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.

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.

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)

–

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.

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?

exam period food cravings

During exam period, I become really weird and idiosyncratic about food.  I don’t like to eat dinner, have pregnancy-like cravings for really unhealthy things, and overload on caffeine.  I have to add the disclaimer (my co-bloggers already know this) that I am the non-slumming one.   I have extravagant tastes which will probably put me in the poor house sooner or later.

Here’s my list of sins for 2L spring exams:

beignets from Rue Cler (a dozen might last me maybe 2 days).  It’s also my motivation to get up before 10:30am.

Blenheim hot ginger ale.  Unfortunately, Blenheim only sells wholesale, but I hear that Parker & Otis is working on it.  I might order a case for finals. 

Dolly Mama chocolates.  I visited their stand at the Farmer’s Market again the other weekend.  They come out with slightly different flavors every week.  A VERY expensive addiction ($12/box of 6). 

fried eggs.  Not so much for breakfast as for a late night snack.

Escazu dark chocolate bar with sea salt.  I hoard these at Parker & Otis.  Apparently, Escazu will being doing a limited edition chocolate bar just for Parker & Otis.

So to the study bunnies out there, what’s your exam period poison?

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.