R.I.P. The Mint

The Triangle's best restaurant, The Mint, is no more. The business is still operating under that name, but Eric Foster and Jeremy Clayman, the two chefs who made it great and who brought molecular gastronomy to the area, have now both left, so the restaurant I loved has died. (Clayman went some time ago, and now Foster is no longer on the restaurant's site.)

If you want to see the difference between the meals I've glowingly described on this blog and what you can buy today, check out The Mint's dinner menu. The main courses, now down to three, sadly resemble the room-service offerings at most Westins--a fine hotel chain, to be sure, and one I quite like and often use, but not where I go for good food.

Clayman has resurfaced at the Busy Bee Cafe, where he's under-utilizing his skills but still producing some very tasty fare. I don't know where Foster has gone.

When those two were working at The Mint, and even when Foster alone was in charge, I was willing to proudly tell anyone that Raleigh had a restaurant that could produce a tasting menu of absolutely top-drawer caliber. I no longer can say that.

A Raleigh winner: great food, great prices

Long-time readers may recall my many posts lauding the food at The Mint, which when it allows Chef Eric Foster to prepare (and charge for) a top-drawer tasting menu is to my taste easily the best restaurant in the area. Back before hard economic times hit The Mint, Eric was part of a team whose lead was Jeremy Clayman, another wonderful chef. We've been waiting to discover where Jeremy would surface so we could rush there and try his cooking. Last week, we found out: the Busy Bee Cafe.

Having read a glowing newspaper article on it and having learned the place does not take reservations, we showed up about 6:45 this past Saturday night hoping we were early enough. We were--though just barely. We seated ourselves, and moments later, the place was 100% full. We were happy to have our table but still a little apprehensive, because one glance at the food menu made it clear that we were a long way from The Mint.

We need not have worried. We sampled four of the five sides (we skipped the salad), the cheese appetizer, a couple individual salads, two entrees, and the featured dessert (strawberry shortcake made with a lavender biscuit and ice cream on top). Every single dish I tried was wonderful. The macaroni and cheese was the best I've ever tasted, light and yet intense, as if the kitchen had somehow infused the pasta with the cheese. The fried green tomatoes showed me once again how a dish I normally find pedestrian can turn into a shining star in the hands of a great chef.

The meal was also a bargain: With a soda (and many free refills), a beer, some coffee, and all that food, the tab (before tip) for four of us was eighty-four bucks. Had we eaten at all sensibly, we could have easily shaved ten or twenty dollars off that total. You could make a meal of the mac and cheese and the tomatoes and escape for less than ten bucks--and be stuffed.

The Busy Bee is loud and rocking and will often make you wait for a seat, but I heartily recommend it. If I had an idle night on my hands (yeah, right), I'd head there in a heartbeat.

Check it out.

You say it's your birthday

It's my birthday too--yeah.

A lazy day it was, which is all I wanted. I'll have a proper birthday party in a month or so, but I just couldn't get my act together now to assemble one.

I sucked at Halo today, but playing it with Scott, Sarah, Kyle, and the random other players of the online Haloverse is fun just because I get to hang with those three.

Dinner tonight was a very special treat: a twelve-course tasting menu at The Mint, courtesy of Executive Chef Eric Foster and his team. Though The Mint, like many fine-dining establishments, has had to retool itself in these down times, I was able to persuade (well, okay, and pay) Eric to blow it out on a special tasting menu. Every single dish was delicious, with amazing combinations of techniques and ingredients. Kudos also go to our amazing (and regular) server, the lovely Thea (whose last name I do not give only because I do not know it), who did a wonderful job managing our rather large group.

If you have some serious coin to blow on a high-end meal, call The Mint, ask Eric to create a tasting menu, tell him you'll pay what it takes, and plan to be amazed.








(* Credits to The Beatles for the first two lines.)