Subject: Re: was top whatever but now??
Date: Tue, 7 Jan 97 16:14:55 EST
From: "Chris Calloway" <venus_in_pisces@vnet.ibm.com>
Reply-To: ch-scene@listserv.oit.unc.edu
To: Multiple recipients of list <ch-scene@listserv.oit.unc.edu>
who: george bakatsias, creator of parizade, cafe giorgios, et al. what: george's gourmet garage, a bakery, deli, buffet style prepared dinner takeout, sit down fine dining, and well stocked wine bar. envisioned as a place where 'the community' comes and grabs a well-cooked meal on the way home from a too busy day. where: the old wellspring location on ninth street.
whether good enough to outweigh all the fog i sprayed about it is a matter of how you put your thumb on the scale.
here, i'll be more specific. my experience was: an artichoke and roasted pepper fritatta with garlic roasted potatoes for $4.50 a pound. also on the bar were other fritattas, something that looked like kasha and berries, melon chunks, and some really phat looking french toast. also got a thimble sized container of fresh squeezed orange juice for $2.25. total cost of my breakfast: $7.01. not something i'd do everyday. i mean, the fritatta was knock down great. that way of making eggs cream that only greeks know how to do. but, shit, the scrambled tofu over at wellspring -used- to be just one measly buck per half-plate and it was every bit as yummy. of course, now they raised the price of that to $2.25 as well, so fuck.
see, i can't get too overly excited about something like this that purports to be a community oriented service, does deliver something pretty good -tasting-, yet would leave me penniless if i patronized it with any frequency.
um, the garage has all these metal buckets strewn about with the words "garage" silk screened on 'em. they'll make you up gift baskets with 'em starting at some ridiculously astronomical prices. they fill the gift boxes with their own bottled brands of olive oil, pasta sauce, and other rich goodies. a fucking 32 oz. can of tomato sauce was $7 on the shelf.
the bakery puts out pasteries comparable to what mad hatter does. the bakery is an industrial sized operation with a highly mechanized factory line that intends to bake breads for all of george's restaurants as well as any other customers who'd like to sign up.
the deli is full of mostly the same stuff you'd get as appetizers at parizade or any of those openings at duma.
the prepared dinner takeout has really substantial dinners but it looks like you'd spend anywhere from $25 to $50 to feed just a couple of people. well, two people who ear like me.
the lunch bar is probably a deal at $4.50 a pound depending on what you get.
the sit down part, well, the music is annoying mediterranean disco played too loud. the furniture is pomo wood. and the ambiance is a bit loud, drifting over from the market part. anyway, the menu is extensive, heavy on shellfish, and conveniently divided into small and large plates for peeps like you and me who just wanna sample one of everything. the wine list is pretty cool. the place is open very late. i would say if people around here have any sense, they'll make it their bar of preference. but of course, you'd have to be fairly rich to say that, so i won't.
if you're happy at henry's, you shouldn't have too much to complain about at george's. if the duke students catch on, the place will survive. in deed, it has to catch on with duke students for anything to survive in this town. they're the only peeps with more money than sense in these parts. i mean, there's perfectly good burritos at cosmic cantina, made with organic veggies and what all, but nooooooo, they're not slathered with cheese and the guys running it are all young and have short hair and listen to hootie, so fuck, you can't take your date there coz she'll spend the whole time yelling epithets at the frat boys.
see, there's more high quality restaurants i cant afford in durham than i can shake a stick at. but find me a place with something edible that won't put me in the poor house for the rest of the week. between working, going to and from work, and doing work preparatory activities, i have about an hour a day left over for me. so the idea that george's was gonna provide some convenient way for me to stop on the way home (it's exactly two blocks from my house) and pick up a dinner i might actually like was really appealing until i discovered i'd have to pick up a second job in order to make a habit of taking out dinner from george's.
the website is at http:\\www.gourmetgarage.com and takes forfuckingever to load (and in deed never did completely load coz the html is defective for msie). somebody running a webserver over a modem or something. one of those commercially designed scam artist thingies. paying for the fucking thing probably added a dollar onto the cost of my breakfast.
there are also convenient take-home pamphlets available describing all the goods and services offered.
s'ok. i went and got fat again so who needs to eat anyway?
still, i imagine i will patronize the place whenever i'm feeling randy.
oh, and if you're really looking to spend seven bucks for breakfast, go to either le coco. way up north roxboro by latta road or there's another towards apex on 55 from the intersection at 54. five egg omlets in more configurations that any one person deserves served with english muffins, wonderful preserves, and killer homefries. huge servings of fresh squeezed orange juice.
great. now i'm hungry.
3.2.3
Okay. Take me back to the Froofy Dining in Durham page.
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