Southern Redemption

Before we left home, we decided to focus on New American, southern style. After all, every magazine and show features a plethora of new chefs from the region rediscovering and elevating the old foodways. So once out of the tropical depression that is Virginia Beach, we dug in at Raleigh's Second Empire.

We were not thrilled. Actually, it got worse the more we thought about it.

The building is lovely enough, a converted grand old house, and the decor is tasteful and the service exemplary, but it wasn't very full, and the people who were there had all the vibrancy of couples celebrating their agreement to finally divorce. But I digress. It's the food we're after, after all.

The menu was...complicated. There were two of them, one for the restaurant and one for the tavern. We were eating in the tavern, but they said we could order from either. If that's their policy, why not have one big menu? Both featured apps and entrées, because you can never have too much of a good thing. Or everything.

This is where it broke down, and broke down hard. The crab spring rolls themselves were pleasant enough, but they perched upon an inadvisable mixture of puréed maque choux and peanut sauce with out-of-the-jar consistency, and got lost under an over cooked medley of corn, mushrooms, leeks, and assorted wilted greens. The twist on the kale salad was that it featured granola, beets, and eight more things. The pork belly was cooked fine, but came in phyllo (like they just discovered it), with more maque choux and wilted greens. The trout was buried under even more maque choux (really?) as well as most of the produce aisle, so it's unclear whether the trout was on the plate or up the river.

We did not stay for dessert. But we did reevaluate or plans. Step One: find a brewery the next day. Step Two: egg on the bartenders and patrons as they debate the best food in Asheville. It worked.

So last night we went to The Admiral. It looks like a dive bar from the outside. It looks like one from the inside, too, but it smells great. Karen had the tri-colored cauliflower in romesco, octopus and artichokes, and blackened wahoo with nettle risotto. I had deep fried chicken skins and the best tartare the world has ever known (pictured). Perfectly prepared tuna of the meadow, sous-vide chicken and quail eggs, adobo mayo, pickled onions, and Granny Smith. This was so right we stayed for dessert--churros and pot de créme, not together--before catching a local band play Stevie Wonder covers and passing out at the Super 8.

And we were only getting started on the good food...