresh from the motherland of Afghanistan, who is not afraid to shoot straight from the hip.  He tried the “Woody’s Famous Wings”.  Do you ever feel like people say something is famous when they really aren’t? How does something become famous on a menu?  Well, these were good wings.  He tried 20 wings, split in half by flavor of Spicy BBQ and Hot, served with a side of carrots with ranch and a lot of napkins.  A heat seeker, the hot sauce was definitely hot enough to leave your mouth burning but not enough to make you stop eating and yell for milk.  The Spicy BBQ were sweet but with a kick to remind you that they said spicy.  And the carrots? I know it’s strange, but the carrots were awesome. Just litte carrot stubs in a basket with some ranch, but it really makes the meal.

Jason was having a safe night so he tried the cracker crusted chicken sandwich.  He wanted to go for something crazy on the menu, but his stomach said…Stick with the chicken.  And he was glad he did.  The chicken had a great crust on it, so much so that when you’re full, you take a part the sandwich to get to the chicken.  It had avocados and cheddar cheese like a club and he got a side of tater tots.  This sparked an incredible conversation about whether or not you can always, universally trust a restaurant that serves tater tots on their menu.  We’ve decided that this is a true statement. Any restaurant that serves tater tots is a safe, wonderful establishment to eat at and fee comfortable. 

Lauren tried the Italian Philly, another Woody’s Signature Item.  It is chicken with provolone cheese, and instead of peppers, it comes with broccoli rabe (or leaves) and is topped with parmesean cheese.  This was the worst sandwich she’s eaten in a long time.  The flavors don’t mix with what you’d think of when you hear Italian Philly.  You want it to be salami or pepperoni mixed in with chicken or beef, with provolone and vinegar like an Italian club.  The broccoli rabe smelled and tasted the same, old. The parmesean brought this taste out of the broccoli rabe, so that was a bad combination too.  After taking out the broccoi rabe and scraping off the parmesean, the taste still lingered so it was a meal you have to suffer through…something you never want to pay for.  Maybe that’s what it’s supposed to taste like, but I hope not.  But, the meal was not a total loss. It came with a side of sweet potato tots and that was a new thing to try.  They’re smaller than a regular tot, but they pack a sweet punch.  It was a nice comfort to the total mess of the sandwich. 

Overall, Woody’s is awesome. The food you’d expect to get at a bar tastes great. The appetizers, wings, and club sandwiches are phenomenal.  So in this case, as in many, probably should’ve sticked to our own advice:

Eat what you love…love what you eat

What do you eat on Halloween besides candy?  Jason is a meat eater, so while I could definitely live on only chocolate alone, we had to find something with sustenance.  What better place to go than to a Mexican restaurant!?  I head that Cantina South on Downtown Glenwood had some amazing empanadas. This is not true. Do not go for the empanadas. The only place Cantina South has empanadas on their menu is for dessert.  Disappointed for sure…we were definitely in the mood for small pastries filled with delicious things.  

BUT! All is not lost! We carried on and started off with their complimentary chips and pico de gallo.  Their pico has a healthy amount of tomatoes, cilantro, red onion and lime juice, with a little bit of salt.  It’s definitely nice to start off a traditional Tex Mex with a good chips and salsa.  We decided our appetites weren’t quite set enough, so we kept on with the starters and orders the Queso with chorizo and poblanas rajas (although the handmade guacamole at the table also sounded amazing).  The cheese dip was delicious!  Chorizo is a traditional Mexican sausage that has spices and tomato puree that causes it to be a little oily. That’s normal and it definitely adds to the taste of the Queso!

Jason was really digging the shrimp tonight so he wanted to try the Quesadilla de las Camarones.  It came with a side of black beans and Arroz Canario, or yellow rice. He LOVED the beans. I even tried them, they were so good! They had some queso fresco atop to dress it, with a salty, chipotle taste.  The rice also had good flavor, with a little salt and tomatoes on top.  The Shrimp Quesadilla had the perfect amount of spice, with a nice tomato and corn salsa on the inside. It hit the spot! 

