Triangle Restaurant Week - Irregardless Cafe

Last week's Triangle Restaurant Week was a perfect opportunity to try one of the area's best restaurants in the area.  The event covered restaurants in Durham, Chapel Hill, Pittsboro, Morrisville, Apex, Cary, Raleigh and Wake Forest.  The event corresponded with our decision to start going out to eat on a Monday or Tuesday as something to look forward to at the beginning of the work week (now that football season is almost over!).

We really wanted to go Watt's Grocery in Durham, since it came highly recommended by friends and yelp, but to our dismay, there were no reservations available. Instead, we decided to try the "Contemporary American" restaurant Irregardless, known for it's popular vegetarian and vegan options.

Triangle Restaurant Week offered $20 and $30 3-course prix fixe menus.  Irregardless offered a $20 3-course vegetarian meal and $30 3-course non-vegetarian menu.  The vegetarian entree options included Shepard's Pie, Chile Rellenos, and Roasted Vegetable Polenta. The non-vegetarian entree options included pan-roasted salmon, Morgan Street chicken, and BBQ Short Ribs.  Our appetizer options included a Middle Eastern Platter, Garden Salad, Vidalhia Onion Pizza, spicy soup, or bean soup.  The dessert options included a flourless chocolate cake, creme brule, and apple berry crisp.

We decided to do one vegetarian option and one non-vegetarian option. I didn't get a picture of the appetizer, but we each split the white bean soup (which was delicious, but too small), and the garden salad.  We then split the Shepard's Pie and the Morgan Street Chicken, and finished off withe the flourless chocolate cake and creme brule.

The Shepard's Pie

The Shepard's Pie was good, but tasted a little too much like the dough of the crust. The vegetable interior and the sauce didn't give the dish quite enough flavor.  

The Morgan Street Chicken

The chicken, which was described as a breast of chicken, marinated in lemon tahini sauce, coated with crushed cashews and panko crumbs, and topped with an herb compound butter, was also not as delicious as we expected.  To me, it tasted just like the pork chops my mom used to make in the "shake and bake" seasoning.  The chicken was really dry, and just didn't provide the flavors I expected.

The flourless chocolate cake with raspberry sauce

Along with the white bean soup, the flourless chocolate cake was the highlight of the meal.  It was so rich and delicious.  We probably should have each gotten our own piece!!

The Grand Marinier Creme Brule

We actually ordered the Apple Berry Crisp, but were served the Creme Brule instead. We each took a bite and decided it was good enough not to complain and make a big deal about the mix-up.

Overall, it was a fairly disappointing $50+ meal.  We each could have gotten delicious bean soup from the vegan/vegetarian restaurant The Remedy Diner and 2 slices of amazing flourless chocolate cake from Hayes Barton for $25 and been perfectly satisfied with our meal.  I was most disappointed because Irregardless has such a great reputation.

Oh well, at least we will get to try another place tonight! I expect it will be much less expensive, I hope it will be very tasty, and I look forward to sharing the details with you in a future post.

Have you ever tried Watt's Grocery?

What is the best Restaurant Week experience you've ever had?