Country Vintner 2013 Trade Show Finds Last week, I attended the Country Vintner’s 2013 Trade Show stop at the Cookery, one of a few stops they made in the state to show off their current portfolio of wines to local restaurants and wine purchasers from all over. The Country Vintner is a large wine sales
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27 March, 2013
Kinston, NC Blogging: An Afternoon by the Neuse River
Comments : 6 Posted in : Travel Guide for Kinston - NC on by : The Gourmez Tags: bank, birds of prey, confederate, css neuse, digestive system, downtown, fire, giant, ingress, ironclad, kinston, lenoir memorial hospital heath and science museum, nc, neuse park, neuse river, neuseway nature park, planeterium, reproduction, roadside attraction, sights, things to do, tourism, train ride, visitor guideKinston, NC Blogging: An Afternoon by the Neuse River Occasionally (often), I get a craving to head out of town and end up somewhere I’ve never been before. Some may say that relates to the cabin fever of working at home, but as I’ve always been this way, I attribute it to my wanderlust. I
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25 March, 2013
Ipsus Passito di Pantelleria Dessert Wine
Comments : 6 Posted in : Dessert Wine, Wine on by : The Gourmez Tags: dessert, di pantelleria, ipsus, italy, maple, moscato, muscat, nectarine, old bacchus, passito, review, rose, sourmashed, tasting notesIpsus Passito di Pantelleria Dessert Wine Marsala, Italy This dessert wine is made with Muscat grapes, which are often used to produce sweet wines and fortified wines. Its color is light amber with rose tinges, and its nose is nectarine with subtle floral qualities including that rose again. It tastes wonderful. Certainly sweet, as expected
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22 March, 2013
Maximillian’s Grill
Comments : 4 Posted in : Dining in Cary - NC, Restaurants on by : The Gourmez Tags: best restaurants, blood and sand, brownie sundae, caramel vodka, cary, chicken, chile rellano, cocktail, crab shrimp cake, demon sauce, dewar's scotch, fine dining, greg cox, grill, lobster bisque, maximillian's, pizza kitchen, restaurant, review, rosemary bread, rum gelato, spicy, upscale, vealMaximillian’s Grill 8314 Chapel Hill Road Cary Website $19-$35 Maximillian’s Grill, not to be confused with Maximillian’s Pizza Kitchen next door though I’m going out on a limb and saying they’re related, appeared this year on Greg Cox’s annual list of top 20 Triangle restaurants. It always flies under my radar; I keep forgetting people
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20 March, 2013
CocoNUT Margarita at Firebirds
Posted in : Bars and Tasting Rooms, Bars in Durham - NC on by : The Gourmez Tags: 1800 coconut tequila, cocktail, cocoNUT margarita, drinks, durham, firebirds, movies, review, southpointCocoNUT Margarita Firebirds Southpoint, Durham $9.50 Firebirds is one of the best spots to get a drink before catching a movie at Southpoint. The drinks are pricey, but aren’t they at most spots I frequent? I know what I like and that’s quality liquor and bartending, both of which chain restaurants often fail at spectacularly.
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18 March, 2013
Alley 26
Posted in : Bars and Tasting Rooms, Bars in Durham - NC, Bourbon, Gin, Rye, Spirits on by : The Gourmez Tags: alley 26, apple brandy, bar, cardamom, cocktail, corpse reviver, downtown, durham, gin, gold rush, jack rose, meditteranean homesick blues, mixology, nightlife, review, rose water, shannon healyAlley 26 320 East Chapel Hill St. Downtown Durham Website $9 to $12 per drink 4 pm to 2 am (May I take this moment to say I love a bar that posts a closing time?) To my disappointment, Alley 26, Durham’s newest upscale bar, is not located in an alley. It takes up actual
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15 March, 2013
Carolina Crossroads Winter Media Dinner
Posted in : Dining in Chapel Hill - NC, Events, Restaurants on by : The Gourmez Tags: 2013, ahi tuna, amanda miller, carolina crossroads, carolina inn, crispy oysters appetizer, dock to door, duck grilled cheese, duck merguez, friend green tomato, german chocolate cake roulade, jack schmidt, james clark, lamb terrine, linda, martin armes, media dinner, pork secreto, quail, red velvet mousse, report, review, seafood, triggerfish, white grunt, winter menuCarolina Crossroads Winter Media Dinner Two weeks ago, I was lucky enough to be invited to a complimentary media dinner at Carolina Crossroads in Chapel Hill. Carolina Crossroads is located inside the Carolina Inn, which has received 4 diamonds from AAA for the last 16 years. The restaurant has received 11 consecutive 4-star AAA ratings
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13 March, 2013
New Orleans Adventures: Daytime Eats, Drinks, and Sights
Posted in : Bars in New Orleans - LA, Dining in New Orleans - LA, Restaurants, Travel Guide for New Orleans - LA on by : The Gourmez Tags: big easy, bourbon house, central business district, french quarter, garden district, guide, jackson square, magazine street, new orleans, oyster, restaurant, review, st. charles, stanley, streetcar, surrey's, the bulldog, tourism, Travel, visitors, woldenberg riverfrontI bet you never thought I’d finish my New Orleans series! This is the fifth and final installment. Blog #1 was on sights to the north of Lake Pontchartrain, Blog #2 was on dining at night, and Blog #3 was on drinking at night. Blog #4 took us through the Honey Island Swamp. This time
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11 March, 2013
The Boy’s Club at the Borough
Comments : 2 Posted in : Bars and Tasting Rooms, Bars in Raleigh - NC on by : The Gourmez Tags: alcohol, bailey's, beverage, cocktail, cocktails, coffee, counter culture, frangelico, irish cream, kahlua, night life, raleigh, review, the borough, the boy's clubThe Boy’s Club The Borough Downtown Raleigh $7.50 This cocktail is a Kahlua, Bailey’s Irish cream, and Frangelico trio shaken up with chocolate and iced Counter Culture coffee. If you’re thinking dessert, you’re thinking correctly, as most coffee cocktails fall under that category. The drink is indisputably gorgeous with that chocolate pattern laced into the
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8 March, 2013
2011 Green Fin Cabernet Sauvignon
Comments : 2 Posted in : Cabernet Sauvignon, Red Wine, Wine on by : The Gourmez Tags: 2011, back to bacchus, blackberry, currant, green fin, jam, leather, notes, review, say cheese and wine, sweet anise, the wino that I know, trader joe's2011 Green Fin Cabernet Sauvignon California In the tradition of Trader Joe’s wine, the exact region in California these grapes hail from is murky, but that’s all part of the mystery, right? This Cab smells of berry and nothing else. Thin- to medium-bodied, barely there sweet anise and leather notes come out right away then
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