The Alamance Foodie went far afield recently–to Provence. What better place is there for foodies to indulge their passions? Cafe and restaurant food ranged from very good to sublime, and the prices ranged from ridiculous to: “with the subprime mortgage mess, can I get a second mortgage to pay for this dinner?” There are two realities about French cooking. One, it is a matter of personal pride to any Frenchman who prepares food to prepare it very well. And, two,even without the very unfavorable exchange rate for the Euro, French restaurants are expensive.

Here are two examples. In a small restaurant in a small village we paid eight Euros ($12.80 at the current exchange rate) for an appetizer of fresh asparagus spears with a vinaigrette sauce. This was not a Michelin starred place. In fact, it is not even mentioned in the Red Book. The asparagus was fresh and tender, and the sauce was fine–but 13 bucks?

On another day we had lunch at a cafe in a small village. Nothing fancy, just a local watering hole that served coffee in the morning and pastis in the afternoon. Two of us had ham and cheese sandwiches and a small carafe of house rose. Sixteen Euros–or $25.60 for lunch. The sandwiches are not to be confused with what passes for a ham and cheese sandwich here. Thin slices of dark red, lean ham and local cheese were served on fresh baguettes sliced lengthwise. Expensive, nevertheless.

All was not lost, however. Every village and town in Provence appear to have a weekly market. Vendors of everything from cheese to wine to sausage to vegetables and flowers set up in the village centers. The sight of all of this beautifully displayed food is a treat.

Wonderful thumb-shaped radishes were sweet and tender. Asparagus and artichokes were in season as well.

We found we could buy an herbed sausage, a wedge of artisanal cheese and a freshly baked baguette at a local street market and enjoy a wonderful picnic for less than the price of the asparagus salad we had in the restaurant.

Our favorite dinner in Provence came from a street vendor in the lovely village of St. Remy de Provence. As we navigated the stalls full of flowers and food, we came across a man cooking Paella in a huge wok. The aromas of shrimp, saffron rice and mussels compelled us to buy our dinner on the spot. That night accompanied by tender radishes, fresh asparagus spears, a loaf of great, crusty bread and a Cotes de Provence rose, the paella was the tastiest meal we had in Provence!

Though not yet up to the glories of French markets, we have our Farmers’ Markets as well. Last Saturday, at the market in West Jefferson a vendor gave us a recipe to go with her garden fresh arugula. It’s seasonal, easy, and very tasty.

Split a baguette lengthwise. Lightly brush with olive oil. Crumble gorgonzola cheese and chopped walnuts on top of the bread. Top with pieces of arugula leaf. Broil just long enough to melt the cheese.

Try it, you’ll like it!

What better way is there to cheer one up and warm the soul on a rainy, raw day than a hearty serving of comfort food? And what better place to have it than the Blue Ribbon Diner? White walls and polished aluminum greet the soggy diner as he sloshes in from the gray wet outside. The atmosphere is bright, warm and inviting.

The original Burlington Blue Ribbon Diner and its newer sibling in Mebane are traditional diners. The menus run from burgers and fries to hot dogs and fried chicken with milk shakes for dessert. The foodie is drawn to the Blue Plate Specials. For six and a quarter bucks you can get chicken pot pie, home style meatloaf, country fried steak, or the foodie’s absolute favorite–the Thursday special, Roast Turkey and dressing. Yes, it’s real turkey, and it comes with dressing, mashed potatoes and a side. The Saturday Blue Plate Special is an Angus Chuck Steak with salad and either mashed potatoes or fries. That’s fairly priced at $7.95.

The Blue Ribbon folks brag about their award winning sweet tea, which they have dubbed “The house wine of the south.” If you prefer real wine, they have a list limited to three plonks–a Glen Ellen Merlot, a Glen Ellen Chardonnay and a Beringer White Zinfandel. The latter could give their tea a run for the money on sweetness. No matter. One doesn’t go to a diner looking for a cru bordeaux. Several domestic beers are also available.

One Rolaid–watch the chili cheese fries.

