Rue Cler - Downtown Durham

...Rue Cler is definitely on my list of places that everyone should try.

Rue Cler in DurhamWent out last evening with my wife and had a great time in downtown Durham. We started of with dinner at Rue Cler. Located in the heart of downtown Durham I've been by it countless times, stopped into their bakery on occasion but for some reason I'd never eaten there but after last nights meal, I know I'll be back.

Very much in the style of a traditional french neighborhood local restaurant, their focus is a $30 three course menu. As a former executive chef I was pleased to see that each course only offered three choices. The food is locally sourced and/or produced, the menu done daily, and I can honestly say everything we had was really good. While my wife started off with a fresh salad featuring baby lettuces, and some wonderful radishes, I opted for a salad of cooked cauliflower, beets, bacon and smoked bleu cheese that was nothing short of phenomenal.

For our second course I choose fresh sautéed asparagus, with a fresh local egg served over easy, and béarnaise sauce. Very French and very good. My wife's homemade local goat and pork meatballs served over fresh cooked field peas was even better.

While we rarely do this, we both had the same main course, homemade garlic sausage with an apple gastric, served with homemade spaetzle with kale and a whole grain mustard sauce. We both loved it.

Service was very good, the bread (baked on premise) was excellent. The only negative (and negative is a strong word) was a relatively uninspired wine list. Other than that Rue Cler is definitely on my list of places everyone should try.

Carolina Theater, Durham NC

When we finished our meal we headed over to the newly renovated historic Carolina Theatre which I've written about before. This was only their second show after the renovations and the place looked great. Honestly my wife and I had been feeling a little guilty, we used to be regular supporters of the Carolina, but wince DPAC opened a few years ago we'd focused on them and hadn't attended a live performance at the Carolina in almost two years. This year I purchased tickets to four show at the Carolina in addition to our season tickets to the Broadway series at DPAC and I'm really glad I did.

I'd forgotten who intimate a venue the Carolina is and how good live music can sound there.

Last nights show featured guitarist Warren Haynes who has played for The Allman Brothers, David Allan Coe, Dickie Betts, Phil Lesh and The Dead and was founding member of Government Mule. Let's just say this guy can play some sweet guitar. He was raised here in North Carolina in Asheville and it's obvious he likes “coming home” Last nigh in addition to his own original compositions, he wove in some licks from Jimmie Hendrix, Duane Allman, Lowell George, Robert Palmer, Walter Becker and even the Staple Singers. It was a great show and a wonderful night out in Durham. While I was here other friends were enjoying Marie Muldower at Papa Mojos Roadhouse also here in Durham and they told me she was still singing strong and sounding good. I've got to say it's great living here in Durham where's there's so much happening. Now I just need to catch up on some sleep tonight.

Thinking about moving to Durham? There's so many great reasons to live here, the above is just two examples of what I love about living in this great city. If you'd like to learn more about Durham and other Triangle Research Area homes for sale, send me a message online.

Posted by Larry Tollen on
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