Dining In: Durham, NC - Scratch Bakery Pizza Night

Long time no blog! However, we have a good excuse. We are eagerly awaiting baby spoonraider and life has been very hectic. I have to admit that this post should have gone up last fall since that's probably the last time we went to Scratch for Pizza Night, but I figured I'd still share. 

Scratch Bakery is an adorable coffee shop/bakery/cafe nestled in a side street of downtown Durham. We went to their Pizza Night with some friends and it was BYOB. Perfect! The beet and greens salad was quite flavorful and so refreshing. The pizza had a doughy crust and yummy toppings. The atmosphere is fun and casual. Perfect for those chill fall nights when you just want to eat a no-frills, all comfort meal. 

Hope you have a great week! 

Dining In: Washington, DC - 2 Amys

Hi everyone! I'm back from my blogging hiatus and it was much needed. We recently took a road trip to NYC and spent one night in DC with a friend. Despite the fact that we drove head first into an early snowstorm on the East Coast, our first stop at 2 Amys was a great contrast to the wintry mix outside. 

The restaurant is casual yet chic. You feel like this is somewhere you can down a couple of bottles of wine with a table full of small plates, pizza and friends all the while discussing American literature or global warming.  

They had an amazing charcuterie selection, which in my opinion, made the meal. We had capocollo, prosciutto, and lardo. 

The pizza was so fresh with a thin and chewy crust. The cheese slid off the pizza easily into your mouth and the tomato sauce was super light and mild. While I could eat these all the time, in contrast to the charcuterie, I didn't feel like the pizza was the star of the show. Rather, the charcuterie was fabulous and provided a strong, flavorful note to the pizza.

To its credit, 2 Amys has D.O.C. certification for 3 of its pizzas, which stands for Denominazione di Origine Controllata, which I learned after the fact. D.O.C. is considered to be the most authentic pizza you can get in the States. There are specific qualifications from the dough, to the oven, and imported ingredients. If this is what authentic neapolitan pizza tastes like then I think we need to make a trip to Italy pronto! 

Happy Monday and welcome back! Thanks for reading. :) 

Dining In: Durham, NC - Broad Street Cafe

I would consider Durham a great place for casual dining. Dotted throughout the city are great little places that you can pop in and have a great meal with friends over beers. I have no idea what took us so long to head over to Broad Street Cafe, especially since it's so close to Duke, but we are definitely regretting not finding this gem earlier.

Assorted wings: Sweet Chili, Buffalo, and BBQ

The Mediterranean Pizza.

Shrimp and Applewood Bacon with Pesto Pizza. 

The wings were decent, but you don't come here for the wings. Rather, pizzas at Broad Street are wonderful. Chewy, light crust and flavorful toppings served piping hot from their brick oven. They have so many pizza options that you can head there several times without exhausting the list. 

The Sister had the star of the show, which is unfortunately not pictured here because we devoured it too quickly. She had the lamb burger, which was super flavorful, tender, and juicy. If you are in search of a good (yet less gamey) lamb burger in the area, I would suggest you try this out. I will definitely be heading back for that dish and the pizzas. 

Which restaurants would you like to try in the Triangle, but just haven't gotten to yet? 

Hope you have a great (hump) day!