
{"id":12385,"date":"2010-09-02T14:15:01","date_gmt":"2010-09-02T22:15:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/?p=12385"},"modified":"2010-09-22T13:16:55","modified_gmt":"2010-09-22T21:16:55","slug":"the-eater-a-guide-to-eating-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/2010\/09\/02\/the-eater-a-guide-to-eating-2\/","title":{"rendered":"The Eater: A Guide to Eating"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>ONE MAN&#8217;S QUEST FOR PAD THAI<br \/>\n<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>If you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re lucky in life, you may someday realize your destiny. If you are very lucky, you may achieve it.<\/p>\n<p>The Eater\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s old pal Andy McMillan is of the very lucky few. Andy, a Chapel Hill native and the son of Florence and the late Campbell \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Dr. Mac\u00e2\u20ac\u009d McMillan, owned and ran the fondly remembered Lizard &#038; Snake, which featured southwestern cuisine.<\/p>\n<p>Lately, he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been putting in a lot of miles hauling and setting up exhibits for Carrboro design firm Sitzer-Spuria Studios. In addition to being able to tell you everything you wanted to know about various convention centers, McMillan has become a discriminating enthusiast when it comes to Pad Thai.<\/p>\n<p>A month or two back, he was eating a particularly tasty dish of the southeast Asian favorite, when it hit him.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I said to myself, \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcI could eat this every day\u00e2\u20ac\u2122,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he told The Eater in an exclusive interview. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153So I did.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>For a fortnight, McMillan sought out and consumed Pad Thai in 13 restaurants throughout the Chapel Hill-Carrboro metroplex.<\/p>\n<p>The results of this intrepid, peanut-topped adventure are far too detailed to work into the space allotted. But McMillan\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s findings have been verified since by not only this reporter but also a myriad of fellow Pad Thai fans.<\/p>\n<p>In the top tier, all-alone, says Andy, is Merlion in Southern Village, which serves up a balanced, complex and thoroughly enjoyable version.<\/p>\n<p>In the next tier is Thai Palace \u00e2\u20ac\u201c which could have ranked a tier higher, but was deemed a little pricey \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and Penang.<\/p>\n<p>Occupying the next tier are the two (apparently unrelated) China Woks, in Timberlyne and Carrboro Plaza, and downtown Carrboro\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Jade Palace, which is good, McMillan says, but untraditional in its flavorings. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a little weird.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>Way down at the bottom of the list is Noodles and Company on Franklin Street. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153They served me something that looked a little like Pad Thai, but it wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t Pad Thai.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>We commend McMillan on his valiant effort and are awaiting the next chapter in his culinary quests. His next exploit, no doubt cooked up over a long haul from Vegas or something, is a little worrisome in the cholesterol department.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been thinking a lot about BLTs,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said.<\/p>\n<p>The Eater, who out of sheer concern suggests splitting them with someone, stands ready to help.<br \/>\n<strong><br \/>\nBEST. FOOD EVER.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The above title was intended just to get attention (we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re all so busy these days). \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Best of\u00e2\u20ac\u009d lists are tedious and kind of pointless, and The Eater would never stoop so low as to have a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Best of\u00e2\u20ac\u009d contest. When it comes to food, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153the wisdom of the crowd\u00e2\u20ac\u009d is more often \u00e2\u20ac\u0153the reflex of the herd.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Besides, why have a contest when you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve already made up your mind?<\/p>\n<p>So, with no fanfare other than the windy paragraph above, The Eater names Brinkley Farms field peas the Best Food Ever of 2010.<\/p>\n<p>Cooked right with a little pork and served with some butter and salt they are over-the-top wonderful. They\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re available at many of the local farmers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 markets in the shell or shelled and fresh frozen. Brinkley, which converted from growing mainly tobacco several years ago, is a heavy producer of the classic varieties of Southern field peas, which are among the most healthy and delicious foods you can add to your diet.<\/p>\n<p>Eat some. Awesome. Not kidding.<\/p>\n<p><strong>DO&#8217;S AND DONUTS<br \/>\n<\/strong><br \/>\nOk, you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re going to have to admit that it is likely you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re going to have a Krispy Kreme adventure at some point. As someone who just offered to help eat a dozen or so BLTs, The Eater is no one to preach. But if you must venture to East Franklin Street and do something you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll never admit to your cardiologist, at least wait till the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153hot\u00e2\u20ac\u009d sign comes on and those little wheels of wonder are at their most sublime.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>One man&#8217;s quest for pad thai; Best. Food. Ever; Do&#8217;s and Donuts<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[290,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12385","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-eater","category-features"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12385","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12385"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12385\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12686,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12385\/revisions\/12686"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12385"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12385"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12385"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}