City Kitchen 201 South Estes Drive University Mall, Chapel Hill Website $9—26 City Kitchen is part of the Giorgios Hospitality Group. It is a remodel from Spice Street, transitioning the huge, open space from a restaurant with dramatic, international flair to more of a French corner bistro writ large. The redesign is definitely keeping with
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La Ronescina Pinot Grigio Collio, Italy This white wine smells mildly of cantaloupe, but no other scents jump out at me.  That’s probably because it’s extra chilled, which dulls the aroma — my bad. It tastes dry at first, but a sweetness swells up in the middle of the glass. The notes are vanilla with
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As promised in last week’s Los Angeles panoramas post, here are the first panoramas from my Yosemite trip in July. My sister and I and my aunts’ and uncles’ families spent 4 days in the valley at Camp Curry, and it’s such a breathtaking experience. I had been in Yosemite before, but not since I
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St. Somewhere Petit Verdot 2010 Paso Robles, CA I was recently introduced to the petit verdot varietal at the Virginia wine tasting I attended at the Angus Barn in June. I was impressed with its versatility in those VA blends, but mostly, I enjoyed finding a petit varietal that wasn’t too tart for my palate.
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Wimpy’s Grill 617 Hicks Street Old West Durham Website $2–$5 Hours: M–F, 7 am–2 pm Wimpy’s Grill has been awarded best burger and takeout in a number of publications over the years, and they were featured on Man Vs. Food  in 2009 for their garbage burger that piles pretty much any topping available onto a
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In July, I spent two weeks in California, my home state and heart state but a place I haven’t lived since college, almost a decade ago now. I was in Los Angeles for the first and last few days of the trip, and so I thought I’d share with you the few panoramas I took
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Absente France 55% ABV This is a pretty darn expensive absinthe at $60 according to my husband—it was a birthday present. It’s from France, but the fake import stickers on the label are off putting. If they are from France, they don’t need to play at it. However, my doubts are quieted as I drink
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Bobbi’s Rum Punch West 94th Street Pub Woodcroft, Durham Website   Bobbi’s Rum Punch is silver rum with orange and pineapple juices and a floater of Bacardi 151 and grenadine. Well, it is supposed to have a floater, but based on the lack of layers and its singular color, I’d say all those ingredients are
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Mint 504 Franklin Street Downtown Chapel Hill Website Entrees: $13 to $20 Mint is an upscale Indian restaurant that resides in a former bank. Thus mint serves as a double entendre for the location and the popular herb in Indian cooking. Most of the space is full of light from the storefront glass, complimenting the
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It’s a Thursday, and the first one I’ve blogged on in a while. That’s what vacation will do to you. ,)  Speaking of vacation, I had another WRAL review published while I was gone, and it’s this Thursday’s bragging post. This one was cocktail-centric and focused on evaluating whether Bowbarr is a good spot to
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