Magnolia Grill

The weather has been quite good the last few weekends.
We went to our favorite garden today. It was very crowded and many more flowers had bloomed than last time.
Everyone seemed to want to spend time in the garden :-)






We wanted to explore new restaurants and we found Magnolia Grill. It was voted one of America's top 50 restaurants and is quite close to our house.
We arrived around 6pm and the parking space was already full. We didn't reserve so we worried that we might not get in, but we were lucky. We had to sit at the bar.
The restaurant was very cozy. We could see the open kitchen and the service was quick and responsive. Many of customers looked quite fashionable.




We ordered 2 appetizers, 1 main & 2 desserts.
I ordered octopus salad with roast almond, okura, paprika.
It was well balanced and pleasing to the eye.









My husband ordered spice rubbed tuna on a rissoto salad.
The tuna was tender and lightly grilled so that the inside was still rare.





Our main was grilled Black Angus N.Y Strip in blue cheese sauce with roasted potato. It was also tender and very juicy. The sauce married perfectly with steak!!!
They served garlic focaccia and sourdough breads. I prefered to eat the garlic focaccia with the blue cheese sauce!!! It was marvellous.

Finally, we ordered desserts.
My husband ordered the double chocolate tart with roast almond and vanilla ice cream.
The double chocolate filling was very soft and not too sweet. I ordered coconut cake with pineapple compote. I like coconut, but am not a big fan of sponge cake. I prefered the chocolate tart. My husband prefers my fondant chocolate. Yes… he is very sweet. :-)
Anyway, we really enjoyed the food and this restaurant is now the best in our repertory. We like their main dishes especially and we would like to go back again sooooon !!!

Magnolia Grill
1002 Ninth Street
Durham, NC 27705
TEL 919-286-3609 (for dinner reservations)

open for dinner
1800 -- 2130 Tue - Thu
1730 -- 2200 Fri - Sat