The round up:

Where: 2465 South Church, Burlington and 1004 Mebane Oaks Road, Mebane

Hours: Monday - Sunday, 11:00 AM until 10:00 PM

Telephone: 570-1120 (Burlington) 919-563-7020 (Mebane)

Kids Menu: No, but lots of baskets and kid pleasers like mini corn dogs

Vegetarian Offerings: Yes, they even have a Veggie Blue Plate Special

Service: Table and Counter

Limited Wine and Beer selection. Stick with their sweet tea…

Take out Service: Yes with Curb Side pick-up.

Health Ratings: Burlington 99 (3/2008) Mebane 100.5 (4/2008)

Where can the Foodie begin with a report on a recent lunch at Mi Casa Mexican Grill in downtown Burlington? The first surprise was the relatively sparse lunch crowd in the middle of the week. During past visits, many more tables were filled. Since an earlier visit, the restaurant has hung a huge mural in the main dining room. It depicts an Aztec carrying a maiden either to and from a sacrificial altar. It may be art, but, whether he’s coming or going, the scene isn’t appetizing.

Mi Casa has also added a $5.95 lunch buffet. Salad, rice, beans and a selection of burritos and enchiladas are offered.

We selected a $4.75 lunch special that included a cheese quesadilla, a burrito, and a guacamole salad. The meal was served promptly and hot. The salad was cut up iceberg lettuce served under a raw slice of hot house tomato and a dollop of guacamole dip. The meat burrito was tucked under the salad and helped to make the tasteless greenery more palatable. The quesadilla, served on the side, was more tortilla than cheese.

The final indignity was paying for the meal. I was presented with a check for $6.69–the total for the lunch special, a $1.35 glass of tea and tax. The lady at the register rang up $6.96. When I asked about this, I got a funny look and a receipt for $6.96 for Texas fajitas and “no drink.” It was a mistake I hope, but I’m glad I wasn’t paying for four dinners…

Four Rolaids–the art and the bill can cause indigestion

The round up:

Where: 120 E Front , Burlington

Hours: Monday - Thursday 11:00 AM until 9:00 PM

Telephone: 222-0275 222-6069 (Fax)

Kids Menu: Yes. A Selection of $3.25 Meals

Vegetarian Offerings: Yes but limited

Service: Table

Full Bar Service

Take out Service: Available for lunch and dinner menus

Health Inspection Score: 96

A fellow foodie writes:

I love seafood and one item in particular, Crab Cakes. But I am really stumped here in B-town. Many seafood emporiums over crab cakes but they are either burnt, soggy, full of bread stuffing or other gooey binder. Have you found a good crab cake here other than in your own kitchen?

Are there any nominations? The foodies will check them out and report back.

It has been a rough time for restaurants. Last month the Times-News reported that Bob Evans and Rock-Ola Cafe shut down operations in Burlington. On Monday of this week a feature story in USA Today was headlined, “Hard times are on the menus at restaurants.”

Higher food costs, less disposable income, and a general financial pinch kept customer counts flat at chain restaurants in 2006 and down 2% last year. According to the report 49% of restaurants reported to the National Restaurant Association that January same store sales fell, and 54% reported less traffic for the fifth month in a row.

Lone Star Steak House closed 27 stores, putting 1500 out of work. Starbucks has announced they plan to close 100 units–though the foodie wouldn’t call Starbucks a restaurant.

Randy Cox, of The Village Grill and Blue Ribbon Diner reknown, agrees that things are tough right now. He says that his food prices have gone up 3% a year in each of the past two years while economic pressure have kept the restaurants from being able to raise prices. Despite all the competition from new chain restaurants at Alamance Crossing, The Village Grill was doing a brisk business at lunch last Monday.

On a local note, the foodie is very disappointed that B’s Bistro is no longer open for lunch. They closed for lunch in December to do private, holiday parties. When Chris Russell and company decided to keep Benjamin’s open for lunch, apparently the decision was made to make the Bistro a dinner only venue. Too bad. They had good lunches, and the atmosphere is great for lunch. With Spring around the corner, we’ll miss outside lunches at B’s Bistro.

Years ago, when the foodie was young, our family lived near a neighborhood restaurant and bar. The Antlers had terrific pizza, heaping plates of spaghetti, and cold beer for the adults. On any given Friday or Saturday night we’d see a good number of our neighbors there. Best of all, it was a place where a working man could afford to take his family out for dinner.

