gourmet aspirations

December 26, 2008


i received the best gift of all yesterday at our community hospital: a quiet day with no admissions, deliveries, or sick babies! while commenter atilla remarked that christmas in the hospital tends to be slow with only reaaaaaally sick people coming in, this does not apply to the NICU. pregnant ladies can’t exactly cross their legs tightly and wait for december 26, and we already had a relatively full census to start with. so it was just another regular day. the preemies looked super-cute in holiday garb (TINY holiday garb!), but the santa hats were not going to prevent them from doing silly preemie things, like having apneic spells and getting NEC.

but maybe the outfits did help. whatever the reason, our babies were not in the mood to play any of those games and i basically sat around and updated parents and did paperwork all day. then, when i ran out of paperwork and parents to update, i read a peds in review article from the current issue on the current meningitis guidelines. and then i started making lists, as i am wont to do. my 2009 new years resolutions are done! i’ll save that for a future post, but i also made list of restaurants that i want to either try or return to in 2009. i am proud to say that that the durham/chapel hill/raleigh area is quite a foodie haven, and our restaurant scene is excellent, especially for a smallish metropolitan area. while i don’t have too many local readers, i do have a few, so i will post my list here!

new restaurants i want to try

mint: an indian restaurant in chapel hill on west franklin street. i love indian, and this review has me convinced i will love this place! plus, it’s relatively convenient. i think we will try this one soon.

rockwood filling station is a gourmet wood-burning pizzeria set in a former gas station in durham. it was opened by the chef at nana’s, a durham standby for excellent homey italian. i think they also consider themselves a gelateria, and that makes any place a winner in my book. the raleigh news and observer critic liked it a lot.

poole’s downtown diner is in raleigh. while the triangle area consists of durham, chapel hill, and raleigh, there is definitely a separation between ‘durham-and-chapel-hill’ and ‘raleigh’. it’s a bit silly, because they are all quite close together. i think part of it is that durham and chapel hill are both very academically dominated (well, durham has other issues as well) and raleigh is more business-esque. anyway, josh and i venture into raleigh more than most people because my sister lives there. i really want to try this place, as it looks fun and delicious. official review here.

azure grill is a ‘contemporary restaurant with a california-french accent’, according to this review. i know that the main chef mentioned in the article has since left, so maybe things are not as fantastic anymore, but i want to find out for myself. we’ve talked about going here forever, and even tried to go once and found them closed for renovations, but this year . . . it’s going to happen. azure grille is another chapel hill restaurant and venturing to their website, i found out that they have some weeknight specials, like bargain fixed price dinners on wednesdays. i think that would be a fun way to decompress after a long workday.

tonali is a mexican restaurant in durham. i hope it still exists, because it doesn’t have much of a web presence. i have heard by word of mouth however that it is (or . . . was?) fantastic and full of interesting flavor combinations. it looks like this blogger tried it in june, so that gives me some hope.

blu seafood and bar: i love fish and seafood, and this place has been on my radar for a long time now. this favorable review is more than enough to convince me to try it. it is located very close to duke, so it would be good for an after-work outing some time.

sandwhich is what it sounds like: a sandwich restaurant. but these sandwiches sound . . . better than usual. among other tantalizing menu options, i covet the “sweet south”, which is roasted sweet potatoes, proscuitto di parma, collard greens, celebrity dairy goat cheese on sourdough. yummmm. the location in chapel hill means that josh could probably swing by on his way home from work some time. hmmmmm. there is no official newspaper review, but this is positive.

so there it is! 7 places i want to try in 2009. i also have about 7 places i want to go back to — but i’ll save that for another post. time to go to work!

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12.25.2008

workout: rest day!

cooking: rest day in the kitchen as well!

2 Comments

  • Reply atilla March 10, 2019 at 7:30 pm

    now i know what we’ll do if and when we get to durham again

  • Reply HangryPants March 10, 2019 at 7:30 pm

    So glad you had a quiet day! All the restaurants sound wonderul! Good goals for 09.

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