Buxton Tap House

Buxton Tap House
George St

Buxton SK17 6AT

Let's be honest, I am so behind that it no longer makes sense to try and do posts in order. So here's something from last Friday, when we were on our way to G&H's wedding in Manchester. Since we were driving, we decided to spend a night in Buxton so that we wouldn't have to get up quite as early on Saturday to make it to the party. Buxton is small - with a great park, opera house, and other villagey charms. For the size of the place, there are an awful lot of drinking spots - but we settled on the Buxton Tap House due to their large selection of beers that they produce themselves. For those of you curious about the beers, follow A on Untapped - I'm just going to cover the food. We had the night's special of smoked salmon (smoked on site, which you could certainly taste!), along with a couple of "sliders" which were more like full sized sandwiches - stuffed to the brim with pulled pork, bacon, sausage and cheese. That was actually overkill - I picked out the bacon and sausage and had that with the top half of the roll, then got through the generous and tender pile of pulled pork. We also had the mac and cheese, which I would skip - it's not bad but it's not worth the calories either. Not a bad option for some dinner with your interesting beers - wish we had more time to explore Buxton properly but oh well.

The Flying Pig

58-60 E Dulwich Rd

London 

SE22 9AX

So pictures above are from our first visit to The Flying Pig, with T and R and their baby. It was a Sunday lunchtime, and the pub was heaving with children, so it's a good choice if you are looking for family-friendly atmosphere and don't want anyone to glare at you if you are with an uncontrollable child/baby (not that T&R's baby was anything but very well behaved the whole time). My buffalo wings were disappointing as usual (why is it so hard for UK restaurants to fry some chicken wings and dip them in Frank's hot sauce mixed with butter?) but the beef rib that A had was pretty great, and you can see how the giant chunks of beef take up over half the plate. A return visit with a different group of friends was an entirely different matter though. Friday nights, the pub is definitely not a place for children, and the sound of adults drinking interesting beer is enough to deafen a person. I had to order the beef rib this time, and it was about half the size as the portion above. It was still plenty of food though, and I wouldn't have mentioned it, except that A's chicken burger came with a piece of chicken so small that as soon as he pointed it out, the waitress brought him another chicken burger. So low score for tiny first burger, but extra points for addressing that flaw immediately. When A mentioned my beef rib was tiny compared to last time, the other waitress seemed to take the statement personally, which was a bit awkward. I'm not sure how to summarize my feelings about this place - I doubt I'll be back any time soon, and Duke's Brew & Cue is better for BBQ meat, but I suppose if I found myself back in East Dulwich I might be tempted to go one more time?

Raleigh / Durham / Chapel Hill

I know I usually write my travel posts as a day-by-day recollection, but I'm going to do it differently this time. A and I were in North Carolina for about five days, mainly so we could go to M and J's wedding in Durham. But since M is one of my oldest friends from Texas, this trip included lots of pre-wedding things (bachelorette party, bridal shower, baseball games, etc.) and we also stayed with another brilliant couple, N and J (who should be getting married next year, woohoo!) Point is, a lot happened, but it was a mix of eating / drinking / hanging out with friends / celebrating an awesome marriage, which I will just throw into this one post. Here goes.

The night of M's bachelorette party in Raleigh, we started with dinner at Gravy (135 S Wilmington St  Raleigh, NC 27601). For some reason I wasn't feeling like pasta (though a lot of people ordered pasta dishes and they looked delightful). So I went with a starter of poached egg and pancetta on polenta, which was so not something I would ever recommend eating BEFORE you start in on a main course, but did wonderfully for my purposes, along with a gorgeous side dish of broccoli which was flavored with anchovies (speaking of, the anchovy-broccoli combination is absolutely genius and I can't believe I ate broccoli for over 20 years without tasting it in harmony with anchovy).