Lauren tried something called the “Chef Specialty” Burrito, as suggested by our awesome waiter Brennan (definitely ask for him if you go there…he even boxed my takeout place!)  In the Chef’s Choice, the customer picks the meat, and the Chef chooses everything else. It’s kind of like a surprise in a tortilla! It was definitely exciting to try something created just for me! I picked carnitas (slow roasted pork) and then waited with great anticipation to see what the chef came up with.  The burrito that came out was like a Carnitas Club.  It had the yellow rice that was like Jason’s side, red pinto beans, bacon, and carnitas, topped with a little ranchero queso. It was really good!  It came with a side of guacamole and sour cream. The guacamole was delicious, and I am a really picky guacamole judge!  It was the perfect compliment to the club-style burrito.  

We were going to try the empanadas for dessert, since again, that’s why we went there, but decided that candy would be our dessert since trick or treating basically got canceled out by the rain.  BUT! before we went home, we decided to go embarrass Ryan by walking into his store with our hawaiian punch and cheeseburger in paradise food-inspired costumes!!

Eat what you love…love what you Eat.

Congratulations to @jlboyette, @LBmathemagician and @bigbody15 for a completed Varsity Volleyball season.  You see, tonight was not just a night of eating, tonight was a celebration. And what better way to celebrate than with a Groupon for great food for an even cheaper price! We set out tonight to celebrate the end of a great year at the Flying Biscuit!  And believe you me, their biscuit is definitely flying out of this world!  The flaky baked biscuits are made in shop, sprinkled with a little “fairy dust” also known as sugar on top. It’s a nice touch, but the true treat is in the cranberry apple butter they serve along side the worth-it-to-eat-this-many-carbs biscuit.  Coming from someone with a texture gag reflex of 1000, I have never found a jelly I could look at through a jar and even remotely think of putting on a piece of food I was going to eat, but this is different.  You can see the texture isn’t like jam, and it isn’t like jelly. You can taste and see the fruit mashed up in the mix.  The cranberries are like the secret, but printed on the menu ingredient that make it so wonderful.  Sometimes towards the end of our meal we order biscuits just to take them home for breakfast in the morning.  (FYI…they’re better if they’re fresh..not a suggested technique).  So for me to like it, they must be doing something amazing. 

We decided to grab an appetizer because Jason was into trying new things tonight (go figure).  We got something called the “Side of Love”, and according to Jason, “it looked like dog crap”. It was a black bean cake, topped with tomatillo salsa, feta cheese, sour crema, and red onions. It’s like a little carb-friendly southwestern way to wake up your stomach for the food that’s coming next.  I appreciated that they made it a black bean cake since I ate two biscuits instead of the suggested dosage of one.  

Our food came out fast, so Jason had a reason to ditch the side dish without making it look intentional. He ordered the Chicken Fried Steak, slathered with their delicious gravy, with a side of oven baked fries and macaroni and cheese.  The fries were perfect, with a raw cut so you could tell it came from a real potato and not a bag.  The two squares of macaroni and cheese was grilled after it was baked so that was a different look than Jason was used to, but still delicious. 

I ordered the Oven Fried Chicken in honor of my friend Katy Coleman! It’s her favorite meal because it just looks like home-cooking and it’s got great color variety. The meal does look beautiful on the plate when it comes out.  The oven fried chicken had this great bread crumb crust, that was crispy and then was slathered in more of that great gravy they put on anything that looks close to being plain.  The chicken was a huge portion, yet as you cut away small pieces, you just can’t seem to make yourself stop eating! It’s just that good. This dish came with a side of collard greens and macaroni and cheese.  I dressed the greens up the way my Grandmother taught me: with vinegar and Texas Pete.  They probably could’ve gone without the dressing though, as they weren’t lacking anything in the taste department. I thought the macaroni and cheese had a weird after taste, but I think it might have been the white cheddar that I’m not used to eating.  

Overall, not a bad celebratory meal. I hear that you should never go on Sundays (which I’ve experienced the wait firsthand and it is definitely not worth it), but I think this Wednesday night stop was a great way to unwind from a long season.  

