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TRIANGLE TODAY | THE NEWS & OBSERVER

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 22, 2018

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CO MORE THAN TRENDY

ASIAN FUSION Greg Cox for Triangle Today

Entering CO, it’s easy to get the impression that this is just one more fashionable feather in the cap for the Park District at North Hills, a retail-and-residential complex that has earned a reputation as a magnet for trendy concept restaurants. The sleek modern decor certainly fits the image. It’s highlighted by a series of framed black-and-white photographs with an Asian theme against a backdrop of Chinese lacquer red and black. A first look at the menu checks off every Asian food trend you can think of, reinforcing that image. Poke bowls? Check. Hand-made dumplings? Check. Banh mi? Check. Noodle dishes? Multiple checks, including the obligatory ramen and pho. Look a little closer, though, and you’ll begin to spot the clues that CO is anything but a slick concept developed by some corporate marketing department. The first one to catch my eye, tucked in among the ramen and pho variations under the “Broth Noodles”

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heading, is a dish called curry laksa. Malaysian in origin, curry laksa is a rare find in these parts. I’ve only come across it at two restaurants: Rasa Malaysia in Chapel Hill, and Merlion, the Singaporean restaurant that preceded it in that spot. Definitely not the sort of dish that a corporate marketing department would put on the menu at a trendy concept restaurant. Unless you want to call Greg Bauer the marketing department. Bauer, who owns all seven CO locations, first had curry laksa while serving as a Marine in Southeast Asia. He liked it so much that, when he opened the first CO in Charleston, S.C., in 2012, he put it on the menu — against the advice of friends in the business, who told him it wouldn’t sell because people weren’t familiar with it. Curry laksa has since become the restaurant’s signature dish. Well, no wonder. CO’s updated take on the classic dish serves up a tangled skein of rice noodles and shredded chicken in a spice-fragrant broth

CO’s Green Papaya Salad is made up of green papaya, shrimp, char siu pork, cabbage, carrots, jalapeño, crispy onions, peanuts, thai basil and sweet lime vinaigrette. Juli Leonard

reminiscent of a yellow coconut curry, and tops it off with an artful arrangement of baby bok choy, shredded cucumber and plump grilled shrimp. A side plate of bean sprouts, fresh basil, cilantro, jalapeño and a lime wedge round out a presentation that satisfies cravings for Thai and Vietnamese in a single dish. Curry laksa isn’t the only instance of Bauer’s willingness to go against the

grain. Listed under the “Wok Noodles & Rice Dishes,” among the expected pad thai, udon and hibachi suspects, you’ll find com chien, a Vietnamese fried rice dish riddled with fresh vegetables and salty-funky Shanghai sausage, and a fried egg if you like.

See Greg’s complete review at triangletoday.com.

Make the most of these final days of summer!

Find fun family-friendly events, crafts,recipes, offers and contests at kidstownnc.com.

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 22, 2018

health kicks

RUN CLUBS Bond Brothers Run Club Tuesdays at 6:30 p.m., 202 E. Cedar St., Cary 3- or 5-mile run through downtown all levels welcome Millstriders, “run with a dash of fun” Wednesdays, 6 p.m., UNC Wellness Center, 100 Sprunt St., Chapel Hill Sundays, 7 a.m., Weaver Street Market Yesteryears Pub Run Wednesdays, 6:30 p.m. Fleet Feet, 300 E. Main St., Carrboro 3-, 4- and 5-mile routes, all levels

TRIANGLE TODAY | THE NEWS & OBSERVER

Make the perfect BLT sandwich Debbie Moose for Triangle Today I was plucking lettuce and planting tomatoes in the pots and old green recycling bins-turned-planters that I consider a backyard garden when The Hub arrived with a question: “You’ve got lettuce and tomato. When are you going to put in a bacon plant?” I would if I could. Because the BLT is sandwich perfection, all summer between slices. It’s an ideal balance of flavors and textures — of acid to fat, salty to sweet, crisp to tender — proving that a dozen ingredients aren’t necessary to make an ideal dish. Sometimes it’s better to back off a little.

Bull City Beer Runners Durham: Meetup times/days/locations vary; run, drink, repeat. All levels welcome

A BLT is a simple three-letter statement that, like SOS, needs no elaboration. However, people will try to mess around with it. They might add avocado, and another letter, turning it into a BLAT, which is what a flat tuba sounds like, not a sandwich.

Fullsteam Ahead, “run local. Drink local” Wednesdays, 6 p.m. Fullsteam Brewery 726 Rigsbee Ave., Durham 3-, 4- and 6.4-mile routes

I’ve come across some BLTs where the makers threw in herbs, which are unnecessary and chewy. Or raw onion. Seriously? Then you get a BLOT, a clash of flavors along with rather aromatic breath. Putting a BLT on a fluffy burger bun instead of sliced bread is like digging through the packing peanuts to retrieve the tiny item you ordered. The sandwich is about the filling, not the bread.

#PonyRun Thursdays, 6:30 p.m. Ponysaurus Brewing 219 Hood St., Durham 3- and 5-mile routes, all levels welcome

And I’ve had plenty of IDCBLTs — I-don’t-care sandwiches slapped together with insufficient bacon, limp lettuce and golf-ball-hard tomatoes. You have to be invested in the BLT, to love the details.

Aversboro Run Club Thursdays, 6:30 p.m. 1411 Aversboro Road, Garner Hillsborough Running Club Wednesdays, 6 p.m. Meet in parking lot opposite Mystery Brewing/Hillsborough BBQ, Nash Street Big Boss Run Club Tuesdays, 7 p.m. Big Boss Brewing Co. 1249 Wicker Drive, Raleigh 3-, 5- and 6-mile routes

Find more run club info at triangletoday.com

The beauty of a good BLT is its uncomplicated nature. However, still sandwiches run deep. With only five ingredients, every last one of them has got to be good. Take a roast beef sandwich. Cheese, pickles and onions on top could camouflage meat that looks more like, well, camo. And if the chicken salad is good enough, you might not notice that the bread is less than fresh. With a BLT, there’s nowhere to hide. Let’s start with the bread. You don’t have to insist on organic-brick oven stuff, but it should be decent and fresh. Slices. Remember, the bread merely is the stage for the BLT show. White or whole wheat, your choice, but no chunks or seeds. Lightly toast the bread so that it holds up to the fillings. Now we arrive at the always controversial topic of mayonnaise. I am a Duke’s girl and am not afraid to say so. I suspected that I was in for a good BLT recently when the restaurant menu specifically stated the use of Duke’s. I was not disappointed, despite a few extraneous and ignorable

The BLT from Merritt’s in Chapel Hill is a classic. In general, a BLT is an ideal balance of flavors and textures — of acid to fat, salty to sweet, crisp to tenderFile

basil leaves. Cooks are always trying to get a hand in. At home, I put mayo on both slices of the bread, enough to lightly cover them. For the ingredients, first of all, have plenty of them. Load it on so that you can taste everything, but keep a balance of B and L and T. Yes, we all love the B part, but without enough L and T, the sandwich is just a weird pork slider. How you layer ingredients on the bread is vital. It’s like building a house: Thought, planning and care result in an appealing structure; while haphazardly slapping materials together leads to mismatched paint in the bathroom and ugly recriminations. The acid of the tomato is a perfect foil for the fat of the bacon, so I like to have those touching. Crisp lettuce provides a textural balance for the soft tomato. Because the bacon already has so much rich flavor, putting it next to the mayo is excessive. I want the lettuce (whole leaves, not shredded) to meet up with the mayo. A BLT is an ensemble production, featuring the best summer tomatoes, but you do need ample bacon. I prefer about six slices of bacon with a good smoke flavor, fried crisp and well drained. Here’s how I build a BLT: lettuce, tomato, bacon, then bacon, tomato, lettuce. All the bacon is in the middle, benefitting from the juicy tomato. Lightly salt the tomatoes before adding the bacon, because tomatoes always need salt. I firmly believe in my layering method, but however you build your BLT, there’s only one way to eat it – with plenty of napkins.

Read more at triangletoday.com

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TRIANGLE TODAY | THE NEWS & OBSERVER

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