TRIANGLE TODAY | THE NEWS & OBSERVER
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2018
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BRUNO’S ITALIAN BISTRO
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REFINED TAKE ON THE TRADITIONAL ITALIAN REPERTOIRE Greg Cox for Triangle Today
Since 2010, Bruno Seafood and Steaks has been a prime dining destination – many would say the prime dining destination – in northern Wake County. It’s no exaggeration to say that the name Bruno is practically synonymous with fine dining in that neck of the woods. So when owner/chef Bruno Peros opened a second restaurant called Trattoria Italiana by Bruno in Wake Forest, it was an instant hit, right? Not exactly. Both times I visited recently, a year and a half after the restaurant’s opening, just a handful of the restaurant’s 20 available tables were occupied. And one of those visits was prime time on a Saturday night. Peros, who worked in some of
New York’s top steakhouses (including Peter Luger and Sparks) before moving South to open Bruno, thinks his latest venture’s name is a big part of the problem.
served by a small-townfriendly wait staff in a charming homelike setting.
“It confuses some people,” he says. “They don’t realize that Trattoria Italiana by Bruno is a restaurant.”
The main menu offers a refined take on the traditional Italian restaurant repertoire, from a shareable Caesar salad with shaved parmigiano to a proper spaghetti carbonara made with pancetta (a little more of which wouldn’t be amiss) and sauced with a raw egg cooked by the heat of the pasta. The usual veal suspects – francese, piccata, marsala and parmesan – are noticeably absent, but you can get their chicken counterparts. There’s also a flounder francese that has proven popular, as well as the obligatory pan-seared salmon and a rich, velvety seafood bisque.
He’s got a point, especially when you consider the fact that the place doesn’t look like a typical restaurant from the outside. It’s located in a converted circa 1930 Craftsman cottage. So Peros is changing the name to Bruno’s Italian Bistro. At least for now, everything else about the restaurant remains the same: a mostly traditional Italian menu supplemented by a substantial list of daily changing specials,
Bruno’s Italian Bistro 1248 S. Main St., Wake Forest bistrobybruno.com Juli Leo Cuisine: Italian nar d Rating: ♦♦♦♦ Prices: $$-$$$ Atmosphere: casually romantic conversion of a 1930s-era Craftsman cottage Recommended: seafood bisque, crab cake, meatballs, seafood specials, filet mignon, limoncello cake Open: Dinner Tuesday-Saturday (Monday dinner service to be added soon) Reservations: accepted for parties of five or more Read the full review at triangletoday.com
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TRIANGLE TODAY | THE NEWS & OBSERVER
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A ROSÉ BY ANY OTHER NAME … Sara Guterbock for Triangle Today
TRIANGLE TODAY’S
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PUT YOUR MIND TO THE TEST WITH TRIANGLE TODAY’S MAZES & BRAIN GAMES
NC Museum of Natural Sciences Through Sept. 3, 2018 Monday-Saturday: 10am-5pm (last entry 4pm) Sunday: noon-5pm (last entry 4pm) presented by Mazes winds its way over 8,000 square feet with more than 60 puzzling experiences that inspire exuberant exploration and ingenuity. Test your perceptions and laugh your way through the maze of illusions, a feast of visual trickery. Run a marathon with your fingers on the Finger Mazes, or become a “webmaster” by climbing through an intricate web of ropes without getting tangled in the Web Maze. kidstown.triangletoday.com SNOW DAY 2018
Waverly Place, Cary Saturday, March 3, 11 a.m. $8 for reserved sledding tickets Returning for its 7th year, SNOW DAY has become a much-anticipated annual experience at Waverly Place. We invite you to bring your family and friends to Waverly Place for sledding and fun in the snow!
TRIANGLE TODAY’S
MONTH
THE SATURDAY MARKET AT REBUS WORKS
Every Saturday morning behind the shop 301 Kinsey Street, Raleigh This mini farmer’s market features rotating local farmers, brewers, artisans, dog biscuit bakers and food trucks, as well as a few steady staples such as the LoMo Market.
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Cork dorks the world over have forever sung the praises of dry, Mediterranean-style Rosés, only to be drowned in a flood of objection and misunderstanding left in the wake of this delicate wine’s infamous cousins, White Zinfandel and other sweet, insipid wines made popular in the ’80s. That being said, the image of Rosé has changed rapidly over the last couple of years, and now dry Rosé is one of the fastest growing wine categories in the country. The fact that Spring is just around the corner, alone, should be TRIANGLE TODAY’S enough reason for you to grab a glass of something cold, dry, refreshing and pink to complement your afternoon, but if you’ve MONTH steered clear of Rosé for fear of judgment by PRESENTED BY your wine-snob friends or an unforgiving blast of sweetness, now is the time to taste it again, for the first time.
Rosés are made all over the world from innumerable grape varieties. They can range from still to fully sparkling, from bone-dry to sumptuously sweet, from incredibly affordable to ridiculously expensive, and range in color from palest salmon to deepest purple-pink. The vast array of styles available and a long history of simple, sweet, pink-colored quaffers from the US and Portugal has led to much confusion among consumers, with many making the mistake of shunning this category altogether. Some fear that pink is not masculine enough, or, perhaps, that onlookers may think they have poor taste in wine. This is unfortunate, for those who dare to drink pink have the opportunity to enjoy wines that at their best, can boast the complexity of the finest white Burgundies and pair with an amazing array of foods from delicate sushi to spicy barbecue. Read the full review at triangletoday.com
TRIANGLE TODAY | THE NEWS & OBSERVER
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MR. MONGOLIAN LOOKS TO FILL A VOID Greg Cox for Triangle Today
When a fire closed the original Bali Hai in 2013, a lot of longtime fans were heartbroken. The Raleigh restaurant was the first — and for much of its 30-plus year existence, the only —destination in the area for fans of Mongolian barbecue. One of those fans was Amrit Narula, who had been a devoted regular since the late ’90s, when Bali Hai’s ample bowlfuls of stir-fried fare fueled his studies as a mechanical engineering student at N.C. State. Like many others, Narula eagerly waited for the owners to announce the restaurant’s reopening. And waited. And waited. The restaurant finally reopened in September 2015, in Garner. “I still wanted a place closer to home,” Narula says, “and I know a lot of other people who felt the same way.”
So he decided to do something about it. He launched the food truck Mr. Mongolian, which hit the road in February 2017 and has been racking up the miles all over the Triangle ever since. In Narula’s zeal to bring Mongolian barbecue close to as many people as he can, he fills nearly every day of the week with at least one scheduled stop.
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2018
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He applies that same zeal to the food, insisting on fresh ingredients and scratch preparation. That includes the homemade (and highly recommended) coconut macaroon cookies. “The only thing we don’t make is the dumplings,” he says of the truck’s alternative offering for those looking for a lighter bite. Read the full review, including tips for ordering, at triangletoday.com
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