Mimiiiii

$ – cheap eats

Elmo’s is a family-oriented diner in a college town (next to first year dorms at Duke). They’re opened pretty late from what I can remember, and it was definitely still busy at 10PM on the weekends (we had to wait for a table!). The decor and atmosphere didn’t make a lasting impression on my mind, so why the 4 stars?

I love blueberry pancakes. In years before, I used to be a naive and unrefined novice. I even though IHOP’s pancakes with sugary blueberry sauce on top = heaven, but how wrong I was! This may be sad to admit, but Elmo’s was probably the first pancake I had experienced with fruit cooked into the batter, rather than just sitting on top. Folding blueberries into the pancake ensures the sweet expression of fruit in every bite minus all the sugar! (and minus the fear that there isn’t enough to go around!) Elmo’s had just the thing I was looking for that night, and since then, I’ve been making my own folded-into-the-batter pancakes with fruit infused syrup (less thick, more flavor).

I can’t say much else about the other menu options, but since this was a total revealation, Elmo’s gets my 4 stars.

$ – under $10, but kinda sorta overpriced, 3. 3 stars.

There’s nothing quite “revolutionary” about Revolutionary Soups, now operating from two locations: Downtown and the Corner. I was admittedly jumping in my seat to try this place, so much that I picked out what I wanted the night before. But after eating here, I was a little disappointed. Sure, they have fresh ingredients, good lamb curry soup, and a killer wild mushroom wrap that I could eat for days, but…there were many aspects that didn’t live up to my expectations.

1. They skimp on soup! The bowl of lamb curry was decently sized for $4, but little did my friends know that it came half filled with rice

2. They skimp on curry! I didn’t enjoy the curry chicken salad wrap as much as I had hoped. It’s a bit larger than the one at Whole Foods and slightly cheaper, but definitely lacked the balance of flavor and texture that WF achieves quite beautifully.

3. I have other qualms, but a semi big irritation was how unbelievably slow they were with making the wraps. I know it’s all made from scratch, but come on! I was starving (probably the reason for my impatience). And I ordered one hot and one cold; they made the hot first and it took at least another 5 minutes before the cold was finished! In the end, my hot was just lukewarm, kind of like my feelings towards this place.

Maybe next time, they’ll actually be able to cause a real revolution rather than stopping short of the Bastille.

$$$ – haven’t decided the rating yet.. but i’ll put a moderate 3 for now

fyi, contrary to menuism’s spelling of the name, it is DEL not de alabardero

stuffy, slow service, really good paella (lot more seafood than jaleo, rice is softer), limited tapas menu, outdoor dining and bar side tables look fun and enticing. paella fairly expensive, i believe $30 per person (for full seafood). my dad got the orange veal i believe and.. it wasn’t all that great. actually, it sucked to be honest but i didn’t ask for his opinion

will come back to this.