restaurant week rage begins

One of two favourite times of the year.

An excuse to mass text everyone and eat myself into a coma multiple nights in one week and spend myself into a depression with the intention to never eat out again, 

otherwise known as Restaurant Week.

Kick starting the weekend with a $15 lunch at Buku.

Icy winds are not my thing...and cue the screaming.  Alicia, Laura, and I desperately ducked into a modern-looking business building to ask security where Buku was.

"It's... right there."

"Oh... it's so cold outside!"

The venue was beautiful.  Maybe minus the awkward booth that, in Alicia's words made us all feel like "little kids trying to sit at the grown up table."  But the koi fish logos/designs/mascots were cute.  And the waterfall behind the inviting wall of alcohol was pretty.  Gotta love the bowl of mints in the bathroom that allowed me to shamelessly grab a hefty handful.  The fact that we were the only people there was lovely.

Easy start of a mixed greens salad with hearts of palm, corn, pepitos, and most importantly... goat cheese.  I'd say I was a fan.

Went back and forth a bit because all the entrees sounded just amazing... but let's be serious.

Filipino duck adobo

seared duck breast - yes, Laura, it's supposed to be pink, and yes, Laura, we eat the fat

duck leg adobo confit - nom nom nom, delicious with a bite of coconut rice and a bite of pickled green papaya

coconut rice - because... coconut rice

pickled green papaya - thought it was dikon, mind kind of blown, I would like a jar of this shit... and the recipe

fried duck egg - because eggs always get me

I've already gotten some "you are nuts" looks for saying runny egg yolk is sexy, but this was a damn sexy dish.  I wanted to send Logan (our waitress) back to bring it out again just so I can experience again the excitement I felt when I first laid my eyes on it.  Dat egg.

[oh my god, I'm so weird, my apologies]

Palate cleanser, palate cleanser, palate cleanser.

Especially after something this rich.

When given the option of dessert or sorbet, 8 times out of 10, I go for the sorbet (or seasonal fruit).  The flavours just sounded so delicious, so exotic, resist... I can't.

Mexican sorbet duo

prickly pear-lime - unique, indescribable, because I've never had prickly pear, it had a smoother and...grainy-thick texture... like... eating the feel of velvet...?...or like Haagen Daaz raspberry sorbet.

grapefruit mescal with smoked seal salt - just because I was surprised Alicia and Laura don't salt their pineapple... might I recommend next time you eat fresh pineapple, sprinkle it with salt and let it set over night, brings out the sweetness, love the subtle saltiness, never knew there was any other way to eat it - this was my favourite

Had to photograph Laura's bowl from across the table (on zoom x6) because I just couldn't not make my bowl look like a colorful penis.

You do see what I'm saying...

Solas

I can check off Mary's Gossip Girl fantasy night from my list of things to do.

Overall impression: atmosphere > food

very random venue to have in NC... or at least, my idea of NC

"I forgot what it tastes like."

Green butter?  Spent a good amount of time trying to figure out what it was made of, never figured it out because the sweetness threw me off.

Hot Rock: smells absolutely incredible as its carried past our too-large-for-four-people-booth

shrimp > beef (but that might be because I left it on the rock for too long)

had an urge to cook an egg on hot concrete afterwards

Carolina snapper: probably one of my favorite fish dishes I've eaten in a restaurant thanks to the crispy skin and refreshing dill sauce

discovered that I'm not a huge fan of fish-fruit combos

Cookies and Cream brulee: very smooth, very yum

especially in hindsight, after eating the cruise creme brulee that had a weak sugar ... crust (?) (it hardly cracked when I tapped it with my spoon)

Most annoying thing: kids stomping overhead at the bat miztvah

seriously though, who designed this?  you can see up dresses, making for an awkward dining experience, perhaps they added it before deciding on a second floor

Next up,

Target shopping list of necessities

rock quarry one more time / friends one more time

packing once the parental unit returns my suitcases - he better be bringing home good food

taco hunting with the baby brother

mass cleaning the room... so fam can probably fuck up later

less than a week before I can burn all memorial traces of Durham-Chapel Hill, yay - is that too dark? my bad.

BTW,

Can food modeling be a career?

day 4//Sono

BANANAS AND YOGURT and vegetable soup?

Not much you can do with that except make a banana smoothie... which I don't prefer.  Something about drinking my bananas I guess - not a fan.

So let's talk about Sono.

