Posting a week late about yet another incredible meal had in the triangle, this time at a new adorable Italian space in Durham, Mothers & Sons. The parents, sister and I went on a Friday night that was unfortunately marred by one of my clients from hell who was blowing up my phone with emails throughout the dinner (but hey, I only left the table crying one time!). Devil-client notwithstanding, we had a really spectacular meal.
We were immediately taken in by the vintage posters and eclectic furniture in the open, airy space, as well as our impossibly charming and knowledgable Carolina born-and-bred waitress. We were immediately having menu anxiety as we wanted to order literally everything, but ended up settling on some awesome dishes.
First, top left: fried seafood (smelt, shrimp, squid) along with little fried zucchini chips. Wonderfully fresh, well-done breading... you can’t go wrong with good fried seafood with lemon squeezed on top.
On the other end of the seafood fanciness spectrum: the special of scallop carpaccio, served with SPECK, LOBSTER ROE and SQUID INK CROUTONS!! Squid ink croutons, people. This is not a drill!! This was the kind of thing where one bite was revelatory all on its own. Amazingly tender scallops, lil popz of the caviar, savory/salty speck and those damn croutons. Somehow, even with all those indulgent elements, it wasn’t overwhelming or heavy or busy - it was light and refreshing and absolutely to the brimmmm with flavor.
I had some serious panic picking an entree, but settled on mint garganelli with lamb ragú. Basically a mediterranean twist on the classic tagliatelle al ragú. It was absolutely delicious, but I’ll admit, it wasn’t as different from normal ragu as I would have hoped. It was an incredible sauce and pasta, let there be no confusion there, but it could have been really special if the mint and lamb flavors had shone a bit more.
Finally, dessert. There was a mix-up in the kitchen so our entrees took a super long time to come out, so we got comped one of each of the four desserts on the menu. Three of them are pictured here: blood orange upside down cake, pink peppercorn panna cotta (!!!) with grapefruit, and chocolate cake with hazelnut something or other (sorry, forgot...). They also sent along some unreal zeppole. Gonna focus on that panna cotta for a second though... it was such an amazing, almost floral pepperiness that somehow was perfectly in place as the main flavor of something as delicate as panna cotta, which was impossibly silky and perfectly set. Adding the grapefruit on top... it was one of the most unique and special desserts I’ve ever had.
Durham has no shortage of great restaurants -- this one is next to my absolute favorite in Durham, Mateo. V thankful to have a reason to continue eat my way around the Triangle.