Geer Street Garden

The other night, a group of us tried out this new Durham restaurant. We'd eaten Chef Andy Magowan's fine food at his previous restaurant, Piedmont, which he no longer owns, and so we trusted the meal would be good.

It was.

The food is simple and leans heavily on locally sourced ingredients, a combination that goes well with the building, a former gas station. Most of the seating is outside, but fortunately for us, the evening we were there was perfect for dining outdoors.

You won't find much fancy here, but everything we tasted was delicious. One particularly tasty mess I have to recommend is "The Pile," an amazing looking mixture of French fries, fried chicken, jalapenos, and melted cheese. Think game-day food done wonderfully and all mixed in one dish.

In keeping with the emphasis on simple food, the costs are more than reasonable. The tab for five of us--and we ate a lot of the menu, as well as multiple desserts--was less than the bill for two at many of the area's nicer restaurants.

Definitely check out this one.