Day 22 - Quizno's

Today's attendees were Courtney, Reg, Sol and Andrew. We went here because the Reg was hounding us for a sandwich place. Never mind that he could have gotten a sandwich at EVERY place we'd gone for the previous week or so. But, we'll put that aside.

We also went because of their new $5 sandwich deal. Let's be frank. Subway and their catchy "$5 foot loooong" jingle is leading the way here, marketing wise, at least. Quizno's response was a rather lame, we'll come up with our own $5 sandwich. I mean really. Is that all you got, Quizno's? Although, their version has a "5 Meat Stack" sandwich. Everyone together now... OOOOOHHHH!!!

Courtney and Andrew both had the 5 Meat sandwich. I'd try to describe it, but the crack marketing department at Quizno's has already done that for us:

An abundant blend of oven-roasted turkey, honey-cured ham, Genoa salami, premium pepperoni, and spicy capicola topped with cheddar cheese and toasted to perfection on Quiznos artisan bread.

Toasted to perfection. Sounds delightful, no? Sol and the Reg both had sandwiches as well, but as usual, I have no idea what the Reg had. I believe Sol had turkey. Could be wrong, but turkey's a good guess.

Perhaps I've painted a negative picture of their marketing department, which isn't completely fair. The ad below is bold, to the point and makes a no bull argument against their nemesis, the venerated franchiser, Subway. Frankly, I like the ad, even if it's a little odd. I really like the guy's voice. Love how he says, "Subwaaaaayyy" and "more meat".

Day 21 - BoJangle's

Not in attendance: Allen. In attendance: Andrew, Reg, Matt, Bret and Sol.

What's to say about BoJ's? Let me quote the Dalai Lama:

“I believe that the very purpose of life is to be happy. From the very core of our being, we desire contentment. In my own limited experience I have found that the more we care for the happiness of others, the greater is our own sense of well-being."

Now, he may not have been talking about the fine employees at our local Bojangles, but it wouldn't surprise me if he was. They truly care about our happiness. Their breaded and deep-fried 3-piece white, biscuit, fries and free ice tea brings such joy and bliss to patrons, it must bring them a greater sense of well-being and a job well done.

Lunch was, as usual, fantastic. Of course, that's just the opinion of a few of the lunch crowd. Others downplay its fantasticness. They deride it as just "fast food". They, unfortunately, are somewhat misguided. Its about so much more. It's about contentment. It's about perfect harmony with nature. It's about amazing seasoning for your thick cut fries. It's about a simple philosophy of "distinctive, flavorful chicken". It's about a 3-piece all white, biscuit, fries and a free ice tea weighing in at, and I'm not making this up, 90 grams of fat when the daily recommended intake is 65 grams per day.

Day 20 - Cafe Carolina

Today's attendees included Matt, the Reg and Andrew. The best way to sum up Cafe Carolina is this: it's an overpriced favorite of Cary moms and professional women.

Matt and Andrew each had the Hawaiian BBQ Pork flatbread (pulled pork, pineapple, bacon, roasted onions and bbq sauce on a crisp, grilled crust). It's so sweet that it approaches having dessert for lunch. The Reg had, um, er, well, I can't remember. He'll have to add it to the comments.



Conversation was rather typical for a visit to Cafe Soccer Mom. Pattern was heavily discussed between Matt and Andrew. The Reg stayed mysteriously quiet. We talked about some side work that Reg does for the Board of Education in Chicago. After that, I'm pretty sure we went back to discussing pattern.

Do check out this page on their site that has testimonials of "Cafe Life". The pictures are evidence of pattern (of course). The best testimonial for many reasons comes from Laura:

"I first ate at Cafe Carolina when my parents and I came to visit Meredith. The salads are great! I've told all the girls at school about it. I always take cupcakes back to the dorm – everyone loves them!"

Andrew did pick up lunch for Sol, who still owes him (as of Monday, August 4th).

Day 19 - Capi's

With all the problems we're having with production systems at the office, this was a late and very short lunch. So, the post will match. Allen, Bret and Andrew went to Capi's and each picked up a Capi's Special Italian (Bret had hot peppers). Andrew parked at a pump because it was in the shade, despite unnecessary comments from Allen like, "Northerner comes down here and thinks he owns the place". Capi's is a pale comparison to what it was during it's pre-dot com bust days. My sandwich was very good though.

Allen sat next to Andrew in the car, not next to Bret. No sitting was done at Capi's.

Day 18 - Remington Grill

Today's attendees were Bret, Allen, the Reg and Andrew. Bret had to pick up a wagon at Toys R Us so we took the slightly long drive to Crossroads. It's important to note Remy (as it's more familiarly known) was at one time in our standard rotation when the Morrisville site much closer to the office was still in business. It was the home of the "pre-fill" (a free refill of fries BEFORE food was ordered) and many a good lunch at the ginormous family style table. Other than Sol, who never really liked it, it was a go to spot for decent burgers or chicken sandwiches. Interestingly, the Crossroads site is the original Remy:

The original Remington Grill is located in the heart of Crossroads shopping center across from Toys 'R Us.