Pulcinella’s on North Main Street in Graham reminds me of The Antlers. Nothing is fancy, but the food is hearty and the prices are right. They serve full dinner menus with everything from antipasti plates to salads, pizza and a host of pasta dishes. The pizzas come in two styles–thin crust like the foodie loved at The Antlers and Sicilian style with a thick crust. Since they are located in Graham, Pulcinella’s is restricted to serving only beer and wine. That said, they have the cheapest wine prices I’ve seen in a restaurant in years. Both reds and whites are either $32.5 or $3.50 per glass, and there is no bottle listed on the menu for more than $18.

At a recent lunch we had the manicotti special–$5.25 made with good ricotta cheese and served with a tasty red sauce. The manicotti wasn’t served mouth-scorching hot, and it wasn’t cold. Just not quite warm enough. A basket of toasted bread was served with the meal. A small dish of oil might have perked that up a bit. As well as seven pasta specials for lunch, they serve Panini subs, pizza, Stromboli and Calzone.

Pulcinella’s has been a favorite in Graham for years and is likely to remain so.

One Rolaids Rating.

The round up:

Where: 302 North Main Street, Graham

Hours: Monday thru Thursday 11:00 AM –9:30 PM  Friday and Saturday 11:00 AM–10:00PM.  Closed Sunday

Kids Menu: Yes

Vegetarian Offerings: Yes , many of the pastas and pizza

Bar Service:  No bar.  Wine and Beer served with meals.

Service: Table

Take out Service: Available for  lunch and dinner menus.

Telephone: 222-8777

Two fast food chicken joints couldn’t make it at this satellite location at the Burlington Square Mall. But a trattoria serving traditional Italian food has built a loyal following. Waiters in black slacks, crisp white shirts and neckties sport burgundy aprons. A Placido Domingo disc plays on the sound system, and popular arias are interspersed with an inspired version of Volare.

Prego’s serves everything from antipasti to pasta to risotto to tiramisu. Daily specials–at lunch and dinner–are displayed on a dry erase board. The foodie particularly enjoys the seafood specials and the home made pastas. A home made pasta is featured every day.

The foodie has been a fan of Prego’s since it opened more than a year ago. Imagine our dismay when the bread served at a recent lunch was stale and the polenta appetizer had either been fried too long or reheated once too often! To top that off, the salad that came with our entree was wilted and served with unripe, pink tomatoes. In a feat of redemption, the home made chicken ravioli in vodka sauce was excellent. The aroma alone was enough to ease the earlier disappointment. Vincente Hernandez, the owner, was not in. When he is there, he pays so much attention to what is going on that I’m sure the bread and salad would not have made it out of the kitchen.

Hernandez came to Burlington from his native Ecuador via New York City, where he worked in Italian restaurants for twenty years. If you’ve eaten in Little Italy in New York, you know what it is like to eat at Prego’s.

Prego’s serves complete lunch and dinner menus with a short but interesting wine list. On several occasions they have hosted wine dinners with good wine pairings. These are irregular so you have to watch for their ads or check the web site.

Three Rolaids–the sauces can be spicy

The round up:

Where: 2740 South Church, Burlington

Hours: Monday - Saturday 11:00 AM until 10:00 PM

Telephone: 586-0292

Kids Menu: Same as adult menu

Vegetarian Offerings: Yes but limited

Service: Table

Full Bar Service

Take out Service: Available for lunch and dinner menus

Among the presents under the Alamance Foodie’s tree this year was My Life in France by Julia Child and written with Alex Prud’Homme, her grand nephew. This delightful memoir could just as easily have been titled The Joy of Eating in a tip of the hat to Child’s friend Irma Rombauer.

My Life in France delightfully chronicles Child’s years in France with her husband, Paul Child. Not long after their marriage in 1946 they moved to Paris, where Paul worked at the US Embassy with the USIS, a pre-cursor to the US Information Agency. Child’s first meal in France (at La Courrone in Rouen) was a revelation. Julia Child had discovered fine food lovingly prepared. It changed the course of her life. After settling in Paris, she enrolled in the Cordon Bleu cooking school, assembled trunk loads of kitchen equipment and began work on her wonderful cookbook, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, co-written with Simone Beck and Laurisette Bertholle. That classic is now in its 39th printing and available in both hardcover and paperback.

