The (fantastic) North Carolina Zoo will be closed through the end of the weekend due to a broken water main,

The 2008 ASID Designer Showhouse opens today at 2611 and 2615 Rolston Drive. The show runs through June 1. Advance tickets are $15, Door $20, Run-of-Show $30. All proceeds go to Hospice of Wake County.

Charlie Goodnights will host Dave Attell on July 18 and 19 for 4 shows only. Tickets are on sale now.

From 10am to 2pm tomorrow, Triangle Mom2Mom will be sponsoring a party at Marbles Museum ($5 admission applies). There will be music by Trish Miller, Sandbox Band, Cotton the Clown, Food, and the site’s bloggers.

From May 12 thru May 18th many local restaurants will be celebrating their culinary talents, exquisite cuisine, and dynamic atmospheres during the first ever Triangle Restaurant Week (warning: music). For a fixed price at participating restaurants, diners can enjoy a three-course meal including an appetizer, an entree, and dessert.

Currently the restaurants participating are Bogart’s, Dos Tacquitos, Frazier’s, Glenwood Grill, Irregardless, Lynnwood Grill, Michael Dean’s, NoFo, Oliver Twist, Porter’s, Red Room, Riviera, South, SONO, The George, Globe, and The Mint. Prices per person are $15 for lunch and $25 for dinner. No tickets are necessary. Simply visit the participating restaurants. (Reservations, if applicable, are recommended).

Please see the TRW website for more details.

Saturday, May 1, marks the return of the Downtown Raleigh Home Tour. In its 4th year, the self-guided tour showcases the variety of housing options available in downtown, including historic properties, single-family homes, apartments, and condominiums. Information about projects both planned and under construction will also be available.

Tickets are $10 each and can be purchased in advance by cash or check at the Raleigh Urban Design Center at 133 Fayetteville Street. Children 12 and under are admitted free. Tickets also can be purchased the day of the event.

Presumably due to the weather, tonight’s beach music concert at North Hills will be rescheduled for a later date in the summer.

August 21 is the day when supreme coolness hits Cary’s Booth Amphitheater. G. Love and Special Sauce will be playing along with The John Butler Trio. Tickets are $27.50 advance, $29 day of show, and go on sale May 17 at 10am at Ticketmaster outlets. Lawn chairs and blankets are allowed.

The Booth Amphitheater will bring in three of the biggest acts of the 90’s. Collective Soul, Blues Traveler, and Live are coming on August 16.  Tickets are $60 reserved, $30 lawn, and go on sale May 9 at 10am. Lawn chairs and blankets are allowed, but the crowd will likely be SRO.

Durham has apparently made the very short list of cities that may get a Tesla dealership. The first dealership for the all-electric sportscar opened on Thursday in Los Angeles. According to Autoweek, the next wave of stores will come to Menlo Park, CA (Silicon Valley), New York, Miami, Seattle, and Chicago. The third wave, however, mentions Washington, Boston, and Durham.

The Tesla is the first wide production all-electric sportscar. It boasts acceleration of 0-60 mph in under 4 seconds and tops out at 125mph. Delivery time is currently 15 months for the $109,000 cars.

The Arbitron ratings for radio in the area during the winter have been released and WQDR has once again finished first. This time, though, they beat Foxy by just 0.1 points (1%). Most stations improved their ratings while others took small dips. WRAL took the biggest plunge since the last ratings period, 17%. One thing is for sure, the ratings don’t appear to offer any motive for changing the state of Raleigh radio.

After two seasons as the coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs, former Cane coach Paul Maurice was relieved of his coaching duties in Toronto today.

Red’s will be hosting David Allan Coe on October 13, darlin’.

He’s free from The Wallflowers, and he’s coming to see us. On Friday, June 6, Jakob Dylan will play at the Lincoln Theatre.

Be sure to check out the June Bon Appetit issue. On page 108 is an article by Durham’s Sara Foster called “Pasta In A New Light”. I’m not sure which looks better, the Orzo with grilled shrimp, summer vegetables, and pesto vinaigrette or the Farfalle with chicken, tomatoes, caramelized onions, and goat cheese. (via)

If you haven’t gotten a chance to eat at Foster’s Market in Durham, make some time, especially for a lunch outing. The salads and sandwiches are fantastic. A Tennessee native, Foster went on to do the NYC thing, then on to being one of Martha Stewart’s catering chefs. After a stretch in Connecticut, she and her husband moved to Durham to open a market with “great seasonal prepared foods to eat in or take out, specialty grocery items, locally roasted coffee and select wines”. There is now a location in Chapel Hill, too, but don’t bother with it unless it is decidedly more convenient to visit that location.

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I was sad to read the news that S. Beaumont over at Raleigh Free Press is hanging it up (for now at least). As I’ve repeated, the more local blogging we have, the stronger we are, and the community will no doubt feel this loss. This is a hobby that takes much persistence and can burn one out easily. Hopefully Beaumont will get a recharge of the batteries after a little while and come back to the table.

Primary Election Day is finally here. Hopefully my phone will return to normal as some chick named “Hillary” from South Carolina has been calling me incessantly.