For Andrew, Bret and the Reg, the meal itself was fine. Completely normal. For Allen, he wasn't happy. After the meal, we were discussing the pros and cons. Allen leaned back and appeared as if he was going to opine with the air of a New York Times dining review. Thoughtfully he spoke. "I give this restaurant the finger." Maybe it was more NY Post or Daily News. He actually commented that he would have preferred to stay at the office and eat something there. Blasphemy.

Bret and Andrew had issues other than the meal. First, the powers that be at Remy moved the pico de gallo and the fry sauce behind the counter. It used to be on the salad bar. Now, the designated spot has a little sign directing diners to ask at the counter. We were told by the guy Bret thought was Mr. Remington, that both things stayed better behind the counter on ice. After reading that this was the original location, maybe he was right. Could he be the guy in the blue shirt? Then, the real downfall of this lunch spot came...

Bret went back for the fry refill and was informed that the bottomless fries were no longer bottomless. Only one refill is now allowed. Frankly, none of us need more than one refill, but there's a principle at stake here. The prefill will never happen again. Never again will we be able to meet Sol's challenge to have 3 servings each.

Overall, the impression was that Remy is in a downfall. Could be the economy is taking a toll. They've had locations that haven't worked out (I know they had a Fuquay-Varina site at one time, but that's not on their locations page). Perhaps the end is nigh for this franchise and/or location. However, hope springs eternal.

Day 17 - The Food Factory

Today was the second day in a row that the gang (today it was Jennie, Andrew, Reg and Matt) ventured out to something new. Jennie had been here before and remembered having a great french dip. That was enough to convince us to stray just a little farther than normal for lunch. The Food Factory is located in downtown Cary in a somewhat dumpy shopping center type area. That said, the place has some character.

Obviously owned by a former New Yorker (or New Yorkers), the walls have a nice custom mural, Hurricanes and Mets schwag, old copies of the NY Daily News, American flags and 9/11 tributes. Don't want to forget the caricatures of the Seinfeld gang including Newman in the background. The food is decent and was commented to be "similar to the Village Deli" (still on the list).

Cost wise, the FF is expensive. Andrew had a completely average reuben and a drink. $10.53. Ouch. The reuben wasn't that big and there was NOTHING else on the plate. Not even a lousy pickle. Jason's Deli (still on the list) completely dominates the Factory in the reuben arena. Matt commented that his egg salad was fine, but certainly didn't compare to Piper's (still on the list). Jennie was disappointed that they didn't have the aforementioned french dip and also had an egg salad on croissant. Reg opted for a sub and that seemed like the best call for the money.

We all noticed that the high school kid working there for the summer was kind of lazy in taking our order. We announced what we wanted and each time he asked us for the item number from the menu (e.g. P3). It seemed to us like he should have made just a little effort to learn the menu.

Re-reading this, it seems like we hated the place. I don't think that's the case, but rather, we expected more for the money.

Day 16 - Pho 9N9

Gonzaga 1999. George Mason 2006. Davidson 2008. That's what I think about Pho 9N9 when it comes to our lunch bracket. Only Allen had been here before and the rest of us, I believe, were a little unsure of what to expect. It was touted on the internal wiki as having great sandwiches for just $2.50.

Most of us were thrilled with our meals. Allen and Andrew split a pork sandwich (amazing...) and each had a variety of pho. Sol and Bret each had the special broken rice platter, while Reg had 2 sandwiches. Many of us raved about our meals. Everything had the smell of fresh basil and cilantro. Sol mentioned coming back on a cold day to have a big bowl of pho. Allen almost caught on fire after eating a few slices of jalepeno in his soup.

Then there was Matthew's experience. He didn't like his options. He toyed with the General (how could it compare to Cheap Chinese...still on the list by the way) but finally settled on a big ol' plate of fried rice. This simply wasn't his place.

Their website is interesting. While not quite Orient Garden's, the "newsflash" on this page was entertaining. For a more thorough review, check out their news page.

Day 15 - Torero's

Today's attendees were Jennie, Matt, Sol, Bret, Allen, Reg and Andrew. Torero's is basically like every other Mexican restaurant around. Each has their own something special, but essentially, they're all the same. Something that was noticed is that the owners of Mexican restaurants do an excellent job of taking over establishments that have gone belly up. Witness Day 3 - Los Bennigans.

The remnants of Newtons Southwest Grill (the unfortunate restaurant that is no longer) still exist. Whether it's the paintings on the wall, the metal N on the gate leading to the courtyard that appears to never be used or the ever so popular Texas shaped lavatory sinks, Torero's takes Newtons and ups the ante.

