Review of Broad Street Deli & Market, Dunn

            One of our favorite lunch places is the Broad Street Deli & Market in Dunn. 

From the moment you walk in, you get this overwhelming sense of warmth.  There are small tables around the restaurant, trees in the middle, and shelves with various snacks around the outside.  All of the wait staff is very friendly, especially the owners Jamie and Jeff.  They are probably two of the nicest people that we have ever met.  They consistently talk to all of their customers and remember us as if we were family.  They make the place great and their sandwiches are fabulous!  

Typically, we rotate between three of our favorite sandwiches.  The Life of Riley is roast beef, brie cheese, and a house-made plum sauce on a croissant.  It is fabulous.  The creaminess of the cheese and sweetness of the plum sauce accentuate the already great roast beef.  Strangely though, Jeff & Jamie’s son Riley, is not a fan of his namesake.    Jeff’s Polynesian is another favorite.  This one is Black Forest ham, melted Swiss, and homemade mango salsa.  Megan loves this one and describes it as “deliciousness.”  The third sandwich we love is the Pimento cheese with bacon.  Jamie makes homemade pimento cheese, which is absolutely amazing.  In fact, it is the only pimento cheese that we eat.  Melting the cheese on a croissant with crisp bacon, makes this the ultimate in decadent flavors. 

Typically, all sandwiches can come on marble rye or croissant with chips, a pickle, and homemade cole slaw.  The slaw is a vinegar-based slaw of cabbage, pickles, and peppers.  It is fantastic; crunchy and yet, slightly sour.    Other side dish options include pasta salad and potato salad.  The potato salad is Megan’s favorite.   It is a sour cream and mayonnaise based potato salad that includes bacon and chives.  It really is spectacular and not just because Megan’s favorite food is a potato. 

Every day, they have at least one soup.  All of the soups that we have ever had their have been amazing.  Our favorite is the broccoli soup, but we also love the chili, Italian wedding, chicken noodle, and corn chowder.  Each soup is homemade and available for takeout, as is the chicken salad and pimento cheese.  Oh and don't sleep on their salads or desserts either.  While we normally don't get them, they look and taste delicious.  

The Broad Street Deli is a place that we will be frequenting for as long as we live in the area.  Between the deli and the market, they have something for everyone.  While some may scoff at the idea of soups, salads, and sandwiches, you won’t find a better deli in the state, I promise.  Jeff and Jamie have established one of the best kept secrets in the Harnett/Johnston county area, but now the secret is out, check out the Broad Street Deli & Market and get ready for one of the best lunch experiences in your life.

Category	Scale 1-5 stars
Food Quality
Food Creativity
Service
Atmosphere
Value for the price

Review of the Peak City Grill & Bar, Apex

            On Tuesday, after meeting with our wedding officiants, we drove through Apex on our way home.  We have heard that the Peak City Grill has a good reputation, so we figured we would stop and eat dinner since it was already after seven.  For a Tuesday night, they were packed.  The hostess told us that it would be a 30 minutes wait, unfortunately, it lasted almost 50 minutes. 

            Once seated, we ordered the Shrimp Hushpuppies for our appetizer.  In a few short minutes, we had our seven piping-hot hushpuppies.  The shrimp were very large and breaded in hushpuppy batter.  It is such a simple concept, yet I’ve never seen it anywhere else before.  They were delicious; crunchy on the outside, yet soft on the inside.  The stone ground mustard aioli was the perfect complement to the hushpuppies.  This is definitely a dish that I would recommend to friends. 

            I ordered a side Caesar salad.  This was the only disappointing part of our meal.  It was about seven small Romaine leaves topped with four small croutons, a few shavings of Parmesan, and dressing.  The dressing was good, but I would have preferred a heavier amount.  The size and amount of the croutons and the less-than-ample Parmesan were disappointing.  With just a few changes, this could be much better. 

            For Megan’s main course, she ordered the 10oz Sirloin Steak, medium-rare, with a loaded baked potato. Her steak was marinated in red wine and peppercorns and then served with the Peak City Grill’s Compound Butter.  The steak was amazing.  It was cooked perfectly and Megan described it as “one of the best steaks she has tasted.”  When I tried a bite, I agree, it is a VERY good steak.  Megan was then in awe at the huge size of the baked potato filled with butter, sour cream, bacon, chives, and cheese. This steak was well worth its price.  

            For my dinner, I ordered the Goat Cheese Gnocchi.  It was served mixed with pan-roasted Shiitakes, cherry tomatoes, and sweet corn.  It was also served with roasted tomatoes, which was not in the description on the menu or I would have known to ask for them to be removed.  As someone who doesn’t really like tomatoes, I wish these were not present.  However, the flavor combination of this dish was great.  I love goat cheese and gnocchi, so the combination could not be beat.  The freshness of the sweet corn combined with fresh thyme was amazing and the Shiitakes were hearty and delicious.  Oh, this was the first time I’ve eaten Shiitakes in a non-Asian dish, and I am a big fan of them because of this dish.  This dish is another that I would seriously consider ordering again.  Unfortunately, the picture I took came out blurry, or I could show you how wonderful it was.

