A Gracious Plenty

Ever since we started this blog I have wanted to eat at A Gracious Plenty (3530 S Alston Ave), primarily because the name always caught my attention when I saw it in our list. Finally I was down that way and stopped in for lunch.

This place is very cool, and was packed for lunch.

Aside from their normal menu offerings, they appear to offer a fairly extensive list of daily specials. I had one of them — a shrimp po’ boy wrap. It wasn’t earth shattering, but it was good, extremely fresh tasting, and exactly what I wanted for lunch.

I also got a side of their onion rings, which were quite good.

A bunch of what seemed to be regulars raved about their burgers. If I lived closer, I have no doubt that I would frequently eat there.

Panciuto: The Piedmont of Hillsborough?

After reading some good things about Panciuto (110 South Churton St.) on Chowhound and a couple of other places, I decided it was time to make the short trip out to old town Hillsborough to give it a shot. We normally don’t write about places outside of Durham, but Hillsborough is awesome so it is OK.

I instantly fell in love with the place, for all the same reasons I fell in love with the idea of Piedmont and continue to give it ample opportunities to redeem itself after several bad dining experiences. Like Piedmont, Panciuto is quaint, dimly lit, and filled with exposed brick. They use almost all local produce, and the menu is pretty innovative (for Italian, at least).

When we first arrived they were extremely busy and our table wasn’t ready yet. When we were eventually seated, the hostess (who owns the place with her husband — the chef), brought us a free glass of champagne to apologize. Good.

We had several appetizers, which were all very good. For my main course I ordered the squid ink spaghetti with crumbled sausage, which was good but not exceptional. For the price, I left feeling my money would have been better spent at Magnolia Grill or Bonne Soiree. However, Panciuto has several things going for it — the atmosphere is way better than Magnolia, this area seriously lacks a high-end Italian place, and the wine list was extremely reasonably priced.

Unfortunately, we had an additional problem with our waitress. She seemed to be having some sort of personal crisis, and we experienced the most inattentive service I can remember in the past several years. However, this can happen to anyone, so as long as it was an isolated incident I won’t hold it against them. I would be curious to hear about anyone else’s experience.

I will probably return. If you are looking for something new and feel like dropping some coin on a dinner in a really nice (romantic, even) atmosphere, give Panciuto a shot. However, if for some reason I needed to ensure the meal would be very good to excellent, I would stick with the local favorites.

Restaurant openings report

Carino’s Italian (6709 Fayetteville Rd)

Grayson’s Bistro comes to North Durham

Yesterday Grayson’s Bistro opened in North Durham in the same shopping center as Cook Out. Grayson’s is a small Durham chain with other locations on Chapel Hill Rd and in the Museum of Life + Science.

I stopped in for lunch today and had the curried chicken salad wrap. It was pretty good — not exceptional by any means, but definitely worth the $6.25 I paid for it. They let me sample the chili as well, which was tasty enough that I will stop in to have it next time I am in the mood. All in all, a solid North Durham addition. Also, they have free wireless, and will be serving a light breakfast on the weekends starting at 10.

Here is their current menu.

Restaurant openings report

Buford’s Grill (4711 Hope Valley Rd Suite1-C)

Carolina Steak & Cheese (5108 Wake Forest Hwy)

Dickey’s Barbecue (5318 New Hope Commons Dr)

Dunkin Donuts/Baskin Robbins (2608 Erwin Rd Suite 156)

Five Points Cafe (347 W Main St)

Food Express (3701 S Miami Blvd)

Good Better Best Desserts & Cafe (1725 Carpenter Fletcher Rd Suite 107)

Milano’s Pizza (2945 S. Miami Blvd)

1013 West Main Street (1013 West Main St)

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Disclaimer: This data is based on inspection reports, and it is possible the restaurant is not actually open yet. Call ahead. 