Eat what you love…love what you eat

PS. Ryan promises to interact with us soon, and to blog about his Tour of Asia as soon as he stops being busy.

Jason and I went out last night to catch the Brooks Wood, Delta Rae, and Alternate Routes show for Music 4 More charity, but we were hungry before we went!! It was already 10pm and we were thinking to ourselves, where can we go get quality food at this time of night?  We narrowed the choices down to Armadillo Grill and Mellow Mushroom and it was clear where we were going. Pizza Pizza Pizza!!

If you’ve never been to Mellow Mushroom, the decor could scare you or throw you into a trippy state if you’re not careful.  There are dancing mushrooms everywhere.  While it took the waiter a while to get over, by the time he got there we knew what we wanted to drink, to start with, and to eat.  We were trying to make the show!

We tried something new on their menu: the Fun-Dough Bites.  They are little parmesean topped small balls of dough that are fried a little bit.  They come with three different sauces and we asked for a fourth, their famous marinara sauce. Surprisingly, we used that one the least.  They had a parmesean cheese dip, which was more saucy than stringy.  It was super salty, but good, but our least favorite of the three.  They had a Lone Rider Rogue beer induced sweet glaze.  It was really sweet, but pretty good. It definitely tasted like beer, so for me, it was great, and for Jason…eh.  The last dip was a sweet honey spicy brown mustard. It was definitely the best! If you’re a mustard lover, this will be right up your alley.  

As we had finished only half our bites, our perfect pizza came out.  We got a medium which was 2 slices two many for people splitting an appetizer too, but enough to bring home leftovers to Ryan (he really does promise to come out and be social at some point). We got a split pizza, half Mighty Meaty and half Funky Q. Chicken.  It was nice to have two pizzas with two different base sauces. The Mighty Meaty has their marinara, topped with a ton of different meats! I saw pepperoni, hamburger, ham, bacon (big chunks), and sausage. Amazing flavor.  Very meaty.  The Funky Q was their take on barbeque pizza.  It’s definitely not overly bbq flavor.  The chicken has an induced bbq flavor and their is a bbq sauce over it, but no marinara which would definitely overpower the bbq taste.  The caramelized onions are great, although Jason picked them off, it still was great.  My favorite was the Funky Q and Jason loved the Mighty Meaty.  

We finished our meal and ran to the Pour House just in time to see Delta Rae!! It was great food and a great show! 

Eat what you love…love what you eat

This is just something about the coolness of fall that lets the leaves gently whisper “State Fair”.  Even though we live 7 miles away, we can smell the freshly fried food and the smoke from the fireworks from here.  Every night we remark about how if we lived elsewhere, we’d think we were getting shot at, but no, for 10 days the fireworks light up the sky somewhere in the distance.  

So, tonight we went to the NC State Fair.  We decided to do a tour of the foods you have to eat at the state fair with this visit.  If we go again, we’ll try the foods you think about trying but never do.  Jason has only missed one state fair in his 33 years, and it was last year, so he was excited to get back in the greasy saddle an he’s a great navigator!  He suggests that the only good places to eat are the ones that look like permanent structures, meaning that they have to be built and that they only service the NC State Fair.  In other words, the dumpier the stand, the better the food, because it’s their only place to showcase their specialties.  

We started off the night with some Al’s Fries, which were perfect! We each got a small.  I doctor mine up pretty simply, a little malt vinegar and salt and a good ketchup dipper on the side.  Jason got a little fancy.  He went light on the malt vinegar, heavy on the Texas Pete, and the spices (which he calls Bojangles specialness).  Definitely get the small and don’t share.  There was at least two whole potatoes in my tray!  You can get a small and a drink for $5; one of the best deals at the fair except for….(See later post)

After the fries, we took a light walk to Hills Corn on the Cob.  Wrapped in foil, the cobs were fresh off the grill in the back and hot, hot HOT!!  We had ours dipped in “butter” and then gave them an extra kick.  Jason accidentally dumped chili powder on his and I hit mine with some Old Bay…just the way your mother likes it Trebek! It was delicious!  Shout out to Dan Meyer!

