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Subject: RTP-area local music and culture

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  • From: James Hepler <jameshepler AT yahoo.com>
  • To: RTP-area local music and culture <ch-scene AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: mmmmmm, Durham
  • Date: Tue, 12 Dec 2006 12:05:24 -0800 (PST)

I found at Xiloa that I had to be aggressive. I had
to tell the waiter I was ready to order, I had to
actively seek my check. The food was so tasty but one
couple left and yelled "bad service" on their way out.
I didn't once see them get a waiter's attention. Not
that you should have to, of course, but before I walk
out of any restaurant, I account for the possibility
that I fell through the cracks.



--- grady <grady AT ibiblio.org> wrote:

> I must've gotten out of the habit of ranting about
> food on this list,
> but so yeah, Xiloa is crazy. Sometimes crazy in a
> very good way, and
> sometimes crazy in the sense that the wonderful
> woman who owns it must
> be crazy to work as hard as she does. And sometimes
> crazy like when one
> of the 9th Street homeless dudes rambles in holding
> a big bowl of soup &
> demands crackers. Man, that guy smelled *terrible*.
>
> Xiloa is a weird mashup of
> coastal-Nicaraguan-meets-New Mexico. Try the
> frybread taco with the red shredded pork & the
> really tasty tangy slaw,
> or the nacatamales, which are the Nicaraguan
> variation on tamales, the
> variation being that they're triple-sized, wrapped
> in banana leaves,
> steamed or sometimes braised, and packed with rice,
> vegetables, chicken
> & raisins.
>
> She'll make anything you want vegan, if possible,
> and she keeps 6-8
> different varieties of homemade agua frescas on ice
> at all times.
>
> Not all the dishes are as excellent as the two I
> mentioned; seasoning
> seems to be uneven, and the owner told me a month or
> two ago that she
> was having trouble finding cooks who understood her
> recipes & her
> cooking style; they kept wanting to take shortcuts
> or alter the
> seasoning to fit their more Mexican palates.
>
> It doesn't help that she's clearly a bit obsessive
> about her food & her
> restaurant; during the first month she was open, she
> was pulling
> 12-15-hour days, 7 days a week, to the point that
> she'd lost her voice &
> looked about ready to keel over.
>
> But if it's possible to overcome these fairly
> standard new-restaurant
> growing pains on sheer willpower & determination,
> then they'll do fine.
>
> Oh yeah: Xiloa is on 9th Street next door to Banhs.
>
> xo
>
> Ross
>
> James Hepler wrote:
> > I'm going to go ahead and take this opportunity to
> > hail Xiloa as a great new place to eat. For lunch
> you
> > can order the guacamole and that right there is a
> > decent meal. And it's not guac like you would
> picture
> > it. So good, and I don't even like guac.
> >
> > I've heard Rue Cler is terrible for service at
> > dinnertime. This is why I try to avoid new places
> in
> > the first few weeks. But I had friends that left
> > after waiting for too long, were roped into coming
> > back by an eager server only to be told "the
> waitress
> > is slammed so don't get your hopes up". I'm sure
> it
> > will work itself out.
> >
> >
> >
> > --- grady <grady AT ibiblio.org> wrote:
> >
> >> Not saying that Piedmont *should* charge more.
> I'm
> >> saying that the
> >> setting, the quality of the service, the food,
> the
> >> ingredients, and the
> >> care that goes into their preparation are all in
> >> line with a price-point
> >> that's somewhat higher than what they're
> charging,
> >> compared to pretty
> >> much every-other-restaurant of that caliber. The
> >> fact that they charge
> >> what they do means either they got a really good
> >> deal on their lease, or
> >> that Abby, Andy & Drew are willing to work extra
> >> hours & take home less
> >> profit. The latter, while admirable, can also
> lead
> >> to burnout, so here's
> >> hoping they've figured out how to make what
> they're
> >> doing sustainable.
> >>
> >> As for your desire for Durham to have more
> >> restaurants like Federal and
> >> Piedmont, well, don't get *too* greedy. Most
> towns
> >> don't even have *one*
> >> restaurant that good & that inexpensive ;-)
> >>
> >> I do dig what you're saying about Durham & the
> range
> >> of restaurants;
> >> it's a conversation that I've had with other
> people
> >> as well. You've got
> >> your [delicious] $5 Banh's, or the various
> >> tacquerias, and then you've
> >> got Starlu and Four Square and Magnolia Grill. In
> >> between there's a
> >> mixed bag of chain restaurants &/or places with
> >> midline prices but
> >> mediocre food.
> >>
> >> Rue Cler seems to be trying to hit that same
> $8-$15
> >> sweet spot. I
> >> haven't been there for dinner (which I've been
> told,
> >> by at least a
> >> half-dozen different people, is excellent), but
> at
> >> lunch yesterday, $10
> >> for a Salade Nicoise featuring a big plate of
> those
> >> pre-washed greens, a
> >> single hard-boiled egg, and half a can of tuna
> was
> >> *not* doing the trick
> >> for me.
> >>
> >> The prewashed salad green revolution has pretty
> much
> >> killed the
> >> restaurant salad, near as I can tell. Nearly
> >> everyplace I go, I wind up
> >> with a *huge* plate of greens that's
> out-of-balance
> >> with the other
> >> ingredients, *and* (presumably thanks to the
> >> "pre-washed" sticker on the
> >> bag) inevitably the salad prep cook hasn't
> bothered
> >> to actually touch or
> >> inspect the greens, so the giant pile is laced
> with
> >> little
> >> shriveled/gooey blackened bits of rotting
> lettuce. I
> >> pulled 3 or 4
> >> particularly unappetizing examples out of the Rue
> >> Cler Nicoise
> >> yesterday, but I've also had similar experiences
> at
> >> too many other
> >> restaurants to name.
> >>
> >> Of course, I guess the lesson I should take away
> >> from this is to not
> >> order a green salad unless it's in-season, and
> you
> >> can reasonably trust
> >> the restaurant to have a reliable local source of
> >> fresh greens. Duh. OK.
> >> Point taken.
> >>
> >> Back to more talk of nice, reasonably-priced food
> in
> >> Durham! I had a
> >> really nice plate of Italian-style braised pork
> >> shoulder just now for
> >> lunch at the Park Diner. $7.95 with 2 vegetables
> and
> >> all the fresh bread
> >> you can eat. The only catch is that they're only
> >> open for lunch M-F.
> >>
> >> And have I raved here about Vit Goal Tofu
> Restaurant
> >> yet?
> >>
> >> Ross
> >>
> >> Virginia Ingram wrote:
> >>> I love Durham. I love the food in Durham. I
> love
> >> that Durham is well-known for it's food.
> >>> However, I 100% disagree that they should be
>
=== message truncated ===




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