Leo’s Seafood

Leo’s Seafood on Alston is one of those places that I’ve driven by a dozen times and have always wanted to try, and my first trip there was some of the best seafood I’ve had in Durham.

Most of the building is devoted to the fish market, which had everything from freshly caught catfish to head-on shrimp, all packed in ice. From what I gathered, the owner and his wife have been there for at least 20 years, and both of them were on hand today.

The back half of the building houses a small kitchen and take-out counter, and their fish menu includes croaker, spot, trout, whiting, catfish, flounder, and tilapia, either as a sandwich (about $4) or as dinners. They had a ton of sides too, including all the usuals (potato salad, mac and cheese, fries, butter beans and corn, etc.).

I ordered a fried tilapia dinner, which comes with two sides and hushpuppies ($7.50). As you can see, there was enough fish for at least two, and I only put a dent in the sides. The greens were terrific, but the hush puppies were slightly gummy and nondescript, and the cole slaw was purely functional — nowhere near as flavorful as the horseradish coleslaw at The Pit, for instance. The tilapia, on the other hand, was amazing. Meltingly tender and perfectly fried. It tasted so bright and fresh that I started convincing myself that it was actually healthy.

Since they only do takeout, and the weather today was perfect, a small park in downtown Durham was clearly the best location to dig in, if for no other reason than the obvious post-lunch stop.

Leo’s Seafood (map)
Tuesday - Friday: 9 am - 6.30 pm
Saturday: 9 am - 5 pm

Vietnamese comfort food at 9N9

Tucked in between Jersey Mike’s Subs and the Farm Bureau is 9N9 , another great ethnic restaurant in RTP. They’re best known for their phở, but I had heard good things about the rest of their menu and couldn’t wait to go again.

Despite the desolate strip-mall setting, 9N9 is pretty cozy inside, with one big dining area, lined with laminated photos of some of the dishes, that gets full during lunch hours. I found out right before going that they also serve Vietnamese sandwiches (not on the menu), and ever since my first bánh mì (link) I’ve been on the lookout for more. At $3 a sandwich it was hard to get only one. Apparently when you get them to go, they separate all the veggies from the rest of the sandwich so it doesn’t get soggy before you assemble it.

The BBQ pork was delicious, even if the assembly was perfunctory. Surprisingly, the fillings were heavy on the cilantro but glaringly light on the jalapeno. I usually expect to be in agony after a bánh mì, but for some reason 9N9 skips the jalapeno altogether. Considering there are much better bánh mì options in the Triangle (especially Jujube, which makes theirs with Guglhupf baguettes), I suggest you spare your arteries and save room for the specials.

We also ordered a bowl of sliced rare beef phở ($6 for small, $7 for large) and one of the specials, the catfish clay pot. Phở broth has got to be the ultimate comfort food, and although I’d probably be happy with phở of any quality, the beef broth at 9N9 is really flavorful (anise, cloves, ginger) and satisfying, and the noodles and beef come alive with hoisin sauce and siracha.

The catfish clay pot ($10) – “catfish shimmered carmelized in soy sauce” – was incredible: basically a whole, prepared bone-in catfish served with rice. The oil/soy sauce marinade was intensely peppery and really complimented the catfish, which falls off the bone and melts in your mouth. There were a lot of mystery items in the pot, and you have to be careful to avoid the bones, but this special was a real treat and bodes well for the rest of the specials.

I’ve heard the house fried rice is another winner – has anyone tried it? And by the way, be sure to check out the first annual Triangle Restaurant Week. Fixed price, 3 course dinners at restaurants you can’t otherwise afford. This year it’s only in Raleigh, but next year they plan to expand to Durham and Chapel Hill.

9N9 (map)
Monday – Friday: 10 am – 8.30 pm
Saturday – Sunday: 10 am – 9 pm

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)

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.

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.