After the corn, we took an eating break to go visit the Education Building to see all the First Place Blue Ribbon Awards.  We stopped to look at the cakes, and we think the person with the clocks and gears cake got robbed of a good title; definitely the best cake out there.  We met a young peanut who gave us a couple of Houston’s to chew on as we passed through the aisles of canned goods.  We sampled the House Autry hush puppies.  To be honest, I don’t think anybody else can make a hush puppy quite like they can.  It’s still amazing to me that people will stand in a line with at least 30 people to get a little bit of fried corn meal.  That’s how you know it’s good.  

We ran in to our friend Sam soon after that and he let us sample his Maple Cotton Candy.  It was so sweet, I could only take one bite, but it definitely beat out the Bonne Bees Cotton Candy we had in the Kerr Scott Building.  As we kept traveling, we ran into the Mt. Olive stand and each got a pickle.  Jason would like to stop right here and mention that Mt. Olive pickles are really the only good pickle out there.  He got the Large Dill and I got the original Kosher.  All the Mt. Olive ladies said that Kosher is definitely the best, and I’d have to agree! They have a huge variety of flavors, and they are only $.50 each!! Worth taking a dollar and finding your favorite flavor.  

We made sure to get our milk once we got to the Kerr Scott Building.  I love getting milk each year!! The boys at the station were so great they let me take all their stickers for my students.  I love the free stuff room.  We tried more peanuts from Rocky Mount, and later I got some peanuts grown in Warsaw.  But one of our favorite treats was definitely the Pecan Crisp Cookie by Mama Dips’ granddaughter, Tonya.  Man, can she make a cookie!! It’s light and airy, and has the perfect pecan taste of fall.  

We left the Kerr Scott building after looking at the amazing photographs and I reminded Jason that he should enter a little too late (He really is a phenomenal photographer! Go see at sweetteav.com!).  We walked outside and realized we really hadn’t had anything of substance and immediately walked towards the Westover United Methodist Original Country Ham Biscuit.  We stood in line for over 10 minutes, which is quite long for a small building like that, but man was the fruit of our labor amazing.  The ham biscuit is so perfectly sculpted, huge pieces of ham, salty, flaky biscuit, and with just a bit of mustard, tastes like every breakfast should.  And for only $1.75, this is definitely the BEST deal at the fair!!

We decided to educate ourselves on the country pig, considering that must be where the country ham came from.  We didn’t find any, but the grand champion animals were fun to see.  We ended the night with some mini donuts, and I am seriously considering getting myself one of those machines! It was the coolest! It drops the donuts down in perfect little O’s, flips them over when they’re perfectly brown, and they throw some cinnamon and sugar on them and shake the bag up to make a great fair dessert!!  

As we finished up our 8-course highly-caloric meal, we headed out the back gate happy and full.  We decided to run the mile the whole way to the car in hopes of making ourselves feel better tomorrow.  But even if we feel awful tomorrow and our faces are covered with zits from all the oil we just ingested, nothing beats a state fair, and nothing beats the state of North Carolina.  

Eat what you Love…Love what you Eat

Jason and I ventured to Mantra, the Indian Cuisine and Bar, on West St. today for lunch.  It’s where the Blue Martini used to be next to Napper Tandy’s and it’s been open for about two weeks.  Mantra means “creating transformations”, which is what we’re hoping to do to Jason’s bread-and-butter-only tastebuds.    

Jason traveled to India a couple of years ago, but he only ate rice, except for his PB-n-J that he traditionally ate.  It was made of naan for those of you who are interested in how he did that.  He never got to really experience the Indian culture through food so I was excited about getting him to try some new stuff, and he was worried about the curry. 

I got a Mango Lassi, one of my favorite things to drink. I love mango! It’s such a sweet, aromatic flavor and the color is really beautiful.  The drink was great.  When I described it, I said the word “yogurt” drink, and Jason decided he couldn’t go out on that limb. New tactics forming…

We got the Thali for 2, which includes a soup or salad and choice of three entrees.  It also includes rice, naan, and raita, a cucumber y***** like sauce.  When we ordered it, they dimmed the lights to set the mood I guess since it was just the two of us eating in the whole restaurant.  We told them we’d rather see the food since we’re not dating.  It was pretty funny. 

