G2 Gastro Pub: Durham

We had tried to eat here once before and they were on a wait and we had plans that left us unable to bide our time. Last week when we stayed in Durham to see Aziz, we had a little bit of time to spare and we headed straight back here. 

And it was an extremely wise descison. When we got there, they were only slightly busy and we found our waiter to be very knowlegable about everything on the menu and everyone to be extremely attentive. Any moment that our server was tending to another table, other service members were right there to make sure we didn't need anything. Luckily for us we were there on a Tuesday night and they had quite a few drink specials, I chose to take advantage of the $7 martinis and went with the french. Good choice. 

The atmospehre is very modern and funky, yet it still somehow comes off as inciting. They use tablets as your drink menu and the lights behind the bar are constantly changing, but not in an obnoxious way. The menu over the open style kitchen is akin to a movie theater style and lists all the options on a rotating basis. 

For a starter, my husband went with the scotch egg. Their version involves a soft boiled egg, house made garlic and sage sausage made with red pepper and onion, rolled in panko crumbs and deep fried. He had high praise for it and I skipped that and went with their apple and celery root soup, topped with crunchy pancetta. I wanted to love it, and while I liked it a lot, I found it a little too sweet. It was very fall like and I appreciate that, just could have used a little more pepper for my taste. 

For our entrees, we both ordered the G2B burger.  He went with all the works and I kept mine simple with just bacon and cheese. I normally prefer a sauce for my burger, but didn't want to ask for one and the burger was perfectly cooked and juicy enough that I didn't even notice the lack of an added flavor of sauce. It normally comes with an aoli but I am never a fan of those. The real winner of my whole meal was the sweet potato wedges. No questions asked. These are hands down the best version of any sweet potato I have ever thought about having. They were perfectly crunchy on the outside and an almost creamy texture upon your first bite. Plus, they were salted rather than being served with cinnamon. I enjoyed everything I ate, but I would return here for those alone. 

We were too full to even contemplate dessert (this is the problem when you have bread and soup, I never seem to learn this lesson) but the couple next to us ordered a few that looked absolutely decadent and I would love to try them on our next visit. Mainly their sticky toffee pudding. Drooling just picturing it.

If you are in Durham and want to head away from downtown, head here. Some items are a little pricey, but the quality of food and competence of the wait staff more than makes up for it.