NNTP-Posting-Date: 20 Sep 2002 15:31:13 GMT X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 5.50.4807.1700 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.50.4807.1700 Xref: usenet.INS.cwru.edu triangle.dining:16165 I've been to two new "ish" restaurants in the past week that were pretty good. Green Papaya is a Vietnamese restaurant located in the same shopping center as J.Gilberts Woodfired Grill, at the corner of Cary Parkway and Tryon. It is in it's own building. I believe it is owned by the same people who own Dalat, but with a slightly different menu. I've been there twice--First time we had deluxe summer rolls with peanut sauce as an appetizer--fantastic, the best I've had in the triangle. We also had the stuffed squid. We didn't know what to expect, but it was squid stuffed with sausage, and we didn't enjoy it very much. THe squid was tough, and the dish as a whole was not very flavorful. I had the vermicelli with grilled pork and spring roll. It was the typical dish and very good. My husband had beef with lemon grass, which was also very good. The second time around, we had spring rolls, and the shrimp on sugar cane as an appetizer. It is ground shrimp wrapped around grilled sugarcane, which you eat in rice paper wraps with assorted vegetables and dip in the sweet and sour fish sauce dip. It was a really unique dish, and kind of hard to describe. I found the sugar cane a little overpowering, but good. I then had the beef pho, which was a little sweet for my taste, and not served with as many sides, just basil and bean sprouts. My friend had another appetizer for her entree-- grilled beef served with rice paper wraps. She enjoyed it. Sevice is pretty good, wine, beer, and sake (??????) is served, as well as a Chinese menu. I'll definitely be back. The second restaurant is call Baba Ganouj and is located in the the Cary shopping center where BJ's and World Market is. I think it is next to Marble Slab. It is a middle eastern deli, where you just order at the counter, and eat in or take out. The food all looked great. I had a veggie combo, which included salad, baba ganouj, hummus, cucumber sauce, 2or 3 grape leave, 3 falafel, and pita. The pita is the thick greek pita, and is grilled. The hummus and baba were great, very lemony, which is how I like it. The cucumber sauce (like what goes on a gyro) was very garlicky and was really good, and I absolutely LOVED the grape leaves. The falafel were just falafel. Plus, all of that was only I think 6 bucks. Anyway, check it out. Happy Eating! Jill
Raleigh-Durham, NC