Hereghty Heavenly Delicious

I've always had a hard time answering the standard food blogger questions. 
"Eat anywhere good lately?" Uhhh...
"What's your favorite restaurant in the city?" Well...
"Where should I eat that's around (destination)?" Let me think...
"Are you sure you're a food blogger" ...No.
One of the most difficult question is "What place has really great desserts?" I would be able to fumble a response to the others, but to this question I really didn't have much of an answer.

My search to find an answer lead me to Hereghty Heavenly Delicious. Out of the way in a strip mall next to the second most awkwardest intersection on Glenwood sits this little posh cafe and bakery that looks like it was ripped right out of Cameron Village.

Cream Puffs

Wide-eyed and drooling over the display case, I agonized over my decision. Chocolate? Fruit? Cake? Cookie? Macarons? But the gargantuan cream puffs kept catching my eye. The cream was light and not overbearingly sweet. The pastry was firm but not stale, all of which meant it was satisfying and delightful.

Chocolate Chewies

Sara had hoped to find a flourless sweet treat at Heregthy and she wasn't disappointed. The person behind the counter was well informed on Heregthy's gluten-free products and directed Sara to the treats that would fit her dietary concerns. 

Chocolate Truffle Flourless Cake

The chocolate truffle flourless cake called Sara's name. Rich and decedent, the cake is unapologetically chocolatey.

French Macarons

Having gotten caught up in the latest dessert craze, French macarons, I couldn't leave Hereghty without trying theirs. Reports on chowhound claim that the macarons are imported from Belgium. Despite their foreign origins I enjoyed them immensely.

A slight crisp from the crust of the cookie leads to its chewy center while tasty fillings of creams or jams await in the center. The bag of six macarons, as well as everything in Hereghty, is expensive. Like making it rain expensive. But indulgence rarely comes at a convenient price.

Zoës Kitchen - Fresh Take

Like Eddie Money, it feels like many brands are trying to get you to take their food home tonight to cook for your family. Growing up, simplifying family meals were up to Shake N' Bake or Hamburger Helper, but with increased praise for nutritious family meals and with families having less and less time to cook, Zoës Kitchen came up with a service they believe to solve that dilemma.

They call the service "Fresh Take," a cooler filled with tubs of Zoës Kitchen's hummus, seasonal fruit salad, pasta salad, potato salad, chicken salad or marinated slaw paired with recipes from the Zoës Kitchen's website or your own recipe creation to cook a family meal. The restaurant contacted me to see if I wanted to try out the service, so with a lack of dinner plans in place I figured there wouldn't be any harm in giving Fresh Take a shot.

Pimento Cheese

Honestly, our first inclination was to rip open each tub and dig in to the side items individually. Because really, what else do you need with pimento cheese other than a suitable carb vessel for its consumption?

Breakfast Hash

But staying true to my assignment, I found a couple of easy recipes that worked with ingredients that I had hanging around the apartment. Probably the easiest of the recipes, almost insultingly easy, was the breakfast hash. You don't even have to click on the link-- the recipe instructs you to take the potato salad and saute it in a pan. The moist potato salad made it pretty difficult to get a crispy crust to the potatoes, leaving us with warm potato salad rather than a hash. The flavors weren't bad but it wasn't the textural experience I was hoping for. Sara's Irish roots, however, embraced the hash (and anything else ever to do with potatoes).

Whiting

One of the most versatile items in the Fresh Take cooler was the marinated slaw. Vinegar based and mixed with feta cheese, the slaw is flexible enough for many recipes. We decided to take on fish tacos. Combined with whiting and corn tortillas, the fish tacos came out pretty tasty. 

Norton is watching you...

The dishes were easy to make and turned out pretty good but there are just a limited amount things you can do with the different items that Zoës Kitchen provides. What are you going to do with pasta and chicken salad that will make it taste that much different?

Thats not to say it's a bad meal. All of the items that are available for Fresh Take are indeed fresh and flavorful. But there is a reason they are known as side dishes and not main courses. 

