South at North Hills & Porters Tavern

Last night, Mike chose South for dinner to celebrate his birthday and new job. Located at the newly renovated North Hills area, we've mentioned stopping in for dinner countless times.

Our reservation was for 6:15 and we were seated promptly. The decor features a lot of dark woods and is very sleek. However, the seating is the only complaint we had for the night. Like sister-restaurants Vivace and Frazier's, South features several seating areas that consist of a long shared bench running the length of the back wall with tables and then chairs scattered across it. While this offers versatility for dining configurations, it also manages to leave you feeling like you are sitting with complete strangers. It's hard to have a private conversation.

The service was great. Jonas was our server and he was attentive and helpful without being intrusive or aloof.

We started with two appetizers - crab cake and cornmeal crusted Chesapeake Bay oysters. The crab cake was very good. Oysters aren't really my thing - they were alright as oysters go but Mike enjoyed them.

For entrees, I ordered the Blackened NC Tuna with butternut squash succotash, red pepper chow chow, and grilled lemon vinaigrette. (Yeah, I copied that from the menu). At Jonas' recommendation, I ordered my tuna seared, leaving it quite rare in the middle. It was very tasty. Mike also ordered fish - Roasted Grouper with buttermilk mashed potatoes, grilled asparagus, and crab & roasted tomato butter. The bite I tried was perfect. We also shared a side of the cheddar grits and this is the first time since moving to the south that I've had grits I liked.

By the time Jonas brought the dessert menu, we were both pretty stuffed. We opted to split a vanilla creme brulee. It was a nice light ending to our meal.

So other than the seating arrangements which seem to be typical as more restaurants try to pack in the maximum number of guests, it was a perfect dinner. And the seating situation wasn't enough to keep us from going back.

This morning, we went to Porters Tavern for brunch. We arrived just as they opened at 11:30 and were seated immediately in a small private booth towards the back.

I ordered the Florentine omelet (mozzarella, spinach, tomatoes) and Mike ordered eggs Benedict. Both were very good. We split some grits and found them to be a little bland but still good.

Brunch was yummy so we plan to head back at some point for dinner. Porters is a lot more casual than the other restaurants in the group so it should be interesting to check out their dinner menu.

We don't often eat out so much but this weekend we've tried three new restaurants (plus hit Panera for lunch yesterday). I'm stuffed!

I don't eat oysters. You have to eat them alive. I like my food dead. Not sick, not wounded -- dead! -Walter Hollander, Don't Drink the Water (1969)