Bull Street Gourmet and Market, a gourmet food market and cafe, recently opened in the now always bustling Hope Valley Square. With Only Burger, Tutti Frutti, Rick’s Diner, Pop’s Backdoor and now Bull Street, I’m starting to envy folks who live on this side of town.

Welcoming and warm, Bull Street Gourmet and Market (an off-shoot of a popular market of the same name in Charleston) has a well-curated small selection of wine, candy, local meats, cheeses, eggs, beer, coffee and other gourmet pantry items. Bull Street is also a cafe offering coffee drinks, fancy teas, baked goods, sandwiches, salads and soups. The sandwiches and salads all hover around the $8 range.

When we stopped in for lunch, we went for the Half and Half – your choice of soup, salad or half sandwich for $8.99. For our salads we chose the Chappy (diced green apple, shaved red onion, toasted walnuts and feta on romaine with lemon poppy seed dressing) and the Drunken (prosciutto, drunken goat cheese and toasted pine nuts with a balsamic reduction). I’m a sucker for drunken goat cheese and I don’t think I’ve ever seen it offered on a salad before. Both were outstanding, fresh and generous with the premium ingredients.

For our sandwiches, we tried the Chicken Salad Sandwich and the Mozz, both were served on fresh ciabatta rolls. Bull Street’s chicken salad is studded with cranberries and almonds and finished with a cranberry mayo. The Mozz is fresh mozzarella, marinated and fresh tomatoes, walnut pesto and balsamic reduction. The chicken salad was really good, but for me the Mozz stole the show; bright with lots of lemon (I’m guessing in the pesto), rich with the balsamic and roasted tomatoes, balanced with the large chunk of fresh mozzarella.

Bull Street’s dedication to local sourcing and emphasis on quality ingredients is admirable. We like that you can stop in for a dozen Latta eggs, a hunk of Goat Lady Dairy cheese and an excellent salad and sandwich. Bull Street also offers a breakfast menu that includes pastries, bagels, housemade sausage and eggs. Their bakery case was full of tempting treats including a variety of cakes and cookies. We resisted this visit, but will be sure to check them out in the future.

Bull Street Gourmet & Market
3710 Shannon Rd.
Monday—Friday 7:30 am—7:30 pm
Saturday—Sunday 9 am—3 pm
919-237-2398

There’s a new small grocery on Hillsborough Rd. in Durham, Lagos Meat Market. Kind of like a mini version of Compare, Lagos has a small selection of produce, milk, cheese, fresh baked goods and groceries – but their focus seems to be on their butcher counter. A large butcher case full of a wide selection of meat and fresh cut cheese can be found in the back of the store. We just stopped in to check it out after spotting a now open sign on Hillsborough. A friendly family market, Lagos is worth a stop.

Lagos Meat Market
3438 Hllsborough Rd., Suite C
Durham, NC 27705
919-383-5436
Mon – Sun: 8:30 am-9:00 pm

We have a new cheese shop in Durham and lo, it is a glorious occurrence!  The Reliable Cheese Company was opened to fill a void in Durham’s foodie niche: the local cheese shop, where one can pick up great cheeses, meats, and other specialty goods and receive advice and guidance from a knowledgable cheesemonger.  That cheesemonger is Patrick Coleff, who has been in the cheese industry for five years, learning the trade at the great Murray’s in Manhattan and working at a few other specialty shops in Brooklyn before relocating to Durham.  While the Triangle foodie can get great cheeses at Whole Foods or A Southern Season, Patrick really wanted to open a small, cheese-specific, neighborhood spot–and in my opinion he has definitely succeeded!

Reliable Cheese Company is located right off Rigsbee next to Rue Cler.  The significant other and I arrived on early Friday evening toward the end of the store’s second day of business.  Patrick was busy with a handful of customers, so I browsed the store.  The space is mostly bare bones right now: a check out counter, refrigerated cases for cheeses and meats, and a slicer.  Empty shelves and a sign hold the promise of wine from Wine Authorities.  Other shelves hold jars of quince paste, cornichons, and marinated olives.  There’s a space in the back that I am assuming will be used for future Cheese 101 classes (which I hope to attend) but I might be wrong.  Huge open walls are begging for cheese-centric murals or posters;  I know it isn’t my store, but I’m hoping some talented Durham artist lends his or her talents to creating a gorgeous mural for the space!

Patrick finished up with his customers and we had his attention to ourselves.  We tried a number of cheeses: soft, hard, blue, goat cheese, a blue goat cheese (very mild, perfect for the blue novice!), and they were all fantastic.  Patrick sources his cheeses from small producers, both American and abroad, who place an emphasis on traditional methods of production.  He was more than happy to provide us with samples.  Each cheese contains a placard with a creative description from Patrick.  My favorite description was for the Fosterkase, a soft cheese which Patrick described as eating bacon while strolling through the forest in autumn.