The next day A and I wandered around Chapel Hill, where we picked up a Snowy-the-dog keyring at Chapel Hill Comics (316 W Franklin St  Chapel Hill, NC 27516), and also toured the Sarah P. Duke Gardens (420 Anderson St  Durham, NC 27708), commonly known as the Duke Botanical Gardens. They are stunning, and with full sunshine it was an ideal afternoon. But you're not reading this to hear about comic books and gardens are you? So instead let us gaze upon our lunch at Bullock's Bar-B-Cue (3330 Quebec Drive, Durham, NC 27705), where we attempted to order a normal amount of food for two people, to our waitress's distress. After explaining that we wanted to try the Brunswick stew (a local specialty), ribs and pulled pork, but wanted to order the smallest amount of food possible, she came up with some sort of combo platter arrangement for us to share. The coleslaw that accompanied it was actually amazing - really finely chopped cabbage, with barely any dressing (whoa have I just decided that I might like some forms of coleslaw?!) And I found the hushpuppies slightly addictive. But alas, this was nowhere near as good as Melvin's in Charleston. 

Onwards to Full Steam Brewery (726 Rigsbee Ave, Durham, NC 27701) where A was carded and found out that North Carolina state law doesn't accept foreign driver's licenses as proof of age. Thankfully no one thought I was under 21 so I was able to get drinks for us both. Outside of the brewery, the Chirba Chirba dumpling truck was offering plates of soup dumplings and gyoza - they were a nice snack but not anything I'd make a special trip for.  And finally, a Durham Bulls minor league baseball game to properly Americanize A and introduce him to the national pastime of drinking beer, eating hotdogs, and very occasionally watching some sport.

The next morning was my birthday, and we had the best birthday breakfast ever. No, really. If someone could wake me up for every birthday with a chicken cheddar biscuit I would die a happy woman. Sunrise Biscuit Kitchen (1305 E. Franklin Street, Chapel Hill NC 27514) is a little drive-through biscuit place in Chapel Hill. That glorious biscuit above was eaten while standing outside on the edge of a parking lot, looking at a ditch. And it is still one of my favorite memories.

In the afternoon there was a lovely bridal shower tea at the Washington Duke Inn, and then N, J, A and I headed off to Lantern (423 W Franklin St  Chapel Hill, NC 27516) for a dinner to celebrate my birthday and N & J's engagement. This was my favorite "fancy" meal of the trip - I find it hard to describe the food other than saying it's Asian with Southern influences. For example - a beautiful appetizer of crispy five-spice pork belly, pickled radishes, and chicharron was a balance of salty, fatty, crisp and sweet. The salt and pepper shrimp with fired jalapenos, coriander and sea salt were as good as my favorite salt and pepper shrimp from Tien Jin in Austin. And my Japanese pot on fire main (braised Red Poll brisket, oxtail dumplings in broth with rare sirloin, local vegetables and potatoes, fresh wasabi, sea salt) was something I wanted to last forever. Great cocktails were ordered, fun was had, and we teetered out into the night with big smiles.

 

We all know how dangerous it is to attend a wedding without eating beforehand (the bubbly is just going to go straight to your head!) So we all piled into Hog Heaven (2419 Guess Road, Durham, NC) for a pre-wedding lunch. A was still seeking barbecue (specifically pork ribs) - but in a giant misunderstanding he ordered the pork at Hog Heaven, which was pulled pork (I don't think they even do ribs). I went straight for the fried chicken, which was the right decision. Man I would kill for another plate of that crispy crackly goodness. Sides were merely ok, collard greens were too salty and fries were fine though not the kind that you just can't stop eating. But you know, this capped off a week of some terrific eating - and I can't wait to get back to North Carolina.

Charleston Day 3

I have this weakness for Waffle House's hash browns, maybe because of nostalgia, so before dropping off V at the airport, we had a quick breakfast there and the hash browns were as satisfying as I remembered. AG, A and I also decided to have a quick whirl around the Tanger Outlets - I love shopping with boys as it is so ridiculously efficient. We all loaded up on exactly what we needed, and then headed off for Folly Beach to enjoy the sun. 

We took a long stroll down the sandy beach before finding the Folly Beach Crab Shack (26 Center St, Folly Beach, SC 29439) which seemed like a good sunny spot to enjoy a cold beer. The waitress also recommended the crab dip so we ordered it - what arrived was this mix of artificial crab, cream cheese, and some spices, which sounds like something I would usually hate, but instead it was surprisingly good on club crackers - we polished off the whole plate very quickly.