Between Frank and I, we killed the following:

Salmon Carpaccio: scottish salmon, ikura, mustard ponzu, chives, micro greens, scorched with hot oil blend

Gently cooked on the outside, raw on the inside, room temperature dish of which I would've licked the plate clean had there not been other human beings around.  The sauce was absolutely delicious (we kept it for sushi dipping after the waiter couldn't find bread).

 Spicy Tuna Taco: ahi tuna tartare, avocado mousse, micro wasabi, flying fish caviar, jalapeno aioli, crispy wonton "taco"

Usually I overlook the word "taco" (though recently I've been craving them like no other... but the Mexican kind with tripe and carnitas and fresh tomatoes/lettuce and such), which is why we were eyeing the pork belly slider, but the description was hard to ignore.  Avocado mousse?  Yes please, and next project once I'm done with this stupid diet.

No regrets obviously.  The only flaw of this bite-sized taco was that it was... bite-sized.  Could I just get like... seven more please?

Maki Combo: choice of two special rolls (excluding the $100 roll.. bummer)

Magic Carpet (king crav, avocado, salmon tartare, micro wasabi and tobiko oshi-zushi style) - favoriteeee 

and 

Super star (spicy scallop, kaiware, cucumber, blue fin tuna, avocado, three different tobiko)

Magma (crab salad and avocado flash fried and topped with scallop mix, wasabi mayo and eel sauce) - tempura fried made for an interesting texture and I made the mistake of trying to eat the whole thing in one bite after Frank gave me shit for trying to cut it in half with my chopsticks, yeah... don't do that unless you have much experience with shoving large things in your mouth... 

and that leads us to the next roll

Screaming "O" (spicy tuna, tempura shrimp, seared tuna, special "O" sauce, masago, chives) - favoritee, as determined by the next words that came immediately after swallowing: "Ohh my God"

 Mission Fig Tart: mission fig brulee on pastry creme in a tart shell with guava puree

Love.  Figs.  That is all.

Though the desserts confused me just a bit.  Why so... French-like?  I guess I would've preferred something less dense with cream (though I love cream.. and cheese... and creamy cheeses) after scarfing down the sushi.

Mandarin Orange Crepe: mandarin oranges and mascarpone crepe with ginger sorbet

I still see no sorbet.

Oh, backtrack, Frank looked like a dick asking for the menu and the whereabouts of the ginger sorbet, after which the waiter (who apparently loved him - and topped off our water after only a single sip) insisted was on top.

But I still see no sorbet.  It would've really lightened up the dish, which I agree was too creamy as well.

let me just obsess over the duck

 Margaux's Restaurant for my birthday ("I'm almost 21, guys.  Yeah, almost.")

French restaurant with Asian decorations.  Like.  Confused.  But like.

Andrew went with their prix fixe menu:
crab cake
baseball steak
creme brulee
Yum, great, mmm.

And I went with escargot for my appetizer...mainly because I didn't get to have escargot on the cruise.

But seriously.  The duck.
I still fantasize about this.
My only regret is getting the escargot before.
What a waste of stomach space when compared to this.
The sliced duck breast.. so pretty and pink.
The skin, so crisp, but the meat, so tender.
Atop the parsnip puree, so smooth, slightly sweet.
I am not a fan of mashed potatoes and mashed sweet potatoes only goes with so much, so after this, parsnip will be my root of choice.
Lightly wilted spinach, such a perfect complement, one of my favorite greens to go with meat for sure.
Chesnuts, I love love love chestnuts.  Why did I never think of duck and chestnuts? Seems so obvious now, makes anything else seem so imperfect.
So maybe I'm going a little overboard.
....

no, I'm really not, actually.

Red Room

 Random dude to insisted I take a picture of him and find him on Facebook.  Totally remember his name... Will? Right...

Anyways.  I can't wait until I'm 21 just so I can go to a tapas bar

 because next time I would like to enjoy my food with a tailored wine selection.

Red Room in Raleigh

The atmosphere felt like casual bar scene, living vicariously through the curious exchange between a man and two women at the bar next to us.

 Duck confit tartine with mango endive marmalade

 Shrimp ceviche with mango and avocado served with yucca and plantain chips

 Traditional chicken and mushroom paella with chorizo, roasted peppers, sofrito, and pure saffron de la Mancha

 Red Room's famous fried banana stuffed with chocolate and served with caramel sauce and vanilla ice cream

Aside from turning 21, currently obsessed with One Direction.  Mmm British boy bands.

Awaiting another episode of Revenge,

being done with my midterm,

Spring Break.