Clay Aiken’s “On My Way Here” gets released in music stores today. It is Aiken’s first release since “A Thousand Different Ways”, released September 19, 2006. His agents have set up a nice little media blitz with the following appearances on major TV shows:

• May 7 - Good Morning America
• May 8 - The View
• May 9 - ABC Nightline, The Today Show
• May 12 - Tonight Show with Jay Leno
• May 16 - Rachel Ray, Jimmy Kimmel Live
• May 20 - Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson

During the past two summers, Dave Rose, Andy Martin, and the gang at Deep South Entertainment have put together bang-up series of free concerts in Moore Square known as Bud Light Downtown Live. This summer, seven concerts comprise the schedule:

• May 31 - The Wailers with Saunter, Pete and J, and Jive Mother Mary
• June 14 - Cravin Melon with Pete Francis (of Dispatch)
• June 28 - Carbon Leaf with Colourslide, Bill West & the Sunshine Kids
• July 12 - Alter Bridge with Tantric, The Ts, Kennebec, and Cori Yarckin
• July 26 - Old 97s
• August 9 - Brian Howe [of Bad Company (gen II)] with Jim Bianco
• August 23 - Puddle of Mudd with Eve 6, and Saving Abel

Ahhh Cinco de Mayo; the day where people like to focus on Mexico’s history, food, and drink. Welcome to my world. In celebration of Cinco de Mayo, I felt it would be appropriate to feature my favorite new Mexican hangout, Birrieria Jalisco. The name, quite simply, implies that the restaurant uses its Guadalajaran influence in serving birria, a delicious spice goat stew (Guadalajara is the State Capital of Jalisco in Mexico - map it). The restaurant is a spiffy, new, cozy retreat in the New Hope Church Road Wal-Mart parking lot, and is brought to us by the Los Tres Magueyes owner. Don’t be confused, however. This joint is the real deal.

In the time I’ve had to visit Birrieria Jalisco, I’ve been the only non-Hispanic person in the place. In fact, nothing on the menu is in English. The service is fast-casual. The fully-visible kitchen is spiffy, and the jukebox is loud. The food is the real hit, though.

What drew me toward the restaurant is the experience Dean at VarmintBites had. His excitement about the Birria (pronounced BEER-ee-uh) was understandably contagious. Set in a red pepper base, this goat stew is delicious, with just the right amount of pepper to keep you warm on a cold day. On the side is a fantastic little relish place featuring radishes, white onion, cilantro, and lime. I was excited later to find the relish plate is standard fare with all dishes.

Another fantastic entry in the Caldos (soups) menu is the Pozole, a hominy and pork stew. Surprisingly, the addition of lettuce to the soup made the taste of lettuce come alive in a way I’ve never experienced. Other soups on the menu are Caldo de Res (beef shank), Caldo Siete Mares (seafood), Pescado (fish), Camaron (shrimp), and Pollo (chicken).

These are big soups that would serve a couple well as an appetizer. For those moving on to entrees, figuring out where to go from here on the menu requires at least three levels of college Spanish, but the staff goes out of their way to help answer any questions to their fullest linguistic abilities.

We’ll keep it simple and move on to Tacos. The tacos are on soft tortillas, just like those served at Los Cuates, another neighborhood favorite. The fillers available include Carne Asada (steak), Al Pastor, Carnitas (pork), Chorizo, Tripa, Cabeza (cow head), and Lengua (tongue).

Most of these meats are standard taqueria fare, but the Al Pastor stands out. It is (from Wikipedia),”marinated during one or two days with a blend of different spices and herbs (such as adobo), and then slowly cooked on a vertical rotisserie called a Trompo (lit: spinning top), often with a pineapple on top. When ready, the meat is then thinly sliced off the spit with a large knife.” The Al Pastor is absolutely delicious, however I do not recommend a total dining commitment to the meat because it is quite greasy.

Sopes is the next logical step in the menu. Another favorite in Guadalajara, the sopes are (from Wikipedia) “made from a thickish, small circle of fried masa of ground maize soaked in lime (also used as the basis for tamales and tortillas) with pinched sides. This is then topped with refried beans and topped with crumbled cheese, onions, red or green sauce (salsa, made with chillies or tomatillos respectively) and acidified cream.” The filler meats are generally the same as with the tacos; same with the Gorditas and Tostadas.

The restaurant also has a nice selection of Tortas (mexican sandwiches). To be honest, venturing into the menu any more is going to take several visits for me.

It’s great to have so many new, different Mexican restaurants cropping up. Birrieria Jalisco offers some dishes we haven’t seen in other restaurants, in a very clean setting with a warm, inviting attitude. There are a few concerns that linger each time I visit, though. Though unrealistic, I have been trained through the years to expect chips and salsa while I wait for my entrees. These are not offered, though the entrees are actually very large. The other concern is the overall greasiness of the food. The Al Pastor, as previously mentioned, is far too greasy, but other meats and fried tortillas tended to be a little greasy, too. Most importantly, the jukebox is the loudest I’ve ever heard, and is a real distraction from the food or fellow diners.

Overall, though, I have no concerns about this restaurant. With the growing Hispanic population in that neighborhood, the demand for Birrieria Jalisco’s outstanding food makes the little birrieria’s future bright.

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