Best Restaurants 2016

FRIDAY JANUARY 29 2016
NEWSOBSERVER.COM
1C +
FACEBOOK.COM/NEWSANDOBSERVER
TWITTER.COM/NEWSOBSERVER
Weekend
N
MUSIC
JEFF BRADSHAW
WIELDS HIS
TROMBONE AT
THE POUR HOUSE. 7C
Best restaurants
DINING
2016
RESTAURANT
OF THE YEAR
. ..................................................................
All three of the Triangle’s
James Beard Best Chef
winners embarked on
new ventures in 2015
Death
& Taxes
raises
the bar
. ..................................................................
Ashley Christensen has
the Restaurant of the Year
with her casual and
cosmopolitan Death & Taxes
. ..................................................................
Other noteworthy new
restaurants came from
Scott Howell in Durham and
Scott Crawford in Raleigh
. ..................................................................
BY GREG COX
Correspondent
BY GREG COX
Correspondent
Death & Taxes
105 W. Hargett St., Raleigh
984-242-0218
ac-restaurants.com/
death-taxes
o say that expectations were high when
Ashley Christensen
opened Death & Taxes last summer would be an
understatement. Poole’s, her
downtown Raleigh flagship,
has won nationwide acclaim
and was key to her winning the
2014 James Beard Award for
Best Chef: Southeast. Her
other ventures – Beasley’s
Chicken + Honey, Chuck’s
(gourmet burgers), Fox Liquor
Bar, and Joule Coffee & Table
– are all strong best-in-class
candidates.
The bar for Death & Taxes
was set in the stratosphere,
then, and was raised even
higher by the challenging concept: a menu driven almost
entirely by a wood-burning
grill. Christensen and her welltrained crew cleared it in style.
That’s “style,” as in a wait
staff that are as friendly as
they are well-trained, and a
dining room whose leather
banquettes, marble tables and
vintage-look chandeliers were
featured in Architectural Digest magazine. Located in a
historic building that has in the
past been home to a funeral
home and a bank (hence the
restaurant’s name), Death &
Taxes sets a mood that is at
once cosmopolitan and casual.
From the culinary perspective, the most stylish feature of
all is the custom-built grill that
dominates one end of the open
kitchen. A massive beast of
structural steel and firebrick
that burns seasoned post oak
(selected expressly for its balanced, moderately smoky
flavor), the grill turns out
everything from fire-roasted
okra pods to dry-aged steaks.
The menu evolves with the
T
JULI LEONARD jleonard@newsobserver.com
Roasted oysters,
preserved lemon
and chili butter
from the menu at
Death & Taxes in
downtown Raleigh.
Raleigh chef and
restaurateur Ashley
Christensen in
Poole’s Downtown
Diner in 2011; her
Death & Taxes is
this year’s
Restaurant of the
Year.
SEE DEATH & TAXES, 4C
TODAY’S REVIEWS
Movies and their grades:
EEE
Finest Hours
Satisfying melodrama. 5C
EEE 1/2
Kung Fu Panda 3
Another knockout! 6C
EEE 1/2
Theeb
Brutal adventure story. 6C
Fifty Shades of Black
Review at nando.com/movies.
Jane Got a Gun
Review at nando.com/movies.
+
TRAVIS LONG 2011 News & Observer File Photo
Last year, the Triangle experienced the culinary equivalent of
a rare planetary alignment: All
three local winners of the prestigious James Beard Award for
Best Chef in the Southeast embarked on new restaurant ventures.
2014 winner Ashley Christensen, owner/chef of the acclaimed Poole’s Diner and several other establishments in
downtown Raleigh, opened
Death & Taxes in June. Lantern
chef/proprietor Andrea Reusing,
who brought home the medal in
2009, launched the restaurant
in The Durham Hotel in October (too late for me to review in
time for this year’s roundup).
2000 winner Ben Barker, of the
now-shuttered (and still missed)
Magnolia Grill, has teamed up
with his wife, Karen (herself
winner of the 2003 Beard
Award for America’s Outstanding Pastry Chef) and their son,
Gabe, to open Pizzeria Mercato
in Carrboro. They’re looking to
fire up the brick-lined ovens any
day now.
In my book, that trifecta of
restaurant news qualifies 2015
as a banner year, even if nothing
else of note happened all year.
In fact, a whole lot else happened.