Interesting side note. When I searched for something to link "Texas shaped lavatory sinks" to, I found this page which inexplicably does NOT have sinks listed. However, this page about a group's trip includes an admirable sink pic, however, it was actually found in Texas, which just isn't as impressive. Another Texas shaped item that would be a great thing to have around the house is this Texas shaped waffle iron.

Back to Torero's... We were greeted by the lovely Claudia, who showed us to our table in the front room just through the bar. The tortilla chips were warm and delicately seasoned. Jennie wanted more salt, but no shaker on the table (perhaps we were searching for our lost shaker of salt?). We pounded our baskets and they brought more. Salsa was particularly good, as is typical for Torero's. Jennie and Andrew both ordered the Mexican Spinach Pizza, which although still good, was a magnitude smaller than it had been the last time we visited Claudia, probably over a year ago.

Overall, Torero's is always a good, solid meal. I encourage you to take the virtual tour, (although we didn't eat in that room).

Note to Brandon: no sighting of Slade Jackson or his deadly margaritas.

Day 14 - Randy's

Fun fact to start: if you go to triangle.citysearch.com, search for pizza, of the four 5-star rated pizzerias in the entire area, two of them are Randy's, one of them being this one (on Miami Blvd.). This place has fantastic NY-style pizza.
I started to write a serious two-paragraph explanation of why this pizza is so choice, but decided to scrap the whole thing for: if you like pizza and are around RTP for lunch and you have never been to this place, what's wrong with you?
Honorable mention should go out to the tasty garlic knots here as well, especially since you can order them in any amount. I hear the sandwiches are great too, but I won't be able to judge that unless I start going here every day. Hmm, that might happen.
The service is fairly prompt, and the folks behind the counter aren't the stiffs you get at some other places. Since they expanded this place to be 2x its original size finding seating with our group of 6 was not problematic. They now offer hot dogs too, which is uh, interesting. If only they were open on weekends...

Day 13 - Salsarita's

Welcome to Moe's. This place is exactly like Moe's with smaller portions and a bigger price tag. Having said that, I think the quality of the meat was slightly better and with slightly more choices. I believe several in the party (Penchuk, Shire, Matthew, Bret) partook in the pork.

I think this place was decent, but it was honestly more of a filler location because I was getting a nail pulled out of my tires at BJ's which is in the same shopping center.

Most of the conversation revolved around extending the 40/40 and also morphing it into a competition of sorts. I am sure there will be more on this topic in future posts.

Day 12 - NY Pizza

Today's lunch was attended by Matt, Resnick and Andrew. We were in the mood for pizza but didn't want to burn Randy's quite yet. Actually Resnick, not surprisingly did, but we opted for something else. Frankly, NY Pizza didn't live up to what Andrew once considered the best pizza around. No longer. The pizza just didn't have it. It was a little crispier than in years past and the sauce wasn't that good. This was disappointing.

They also have a rotating special that depends on the day of the week you partake. Thursdays happen to be Stromboli and a drink day for $5.95 (I believe). We all seemed to prefer Mondays (or was it Tuesdays) which is 2 pepperoni slices and a drink for the same price. Perhaps we're used to Randy's persistent specials (or are they just "value meals").

A must read from their website is this page that currently reads:

We do not have any current student discounts, but will be activating one soon. In the mean time, study hard and stop by for some brain food!

Bret opted out of lunch today as he had errands to run. Something about returning a belt and wanting to eat at the Outlet Mall again...

Day 11 - Baba Ghannouj

Attendees: Sol, Matt, Bret, Resnick and Andrew. Lunch was good, as always. Lots of discussion about Jose Canseco getting pummeled. Mood was certainly more upbeat than Moe's the day before.

Day 10 - Welcome to Moe's!

Moe's. . . there isn't much to be said about this play. Reg, Penchuk, Solo, and myself made the trip. The food was adequate. I was very tempted to go Chicken Fajita Burrito for the Queso, but in the end I couldn't pull the trigger and went with the standby, Home wrecker.

Conversation was pretty morbid. We talked about my health problems and that I joined the Gym. Penchuk's strained hip flexor most likely caused by soccer, and Brandon's dog Kobi who was taken to the emergency vet, which is where Sol spent the night before helping Jennie. We also briefly talked about movies, specifically the new Batman movie that is coming out at the end of the week.

Pattern was minimal, but it did make an appearance or 2.

Day 9 - Joe's NY Style Pizza

Matt, D'Oregano and Andrew attended. To put it mildly, we were underwhelmed. Joe's has adequate pizza, though certainly nothing to compare with Randy's. In fact, NY Pizza (over by Torero's) is far better. Personally, I'd argue that CiCi's is a much better value than Joe's. Matt did have manicotti and was pleased with it, although he commented that it was a little watered down from all the sauce. Price was similar: lunch special, two slices, one topping and a drink, $6.49, although the portions were significantly smaller than Randy's.