            Despite the fact that our entire experience at the Peak City Grill took over two and half hours, the food was definitely worth the wait. Based on what we ate, the Peak City Chef (be it Brendan Cox from their website or James Lee from their Facebook page) could very well be one of the best chefs in the area.  I guarantee we will be back at the Peak City Grill again in the near future and this time, we’ll be bringing our friends too.

Category	Scale 1-5 stars
Food Quality
Food Creativity
Service
Atmosphere
Value for the price

Review of the Raleigh Times, Raleigh

            This weekend, Megan and I met some friends at The Raleigh Times for dinner.  While this was our first meal here, we have eaten at other restaurants run by the Empire Eats Restaurants and enjoyed our experience.  I understand that The Raleigh Times is in a historic building, but it looks more run-down on the inside than I would have liked.  I’m sure some people would call that “character”, but too much chipped paint and too many cracked ceilings make character a questionable call.  We arrived at about 5:20 on Saturday and immediately realized that The Raleigh Times had free-for-all seating.  So, we put two tables together to fit the six of us.  Unfortunately, other larger groups tried to fit in ten people at the neighboring table, so we were boxed in, with three added chairs in the small space between our table and theirs.  Having a hostess sit groups to avoid seating problems like this would have been a huge plus. 

            Megan and I shared the Bar BQ Pork Egg Rolls.  They are a fried egg roll stuffed with pork that was braised in beer, cabbage, and roasted red peppers.  They came out presented minimally with two egg rolls presented on three strands of what I assume was lemongrass with a sweet and spicy chili sauce in a cup.  However, they were right out of the fryer and were very good.  The homemade chili sauce was the star of the dish though, I couldn’t get enough of it on the roll. 

            I ordered the Black and Blue Burger, medium-well, with a side of their house-made chips.  My burger was supposed to be blackened, and topped with blue cheese slaw.  The blackening seasoning was either omitted or was so light that I couldn’t discern its inclusion.  The slaw was creamy, rough-cut slaw with blue cheese crumbles.  While the slaw was good, it could have used much more blue cheese, as this was the only cheese on the burger.  Overall though, my burger was cooked as ordered and made for a great combination of flavor and texture.  I would gladly order it again.  My chips were thinly cut and fried to brown perfection, then salted and seasoned perfectly. 

            Megan ordered the Prime-Rib French Dip with a small, loaded fries.  Typically, it comes with balsamic onions, melted provolone, and au jus, but Megan nixed the onions.  It was an average sandwich.  While there is nothing to criticize, there is also nothing that makes it stick out as memorable.  The house-cut loaded fries were another story.  They were spectacular.  They were perfectly browned, crispy, and loaded with cheddar cheese and chunks of bacon.  The scallions were a little heavy, but the fries, when dipped into their roasted garlic ranch, were sheer perfection. 

            I know the Raleigh Times is a bar, but it was very crowded and incredibly loud.  We had to leave as soon as we finished eating so that we could hear each other speak.  Also, please update your online menu.  While it is similar, there are changes between what you claim to offer online and what you actually offer in restaurant.  In fact, both the egg rolls and my burger are not on your online menu.  Our waitress, which according to the ticket was called The Wiz, would have been better had she refilled our drinks within twenty minutes of when they ran dry.  We will definitely come back at some time, but we plan on eating during a weekday or during earlier hours, so that the crowd and chaos will be at a level more akin to enjoying our meals. 

Category	Scale 1-5 stars
Food Quality
Food Creativity
Service
Atmosphere
Value for the price

Review of the Beaufort Grocery Co., Beaufort

            This summer, while spending our week at the beach, we decided to have lunch at Beaufort Grocery Co.  Now, we have been to Beaufort and love the historic area and the shopping, but we have never eaten at the Beaufort Grocery.  I know of the stellar reputation of the restaurant and their chef/owner Charles Park and I was excited when we decided to eat lunch there.  The décor was clearly sea based.  The artwork and metalwork covering the walls were themed around the sea and are available for sale.  The ceiling has hanging tapestries reminiscent of sails.  It really was a cute restaurant, but the tables seemed cramped together with people literally standing over us, as we were near the door.  While this is a testament to the popularity of the restaurant, it detracted from our experience with the other customers constantly hovering. 

