Asian

I've driven past the Saigon Grill on North Roxboro a number of times. It is housed in a rather non-descript building on the west die of the road with a gravel parking lot which did not serve as an inviting setting... but given some of the feedback from others, it was worth a try.

Since it is mid-August, the noodle dishes didn't seem incredibly appealing, so I only ordered the fresh spring rolls and a staple pork chop / shreddded pork / egg cake over rice dish as a take out.

The spring rolls were filled with some of the freshest ingredients I have had in this area; with pork and shrimp, and were absolutely delightful! Almost worth the drive just based on these appetizers. The rice dish was pretty par for the course; fresh, but nothing spectacular. We are ready to head back soon, and try the full menu. The restaurant decor is spartan, but clean. Noticeably absent on their menu were subs and some of the fresh "salad" like dishes seen at other Vietnamese restaurants. However, they did have some other specialties on the menu that I'm eager to try... and maybe we'll save the pho for the fall or winter.


Saigon Grill
2929 N Roxboro St
Durham, NC 27704
919-220-5979

Great Korean BBQ is already hard to find in the area - the Korean Steakhouse on Capital Blvd survived only a few months. However, it has been rescued and converted into a BBQ buffet - at reasonable prices, too!

While the overall selection is somewhat limited, it is sufficient for a great lunch, and provides greater variety than a "normal" meal. Beef, fatty pork, and chicken were all availabile for grill at your own table.

Have you ever dreamed about a wing's place that made you feel like they fried each wing individually - with such a care that it was not the quantity of wings, but the quality, for once?

It's hard to believe that there would actually be such a place, but we've found one in Greensboro, NC. Greensboro isn't famous for a whole lot - High Point is just near by, plus a couple of universitities... but we've found some very special gems, that make it worth a trip from the Triangle.

In a small ethnic mall, next to a large shopping center is a little storefront with bright green, red and yellow colors. The name, "BBQ Chicken", doesn't quite do the fried chicken justice. Each little wing actually feels like it was fried in its own little vat of fresh oil - none of the old oil taste at the places that churn out chicken. The flavors are a bit shifted for Asian tastes, primarily Korean... but they are delightful. The hottest wings are a more subtle burn then the tongue searing flavors... but burn, it does.

We didn't have a chance to try the rest of the Korean offerings - but with the care the restaurant owners put into their wings - we have to think everything else will be just as good. Yum!! - Roadtrip!!

Hammer's BBQ Chicken
4929 W. Market St #2107
Greensboro, NC 27407
(336) 235-2607

One of my favorite Japanese restaurants in the US is in Boston, called the Ginza. I dearly miss the perfect soft shell crab there, the baked eggplant... and that's just from the appetizer menu!

I was excited to drive by a new local restaurant in Cary, with the same name. Taking a nice location near Henry's Gelato on Darrington Drive, I hoped for the best...

But unfortunately, got the worst. The restaurant is elegantly decorated, but that was about the extent of positives I could come up with. As sushi lovers should know, the rice is the most important part of sushi - in a word, the Ginza sushi rice was horrible. Pieces were even completely dried, rendering the sushi barely edible. For the price, you might as well enjoy Harris Teeter leftovers.

The noodle dish we tried was mall-like - maybe acceptable for a mall shop... but not for a stand-alone Japanese restaurant.

Don't even bother going - but just so you know where to avoid:

Ginza
1077 Darrington Drive
Cary NC

Recently, I posted about some of the best Chinese food in the Triangle - unfortunately I spoke too soon.

We had started hearing about a placed called Red Palace - unfortunately, it is located in NE Raleigh, just north of the Wake Med campus on New Bern Avenue. That's a bit of a hike for most of those who live/work around the RTP area. Fortunately, we were in that area, and decided to track down this restaurant.

The restaurant is located in a fairly non-descript strip mall along the west side of New Bern Avenue. When you step into the restaurant, you get taken back about 20 years to the Chinese restaurants that I grew up with - ornately decorated with dark wood and red colors. While this has little to do with the food (the majority of those places were not that good) it was a sign of the "old style" Chinese Restaurant.

We were handed the menu - the thick booklet consisted of the standard Americanized fare accessible to most who frequent the normal Chinese restaurants. The back half of the menu, however, included specialties, many pre-order, that would be expected from the top Chinese restaurants in any major city in the US. Some of these would be even hard to get in the top restaurants in the US. Unfortunately, dishes like a real Peking Duck require advance order, so we were out of luck. Spicy hot pot was also on the dish, but we had our hearts set on more standard dishes that day.

We tried a spicy seafood dish, a standard fatty pork dish and a regular plate of their fresh vegetables. Wow! The spicy seafood dish spoke clearly of the chef's Szechuan ancestry. The fatty pork dish was presented in a classic style, basically well matched to go with rice. The vegetables were clearly fresh, not overburdened with other spices.

This restaurant is clearly capable of the classic Chinese dishes that citizens of smaller cities like Raleigh seldom get to try. Thankfully, with this one restaurant, even with the extensive drive, will allow us to save our airline ticket costs to enjoy great dinners. We are looking forward to see how the "fancier" dishes will stand up to some of our national favorites.

Red Palace
3945 New Bern Ave
Raleigh, NC 27610
Tel: (919) 231-3788

There is no question that Chinese buffet's dominate the Chinese food scene locally; it must be an easier way to survive in the restaurant business. Generally, there is no reason to even talk about them... because they seldom surprise or represent interesting destinations for the average food interested person. Until now, that is... Chinatown (horrible name, I know) has opened up in Cary. The Chinatown name is actually appropriate... imagine going to Chinatown in a big city with a "food court" type area (see East Coast Chinese Food review)... you would expect to get a wide variety of foods, including a noodle shop, maybe a dessert place, etc. Chinatown, in the store that previosuly housed a Golden Corral located in Cary, does exactly that. They have converted a Golden Corral into a Chinese buffet that serves a wide variety of Chinese food selections - not the random dozen interpretations of a fried chicken pieces dish - but truly a variety that reflects just a small part of the spectrum of Chinese food.

For example, directly across from the entrance is a little window that serves noodle soups - you choose the noodles and the meat or add-in, and the cook spends about a minute cooking the noodles.

The sushi bar isn't all that great - but there is sashimi, and the cost is still cheaper than any other sushi bar in town.

Many dim sum favorites are also available, which is likely the cause of the slow down fall of our previous favorite Dim Sum location, Neo China, which is just down the street.

The Chinese dishes available also accesses many classic favorites - but you'll have to see if your favorite dish is available.

Overall, Chinatown is a relatively inexpensive place to access many of the types and flavors of flood from throughout China, with a bit of Sushi added. While not the place to "impress a date", it is a great place to fill your stomach with a wide variety of Asian favorites.