Queeny's of Durham

Seems Durham is a some kind of hipster town, or, more specifically, hipster light. Kind of like Portland with all the microbreweries just without the rain and the addition of excessive heat and humidity. Same, though not the same. But they are trying? Of course, at this point in my life, trendy, hipsters things are not exactly in my oeuvre. They were more the SO’s thing. You know, the whole new, now, next as far as food goes thingy. Still, with a dearth of stuff I might be interested in doing here, falling back on trying “what’s new in food offerings” is what I do while here. It also helps if I can just walk somewhere to try something because—lazy and it’s f***king hot!

It is what brought me to Queeny’s, a new casual hangout bar that also serves up “affordable” food, brought to us by the same people who serve up trendy cocktails at Kingfisher. Not being a person who drinks anything stronger than wine or beer these days, I have not had the experience of Kingfisher. Yet something about Queeny made me at least want to check them out. The food menu looked intriguing and I would be down for some kind of casual hang out which is a bar but doesn’t really feel like a bar. It seemed a good reason to drag Ms. M out for an early evening drink and nosh to see if two old fogies could be part of the in crowd and enjoy what the kids are liking these days. #Goals!

And like any old fogies we decided to hit the place up close to its opening to avoid crowds and get good parking since it was raining on this particular Sunday and really, who wants to get wet before dinner and drinks. You gotta do that after. True to our goal, we strolled into the place and literally had it to ourselves, for all of about 10 minutes as even at that hour and outdoor weather, they had a decent number of folks show up to hang out? I’m guessing that is their goal with the slightly mid-century modern vibe and little side rooms with cushiony seating and pillow thingys. It is nice, I can dig it. But we are here to eat food (with our one beer each) so let’s dive in with the samplings.

These seemed like a yes from the get go, loaded baked potato fritters. Or more specifically, mashed potatoes filled with some cheese and I think there was bacon, then rolled into a ball and deep fried for $6. In this instance, a bit over fried as you can see the edges are burnt. It was all right but really, just deep fried mash potatoes, nothing special. Not to mention is was served with basic sour cream mixed with green onions. I think we were expecting some kind of fancy, funky dipping sauce yet we got something they serve you at Applebee’s. I can say that, I used to work at one of ‘em.

Not gonna say the queso fundido was much better. Just melted cheese in a bowl with chips that are not even house made. Not spicy, not fancy cheese, not interesting or a lot at $8. I mean, I like chips and cheese as much as the next person but expecting something elevated here seemed to be a fading challenge. I had more hopes for some of the mains. Had….

The barria dip sandwich was something I was looking forward to. Having been a fan of birria tacos from SF I thought, well, this seems like a new twist on the idea I gotta try it. They’ve taken the idea of the braised beef and moved it from cheese enveloped soft tacos to a baguette and basically turned it into a Mexican spiced up version of a French dip. I think the biggest issue here is they’ve taken away all that makes the barria fun and tasty—the whole wrapped in grilled cheese thing and replaced it with—more bread. The meat here was okay if drying out slightly. I think they could have amped up the spicing on this too and I don’t mean by just giving us more raw jalapeños. The dipping sauce came in this giant bowl with a small portion at the bottom. I mean WTF was up the big ass bowl?! Would have served us better with an appropriately sized bowl and serving of beef broth since THERE WAS SO MUCH BREAD! And so much green cilantro bits clogging up the broth. In the end they really just did a French dip variation and an average one at that for $13.

Now Carolina chili rubbed slow roasted pork loin served with pickled onions, jalapeños, herby mayo and tomato on a toasted buttered bun. Sounds good, looks good, definitely fits in the palm of ones hand and cutting it in half to share turns it into a two bites each thing. The meat was tender though we did encounter more fatty bits than you’d think in a couple bites. At least the chili rub gave it a kick and we got something different with the mayo which tasted green? If you got a bite of all meat with the fixings then yeah, sure, I’m onboard with this idea. if you have to work for it, well, that is something else. Particularly when at $9.50 a pop.

I know I made some crack about Applebee’s above but I feel like I read in a write-up somewhere that Queeny’s was trying to be your new neighborhood bar hangout. Specifically for some late nights eats, much like the “eatin’ good in the neighborhood” people. Honestly, I have to say, if they are going for the bar food vibe then I think they do have that nailed as this really is the kind of food you would probably order after you’ve had few drinks and as long as it is good enough, well that is all that matters. Except for some of us, we had some higher expectations than just average bar food.

The drink and beer menu is good to go as you would expect from the Kingfisher folks. The food is late night, we’re kind of drunk and need something bready and greasy to soak up all these expensive cocktails we’re drinking. Which in essence, kind of fits the vibe of the joint. Maybe, after all those years in SF where these kinds of spots seem to open (and close) on a weekly basis, I’m putting too much pressure and hope for something different on them when all they really want to be is nothing more than your local neighborhood hangout. Sometimes, I guess, one just needs to lower their expectations and go with whatever flow they are throwing down. For me, it is past my bedtime, I just need to go home and lay down.