Fire In The Triangle - Battle Cantaloupe

It wasn't exactly Kitchen Stadium, but inside of 1705 Prime there was a definite Iron Chef vibe in the air. The room was abuzz as we waited in anticipation for the showdown against two foreign-born chefs, Chef Serge Falcoz-Vigne of 518 West vs. Chef Reto von Weissenfluh of Mia Francesca in the last round of Fire in the Triangle.

Seated at a table surrounded by Amber Nimocks, Dathan Kazsuk, and Johanna Kramer, respected bloggers/journalist in the Triangle scene, I wondered to myself what the hell I was doing sharing my feebleminded culinary opinion with a pretty well established panel.

For a couple of days I worried about what the secret ingredient could be. A major fear of mine was that pickles would be been picked and I would have to suffer through six courses of sour brime. Much to my indifference the ingredient was cantaloupe, a fruit I was not overly excited about but I figured there were worse fruits it could be.

Cantaloupe Mousse with Tasso Ham, Chive, Cantaloupe Gazpacho,
Poppadam & Cantaloupe Poached Shrimp - Chef Falcoz-Vigne

When the first dish was announced, like any self-respecting social media buff, I thought to myself "I can't tweet that!" The gazpacho was a highlight of the dish with its cool and sweet sensations playing well off the poached shrimp. A good dish that I scored pretty well.

Bacon Wrapped Cantaloupe & Goat Cheese Mousse with Balsamic Reduction - Chef von Weissenfluh

Bacon makes everything better, right? Well at the risk of jeopardizing my whole culinary belief system, bacon in fact hurt this dish. The smokiness of the bacon and the pungent flavor of the goat cheese completely masked any trace of cantaloupe. So while it might be a good dish for battle bacon, it got low marks from me in battle cantaloupe.

Cantaloupe Crabcake with Grilled Bok Choy, Cantaloupe Crème Fraiche
& Melon Glazed Shrimp - Chef von Weissenfluh

Crabcakes and bok choy?! Oh hell yeah. There was a great amount of excitement for this dish and it didn't disappoint when it came out.

A beautifully plated dish, with popping colors and architecturally well constructed. The bok choy was a bit al dente but nevertheless the shrimp and crabcake were on point, leading to my favorite savory dish of the night.

Braised Pork Tenderloin with Adobo & Cantaloupe Jus, Celery Root Slaw, Forbidden Black Rice,
Cantaloupe Risotto & Fried Melon Skins - Chef Falcoz-Vigne

After the table had a good laugh at the expensive of "forbidden" black rice, we began to dig into what I was hoping would be another winning dish.

Unfortunately, the black rice was overpowering and the pork tenderloin was a bit dry. Although I could see myself munching on the fried melon skins like their were pork rinds.

Lime Gateau Roule with Cantaloupe Buttercream, Tequila Anglaise & Grilled Cantaloupe Crescent
Chef Falcoz-Vigne

With four courses down, the others at the table were hitting their food wall but I still had an unquenchable hunger. With the battle winding down we headed to desserts. Another pretty looking plate came out but the gateau roule was extremely dense and very dry. The anaglaise helped a bit but the buttercream was stiff and didn't help with the dry cake. Everyone at the table enjoyed the grilled cantaloup but I wish mine was just a bit more charred. 

Melon & Lychee Sorbet with Fig Compote & Caramel Bowl
- Chef von Weissenfluh

Just when you thought the chance had passed, Chef Reto saved his best for last. 

This was the highlight of the night. Visually stunning and as tasty as it looked. The refreshing taste of the sobert met with the crunch and sweetness of the carmel bowl paired with a wonderfully spiced fig compote. This dish was dynamite.

By the time the dust settled, only .006 separated the scores of the two chefs. So with bragging rights, pride, and a chances to win a few G's on the line, the winning chef this events was...

Chef Serge Falcoz-Vigne of 518 West!

Speaking of winners, the winner of the Fire in the Triangle giveaway is...

Unknown, who believes Chef Ryan Payne from the Weathervane as the final winning chef. If you could please leave me a comment on the blog as to how to get in contact with you, I'll give you the details on how to claim the prize.

The second round of the Fire In the Triangle competition is about to heat up, so stay turned to Twitter for dish by dish coverage. #CompDining


Fire in the Triangle - Competition Dining
http://www.competitiondining.com/