For starters, the Beard Award
winners were not the only noteworthy talents to embark on
new ventures. Nana’s chef Scott
Howell made a splash in the bar
scene with Bar Virgile in downtown Durham, with executive
chef Carrie Schleiffer turning
out exquisite small plates to pair
with bar manager Daniel Sartain’s rigorously researched list
of classic cocktails.
Scott Crawford, formerly
executive chef of Herons in the
Umstead Hotel, teamed up with
developer John Holmes to open
Standard Foods in Raleigh (another late launch that’s on my
radar for a 2016 review).
A few local landmarks moved
to new digs, among them TaSEE RESTAURANTS, 4C
MUSIC
Broadway star Kristin Chenoweth
to play Durham’s Carolina Theatre
BY THÉODEN JANES
tjanes@charlotteobserver.com
Broadway star Kristin Chenoweth’s
Saturday show at the Carolina Theatre in
Durham is nearly sold out, as of press time.
And it’s no wonder.
The 47-year-old singer-actress, who 13
years ago originated the role of Glinda in
the Broadway musical “Wicked,” is beloved
by fans. (“Wicked” went on to become a
touring sensation and ends a run in Charlotte on Sunday, the same night Chenoweth
performs in that city.) Chenoweth is also
known for TV roles on “Pushing Daisies”
and “Glee.”
There are plenty of reasons for fans to
celebrate the Tony and Emmy Award winner’s visits to Durham and Charlotte this
weekend. Here are just five.
1. She’s not a North Carolina girl
(Chenoweth is from Oklahoma), but
she’s no stranger to the state. In 2009,
she was awarded an honorary doctorate
from the University of North Carolina
School of the Arts in Winston-Salem, where
she was the commencement speaker. “Kids
in New York will come up to say to me, ‘I
was there when you got your degree!’ ... I
love that. In the arts, the connections you
make just continue on.”
2. She won’t deprive fans of the songs
she’s become most (pardon the pun)
SEE CHENOWETH, 2C
JOHN RUSSO
Kristin Chenoweth originated the role of
Glinda in “Wicked” and has performed in
“Pushing Daisies” and “Glee” on TV.
4C
+
Dining
FRIDAY JANUARY 29 2016
NEWSOBSERVER.COM
N
FROM PAGE 1C
DEATH & TAXES
seasons, though you can
count on a few popular
staples. The featured steak
– a porterhouse, say, or a
bone-in Kansas City strip –
will set you back $60-$70
but will make a meal for
two that you won’t soon
forget. The poussin lives
up to Christensen’s welldeserved reputation for
roasted chicken. Roasted
oysters with preserved
lemon and chile butter are
a must, regardless of the
oyster variety.
Other highlights of my
visits – ember-killed salad
with country ham and a
warm cider dressing,
whole crab salad with
citrus and avocado, pickled muscadine grape hull
tart – may no longer be
available, but not to worry.
Death & Taxes is one of
those rare restaurants
where it’s nearly impossible to make a bad
choice. That goes for the
beverage selection, too,
whether it’s a craft cocktail or one of the wines
from the old bank vault
that has been repurposed
as a temperature-controlled cellar.
This year, it’s tempting
to change “Restaurant of
the Year” to “Lifetime
Achievement Award” for
Ashley Christensen. In
addition to being a supremely gifted chef and
successful restaurateur,
she’s a vocal cheerleader
for other restaurants in the
area and a tireless supporter of worthy causes.
But make no mistake,
Death & Taxes is worthy
of selection as Restaurant
of the Year in its own
right. And besides, for all
her accomplishments,
Ashley Christensen is still
far too young for a Lifetime Achievement Award.
PHOTOS BY JULI LEONARD jleonard@newsobserver.com
Foraged mushrooms are roasted over a wood fire at Death & Taxes, where the menu is
driven almost entirely by a wood-burning grill.
BEST NEW
RESTAURANTS
GOLD MEDAL
Fearrington House
2000 Fearrington Village
Center, Pittsboro
919-542-2121
fearringtonhouse.com
Cuisine: contemporary
Bar Virgile
105 S. Mangum St., Durham
919-973-3000
barvirgile.com
Cuisine: small plates
The Boot
2501 University Drive, Durham
919-294-8383
thebootdurham.com
Cuisine: Italian
Cave 1912
1912 Bernard St., Raleigh
919-977-3864
cave1912.com
Cuisine: contemporary
Counting House
111 N. Corcoran St., Durham
919-956-6760
countinghousenc.com
BEST IN CLASS
BAKERY
Guglhupf
2706 Durham-Chapel Hill
Blvd., Durham
919-401-2600
guglhupf.com
The izakaya is the Japanese pub upstairs at Durham’s Dashi.