On our way back to Charleston proper, I noticed that we would be passing by Melvin's BBQ (719 Folly Rd, Charleston, SC 29412), and in the interests of educating A on the difference between South Carolina BBQ and North Carolina BBQ, we stopped for a plate of ribs and pulled pork. Fries and mac & cheese were the two sides we selected - neither of which were amazing - but the ribs more than made up for it. AG and A were both delighted and A spent the rest of our US trip looking for ribs but nothing was as good as these.

While we usually don't go back to the same place twice in one trip, we had noticed that there was a jazz happy hour at High Cotton that advertised a gypsy jazz / bluegrass band (complete with electric mandolin player!). Since A and I both play gypsy jazz and have recently ventured into a bit of bluegrass as well, we couldn't pass it up - and the $5 cocktails certainly helped. 

Continuing with the happy hour theme, we headed to The Gin Joint (182 E Bay St Charleston, SC 29401) which also had a short $5 cocktail menu - you could either have a Bee's Knees or a rye cocktail with Fernet Branca. I'd vote for the the Bee's Knees but my bias against rye whiskey might have a bit to do with that...

One more happy hour at Cypress (167 E Bay St, Charleston) - they do $5 burgers (but we hadn't even made it to dinner yet so we didn't partake). Instead, cocktails were ordered, including a twist on a mint julep for A, and fried mac & cheese (I know! Fried! What?!) 

Last but not least - Xiao Bao Biscuit (224 Rutledge Avenue, Charleston, SC) for dinner. While we were at Husk the day before, we started chatting with a couple who spend a lot of time visiting Charleston and eating well, and they highly recommended XBB (and especially the okonomiyaki, a cabbage pancake) to us. It's in an old gas station that's been painted in this beautiful shade of mint green and has a lot of exposed brickwork - perfect for their fusion Asian "soul food". I will second the recommendation - and definitely get the okonomiyaki.

The County Line BBQ

5204 Ranch Road 2222
Austin, TX 78731

I ate what can only be described as an astonishing amount of terrific food while on my holidays in the US. Much of it was my mom's amazing cooking, but there was also a fair amount of pigging out at some of my favorite restaurants. I managed three meals at my most adored Chinese restaurant, Tien Jin, and also covered off Tex-Mex at Chuy's, Texas martinis at Trudy's, and last but not least, BBQ at The County Line. A's mom joined us in Texas for the first time this year, and while she is usually a vegetarian, she made a little exception in order to dig into some pork ribs. Thank goodness they were worth it - tender, with just enough pull so they didn't fall right off the bones, and accompanied by some incredibly honey wheat bread. A and I still love brisket more than any other form of Texas BBQ, so thankfully our five meat plate came with that, which beat the turkey and sausage hands down. This is a great place to bring guests - it's a nice atmosphere and doesn't require waiting in line for ridiculous amounts of time like some places. Texas, I miss you already.

The North Pole

188-190 New North Road  
London
N1 7BJ

So continuing on my earlier musings about places I go to repeatedly now that I'm in my old age (KIDDING, seriously) - I'm just now getting around to writing about The North Pole which is what A and I would like our local to be. It's just far enough away not to be our local, though we have both expressed gratitude for this, because otherwise I would probably be dead in a year from eating their ribs every day and drinking myself into an early grave. Over a series of visits, I have sampled most of their bar snack menu (love the BBQ chicken wings and chicken tenders in particular, and I will always have a strange soft spot for a pint of prawns) and had a really awesome platter of sliders (beef and pulled pork, which seem to have sadly disappeared from the menu) but what is really outstanding is their BBQ ribs. I will caveat by saying I think Duke's Brew & Que does even better ribs, but I think the beer selection at The North Pole is better, it is slightly cheaper, and most importantly - you can walk in and eat, unlike the must-book-well-in-advance Duke's. But when I think of the two places, all I can do is sigh in happiness that I live within walking distance of two BBQ places that almost, almost, make me miss Texas a little less. Still waiting for brisket though.