Triangle Good Eats

I first ate at Lantern before moving to North Carolina. My husband and I were visiting the area to see if we wanted to move here. We had a really nice dinner at Lantern and we both distinctly remembered how great the tea smoked chicken was. So I was looking forward to coming back here for dinner on my birthday.

The last time I ate at Lantern I ordered a Yo La Mango cocktail, which I loved. Unfortunately it’s a seasonal drink, so this time around I tried a Red Geisha, at the waiter’s suggestion. It was pretty, with muddled strawberries, but not all that tasty.

For appetizers, my husband started with the fiery eggplant salad, which he enjoyed. The eggplant had a nice heat to them.

I started with the special - lacquered pork belly. This was the star of the meal - do you see how that fat glistens? Each bite was incredibly rich - a thick layer of unctuous fat with a bottom layer of crispy pork. One of the top food experiences of my life. Accompanying the pork belly were pickled green tomatoes, which were delightfully tart and made for a unique pairing.

Unfortunately, after such a promising start, the meal went downhill from there. I ordered the seafood hot pot, which came with shrimp, halibut, scallops, squid, clams, and noodles in a lobster broth.

Sounds good, right? But all the seafood was horribly overcooked and there was such a strong fishy smell and taste that after a few bites, I couldn’t eat any more of it. The waiter apologized and took it back. I wasn’t terribly hungry anymore so I ordered the black mushroom and cabbage dumpling appetizer as a replacement. They were just your average dumplings, with a rather bland filling.

My husband ordered the tea and spice smoked chicken that we still remembered from a year and a half ago. Chicken is so often bland that when we first had this dish, we were thrilled and counted it as one of the best chicken dishes we’d ever had - tender meat with crispy skin and that subtle tea and spice flavor. So how was the chicken this time around? Dry. Overcooked and dry. My husband made the best of things and we would have felt really awkward sending both our dishes back, but in retrospect, we should have sent it back. There was just no denying that the meat was overcooked. The sides - pork and shrimp fried rice and green beans - were unremarkable.

I’m sure we must have hit Lantern on an off night, but it was a rather big disappointment on my birthday. We will certainly be back and hope for a better experience, the service and atmosphere are very good, the menu interesting, I love their use of local ingredients, and certain things we ordered were delicious.

Lantern
423 W. Franklin St.
Chapel Hill, NC
(919)969-8846

Tags: Chapel Hill, Pan-Asian by Mary
3 Comments »

I’ve been raring to eat at Duck and Dumpling for a while and finally got my chance during Restaurant Week. It’s small and chic, but not off-puttingly so.

I’d already decided to get the Asian Pear Martini when I found out that their special drink was an Asian Pear Mimosa. I mostly tasted the champagne, the pear flavor was very subtle, but I enjoyed it. My only complaint is the price ($10, the same price as their martinis).

We were brought an amuse-bouche, a ginger and carrot soup in those little soup spoons (sorry, no picture). It was delicious, insanely creamy, and a nice way to start the meal. Because I am woefully unhip, I love the rare occasions when I dine somewhere that serves an amuse-bouche (this doesn’t really happen say at Cookout!).

My friend Beth and I both started with the pork half-fried dumplings (which can be found on the regular menu) and my husband got the black bean rib tips (which aren’t on the regular menu). Both were good. The rib tips were very tender and the black bean sauce was delicious. The dumplings were absolutely stuffed with well-seasoned pork. Very tasty, but almost too meaty for me.

My husband and I both ordered the Poached Diver Scallops in a Honey-Ginger Glaze (the similar dish on the regular menu is $26, so this was a good deal although I’d be interested to see what the other scallop dish is accompanied with). They came in a fried wonton bowl on top of some greens. The scallops were fantastic. Perfectly cooked and the sauce was delicious, sweet but not overly so. Best scallops I’ve had in a long time (although not too surprisingly, scallops don’t keep so well. We had a few left over that we ate the next day and they were not so great.) Beth got the chicken pad thai (also on regular menu) and though I only had one bite, it was tasty and certainly a cut above the usual pad thai.

For dessert I chose the green tea ice cream, Beth got the ginger ice cream, and my husband got the key lime pie. I would say the key lime pie was the winner. Both flavors of ice cream were very subtle, I would have liked a little more green tea flavor.

Service was good, with one exception. We had leftovers boxed for us and had to flag our server down to make sure he boxed the rice, which he originally was going to just take away. And the next day when we opened up the leftovers, the server (or someone in the kitchen) had decided to only pack up the scallops and not the greens that remained on the plates. I really dislike it when someone decides what is worth packing up for me, as far as I’m concerned, everything on the plate should go in the box. A minor irritation.

Chef David Mao stopped by our table to ask how the meal had been. I love little gestures like that, it sets a restaurant apart.

I really enjoyed my meal here and am eager to come back and try offerings from the regular menu.

The Duck and Dumpling
222 S. Blount St.
Raleigh, NC 27601
(919) 838-0085

Tags: Pan-Asian, Raleigh by Mary
3 Comments »