Cuisine: contemporary
Dashi
415 E. Chapel Hill St., Durham
919-251-9335
dashiramen.com
Cuisine: Japanese
Death & Taxes
105 W. Hargett St., Raleigh
984-242-0218
lunarotisserie.com
Latin-Southern fusion
GERMAN, POLISH
J. Betski’s
10-120 West Franklin St.,
Raleigh
919-833-7999
jbetskis.com
BARBECUE
Hillsborough BBQ Company
236 S. Nash St., Hillsborough
919-732-4647
hillsboroughbbq.com
GREEK
Kipos
431 W. Franklin St., Chapel Hill
919-425-0760
kiposgreektaverna.com
BURGER
Chuck’s
237 S. Wilmington St., Raleigh
919-322-0126
ac-restaurants.com/chucks
INDIAN (CONTEMPORARY)
Garland
14 W. Martin St., Raleigh
919-833-6886
garlandraleigh.com
CAJUN/CREOLE
La Place
111 N. Churton St., Hillsborough
919-245-0041
laplacehillsborough.com
CHINESE (CANTONESE)
Shanghai
3433 Hillsborough Road,
Durham
919-383-7581
shanghaidurham.com
CHINESE (SZECHWAN)
Gourmet Kingdom
301 E. Main St., Carrboro
919-932-7222
thegourmetkingdom.com
CHINESE (TAIWANESE)
Taipei 101
121-A E. Chatham St., Cary
919-388-5885
carytaipei101.com
COFFEEHOUSE/CAFE
Joule Coffee
223 S. Wilmington St., Raleigh
919-424-7422
ac-restaurants.com/joule
CUBAN
Old Havana Sandwich Shop
310 E. Main St., Durham
919-667-9525
oldhavanaeats.com
DELI
New York Bagel & Deli III
2050 Kildaire Farm Road,
Cary
919-851-9050
newyorkbagelsanddeli.com
ETHIOPIAN
Queen of Sheba
1129-O Weaver Dairy Road,
Chapel Hill
919-932-4986
queenofshebachapelhill.com
FRENCH
Vin Rouge
2010 Hillsborough Road,
Durham
919-416-0466
vinrougerestaurant.com
FUSION
Luna Rotisserie & Empanadas
112 W. Main St., Durham
984-439-8702
INDIAN (NORTHERN AND
INDO-CHINESE)
Aroma
160-114 NE Maynard Road,
Cary
919-415-1132
aromacarync.com
INDIAN (SOUTHERN)
CholaNad
308 W. Franklin St., Chapel
Hill
800-246-5262
cholanad.com
IRISH PUB
Doherty’s
Two locations: 1979 High
House Road, Cary; 5490 Apex
Peakway, Apex
919-388-9930 (Cary); 919-3874100 (Apex)
dohertysirishpubnc.com
ITALIAN
Gocciolina
3314 Guess Road, Durham
919-973-4089
gocciolina.com
JAPANESE
Waraji
5910 Duraleigh Road, Raleigh
919-783-1883
warajijapaneserestaurant.com
KOREAN
Seoul Garden
4701 Atlantic Ave., Raleigh
919-850-9984
raleighseoulgarden.com
LEBANESE
Sitti
137 S. Wilmington St., Raleigh
919-239-4070
sitti-raleigh.com
MEXICAN (CONTEMPORARY)
Centro
106 S. Wilmington St., Raleigh
919-835-3593
centroraleigh.com
MEXICAN (TAQUERIA)
La Superior
3325 N. Roxboro St., Durham
919-220-3588
MEXICAN (TRADITIONAL)
Vallarta
3177 Capital Blvd., Raleigh
919-790-2696
nando.com/3ck
FROM PAGE 1C
RESTAURANTS
+
verna Agora (from Northwest Raleigh to downtown), Dos Taquitos (from
Creedmoor Crossings to
the building vacated by
Taverna Agora), and Cafe
Tiramisu (across the parking lot to the other side of
North Ridge Shopping
Center). All managed to
retain much of the charm
that had made them enduring favorites, and Taverna Agora’s new rooftop
patio is sure to become a
landmark in its own right.
