by Laura
No one gets through Duke without making their parents take them to Magnolia Grill…except for me & Harold, apparently. My in-laws generously made up for it by treating us to dinner there this weekend. Considering that we had been hearing good things about this Durham foodie mecca since 1998, it was hard not to go in with elevated expectations. Plus, I can’t let go of my tendency to compare meals to the NYC culinary scene, and while the Triangle area has some fantastic spots, I generally miss New York food like no other!
Magnolia Grill, however, was indeed very good, with highlights including the twice-baked grits souffle and the chocolate chocolate chocolate cake (which was surprisingly light with a pudding-like filling). It was inventive enough for me to enjoy it a bit more than the relatively staid offerings at Four Square, the other fancy-ish and pretty yummy Durham spot that often gets mentioned in the same breath as Magnolia.
For me, however, this highlighted two other aspects of the local food scene. First of all, any restaurant that I truly crave tends to be closer to my old home base, in Durham. The food there is just a little funkier and a little less frat-boy bland. Perhaps it’s just the nostalgia attached to some of my best-loved places, but there’s probably twenty restaurants I would happily eat at over and over again, just like I did as an undergrad. In Chapel Hill, the food is far from inedible, but I can count my favorites on one hand, especially in light of my snobbified standards. Sadly, grub I used to think was decent (like dining hall Sitar, or 411 West) often fails to do the trick these days. The good news (at least for our waistlines) is that this has made cooking at home a bit more appealing!
The other problem is that there’s a distinct lack of mid-range dining options. For instance, there’s a few top-tier places in Chapel Hill that are supposed to be excellent (like Elaine’s on Franklin, Cypress on the Hill, and Lantern), but they’re a tad too pricey for graduate students to be able to try out on a regular basis. There’s also plenty of wallet-friendly college-oriented fare, but I’ve found it to be sort of “meh”, besides a few home-runs like my beloved Cosmic, Locopops, or Sandwhich. Sometimes I just want a decent bowl of pasta, fresh-baked bread, and a glass of wine – for under $25. (In other words, I want reasonably-priced carbs.) And, oh yeah – SOME FREAKIN’ FLAVOR THAT ISN’T SOLELY SALT OR LARD – a.k.a. the staples of Southern cooking!
To recap:
- Thanks for the delicious treat, in-laws!
- Get the chocolate cake if you go to Magnolia.
- I’m a lot pickier about food than I used to be. Blame=New York.
- NYC restaurants need to extend their delivery zones to North Carolina. Preferably yesterday.
Laura
Harold
