What To Have

Moonlight Pizza is a lunch staple for me. I usually go with the salad/pizza combo, but today i tried something new.

I had The Dark Side of the Moon …one word…WOW!! This is another example of how you can take a normal item and make it 10 times better with great ingredients. This is a grilled portabella mushroom sandwich, and yet it’s so much more. They start with super fresh bread. They get giant French loafs that they cut off to make their sandwich bread, lightly buttered and toasted. Next a huge portabella mushroom is grilled to perfection. It’s cooked to the point that its soft and juicy. Top that with fresh lettuce, tomato and onion. It doesn’t stop there. It’s rear that you’ll find fresh basil in a dish, they slice thin strips and sprinkle them over the sandwich. Then they blend some basil with their fresh mayo. This is a huge sandwich with lots and lots of flavor, I might have another one this week!!

–Matt

The Humble Pie is always a great place to gather with friends for food and drinks. The food was amazing this time as well.

I talked about their grilled andouille sausage in a previous review so this time I’ll focus on the two other dishes I tried, their soup of the day and their ravioli.

I started with the soup, because it had been cold again in Raleigh after a wonderful week of warm weather. The soup was definitely not what I expected, but it made the meal. I’m not sure when they do this dish, but if it’s on the menu try it. It was Lobster Dumpling Soup or something like that. This dish was really less of a “soup” and more of a creative way to present lobster dumplings. They started with a small bowl of broth (think about 1 cup) and cooked a few vegetables with it. Then they deep fried 3 dumplings stuffed with lobster and spices. The dumplings were then arranged in the cup of broth so that they were halfway submerged. The closest thing I can think of is half-fried dumplings. But unlike those dumplings these were crunchy on one side and soft on the other. It was a texture I’d never really enjoyed before. Try this out if you can.

Part two of the meal was porcini and ricotta ravioli . I have to say, after the soup, I had pretty high expectations. Again, I was not disappointed. The ravioli were small hand made delights bursting with flavor. One of the best parts was that they were in an alfredo sauce but it wasn’t overpowering. The flavors and textures were able to meld together without one thing being too dominant.

I’d recommend any of these dishes with a nice glass of wine or a beer.

–Matt

There are a couple new cajun restaurants that have sprung up and come back in the recent months. As a big fan of spicy food, i’ve visited them a few times. Yancey is back with his place and The Big Easy is open a few blocks down. Both places are on Fayetteville street and while both are “Cajun” they both offer something a little different. I’ll detail Yancey’s in another article

I find that the big easy is a very good deal for the money. Their entrée’s are a good size and they often start with a salad. Tonight I had a couple of my favorites. The Louisiana Pretzel and the * Crawfish Etoufee*. The pretzel is definitely something different to try. It’s a large soft pretzel covered with crab/artichoke dip and cheese that’s baked until it’s warm throughout. I’m a big fan of all the ingredients, crab dip, artichoke dip, pretzel and of course cheese. I never would have combined them, they do it very well. I usually get this to start when I visit.

My main dish was their crawfish etoufee. It starts with a small house salad and your choice of dressing. The main dish is a fairly large bowl of etoufee with a pile of rice in the center. It has all the makings of great etoufee. The roux is light brown with plenty of flavor, the crawfish are cooked perfectly (not over-done and chewy). The dish is not too spicy but you can spice it up with some of the hot sauce on the table.

When you check the big easy out, also look notice the atmosphere, it’s what I’d expect to see in a New Orleans joint. They also cater to parties and events with their large upstairs area and large bar.

–Matt

The Triangle Wine Experience is a local event that benefits the Frankie Lemmon School and Development Center. It’s an annual event in Raleigh that matches great restaurants in the area with wine makers from around the world. Throughout the week during the experience, restaurants sell seats to a special meal that lets the establishment’s chef cook whatever they choose to pair with wines from the selected maker. This year over 25 restaurants participated. Seats are generally around $100 per person and includes a multiple course meal and paired wines. Proceeds go to the Frankie Lemmon School.

I would suggest participating in a TWE dinner If you like wine, want to help the kids and are interested in great food. The rest of the weekend includes events based around wine. There is usually a wine tasting, a wine and gift auction and a grand gala. These events can expose you to wines from around the world that you would usually never have the opportunity to sample.

This year I went to the TWE dinner at Second Empire. It was a treat, I’d never dined in the main dining room and I’ve heard many good things about the paired winery Robert Foley Vineyards

The meal, the wines and the experience was exceptional.

The wines: We were able to try the three current offering from Robert Foley, the Claret, the Charbono and the Petite Sirah. I actually purchased the charbono later on.

The meal: Given the ability to stretch their legs, chef’s in this position often come up with out of the ordinary dishes they wish to test out. I thought that although the dishes were uncommon, they was no sense of being rushed or having something thrown out. The dishes paired the wines extremely well. The starting dish included grilled mushrooms with truffle oil and balsamic vinegar. My two favorites were the meat dishes, a seared venison tenderloin and then braised pork wrapped in a pastry shell. The meal was finished with hand made chocolate truffles.

Items from this meal aren’t available on the regular menu, so next year, when the TWE is going on, I’d suggest signing up and trying out one of the local participants. I’ve never been disappointed.

–Matt

The Raleigh Times is one of downtown’s new and trendiest additions. They offer first tier “bar food” but really, it’s not what I’d consider bar food. They don’t fry everything and each dish doesn’t come with French fries. Usually the sandwiches come with a small portion of whatever the chef felt like making. Previous choices have included fresh pasta salad and fresh potato salad. French fries are available for those looking for something more traditional to American bar food.

For lunch I had one of my favorite comfort foods. Their BLT. I think I’ve said before on here that I am a fan of BLT’s, this one ranks close to the top. I’ve called this sandwich the “almost too much bacon” BLT in the past. The “almost” is there because can you ever have too much bacon? I don’t think so!

This is a basic sandwich made with fresh ingredients. The bread is a fluffy wheatberry, the lettuce and tomato fresh, the mayo made in-house and we’ve already discussed the bacon. In my opinion this is a perfect choice for a meal.

Raleigh Times is also a great place for dinner, they go far beyond what I’d expect for a restaurant with such a casual atmosphere. Look for other reviews later but just know, they corn their own beef for rueben sandwiches, they freshly prepare their guacamole and the burgers are one of the only places you can get below well done because they grind their own hamburger.

I’ve had virtually everything on the menu, and future reviews will include more of my suggestions.

–Matt