Zely & Ritz

In an unusual weekend choice, we decided to sample the two Eno Hospitality Group restaurants back to back. So, Saturday night we headed to Zely & Ritz.

We ate our way through a good chunk of the menu. Overall, the meal was good but decidedly uneven. The risotto with oxtail, for example, was rich and strong, but the vegetarian risotto was bland and made several at our table yearn for a salt shaker. The mussels were excellent, but the pork belly and the potatoes on the plate with it were both overcooked. The pork loin was tasty but not as tender as it should have been. The asparagus spears were lovely, but the grit cakes with them were bland and mushy.

Three of the four desserts our group shared were strong and generally raised the batting average of the meal.

The restaurant was operating shorthanded, so perhaps that's the source of the unevenness we experienced. Regardless, I like the place and the people who operate it, so I'll go back, but not for a while.

In the battle of the siblings, Zely & Ritz came up short. The victory clearly goes to Piedmont.

Checking out the new Piedmont

Long-time readers will recall that Durham's Piedmont restaurant has long been a go-to place for a reliable, good meal. A while back, however, Piedmont's owners and founders sold it to the Eno Hospitality Group, which owns Zely and Ritz (which I'll be visiting again Saturday night). So, tonight, before the Neil Young concert (more on that tomorrow), we dropped by Piedmont to check out its new incarnation.

The food is definitely different, but it maintains the emphasis on local sourcing--as you would expect from a group one of whose owners runs a farm--and it was, I am happy to report, delicious. Our group sampled half a dozen starters and one entree, and every single dish was tasty. High points included the baked farm fresh egg with asparagus, which was as bright as a spring morning, and the bruschetta with pork loin and shiitake mushrooms, which was rich and flavorful.

Though I need to return when I have more time to investigate more of the dishes, this one visit convinced me that Piedmont remains one of the area's safe choices for a truly good meal. Though not in the very top tier of Triangle restaurants, it's in the group just below that peak. I definitely recommend it.

The Visitor

Dinner tonight was at an old favorite, Zely and Ritz, a tapas place that features locally sourced ingredients. Much of what you eat comes from a farm owned by a guy with whom I worked many years ago. Small world. The food tonight was flavorful, fresh, and generally good enough that we all agreed we had to put the restaurant in heavier rotation on our list.

We then headed up the street a bit to see The Visitor, an art house film by Thomas McCarthy, who also directed The Station Agent. The Visitor delivered everything one might expect such a picture to provide--strong performances by character actors, a solid story line, genuine emotions resulting from complex situations--and also held back what you would expect: there was no happy ending. I very much liked the movie, found its characters extremely engaging, and recommend it highly.

I left, however, pondering why it was that happy endings are rarely the hallmark of art house films. (Yes, I know there are many exceptions, but I think the point stands.) I suppose it's the fact that life seldom deals us perfect endings, so when we are truest to life we must reflect that reality. I'm not convinced, however, that we must be true to life to create art. Quite the contrary: sometimes I think the greatest art can come from being larger than life, more perfect or more dreadful or more wonderful--more something--than life.

Ah well, regardless of what you feel about that issue, go see The Visitor. It's a lovely piece of art.