What We’re Eating: You’ll never guess what we ate at Pho Pho Pho. Not faux pho, but the real Vietnamese deal. Quy Dong, who owns Sushi Blues in Raleigh, opened the noodle kitchen and bar at 510 Glenwood Ave. earlier this year.
We’ve been hanging out a lot at DURHAM CENTRAL PARK, lying in the grass, watching the construction cranes and the real estate vultures overhead. When we’re hungry or just wistful, we head over to DAISYCAKES, 401 Foster St., for the vegan curried tofu scramblemarinated tofu, curried potato hash, seared Brussels sprouts, red peppers and vegan mozzarella. Afterward, we feel powerful enough to stop a bulldozer with one hand.
HOW MUCH FOOD WILL $2,700 BUY? We pondered that after hearing HILLARY CLINTON visited Raleigh last week for a quick $2,700-a-plate fundraiser for her presidential campaign. That amount is not random; it’s the maximum donors can give to a candidate per election, primary or general. The total is $5,400 for the election cycle.
We consulted the U.S. Department of Agriculture and learned that in the U.S. each person spends an average of $4,504 on food each year. That means Clinton’s price per plate equals roughly 60 percent of one person’s annual food expenses. That’s a lot of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.
We would definitely order a PB&J from BULLCITY FULLCYCLE, especially since we then wouldn’t have to stir the jar. The proposed bike-powered food-delivery and compost pick-up service is conducting a survey to gauge interest. If it launches, BullCity FullCycle would not only deliver from local restaurants, but also pick up the eggshells, coffee grounds and banana peels you’ve been wanting to compost but instead have been tossing in the trash. Not that you should feel guilty.
Survey says two of our favorite drinks are coffee and beer. STEEL STRING BREWERY AND CARRBORO COFFEE ROASTERS have combined them in one bottle via the DOOLEY BLACK SAISON, a malty beer infused with cold-brewed Guatemalan coffee. Generally, we’re skeptical of any beer that does not abide by German purity lawsmalt, yeast, hops and waterbut the coffee notes are subtle. We’ll make an exception this time. In Carrboro, the saison is on tap at Steel String and by the bottle at OPEN EYE CAFE; in Chapel Hill, it’s available by the bottle at CAFFE DRIADE.
Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill/Carrboro shouldn’t hog all the good coffee spots. Being good socialists, we’re redistributing the coffee wealth to include WENDELL, population 6,135, in eastern Wake County. GROUNDS CAFE, at 320 Vintage Point Lane, in the farmhouse at the Wendell Falls community, sells coffee, lunch and beershould you want to drink your lunch.
MAMI NORA’S in Cary, Durham and on Capital Boulevard in Raleigh has changed its name to the super-cumbersome ALPACA PERUVIAN CHARCOAL CHICKEN. We know, you’re confused. However, it does not serve alpaca.
Here’s your dinner mixtape: Consult iTunes for a download of the 1966 garage-psych album THE PEANUT BUTTER CONSPIRACY IS SPREADING. Tracks include “Turn on a Friend,” “Living Loving Life” and “Why Did I Get So High?” Segue into BIG STAR‘s “Daisy Glaze,” followed by ELLA FITZGERALD‘s melancholy “Black Coffee,” then put on your granddad’s tweed cardigan and play THE KINGSTON TRIO‘s “Hang Down Your Head, Tom Dooley.”
Chow is a weekly column covering food news, politics, events and general culinary weirdness. Lisa Sorg: lsorg@indyweek.com
This article appeared in print with the headline “Fe, fi, pho, fum”