Meanwhile, food trucks
– a category defined by
ac-restaurants.com/
death-taxes
Cuisine: contemporary grill
Juju
737 Ninth St., Durham
919-286-3555
jujudurham.com
Cuisine: Asian fusion tapas
PAN-ASIAN
Banana Leaf
1026 Ryan Road, Cary
919-468-9958
bananaleafcary.com
PASTRIES
lucettegrace
235 S. Salisbury St., Raleigh
919-307-4950
lucettegrace.com
Herons
100 Woodland Pond, in the
Umstead Hotel & Spa, Cary
919-447-4000
theumstead.com
Cuisine: contemporary
Il Palio
1505 E. Franklin St., in the
Siena Hotel, Chapel Hill
919-929-4000
sienahotel.com
Cuisine: Italian
Lantern
423 W. Franklin St., Chapel Hill
919-969-8846
lanternrestaurant.com
Cuisine: Asian
Mateo
109 W. Chapel Hill St., Durham
919-530-8700
mateotapas.com
Cuisine: Spanish (tapas)
Nana’s
2514 University Drive, Durham
919-493-8545
nanasdurham.com
Cuisine: contemporary Medi-
George Yamazawa cuts daikon radish into paper-thin
sheets at Yamazushi in Durham.
terranean
Oakleaf
480 Hillsborough St., Pittsboro
919-533-6303
oakleafnc.com
Cuisine: contemporary
One
100 Meadowmont Village
Circle, Chapel Hill
919-537-8207
one-restaurant.com
Cuisine: contemporary
Panciuto
110 S. Churton St., Hillsborough
919-732-6261
panciuto.com
PERUVIAN
Machu Picchu
4500-100 Falls of Neuse
Road, Raleigh
919-526-7378
machupicchu
peruviancuisine.com
STEAKHOUSE
Bin 54
1201-M Raleigh Road, Chapel
Hill
919-969-1155
bin54restaurant.com
TAPAS
Mateo
109 W. Chapel Hill St., Durham
919-530-8700
mateotapas.com
THAI
Lemongrass
8320-142 Litchford Road,
Raleigh
919-954-0377
lemongrassthairestaurant.net
TURKISH
Talulla’s
456 W. Franklin St., Chapel
Hill
919-933-1177
talullas.com
VEGETARIAN
The Fiction Kitchen
428 S. Dawson St., Raleigh
919-831-4177
thefictionkitchen.com
VIETNAMESE
Pho Far East
4011 Capital Blvd., Raleigh
919-876-8621
nando.com/3cl
mobility – continue to
expand our list of cheapeats options at a dizzying
clip. As the market matures, a growing number
of the more successful
vendors are setting up
brick-and-mortar locations. In 2015 alone, 11
food truck operators (unless I missed one or two;
they’re a moving target,
after all) set up shop at a
fixed address. Not surprisingly, the overwhelming
Second Empire
330 Hillsborough St., Raleigh
919-829-3663
second-empire.com
Cuisine: contemporary
Yamazushi
4711 Hope Valley Road, Durham
919-493-7748
yamazushirestaurant.com
Cuisine: Japanese
Kitchen
764 Martin Luther King Blvd.,
Chapel Hill
919-537-8167
kitchenchapelhill.com
Cuisine: French, contemporary
SANDWICHES
Neal’s Deli
100-C E. Main St., Carrboro
919-967-2185
nealsdeli.com
SOUTHERN
Crook’s Corner
610 W. Franklin St., Chapel
Hill
919-929-7643
crookscorner.com
Poole’s Downtown Diner
426 S. McDowell St., Raleigh
919-832-4477
poolesdowntowndiner.com
Cuisine: American bistro
Guglhupf
2706 Durham-Chapel Hill
Blvd., Durham
919-401-2600
guglhupf.com
Cuisine: German
PIZZA
Pizzeria Toro
105 E. Chapel Hill St., Durham
919-908-6936
pizzeriatoro.com
SEAFOOD
Blu Seafood & Bar
2002 Hillsborough Road,
Durham
919-286-9777
bluseafoodandbar.com
Cuisine: contemporary Italian
Little Hen
5160 Sunset Lake Road, Apex
919-363-0000
littlehennc.com
Cuisine: American
A dessert from Glenwood Grill in Raleigh.