My Life in France moves along like a well-paced novel as Child develops recipes, describes delicious dinner parties and struggles with publishers. Some of the food descriptions are so enticing that the Foodie kept his copy of Mastering the Art of French Cooking at hand to check exactly how Child suggested one make Sauce Hollandaise or Beurre Blanc.

The Foodie has one caution about this book. If you’re on a New Year’s diet, don’t read it now. Each page will make you hungry.

My Life in France by Julia Child with Alex Prud’Homme. Anchor Books, New York 2007

Mimi’s Cafe, the county’s newest restaurant, quietly opened its doors last week. It wasn’t quiet for long as folks have been sampling breakfast, lunch and dinners there every day since. Based in southern California, Mimi’s Cafe is a chain boasting 123 restaurants. Burlington’s is the newest and one of only three in North Carolina.

Feedback from early diners is that they love the decor. The restaurant has a bar area, complete with the requisite flat panel TV, and three distinct dining rooms. One area is modeled after a French bistro. Another is modeled after a wine cellar with a vaulted, brick ceiling. The third room has a New Orleans Garden District theme. French posters and Jazz prints adorn the walls.

With the name and all of the decor, the foodie and friends were sure they’d find Coq au Vin, Boeuf Bourguignon, Bouilliabase, or mussels steamed in garlic on the menu. Alas, Mimi’s Cafe doesn’t serve French food! Rather the fare is mostly American cuisine with a significant dose of Mexica–carne asada, black bean and chicken chorizo dip, tostada salad–thrown in. There is also a pasta menu with traditional Italian restaurant selections.

There are no French wines on the limited list. The list offers a selection of eight whites and five reds–most from California with two from Australia. Dinner prices range from$13 to $16. Large sandwiches run from $7.39 to $9. A children’s menu is available for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Vegetarian options include a portobello mushroom, squash, bell pepper, red onion, smoked gouda cheese and sun dried tomato pesto on grilled ciabatta bread; fettucine with Asiago cream sauce; soups; and a Bleu cheese and walnut salad.

Mimi’s Cafe also offered low fat and low carb selections.

Portions are more than ample, and the food is tasty.

The round up:

Where: Alamance Crossing, Burlington

Hours: Daily from 7:00 AM until 11:00 PM.

Kids Menu: Yes

Vegetarian Offerings: Yes with good variety

Service: Table

Take out Service: Available for both breakfast and lunch and dinner menus.

Telephone: 584-6363 FAX: 584-9259

Web Site: Mimi’s Cafe

The Roaster’s Cafe in downtown Burlington has been a popular coffee spot for years. On any given morning, you’re likely to find a LabCorp exec, a local politician, a merchant, or an ink stained wretch chatting, reading morning papers and drinking custom roasted coffee that came to Burlington long before Starbucks.

The good news is that Roaster’s is a great place to have a quiet lunch. Choices include an array of deli sandwiches on white, wheat or a kaiser roll; five different styles of Panini sandwiches grilled on focaccia bread; and a good selection of salads. Recently we opted for a Mandarin grilled chicken salad. The presentation was blah at best. My order was delivered very fast, and I realized why when I found that the chicken had been roasted but not recently.  Several hunks of sliced chicken sat atop a pile of what appeared to be the wrong end of iceberg lettuce. We girded our loins and dug in. What a surprise!

The iceberg lettuce hid spinach leaves and slices of red cabbage. Tasty Mandarin oranges and slivered almonds were mixed liberally into the salad. Served with a creamy poppy seed dressing, the salad had just the right tang to make it appetizing.  $6.00 and worth it…

Deli sandwich prices run from $3.95 for grilled cheese to $5.95 for a club.  Panini’s cost between $5.00 and $6.50.  Salads are $3.25 for a house to $6.25 for a chicken salad plate.  In winter Roaster’s offers soup specials by the cup or bowl.

Wash it all down with a fresh latte.

The round up:

Where: 404 Spring St., Burlington

Hours: 11:00 AM to 2:00 PM for lunch. Monday through Friday only

Kids Menu: No

Vegetarian Offerings: Yes. Salads and Soups

Service: Self

Take out Service: Available. 229-6308

No Bar Service

Web Site: no