City Beverage

City Beverage is a food paradox. The rule book says random strip malls located in random spots shouldn't have really good food with pleasant outdoor spaces. It is as if the rules of physics don't apply to this place... and that's just the feeling BEFORE you walk inside. Once you walk inside, you are transported to a tiki bar blended with a 50's diner that someone drop punted into the Parade of Roses. I'm sure some other combination of non-converging entities would be just as useful in description. Beyond the visual spew (or my verbal spew), however, the food is always wonderful. 

City Beverage

4810 Hope Valley Rd
Durham, NC 27707

Blue Ribbon - NYC

One doesn't always have the time for a leisurely sit down 5 star dinner- but that doesn't mean you can't enjoy the food. We arrived late in New York - and were hungry. Turns out, the Blue Ribbon Brasserie was only a few blocks away, and could do take out. Every review I saw pointed at the Beef Marrow & Oxtail Marmalade, so we just had to try it. Even on a Tuesday night, it sounded like we would have waited about 2 hours for a table without reservations... but 15 minutes later, I was running back to the hotel with food in hand. Maybe not the ambiance - but my taste buds didn't care. The restaurant was tiny - probably about 700 square foot of seating space, a third of which was the bar, and it was packed and full of ambiance. Standing around, every dish looked good.... the seafood platter, etc. I wanted to steal morsels from everyone's dish. Hmmm.... Onto the food...

I'm not sure that Beef Marrow & Oxtail Marmalade would be the best fresh off the plane dish - but wow! The marrow was like a luscious butter and the oxtail marmalade was like a carnivore's jam. I felt like a wolf licking its chops enjoying this dish - and nicely packaged for takeout. We basically mopped up the container with everything piece of bread we had...

I have to admit - pictures of the takeout box don't do the dish justice - but look online, and you'll find examples. The receptionist recommended the fried chicken - which many seem to be very positive about. However, coming up from North Carolina to have fried chicken in New York just didn't seem to be the best of choices, since we went after another poultry disk, the Duck Breast Turnip Puree, Brussel Sprouts, Beets and Orange Sauce. 


The duck was perfectly cooked, without being tough or too gamey. The sprouts / beets and orange sauce were a wonderful complement, and the turnip puree had the appeal of hearty mashed potatoes. In hindsight, I wish I had tried a few more dishes... it looked like everything there would be great! Looking forward to going back.... and next time to enjoy the ambiance also!

Blue Ribbon Brasserie

97 Sullivan St
(between Spring St & Prince St)
New York, NY 10012