When they start your meal, they bring out these air chips, which our waiter called “indian chips”, with four different kind of dips.  Guys, if you like chips and dip, this wasn’t that far fetched from the norm.  The dips were really cool.  You got to pick your favorite flavor of the four and they brought out more of those for you to use during your meal.  The four flavors were tamarind, cumin, mango, and raita. We liked the cumin and mango the best.  The cumin kind of tasted like salsa verde, and obviously I thought the mango was AWESOME! (see previous paragraph)

When we finally started thinking about eating, we noticed the really cool silverware holder.  Jason got the Thamata soup.  ”You say Thamata, I say tomato”.  He said that was one of the only dishes he had in India, and he really liked it.  So at least course one was in the bag.  I got the Mantra salad, which was like a normal house salad, except it had lentils on it. Never had beans on my salad before (other than good chick pea or two) so that was definitely new.  

For our three entrees, we ordered the Tandoori Basil Murgh, Murgh Chettinad, and the Baked Began Bharta.  The Tandoori Basil Chicken came with a green paste on it, that was a mix of basil, lemon and ginger. It was tangy, and still on the bone, so the chicken was cooked perfectly.  Murgh Chettinad, which we were told is similar to chicken in red curry sauce, was really spicy! I had 4 glasses of water, and tried to use the naan (really awesome grilled bread) and rice to counteract the spice.  They told us afterwards we could’ve toned down the spice, which I highly suggest, but Jason said it was just right: Just hot enough to clear our your sinuses but not your colon.  The Baked Began Bharta was sliced eggplant atop pureed eggplant.  The eggplant was very soft, and the garlic-induced pureed eggplant was a nice way to serve the same thing twice on the same plate, never would’ve known it was the same vegetable!  So overall, Jason liked the Murgh Chettinand the best (even brought some home), I liked the Baked Began Bharta, and we both thought the Tandoori Basil Chicken was “good”.  

For dessert, we sampled the mango mousse and the pistachio ice cream.  The mango mousse was the house specialty and it was really interesting.  It had lots of mango flavor and a airy texture that was really unexpected.  The pistachio ice cream…was something we left behind.   We didn’t want that to be the last bite of what we ate there because everything else was SO GOOD!  So, we just ate more mousse instead.  

We had enough food to bring home lunch for Ryan, who didn’t make it out today who was otherwise detained.  He promises to make it to the next meal.  

Eat what you Love…Love what you Eat!

RLJ Eats is a new restaurant adventure team that uses photography and verse to entice your senses to try something new in downtown Raleigh.  The team consists of Ryan, Lauren and Jason, and we will blog about the different places we are adventurous enough to try. 

Ryan is a MvF fanatic who loves a good greasy spoon.  Always cautious of the hole in his wallet, he’s always willing to try a new street meat or dive restaurant in search of the perfect late night meal.  His palette has been on a road trip across the United States, and he’s eaten at least something in every state.  Willing to go where no one else will, he’s our food court and hot dog cart expert.  

Lauren is a food lover from birth.  She loves to take her tongue traveling in search of a new taste.  Having been the child of a military soldier, she’s had the chance to taste things all over the world and is in love with trying new things.  She’s hoping to dig up the best kept secrets of the Raleigh restaurant world and send others out there to try it themselves!

Jason is a world traveler who is afraid to eat anything but PB-n- J’s when he’s out of the country.  He’s trying to extend his palette from crunchy or creamy to something a little more exciting.  He’s hoping that trying out different cultural foods in town will help him be more adventurous when he takes his big trips!!  Raised on Bojangles and sweet tea, here’s hoping his tongue (and not his belly) does back flips over baklava and tacos de pastor!

So here’s the deal:  We’ll go anywhere. We love suggestions!!  We’ll write about our experiences when we get back and let you know what and what not to get.  Then you put on your big girl panties and go out into the world yourself and start eating!!

Eat what you Love…Love what you Eat