Dumplings and Ocean's

Our latest shake took us to downtown Raleigh Friday night.  Just a few days after I read an article about how the chef at The Duck & Dumpling is retiring.  But we do what our iPhones tell us, and settled in a high top table by the window.  I was a little bummed not to have the original guy making the dumplings I've heard so much about, but we were not disappointed when we got our appetizer.  Actually, it was embarrassing how quickly we put away the appetizer sampler of all the dumplings they have.

Dumpling sampler appetizer

So Greyson says, "Remember in Ocean's Thirteen when they poison that guy's dumpling?  You know, the hotel reviewer guy?"  This question led to a good 20 minutes of character discussions and line quoting from one of our favorite movie trilogies.  "You have to learn to walk before you crawl, Linus," I said.  "Reverse that," Greyson says.  We laughed as he continued to cut each dumpling in half so we both could try each kind, always giving me the bigger piece.  

The Ocean's discussion naturally led to our upcoming plans for our fifth anniversary in April.  A topic I've been keen on for some time, as I am ready to bid winter aideu for warmer weather.  We plan to go to Las Vegas.  While no casino heists are in the works, Shakes dinners are.  I can't wait to do some out-of-town dinner blogs.

But until then we're eating at home. I had the Basil Duck because, I mean, "Duck" is in the name of the restaurant.  It's fitting, and I was not disappointed.  Greyson had the filet simply because he had to try the Asian-style steak.  He too was satisfied.

When it came time for dessert, the young, hip, happy wait staff got their chance to shine.  We couldn't decide between the Apple Crisp with Ginger Ice Cream and the Spiced Pear with Ginger Ice Cream.  After some discussion, the waitress and the hostess both recommended the Pear.  That's what we ordered but that's not what we got.  So the mistake Apple was on the house.  

The Spiced Pear with Ginger Ice Cream (heaven!)

The waitress brought the Pear too. So we enjoyed our second dessert looking out the window at our chilly little city, dreaming of a city in the desert, to celebrate five years of funny discussions over dinner.


Happy (early) Anniversary,
Amy

The Crab Waffle

Let me preface this post with a little on my love of breakfast.  If I could pick only one meal to eat on any given day it would be the first of the day.  As a child I lived for pancakes on Saturday morning.  Cereal may be my favorite food.  As an adult I will always pick something from the breakfast/brunch menu if a restaurant is awesome enough to serve it all day.  Cracker Barrel on road trips is a must.  While I'm totally "ignoramoose" on the peg game, I'm a genius at picking good breakfast food.

When we shook and I ended up landing on Zest Cafe in North Raleigh, I never imagined one of my morning favorites would end up as part of a seafood appetizer.  

I'll get to that in a minute.  Zest is adorable.  From the fork-knife-and-spoon fence out front, to the gift shop you have to walk through to get to the dining room,  it is cute.  We were thrilled they had a seasonal menu.  I'm convinced seasonal menus mean that the chef must have prepared something special just for me.  Seasonal menus are smaller, fresher, and make a restaurant better.  I truly have more faith in a chef and owner who keep a menu smaller.  

I asked the waitress what the best appetizer was.  She recommended this thing that I called "The Crab Waffle."  Well, I'll say it truly had something for everyone.  It was salty, sweet, spicy, hot, cold, crunchy, soft, raw, and cooked all in one.  It was a sweet Belgian waffle with a tower of spicy slaw with cold crab and shrimp on top.  You can tell they used a cup to mold the crab tower. It was kinda good, but so weird I couldn't get past the crab cocktail on top of the waffle that was kinda mushy.  It was such an odd concoction I really can't say if I liked it or not.  

Greyson with The Crab Waffle

Our dinner entrees were better for sure, but honestly I can't remember what else I ate after the intense insanity that was our appetizer.

Here's to keeping breakfast pure,

Amy

Pizza Night! (twice)

Okay, so we ate a a pizza place two nights in a row.  (This is not your blog!  Don't judge us!)  


Our places for pies were Tony's Pizza and Milton's Pizza and Pasta.


Tony's is literally right across from our neighborhood and we eat across the street every week being the trivia junkies we are.  We wanted cheap and quick on a Friday night because I work so early on the weekends and set UrbanSpoons to $ in North Raleigh.

There are three sizes of pies you can order.  We are the saps who ordered the medium.  The small is PLENTY for four people let alone two.  Needless to say, we had leftover slices.  But the pizza remained true to the promise of New York style.  Everything on the menu was true NY Italian, the calzones, the garlic knots, etc.  Big slices, fresh toppings, not bad.  The crust was good.  There was a little more grease than I liked, but nothing I couldn't blot with the paper towels they had on the table.  I love that when I'm eating messy food.  

That is a big freakin' pizza!

The inside of the restaurant was cozier than I expected.  Lots of families were there on a Friday night.  We saw at least 2 sleepover parties.  (We've been asked to discuss child-friendliness of restaurants we visit.  This is not something we pay attention to.  But we will now for our reproducing friends.)


All the families on a Friday meant it  took FOREVER to get our pizza.  It was getting a little ridiculous after awhile and I was getting what we call "Hangry".  (That's a combination of hungry and angry when my blood sugar gets low.)  


When we finally got our pizza it was good and did more than cure low blood sugar, it raised my cholesterol sufficiently.  We enjoyed our caloric gorging so much at Tony's, we came back a week or two later after sledding with our awesome friends on a snow day.

Me, Trish, Sam, and Erin before taking the plunge into Highway 70

The next night.....

Our dear friend Amy Milslagle is a fine-wine-drinking-foodie and if it were up to her we'd dine at some of the Triangle's finest places.  But our Saturday evening's dining locale wasn't up to her.  It was up to Ashley, her five-year-old-mac-and-cheese-loving-Kindergartener.  As fate would have it, Greyson shook and landed on Ashley's pick, Milton's Pizza and Pasta.  

We understood why this was Ashley's pick.  It's a huge menu with tons of options for kids and families.  We hadn't seen her in awhile and she told us all about Santa's visit as she sipped on milk and we had beer at the bar.  When we got our table she kept asking for Jell-o.  This seemed odd to Greyson and I but I cracked up laughing when we understood what she meant.  There is a salad bar.  She had Captian's Wafers and Jell-o pudding as her salad as any Elementary school kid would.   It was a small salad bar.  But surprisingly fresh with actual salad for me.

Our pizza was good.  In honor of our Carolina Hurricanes, my hockey loving hubby got The Stanley Cup Pizza piled high with Canadian Bacon and Bleu cheese.  I got El Pollo Loco with BBQ chicken and jalapenos.  It was pretty good.  My fave BBQ chicken pizzas are still the Funky Q Chicken at Mellow Mushroom and the Barbequed Chicken Pizza at Lynnwood Grill in Raleigh.

The Stanley Cup Pizza

(We need the Canes to come sample this pie to get some inspiration to play better this year.)

Decent pizza, but the best part was hearing how happy Amy was in a new relationship.  Maybe we'll shake and eat with her and "Mr. Right" soon.   Ashley made our second leftover pizza box of the week more beautiful than we could've imagined with her superior art in crayon.

That's amore!

Amy