            I ordered the Ms. Abby’s Crabby Sandwich with a pasta salad side.  My crab cake was rather thin, making me believe that it was made with claw meat since lump would be too big for the ½ inch thick patty.  The crab cake was predominantly crab with very little fillers and then sautéed to a slight crispiness.  It was topped with provolone, lettuce, and spicy remouladé sauce (no tomato per my request) and put on a fresh croissant.  While I was unimpressed with the size of the crab cake, there was no doubt about the flavor and quality of my sandwich.  With the creaminess of the melted provolone and the spicy tinge of the remouladé added to the crispy crab, the combination of textures was excellent.  My pasta salad was very uninspired though.  The small, almost condiment-cup sized pasta salad was almost only pasta with little vegetables.  In addition, there was so little dressing on it that it was borderline dry. 

            Megan ordered the Sumpin’s Jumpin’ daily fish special.  It was a grilled Mahi wrap topped with mango salsa and slaw.  While the Mahi was grilled perfectly and tasted great, the rest of the sandwich detracted from Megan’s experience.  Her wrap was drenched in liquid.  Every time the wrap was picked up, liquid would drip out both sides.  Given the different consistency of the drippings, I would guess the slaw had too much oil and the mango salsa was too watery.  The combination made the wrap virtually uneatable, which is why Megan took the fish out to eat it.  Her pasta salad was equally as bland as mine and also lacked in vegetables.  Normally, Megan would have ordered the potato salad (as potatoes are her favorite food), but our server dissuaded us from the potato salad and recommended the pasta.  Next time, we won’t listen to him.  Oh, and he didn't refill our sweet teas, strike two.

            Overall, I can see how the Beaufort Grocery Co. has been one of the best restaurants in the area.  I believe our experience would have been better had we ordered slightly differently.  While I was a little taken back at the cost of our meal, I have to realize that everything is overpriced at the beach.  I look forward to going back during a dinner service to see just how creative Chef Park can be. 

Category	Scale 1-5 stars
Food Quality
Food Creativity
Service
Atmosphere
Value for the price

Beaufort on Dwellable

Review of Yosaké, Wilmington

            On our random day-trips to Kure Beach, we usually stop at a restaurant in Wilmington for dinner.  After eating, we tend to stroll the historic area and the Riverwalk before heading back home.  It was on one of these strolls that we discovered Yosaké.  Now, it is one of our favorite restaurants in the area. Yosaké is found on the second floor of the historic Roudabush building on Front Street in Wilmington.  Upon entering the restaurant, you are overwhelmed by the modern ambiance.  There are pictures reminiscent of Japanese Animé on the walls (done by local artist Sullivan Duncan), a sushi bar at one end, and an actual bar at the other.  The colorful paintings pop among the brick walls and dark wooden beams. 

            First, we went to Yosaké mainly for the sushi.  From 5-7 on most days, they run a half price menu.  On this menu are a few of their appetizers as well as at least a dozen different sushi rolls.  My favorite appetizer is the Firecracker Shrimp.  Perfectly tempura-fried shrimp are tossed in a spicy mayonnaise-based sauce.  It is then topped with black and white sesame seeds and chives.  It is absolutely my favorite appetizer ever!  Megan is a huge fan of the Fresh Shrimp Summer Rolls.  Rice paper is tightly wrapped around shrimp, rice noodles, carrot shavings, and fresh mint.  On the side is a sweet chili dipping sauce that is a perfect balance of sweet and spicy.  Yes, the Summer Rolls are served cold, but after a hot day on the beach, these are so refreshing and delectable that we have ordered them each of the twelve-plus times we have been there.

            The main part of our dinner consists of sushi.  Chef Joshua Woo prepares some of the most fresh-tasting sushi that I have had in my life (and I’ve had a lot of sushi). Typically, we get there about 5pm, so we eat off of the half-off menu.  Philadelphia Rolls, Spicy Tuna Rolls, Salmon Asparagus Rolls, and the Sashimi Sampler are all constants.  Each one is perfectly presented with intricate detail and sauces drizzled expertly.  My favorite roll, the Shelly Roll, was recently taken off the menu, but there are so many other options to choose from, that we always have to debate our choices.  Look at it this way, any time you are at a restaurant and there are so many things that you want to choose that you can’t decide, it is a great restaurant to be at.  Oh, and keep their full menu in mind too, everything that we have eaten at Yosaké has been great. 

            Also, make sure to save room for the Yosaké Mango Cheesecake.  Megan claims that this is the best cheesecake she has ever eaten.  With chunks of mango, strawberry slices, and a mango sauce drizzled on it, this cheesecake is sheer creamy perfection. 

            We love Yosaké, the servers are attentive, friendly, and consistently remember us, even though we live almost two hours away.  The food is creative in both flavor and presentation.  This is definitely a fun, modern restaurant that borders on trendy.  However, with the typical crowds that show up by 6pm, this restaurant is going nowhere!  The half-price menu makes this restaurant a virtual steal.  Typically, we order 2 appetizers, 5-6 rolls of sushi, and a beverage and leave with a bill under $40.  There is virtually nowhere else where you can get the service, food quantity & quality, which you get at Yosaké. 

Category	Scale 1-5 stars
Food Quality
Food Creativity
Service
Atmosphere
Value for the price