SILVER MEDAL
18 Seaboard
18-100 Seaboard Ave., Raleigh
919-861-4318
18restaurantgroup.com
Cuisine: contemporary
Southern, grill
An
2800 Renaissance Park Place,
Cary
919-677-9229
ancuisines.com
Cuisine: contemporary Asian
Angus Barn
9401 Glenwood Ave., Raleigh
919-781-2444
angusbarn.com
Cuisine: steakhouse
Bida Manda
222 S. Blount St., Raleigh
919-829-9999
bidamanda.com
Cuisine: Laotian
Italian
bu.ku
110 E. Davie St., Raleigh
919-834-6963
bukuraleigh.com
Cuisine: global street food
Coquette
4351 The Circle at North Hills,
Raleigh
919-789-0606
coquetteraleigh.com
Cuisine: French
Elaine’s on Franklin
454 W. Franklin St., Chapel
Hill
919-960-2770
elainesonfranklin.com
Cuisine: contemporary
Fairview
3001 Cameron Blvd., in the
Washington Duke Inn, Durham
919-490-0999
washingtondukeinn.com
Cuisine: contemporary
Bleu Olive
1821 Hillandale Road, Durham
919-383-8502
bleuolivebistro.com
Cuisine: contemporary Mediterranean
Four Square
2701 Chapel Hill Road, Durham
919-401-9877
foursquarerestaurant.com
Cuisine: contemporary
Bloomsbury Bistro
509-101 W. Whitaker Mill
Road, Raleigh
919-834-9011
bloomsburybistro.com
Cuisine: contemporary
Glenwood Grill
2603 Glenwood Ave., Raleigh
919-782-3102
glenwoodgrill.com
Cuisine: contemporary
Southern
Bruno
11211 Galleria Ave., Raleigh
919-435-6640
brunoraleigh.com
Cuisine: steaks, seafood,
majority of these are in
Durham, where the local
food truck trend first
kicked into gear.
Indian restaurants outpaced all other cuisines on
the list of newcomers, and
the Cary-Morrisville area
continued to solidify its
reputation as the hub. The
area now accounts for
more than half the 50 or
so Indian restaurants in
the Triangle, a list that
covers an ever-widening
Gocciolina
3314 Guess Road, Durham
919-973-4089
gocciolina.com
Cuisine: Italian
spectrum of regional cuisines from Hyderabadi to
Himalayan.
Every year sees a few
unexpected closings – of
long-established restaurants, or notable new ones
– and 2015 was no exception. Last year’s restaurant
obituaries included Battistella’s, Black House at
Straw Valley, Brewmasters, The Cary Cafe, Ed
Mitchell’s Que, Firewürst,
Fishmonger’s, Natty
Mandolin
2519 Fairview Road, Raleigh
919-322-0365
mandolinraleigh.com
Cuisine: contemporary
Southern
Margaux’s
8111-111 Creedmoor Road, in
Brennan Station, Raleigh
919-846-9846
margauxsrestaurant.com
Cuisine: contemporary,
seafood
Piedmont
401-B2 Foster St., Durham
919-683-1213
piedmontrestaurant.com
Cuisine: contemporary
Plates
301 Glenwood Ave., Raleigh
919-828-0018
plateskitchen.com
Cuisine: contemporary
Saint Jacques
6112 Falls of Neuse Road,
Raleigh
919-862-2770
saintjacquesfrenchcuisine.
com
Cuisine: French
Stanbury
938 N. Blount St., Raleigh
919-977-4321
stanburyraleigh.com
Cuisine: contemporary
Vivace
4209-115 Lassiter Mill Road,
Raleigh
919-787-7747
vivaceraleigh.com
Cuisine: Italian
Watts Grocery
1116 Broad St., Durham
919-416-5040
wattsgrocery.com
Cuisine: contemporary
Southern
Greene’s, Pie Bird and 518
West.
On the bright side, Bali
Hai – a perennial Raleigh
favorite closed by a fire in
2013, after more than 30
years – finally found a new
home after a two-year
search. Mongolian barbecue fans can now get their
fix at the restaurant’s
spiffy new digs in Garner.
Note: You can find my
restaurant reviews online
at themenunc.com