After trying 8 or 9 cheeses we settled on two hard cheeses: the Fiore Sardo, a smoked cheese from Sardinia with a light, buttery taste not typically associated with smoked cheeses and the Roncal, which is Manchego’s “predecessor cheese” and had a spicy saltiness that I loved.  Patrick got us packaged up and ready to go just as the next wave of customers arrived.  Perfect timing!

We stuck to the cheese refrigerator this time around but I am excited to go back and get some of the specialty meats: guanciale and bresaola and oh my goodness, it all looked fabulous.  According to the Reliable Cheese Facebook page they are now doing sandwiches with their meats and cheeses.  They also offer pre-made cheese plates if you are in a hurry.  I highly recommend stopping by here for your cheese needs: Patrick was amazingly helpful, friendly, and knowledgeable.  I am excited to visit again and to pick up some more delicious cheese!

Reliable Cheese Company

405 East Chapel Hill St.

Durham, NC 27701

919-680-3939

http://www.reliablecheese.com

http://www.twitter.com/reliablecheese

https://www.facebook.com/reliablecheese

Tuesday-Saturday 10:00am-8:00pm

Sunday 10:00am-3:00pm

Closed Mondays

I had a chance to check out the newly opened giant (49,000 sq ft. per the Herald Sun) Li Ming’s Global Market today at lunch. Housed in the old Circuit City just off 15-501, Li Ming’s is even larger than the Grand Asia Market in Cary.

The grocery portion of the store is a nice mix of Asian specialties and the everyday items you’d expect to see in a big-box grocery. There are shelves of American cheese slices next to dumpling wrappers, Captain Crunch and specialty miso. There is also a large fish market in the back similar to but not yet rivaling Grand Asia Market with tanks of fish and iced selections.

The cafeteria offers around 10 different dish options, you get three items and rice for an affordable $5.49. I spotted chicken feet, a tofu dish, cabbage, pork, broccoli among the offerings. The cafeteria is cash only, which I didn’t have, so I’ll have to stop in another day to sample the hot bar.

I got the sense this spot is still very much a work in progress. Workers were filling the shelves as I was walking through, there was a sign for a bakery that’s coming soon and Li Ming’s original press release said there would be sushi, which I didn’t see.

Li Ming’s is an exciting addition to Durham and we’re sure it will continue to get better when it has been open a few weeks. It’s definitely worth checking out.

I bought some udon noodles, housemade pork buns, miso, and some mochi for $10.

Li Ming’s Global Market

Monday-Sunday 9am-9pm

3400 Westgate Dr, Durham, NC 27707

The Durham Green Flea Market (1600 E. Pettigrew St.) is the largest indoor/outdoor flea market in Durham.  Every Saturday and Sunday between 7:00am and 4:00pm, a wide variety of vendors set up shop to sell almost anything you can imagine.  Clothing, furniture, produce, bootleg cds/dvds, stereo equipment, and trinkets of all varieties are on offer.  But more importantly, for this taco hound, there is a really good selection of various latin street food also available.  It was pretty crowded when I went on Sunday afternoon so I didn’t have the opportunity to take any food pictures, but let me just tell you that this food carnival is a very good thing.

Inside the market building, vendors were selling bean pies, smoothies, cakes from “the cake lady”, roasted nuts,  tortas, fried chicken and biscuits, agua frescas, elotes con queso, and hot dogs.  There was even a Cuban Puerto Rican family selling mofongo!  Outside in the open air market, taqueria offerings abounded.

A lady selling tamales from a giant steaming pot seemed to be a popular choice with patrons, so I sampled a chicken tamale ($1.00) .  The tamale was wrapped in a banana leaf and the chicken tucked inside the lovely masa was bathed in salsa verde.  Really tasty.

At another vendor, I got a taco al pastor (with pineapple!) and an excellent pupusa pollo y queso with slaw.   On my way out of the market, I spotted an old latino lady making sopes by hand.  The finished product looked so good, I couldn’t resist the urge to stop for a large sope al pastor.  The next time you find yourself with a weekend hankering for authentic street food, do yourself a favor and head on down to the Durham Green Flea Market.

Durham Green Flea Market
1900 East Pettigrew Street
Hours:  Saturdays and Sundays 7:00am to 4:00pm
Phone:  (919) 308-7657 or (919) 599-6166
http://www.durhamgreenfleamarket.com

Great news for East Durham residents: TROSA’s grocery store at 2104 Angier Ave. is opening May 13th.   Mayor Bell will cut the ribbon at a ceremony beginning at 11:30am.

