Paschall’s Cafe

(1102 Holloway St)

I chose Paschall’s for lunch based on a response to a chowhound thread looking for Southern hot dog places. I got one of those (chili, yes, finely chopped slaw, yes) and also tried a burger (could have been less well done but was pretty decent). I plan to go back for the bologna sandwich and the chuckwagon, and apparently (well, according to the waitress) they do a good breakfast as well (including liver pudding, which I’m up for trying). It was a really friendly place, very much hopping at lunch time. The waitress astutely noticed that we were there for our first time, and chatted with us about liver pudding. I haven’t been to Wimpy’s in a while but I think a comparison between the two would be useful, anyone have any feelings? Paschall’s has the benefit of having seating and seeming like a nice place to hang out.

Bennett Pointe Grill

Sorry, it was pouring so I didn’t try very hard to get a good picture.

I really liked the Bennett Pointe Grill’s (4625 Hillsborough Rd) combination of atmosphere (kind of old-lady coastal + radiohead playing + very good service) and food (comforting and much better than typical diner).  I tried a shrimp gumbo that was good, and a crab cake sandwich that was great.  The house salad was even surprisingly good, and I had my first warm bacon dressing ever.

It’s open for lunch and dinner but not in between (I think it’s closed between 2:30 and 5:30).  The menu also touts its full bar, but we didn’t have a martini lunch.

HALGO

Halgo (4520 S. Alston Ave) is a quite cute Polish grocery store and flower shop. They have rows of Polish snacks and candy, kielbasa and other meats, cheeses, crazy juices, pickled fish, a freezer full of frozen pierogies (12 kinds), cabbage rolls, soups (borscht), and generally lots of things I have never seen before (not being Polish or from a big city). Apparently next week they will start to serve up the pierogies hot, but today we fried some up at my house and they were awesome with some delicious Polish sour cream. I was of course hoping for some fresh in-house stuff (they are made in Chicago), but my friend who is a pierogi expert was pretty happy with them.

It’s the fried beer

The fries at the bar/grill (”Varsity Lounge”) at the Millenium Hotel (2800 Campus Walk Ave) might not be fancy or fresh or local, but they’ve got something going for them that’s arguably more important, which is fried beer. According to the menu, they’re from Brew City (a McCain Food). Whatever, the point is, beer (batter) makes everything better, and they are awesome.

Also, the Millenium has a pretty good bar for hanging out, particularly if you ever want to feel like you’re not in Durham for a little bit (I don’t know why you would, I’m just saying). Our bartender the other night was really friendly. The beer (the three Red Oak brewery brews) is not the best (though its semi-local, from NC at least), but that’s ok. They have fried beer, after all!

Durham DoughMan

This sounds totally fun:

The DoughMan: A Self-Propelled Culinary Tour of Durham

Durham + local food establishments + competitive eating + exercise + community garden. You probably like at least 3 of those things, right?

Still slumming…? Only in the best way.

UPDATE: I tend to misuse words and think everyone knows what I’m talking about.  Slumming = eating at less-than-haute places such as trucks and gas stations.

I know we’ve been missed. It’s finals, sorry. But I managed to take a break for some slumming (by which I mean awesomely not fancy, nothing negative implied at all) and here are the results:

These are chicken livers and collards from Metro Express Market & Grill (2500 Erwin Rd, in the Exxon shop). I have wanted to like livers, especially fried ones, for a while now but have been having trouble. I’ve heard from people who do like them that they’re not as ubiquitous around here as they’d hoped, but that a couple of mysterious days a week, they’re available at Metro Express. I got lucky and they were there today (it’s Thursdays and Fridays). It was by far my best liver experience…maybe it was the pretty high fried-to-liver ratio, and/or the spiciness of the fried. Anyway, I recommend, but then I don’t know from fried livers, so take it with a grain of salt.

The collard greens were less good, though I’ve had worse.

We’ll be spotty during finals (the rest of April) but don’t give up on us.

Durham Salad Scene

Studying is already making me fat, and there are still more than 2 weeks to go, plus all the soul food and tacos that I endure for this blog lately aren’t helping.  It’s gotten to the point where I actually crave salad sometimes.  Does anyone have any suggestions for good ones?  Here’s what I know:

I actually like the salads at Cosmic.  I was in denial that they could be good, but now the chicken salad is my favorite thing on the menu.  Something about the dressing is different and good (it’s pretty vinegar-y) and they always seem fresh.

Toast’s salad is simple but delicious.  Has interesting, peppery greens and great cheese.

The Federal’s special salad is usually good (of course!), and tends to have a good (that is, low) ratio of greens to other (fattening) stuff.  Same goes for Alivia’s spinach and arugula salads (not too healthy, that is) which are also a pretty nice price, considering the good stuff on them.

I don’t like Green Tango much. I’ve gotten too many salads there with bitter old spinach and dried out beans, etc.

What am I missing?

Does anyone care about pudding? Or studying maybe?

I’m very sorry if no one does.  But I’m going to keep going on the pudding track for just a while longer.  The banana pudding at Honey’s (2700 Guess Road) is quite good, if not one of my favorites.  I’m partial to puddings with more solid wafers; in this one, the wafers were almost totally dissolved into the pudding.  This made the pudding itself pretty delicious, and it was also airy-er than any of the others I’ve had, but I think I prefer it denser.

Honey’s is a good place to study.  The music is pleasantly innocuous (well, I kind of like oldies, maybe that’s weird), there is lots of coffee and unhealthy food but I don’t feel pressured to keep ordering, there is a smoking section (for the cool kids, not me), and it’s open 24 hours.  Mainly, they have wireless and at least a few outlets.

OMG Puddin

The banana pudding at Fishmongers (806 W. Main St) is my new favorite. I don’t know about its authenticity or how real pudding experts would rate it, but here’s why I like it: the consistency is amazing because of the high wafer-to-pudding ratio and the fact that the wafers are kind of crumbled and thoroughly incorporated throughout the pudding.  It is also more vanilla-y than others I’ve had.

It was a special so I don’t know if they always have it, but the waiter said it was one of their specialties and was very proud of it, understandably.

Pizza Palace

I do not know why I don’t go to Pizza Palace (3218 Guess Rd) more often. They have some quite good pizza (a New Yorker we were with actually compared favorably it to NY pizza), there are two bars, and the space is awesome (check out the photo on their website; it’s kind of like a giant barn). Also, there is a tiny “champagne room” (not what they call it) on the top floor, with just one table and a great view of Guess Road (that is really what the waiter said), that you can reserve for romantic events such as marriage proposals. They also have local bands play on Fridays. This week, they will be having what looks like a good one: