Bleu Restaurant & Bar
3425 Frontis St.
Phone: 760-2026. $$$. NS. ABC.
Like a stranger in a strange land, Bleu is a creative restaurant amid the heavy traffic and big-box anonymity of Hanes Mall Boulevard. The menu's big, but there are gems that show the kitchen's not getting lost in it. When I visited, "Trio of Dips" included a dish of fluffy lemon and fennel marcaspone to slather on raisin-nut bread. Classics, such as roast chicken and sweet corn bisque, are simple, straightforward and unforgettable.
Meridian
411 N. Marshall St.
Phone: 722-8889. $$$$. NS. ABC.
A constantly changing, heavily seasonal menu makes Meridian's hefty prices a little easier to swallow. This high-end restaurant has also jumped on the local-food movement bandwagon, stocking its kitchen with goat cheese and some other products from North Carolina. Most of the food is solid -- steaks, salmon -- if not outrageously inventive.
Xia
134 N. Spruce St.
Phone: 723-1400. $$. ABC. NS.
"Asian fusion" is what Xia is going for -- it's not quite that innovative, but still helps close a huge gap in the quality of Asian restaurants in Winston-Salem. Reasonably-priced lunch specials, a respectable Asian beer list, and it's gorgeous, too, like eating in a lacquered jewelry box.
Mellow Mushroom
314 W. Fourth St.
Phone: 245-2820. $. ABC.
The calzones are so-so, but the parmesan-dusted pies are a treat. Tons of toppings, from tempeh to feta, plus 30-plus beers on tap to wash it down.
Boba House
332 Tate St., Greensboro.
Phone: 336-379-7444. $-$$. BW.
If you're a vegetarian or vegan, this is heaven. If you're not, but you favor Asian soups, noodles, curries and stir fry, this cozy, completely meat-free restaurant is worth trying. Go for the Hula Pot, a spicy curry dish studded with tofu, vegetables or faux duck; the udon noodles; or make a meal of "Shredded Heaven," a chopped cabbage, carrot and onion salad.
River Birch Lodge
3324 Robinhood Road.
Phone: 768-1111. $$$. ABC. NS.
Mountain lodge cuisine comes to suburbia. Venison, cedar-planked salmon, trout ... and brie and huckleberry jam baked in phyllo dough. Also serves Sunday brunch.
Old Salem Tavern
736 S. Main St. (in Old Salem).
Phone: 748-8585. $$$. ABC. S/NS.
bells (out of five). Reviewed July 23.
The Moravians of the early 1800s apparently ate more than sugar cake and the world's thinnest cookies … take pumpkin and sunflower-seed-crusted salmon, for example, served by wait staff in period costume. Don't miss the homemade lemon ice cream, and a serene dinner on the back porch.
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