Archive for December, 2007

What To Have (expanded)

Thursday, December 20th, 2007

I’ve decided to expand the scope of my discussion a little bit. This blog was started because I got a lot of questions about where to eat/go when friends came downtown. I’m still focusing on that and I’m going to include a couple other aspects. Mainly, I’m going to include parking in downtown when you go to these places. I constantly hear about parking being a hassle in downtown but I believe it’s more of a lack of knowledge about options that are available. So, from now on I’m going to include where to park in my recommendations.

The second addition will be theme based recommendations. For example, look for an upcoming article about where to get good tequila. I’m a tequila fan so I’ve got some recommendations. Other topics can be best burger, or good late night.

As always, thanks for reading and let me know if you have any suggestions.

-Matt

The Pit

Tuesday, December 4th, 2007

I tried one of Raleigh’s newest places last night. The Pit opened up shortly after Thanksgiving. It’s located where Nana’s used to be and is still owned by Empire Eats, they also do The Duck and Dumpling, Raleigh Times and Morning Times. Ed Mitchell is the pitmaster, he’s been around the NC BBQ scene for quite a while.

I started with the B.B.L.T. This is bbq bacon on two homemade bisciuts with lettuce, tomato and garlic aioli. I’m a blt fan, and this was done well. The biscuits are fresh and fluffy and the garlic aioli added a little extra taste to the traditional sandwich.

For my entree I got the Double Combo. I chose BBQ Chicken and Pulled Pork Shoulder. The chicken was fall off the bone tender. The sauce wasnt too heavy and it was very good. The main reason for me going was obviously the BBQ. The pork shoulder was excellent as well. As with many bbq joints, you get a lot of food. You can tell time and care went into the preparation of this dish. They’ve got 3 sauces available. 2 vinegar based (one hot, one not) and a sweeter texas style sauce. They’re all good, adn they all go well with everything, my favorite was the hottest one. You could taste some of the heat. People can argue for days about bbq and sauces etc.., Mitchell’s food goes well enough that no matter what sauce you prefer, the food will stand up with it.

Along with the two meats, you get an assortment of breads (cornbread, biscuits hush puppies), slaw and your choice of a couple sides. I had the greens and black eye peas. All of which I would recommend.

The menu is broad enough that there are still many things i want to try. They’ve got a blue-cheese filet, horseradish slaw, fried chicken, chopped BBQ, ribs and brisket. I’ll definitely be back soon to work my way through the menu.

-Matt