Tacos come (close) to Trinity Park

I was super excited to learn that Trinity Park was getting a locally-owned, nonfancy taqueria within walking distance. Chubby’s (748 Ninth Street) is where Xiloa used to be, and I think that it does a great job of filling in the Trinity Park taco gap. Service was fast, the food was good, and I’ll definitely be walking there a lot when I get back next fall.
An initial word on atmosphere: Chubby’s seems to be catering to the student clientele from nearby East Campus, toeing the line between generic corporate Mexican and the local shops on Roxboro, but with a hippie twist. The plastic containers are made of corn, the flatware is made of potatoes, and then there is a tofu taco with mixed veggies. (I didn’t try it—sorry).
In addition to offering the usual options that one can find at other local taquerias such as barbacoa, pastor, and asada, Chubby’s has seafood (grilled tilapia, ahi tuna, and grilled shrimp) and some vegetarian tacos (rice and bean, no lard, the aforementioned tofu taco). My tacos were pretty good. The tacos al pastor were less greasy than others I’ve had in the area, but I could not find any pineapple in them. The tilapia taco was very flavorful and the chipotle cream sauce on it added a pleasant richness. (Warning: I haven’t had many fish tacos, so all I can say is that I enjoyed them, but I don’t know how they compare to the kind you get on the West coast.) My only complaint is that each taco only came with one tortilla, so they were falling apart by the time I got them home to eat.

Chubby’s doesn’t have a salsa bar, but they have a wide variety of housemade salsas in condiment bottles lined up next to the kitchen. I tried and liked them all, and my favorites were the chile de arbol, with a creamy texture, and a guacamole-based green salsa.

Juice lovers will be pleased to learn that they offer a few juice options—today’s selections were horchata and sandia (watermelon). I don’t drink juice, but the lady in front of me sampled the sandia and thought it was good enough to order despite being on some kind of no-sugar diet.

A taco al pastor will cost you $2, a tilapia taco is $3, and the top-of-the-line extra special seafood tacos are $4. I didn’t try the gorditas, tortas, burritos, or any of the various desserts they offer, but will report back when I do. Also, soon they’ll be expanding the menu with breakfasts including huevos rancheros, migas, Mexican pastries, and breakfast burritos. PLUS, they’re applying for a liquor license so that they can serve margaritas and beer. (And you all know how we feel about that!)

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.

Superior!

I have been feeling very sorry for myself lately, so I decided to take a break from sitting in front of my computer not studying to go out for some tacos while not studying.  La Superior  (3325 North Roxoboro) provided a perfect diversion–it’s like a Latin American market nested inside a Latin American grocery store.  It has an almost carnival atmosphere that I knew would put me in a better mood.

            

Juice Bar      

     

Taqueria

We could have gone grocery shopping in Superior’s full-service grocery and butcher shop, but the goal of today’s trip was to get some tacos.  The cafeteria area is tucked into the back part of the store and is divided into a panaderia/tortilleria, juice bar, and taqueria.  Each of these separate shops occupies a wall in a very large room which a mysterious staircase that apparently leads nowhere right in the middle of it.  Tables and chairs are set up around the staircase.  And, of course, there are always televisions on playing soccer or telenovelas.

La Superior has an impressive salsa bar

First, we stopped at the taqueria and put in our food orders.  I got a taco pastor (these have pineapple!) and a chicken tinga tostada, and my friend got a taco pastor and a taco de tripa.  I like lots of vegetables, so I buried my food under a large pile of salsa and cilantro at the salsa bar.  At the juice bar, I picked up a nice fruit cocktail of fresh papaya and pineapple, and my friend got an agua fresca de mango and an elote (ear of corn) slathered with crema, then sprinkled with soft white cheese, lime juice, and chili powder.   No, I am not sure why corn on the cob would belong to the juice bar section.  Either way, it was pretty delicious.  My friend says that fully-loaded elotes are difficult to find in the area.

 

Beautiful Elotes

Pastor on the Left, Tripa on the Right

My friend is a taco pastor expert and thought that they were only so-so, but I really liked mine.  The meat was way more tender than is often the case, and infused with a subtle pineapple flavor.  The chicken tinga had just the right amount of smokiness, and they gave me an extra tortilla for the top, like a sandwich.  I’d never had tripe before–it was OK, basically superrich like any other organ meat.  It was not too dry or chewy as my friend had feared.

Postre

After we ate, we checked out the grocery.  The butchery is pretty impressive, with whole tilapia, big steaks, and an entire case filled with various dried pork skin products.  There’s also a good array of fresh fruits and vegetables, jars of honey with honeycomb, and a kitchenware section where they sell huge stockpots and comales.

 

Various pork products

Lots of beans!

A note on getting there:  it comes up very suddenly around a bend on Roxboro.  Be vigilant, or you’ll drive right by it.