That’s it, I’m moving: Cheek Road Grocery & Grill

Today I stopped by Cheek Road Grocery & Grill (5801 Cheek Road). First of all, let me say that this area of Durham is awesome — very much in the country, and exactly the type of area I had anticipated living in when I moved here. (I moved to North Durham instead, which is possibly as sparse but with much less country.) It is definitely beautiful country. 

That brings me to Cheek Road Grocery & Grill, which is actually a grocery, grill, gas station, bait & tackle shop, social gathering spot, and mini pool hall (1 table). 

I had a hotdog with chili and slaw. It was quite tasty, certainly much better than the offerings near me (Dog House). But I saw some other people eating cheeseburgers and was jealous.

(Sorry for the horrible picture)

You should definitely spend a couple of hours driving near Falls Lake and eat here. They are open for breakfast and serve lunch until 1:45. They have many offerings — besides the dogs and burgers, they had several types of chicken sandwiches, bbq, etc.

Front Street Cafe

I like everything about Front Street Cafe (1821 Hillandale Rd). The inside is small and quaint, the staff is friendly, they have outside seating, and everything I had on the menu was very good to excellent.

I had their lunch special, which was an open-face tuna melt topped with asparagus and a side salad. Excellent.

The rice pudding and coffee were also very good.

They also have wireless Internet. The only downside is that it is a bit on the expensive side: lunch, dessert, coffee, and a diet coke came to $18. They have some really good looking dinner specials, but they close at 6.

Silver Spoon

Today was a first for me — I went to the same restaurant twice in the same day. This was mostly because I am studying and by driving back and forth from my house to the restaurant I can avoid actually doing the work, but also because Silver Spoon (5230 N. Roxboro) is pretty darn good. It is definitely a North Durham locals type place, and seems to draw a lot of its business from the surrounding retirement homes. Everyone was extremely friendly (I heard “ma’am” used at least 20 times by the staff and patrons in the 1.5 hours I was there in the morning). If you are in the mood for diner food, I would strongly recommend this place as an alternative to Elmo’s.

I think it is owned by the same people that own Golden Spoon (3500 N Roxboro St), which is a little bit closer to 85, but I haven’t eaten at Golden so I don’t have anything to say about it.

I got there around 10am for breakfast, and they were happy to accommodate me in a booth with a plug for my laptop. There is wireless available, but no indication that it belongs to Silver Spoon. I had an egg, cheese, and bacon croissant, which was very good in the extremely-unhealthy-greasy diner sort of way. The home fries were very good — a bit mushy, but with a little bit of a spicy kick to them. The menu has a wide assortment of breakfast items (which they serve all day), including a bunch of non-standard omelets.

I had been told that their speciality was fried chicken, so I had to try it for dinner. I must say, it was among the best I have had in the Triangle. The sides were nothing to write home about (I would recommend against the mac & cheese — if I were to do it over again I would order the mashed potatoes and gravy), but the chicken was incredibly moist and perfectly fried.

I don’t normally eat dessert, let alone apple cobbler, but I was in the mood so I gave it a try. I thought it was very good, but take that for what it is worth (not much).

It’s that time of year . . . (Goodberry’s Frozen Custard)

Goodberry’s Creamery is a Triangle based frozen custard shop that is very good. It isn’t fancy, but it really hits the spot on a warm day. Although they have a couple of locations in the area, the closest to me is this one in North Durham (3906 N. Roxboro Rd):

Their daily special was called sweet cream, and it was excellent.

Seriously, go ahead and stop by — you know you want to.

Restaurant openings report

Chubby’s Tacos (748 Ninth St)

Also, rumor has it Five Points Cafe (next to Toast) just had its final inspection and will be opening imminently. Although, this has been the rumor for a half year, so take it for what it is.

UPDATE: Chubby’s isn’t really open, unfortunately, but there is painting being done on the outside so maybe it will be soon.  It’s where Xiloa used to be.  Something to look forward to, maybe.