George's Diner

I've driven by George's Diner on Hillsborough Rd. multiple times and have always been intrigued by it. The restaurant has that old-time 50s/60s-style diner feel to it, with some modern Greek-American overtones. Small LPs and pictures of stars and starlets of that era are on all of the walls. The menu features breakfast, lunch and dinner all day (24 hours all day), with some Greek favorites mixed in.


At diners I love to try their pancakes or French toast. You can always find both at any restaurant that claims to be a diner and they are just classic dining-out breakfast foods. Plus they give me a handle for how seriously the cooks take the food. This French toast was pretty good. Not as much as I was hoping for and not the best I've ever had, but it was pretty standard. We also tried the grilled cheese which was disappointing. When I make grilled cheese at home, the bread takes on a crispness from the application of butter and heat, which also serves to melt the cheese. George's version, however, had very dry bread, making the sandwich a little difficult to eat. It seems like they toasted the bread first then somehow melted the cheese by the way all the moisture was lost from the bread. Overall, this brunch meal was a bit sub-par. There are a few other breakfast restaurants/diners that are definitely worth more of my time.

Breadmen's

There's nothing like a leisurely Sunday morning. After sleeping in, you wake up, read a magazine and overall relax before starting anything. At some point you decide it's probably a good idea to get something to eat. What better place to visit than one of Chapel Hill's institutions, Breadmen's. Don't let the Tarheel footprints outside fool you, this restaurant is an equal opportunity sports enthusiast. At least that's what I gathered from the many years of sports posters for all the local universities on the walls. The restaurant can often be quite busy, but we were lucky to get seated right away on a Sunday in the early afternoon. Many students like to frequent this eatery, and, according to the clientele we saw, it seems to be a good "morning after"/hangover hangout from obvious sunglasses being worn indoors. Anyways, on to the good stuff (the food stuffs):


We had two decent sized platters of breakfast foods. The pancakes were good - decently fluffy and about medium thickness. Eggs and breakfast meats were par for the course. Honestly, I find most diner eggs and meats to be pretty basic, so I never use them as a proper judge of character. Home fries, on the other hand, are a good meter stick. Breadmen's potatoes were well seasoned and delicious. Finally, the coup de grace was the biscuits and gravy. The biscuits are soft but the edges were browned slightly to add a little crispiness to a dish that could easily get too mushy. The gravy was great with good body and that meaty salinity that I love. It also made a good topping for the potatoes (I love to mix and match my food). Overall I was quite satisfied with breakfast at Breadmen's. It made a slow-start Sunday even more enjoyable.

Restaurant Round-up - 5/8/2009

No need to worry. Just because I have not posted in a couple weeks does not mean I'm not eating. In fact, I cooked so much last weekend that I ran out of time and energy to post it all. So I will be marathon posting my eating experiences tonight. Firstly, I want to talk about the food I didn't make.


While tooling around in Charlotte looking for a late dinner, Jessica and I happened across this place called Punchy's Diner. The main draw of the restaurant was that it looked like an old timey diner. It seems the owners may also own the auto parts store nearby (also named Punchy's), which makes them credible to prepare my food in my book. Inside the diner, they had a couple of old cars on display along with all of the usual diner paraphernalia. I could not resist getting this chili dog. For most places, chili dogs are a simple equation: hot dog + chili + bun. This restaurant chose to give the chili dog a North Carolinian flavor by topping it with cole slaw. The creamy deliciousness of the cole slaw helped to cool the chili, but also let the meaty chili pair with the hot dog. And steak fries are always a welcome side item.


New to Charlotte is an Ikea store. If you are in need of reasonably priced furniture or accessories or just want to get inspired, you should definitely stop by your local Ikea. Take as long as you want in the store, because they have a small cafeteria for all of your dietary needs. Now, Sweden may not be top of your list for your next international foodie adventure (we all have them, right?), but the food at Ikea is pretty good. My first choice was an obvious one: Swedish meatballs. The meatballs are served with some mashed potatoes and slathered with a light gravy, all of which forms a plate of tasty wonder on its own, but they added some lingonberry (I think) jam on the side. Like cranberry sauce with turkey, this jelly added a bit of sweetness to the savory meat.


To wash down our plate of pre-dinner, we drank from these juice boxes. I preferred the chrysanthemum drink to the lingonberry one (the latter tasted a little like grape juice). A nicely nostalgic way to rehydrate for more shopping.


Now to revisit a previously posted restaurant: No. 1 Panda. The first time we ate at this restaurant, we had a good time and I took ok pictures with my phone. This time was even better and I remembered my camera. I will admit, the service is still not optimum, but the food and the friendliness of the family working there more than make up for this. Two friends and I split three entrees that ended up coming out successively instead of all at once. This may have actually been better for us as communal eaters. First to be served was a beef brisket "casserole." Casserole in this context means a Chinese hot-pot beef stew. The beef and mixed veggies came out simmering in one of the most flavorful beef sauces I've ever had. This is my new favorite way to eat brisket. There's no way to describe all of the levels of flavor packed into this dish, so you'll just have to try it yourself.


The middle dish was a seafood medley. Clams, calamari, fish, and probably some other parts were combined in a light but delectable sauce that was perfect for table-wide picking. You can't lose with fresh seafood cooked just right.


Last but not least is crispy duck. I was expecting more Peking-style duck, but this one had a sturdy breading on the outside (sturdy enough for the duck to be fried whole and then cleanly chopped into pieces). Warning: this is the dish that took the longest to prepare, so buyer beware. At first, I thought the breading was salty, but then I came to realize that the duck meat itself may have been brined beforehand. The salty crispiness made me covet each piece a bit more, almost like Gollum from Lord of the Rings. I don't get to eat duck that often, but when I do I make sure to get it somewhere that knows what they're doing.