So someone else wrote about Halgo over a year ago, but thanks to a recommendation from a friend I finally checked it out for lunch today.

This cute Polish market has a freezer case full of 10 types of pierogies – the blueberry and sweet potato caught my eye – and a sign out front invites visitors in, reading “Polish Perogi – You can’t love’m unless you try ‘em.”

But today we were there for the hot kielbasa and kraut sandwiches. You do have to call ahead for these, but they are more than happy to make them for you and will have them waiting when you arrive. At $6.75, this oversized sandwiched stuffed with delicious sausage and fresh kraut is a steal. It’s a fresh loaf, slathered with spicy mustard and overflowing with meaty goodness and a mild, buttery kraut. It’s a treat and half of the sandwich was more than enough for lunch.

4520 S. Alston Ave.
Durham, NC 27713
919-321-2014

Note: Halgo is take-out only. They also have a $10 card minimum and are closed on Mondays.

HV Bottle Shop doesn’t look like much and the name doesn’t really make sense (as in Hope Valley), but further investigation reveals a much needed spot for more casual wine drinking and two very helpful owners.  Thomas and Drew have been around the block for a while (having worked at Nana’s and Foursquare(?) or the like) before opening their welcoming bottleshop in Woodcroft Plaza.

All of the Carpe Durham squad has been there by now and the results are officially tallied: it’s a great place.  They have a handy-dandy wine dispenser for tastes and up to full glasses.  There are frequent tastings as well.  Every Saturday from 4:30 to 7pm they pour free tastings, usually three whites and three reds and a smattering of crackers and cheeses.  I’ve found some fantastic stuff during these tastings and they usually mark down the featured wines significantly.  And tastings aren’t just for Saturdays.  It has seemed like every week now there has been an odd-ball tasting on a weeknight (a Monday, Tuesday, and the more common Friday).  Tonight was a so-called 90+ tasting, meaning all the wines scored ninety or above in the wino magazines.  Delicious.

The wines are nearly all neatly lined up against the wall in a readily recognized fashion.  There is also the beer corner, full of great stuff, lots of it in big bottles.  And there are nice couches to hang out on and try some juice from the dispenser.  But even more than that, the place excites me because of their promotion of alternative packaging.  They are constantly looking for more tetra packs (the carton looking thing) and boxed up wine.  No not that box wine.  Please.  There is nothing bad that can come from storing wine in a box or carton.  Maybe aging is up in the air, but who’s really sitting on bottles and bottles instead of drinking and drinking.  Which is what you can do when you get three liters of wine for a whole lot less.

They also have a few of these liter bottles.  They have a bottle cap.  I bought one, it was tasty.  Crisp and apple like as I remember it.  If it is ready to drink, why risk the cork?  The organic treatment of the grapes keeps the cost up more than I’d like.  But at about $10.50 or so for the liter it was still worth the try.

Keep an eye out for their Irregular Bin of random single beers and their Fire Sale wines.  I got a box of Pinot Evil for real cheap a little while back.  I might remember the cost if I didn’t enjoy my three liters so much.

Tomorrow’s tasting is all North West wines.  I’m excited about the pinot gris and noirs from Oregon.  There’ll also be a cab blend that should be serious business.

As a new dad who’s on baby duty from 4-8am I often find myself hungry before the chickens are up. It’d be easy to write about all the great late-night eats (Honey’s, Waffle House, Cosmic until 4am), but not so when it comes to breakfast before six. Here are my favorites:

-Wimpy’s on Hillsborough: where else can you get a fatback biscuit?
-Biscuitville on Club: my normal routine is to wait for the wall street journal (which arrives around 4:55), then walk two blocks and bug them to let me in. When the fried bologna appears on the seasonal specials I come runnin’.
-New York Bagel Deli III on Kildaire Farm Rd. in Cary: the best bagel in the region hands down. The owner is from NJ and contributes free bagels to my various animal welfare fundraising efforts. It’s worth the drive, though I usually go at lunch to avoid the killer morning traffic.
-Dunkin’ Donuts, despite their fare being a little too sugary for my tastes. I pine for Ibrahim’s Donut Shop on Ninth St. (where the Mongolian barbecue joint is now, next to Dale’s), especially because I lived next door to Magnolia circa 1990.
-Alivia’s at Gregson and Main is open early (and late).
-Kroger at Northpointe: when all else fails (though they have recently instigated a “no concealed weapons” policy — Grrr). I bought Neese’s Hot Country Sausage (the one in the paper wrapper) to christen my new cast iron skillet: