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A 3-day visit to Golden Triangle, North Carolina May 29, 2010

A 3-day visit to the Golden Triangle area, North Carolina

Third Day

After some research, we decided to visit the State capital before driving to the State Farmer Market. We’d pick up some 桂花 and then drove to Cary to take a look of this small vibrant bedroom community for the Research Triangle Park. It was ranked one of the top 10 best small cities to live in the United States. The average age of Cary’s population is amazingly low: under 40 years old. From the literature there is a large Asian population and the city looked a lot like the city we lived for 10 years before moving to NV: Plano, Texas. Another reason I wanted to see this small town before driving back to NV was its collection of restaurants. I wanted to have a good lunch before leaving this region.

The NC state capital was open to public but there wasn’t a whole lot to see. It was old and small. Only the governor works there while the state legislatures use a more modern building to conduct state’s business.

No memorial for Vietnam War

At Farmers Market, we picked up two 桂花 plants at 1/3 the price of what we’d pay at Merrifield Nursery. We also bought a Japanese maple tree and a fig plant at bargain basement prices.

Cary was about ½ the size of Plano but it did reminded me Plano: well planned communities, wide streets, lots of open spaces, parks and trees, office parks and numerous new strip malls. We drove around for about ½ and hour relying on iPhone to navigate the streets. We narrowed our choices to two and finally picked a Czech restaurant called Klara’s.

The staff at this casual and contemporary restaurant was very friendly. We chose to sit outside at the patio to enjoy the sunshine and the relaxed outdoor dining atmosphere. It had an extensive menu filled with Czech and European cuisines such as goulash and potato dumplings with sauerkraut. Some of them looked like German dishes to me. There was also a wide selection of Czech beers and long lists of wines by the glass. Surprisingly the prices were also very reasonable too. Let me hold on to my judgment until I had a chance to see how big the portions were.

We ordered:

• Czechvar lager $3.50

This is the original Czech Budweiser Budvar but was marketed in the U. S. as Czechvar because of decades’ long lawsuit with you know who. This light gold lager had a crisp and smooth finish with nice aroma on the nose. It wasn’t heavy and was good with our meal. Budweiser Budvar is one of the most famous beer brands in the Czech Republic. I’ll look for this beer at local wine shops to enjoy it with BBQ and steaks in the summer.

• Overstone “Malborough” Sauvignon Blanc 2007, New Zealand ($7.00 )

Tropical fruit on the nose, crisp and refreshing; much like Oyster Bay Sauvignon Blanc that we liked so much from JJ’s wedding.

• Beef Broth with Noodles and Carrot ($4.00)

This was a light flavored soup suitable for a lazy sunny day. Not stuffy like beef vegetable soup we commonly see at other restaurants.

• Stuffed Potato Dumplings or Bramborove Knedliky ($10.50)

This was the first time we’ve ever tried this kind of dish. It was good and not greasy. I did like the bacon a little more crispy than what we had though. sauerkraut and caramelized onions added a nice compliment to this heavy dish.

• Bohemian Roast Beef ($9.50 )

I didn’t enjoy this sliced beef sirloin dish as much as the stuffed potato because the meat was over-cooked and the vegetable-cream sauce wasn’t properly seasoned. The flour-bread dumpling wasn’t very special either.

• Homemade Apple Strudel ($7.00)

This nice-looking dessert was served warm and came with vanilla ice-cream and whipped cream. If I had to pick bones with the pastry chef, I liked the apple cooked a bit longer. May be the chef could saute the apple slices in butter and brown sugar first before incorporated them into the pastry dough. Walnut added a nice touch. Pastry was flaky and wonderful. Ice cream was great with the strudel but I didn’t care for the whipped cream. That’s a personal preference though.

Klara’s was a nice little restaurant with good food, friendly service, relax atmosphere, good portion and reasonable prices. Our first experience with Czech food turned out to be a very memorable one. We’d truly enjoyed it and will look for other Czech restaurants in Northern Virginia and try other Czech dishes.

Driving home from Cary took longer than I thought because of heavy rain on the way to Richmond. But the 3-day trip was a nice retreat from the daily grind but it is unlikely that we’ll make another trip to this region in any time soon.