Ambiance at Joe's does not exist. There are two pictures on the wall where there could have been 10 pictures. The walls were a muted lime green reminscient of a sterile hospital. Matt also made the astute comment that the stacked pizza boxes closed off the kitchen area from the rest of the restaurant, making it seem less inviting. The tables are tight with slatted wood booths. There's more atmosphere on Neptune.

A real negative was the sign over the soda fountain read: Limit one refill p/ customer.

Resnick made the astute comment, "How are they going to enforce that?"

Topics of conversation included how we were going to get back to the car (it was a TOTAL downpour), the Viagra-like effects of watermelon, the one smoking-hot 35-year old customer that turned all of our heads, the New Yorker's cover of the Obamas and our complete lack of knowledge about offshore drilling's pros and cons. Oh, yeah, and Mike-o-pedia knew a lot about a special type of tower pizza made only in Chicago.

In finality, I think it could be safely said that this was the lowlight of our 40 in 40, thus far.

Day 8 - Salsa Fresh

Six of us made the trip with Ethan and Shire joining us. The food was on par with previous visits - tomatoes are back, seemed that everyone got their usual or something close to it. I decided to try something different, (went with a beef fajita) and though I do not regret my selection, I don't think I'll be ordering it again as it's not any better and more expensive than my usual (Cali burrito).
Conversation revolved around the crappy selection of movies in theatres, F.U. (someone else can fill in the details), Ethan's www.raleighforkedup.com and Allen's enthused music choice of oldies on the ride back in the People Mover(tm) "because there is nothing else on the radio".

Day 7 - Orient Garden

There is no picture online of the unbelievable mosaic wall, but we had lunch in front of it today. No matter what I write, I think Mix 101.5 says it best. Conversation today ranged from the change from "Oster-Katz" to "OsterKatz", the Fortress of Solitude and finding a solution to Bret's neighbor problem. Please peruse Orient Garden's menu at http://www.orientgardenrestaurant.com/.

Day 6 - Five Guys

Straight burgers and fries today. Myself, Allen, Brandon, Bret, and Shire all partook of some sizable chunks of ground beef. As a side note, the cajun style fries were disappointing, I will be sticking with standard Five Guys style in the future.

Day 5 - Outlet Mall Food Court

Is it one place or 4? I dunno. But either way we chowed on Steak Escape, Subway and the delicious but expensive Greek Fiesta. It was a grand sendoff from Brandon, who will monitor the progress of this little experiment via these very pages.

Conversation today revolved around the ghost town outlet mall, its lack of stores, eateries and ass.

Not sure what else we should be covering in these posts. I loved my food, particularity the p-stach baklava, but it set me back nearly 9 bones. ouch.

Day 4 - Andy's

Large crew today visited Andy's for lunch. It included Bret, Allen, Andrew, Sol, Brandon, Jennie, Courtney and Matt. Others need to add details. Unfortunately, I don't remember what was discussed today.

I can tell you that Andy's has made some vast improvements in the layout of their menu since we started visiting this burger joint.

Today is also the day that Sol proposed that we begin 40 in 40. The count was increased to accommodate Brandon's busy travel schedule.

Day 3 - Los Bennigan's

The real name of this place is Los Tres Magueyes...I think...


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Brandon, Andrew, Bret, Allen and Sol enjoyed a nice, if not smoky, Mexican meal. Andrew, as always, tried for extra queso. And, as always, he failed miserably. Sol told us about the sink that he carried home from Guatemala. Allen tried to get his customary Arnold Palmer. He, too, failed miserably.

Did you know that there is another Los Bennigan's in Danville, VA? Their menu page says to visit their Raleigh restaurant but the link doesn't work.

Day 2 - Amante's

The crew went to Amante's. Frankly, nothing sticks out about this meal except that Brandon got pegged as a sausage eater.

Day 1 - Sheetz (The Lake)

Little did we know that we were embarking on an adventure of epic proportions (30 on 30 was still a glimmer in our eyes) when we chose today (around 85 degrees) to visit Sheetz en route to Lake Crabtree. Resnick, Brandon, Andrew and Courtney picked up sandwiches. Andrew recommended double meat. Mid sandwich, Brandon agreed it was, and I quote, "a good call". Mike was very concerned that someone else had to pay for him because he forgot his wallet. We covered him, but let him sweat it for a while.


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We didn't get to sit at the customary table lakeside as it was covered with flying bugs. Not sure what they were but we had to eat sitting on a bench looking out over the water. Overall, it was a nice day. Not spectacular like other days at the lake, but a good day.