John "Soon to be Dr. Love" L.'s Profile

IT'S TIME TO GET CRUNK... LETON!

I am now a lifetime member at the Crunkleton.  Unlike some Chapel Hill/Carrboro membership establishments (COUGH Orange County Social Club COUGH), I was able to sign up and come in immediately.  

This place is classy: the nice couches and chairs allow for good sitting time at night, and would be a nice place to hunker down for some reading/studying on some random summer/autumn day.

The selection is outstanding: they have everything from your standard domestics to high end stuff, and spirits upon spirits.  It's a little pricey, but it's definitely a place to go if you're looking for a classier evening.  

My one caveat (which kind of turned into a good thing) is that it's a $10 minimum on cards.  As my companions were good on booze at the moment, I decided to try something out for $10, and got a nice ginger bourbon that hit the spot.  So they make good mixes, though the card thing is kind of a downer.

Overall, it's an ideal place to go chill and people watch.  The drinks are good, the selection's nice, and membership isn't too pricey.

I will give Carolina Brewery some credit: for being a brewery, the beer prices are not half bad (I paid $3 a pop per beer for quality Octoberfest).  

The food is also decent, albeit pricey.  I ended up with a plate of sliders, which I'd rate from really good (the pulled pork, particularly if you throw some bbq sauce on that bad boy) to decent (the hamburger one) to a little on the meh side (the crab one).  The fries are decent as well, though it's the sweet potato chip fries that are the real draw.  They're soft orange chip goodness :)

They're also quite good for game watching: TVs are everywhere, though Ham's down the road is cheaper (and has more TVs).

The major draw here is the quality, decently-priced beer.  The other stuff is nice too, but it's really about the beer.

The real plus side is that they deliver and they don't make pizza.

The rest, well, that's sitting in my tummy.  It wasn't all that exciting, it wasn't all that remarkable, and, well, it's just going to sit there for awhile.  My tummy's quite pissed at me about this situation.  

So it's relatively cheap, but it's your standard crap Chinese food: not terrible, not remarkable, and probably much better at 2:30 AM.

Things I like about Caribou Coffee:

- Great selection of tea: they also have one of those fun tea shelf things off to the side.  But their tea selection, with its decent variety, is quite good.

- Service is very good.  The baristas are on top of their games, making suggestions if need be and getting coffee and teas out relatively quickly.

- The work-space is outstanding.   Caribou has both indoor and outdoor seating, and with wi-fi access, it's an ideal place to sit down and spend an afternoon reading about bargaining models, theories of falsification, or what if the Detroit Pistons had drafted Carmelo Anthony instead of Darko Milicic?

A quick caveat:

- The iced coffee was kind of skunky.  I tried it, and had to throw it out relatively quickly.  I don't recommend that at all.

Generally speaking, it's a nice study place, with decent drink options.

I've had Biba's goods a few times, including for my Goodbye Party, when I got mini Apple Pies.  They were incredibly yummy, and just like big apple pies.  I lived off those bad boys for a few days afterward when I was still in Boston.  They were incredible :)

Absolutely 5 stars :-D

This CVS feels weird.

Yes, it's a chain (Hi Dawn!).  But it's probably one of the worst laid-out CVSes I've ever been in.  The Pharmacy, checkout, and photo are basically in the same area up front.  The pharmacy's in back of the front, the front area is right in front of it, and the photo area is to the right of that.  The pharmacy drop off and pickup areas loop the front checkout.  What results is utter confusion, as people group over to the left.

Now none of this would be an issue if the rest of the store were laid out well.  On top of the front area confusion, the aisles are terribly spaced, and lines get kind of ridiculous (this may have more to do with only having one person up front).

It's nice that it's 24 hours and all, but considering Harris Teeter's next door, unless you need pharmaceuticals, you're probably better off there.

Ah Lir.  You're so... um, unremarkable.

I'm surprised I never remembered to review Lir before I left Boston, but I think the fact I've only been here a few times might speak to that.

Lir's just a faux Irish bar, but it doesn't have the charm or space that Asgard in Central Square has.  It doesn't have the large mugs of Pour House, the food quality of Dillons or McGreevy's, the beer selection of Bukowski's or even the fun draw of Kings or Cactus Club.  It's just incredibly unremarkable.  

If that's your thing, that's good for you.  Me though, if I'm going to pay too much for a beer, I'd like to have something to go with that

Buns is a hamburger joint.  It is not about the badonkadonk or the butt, if you will.  I think that's clear, but I should probably point that out anyways :)

To this point, I hadn't really found a straight-up burger joint in Chapel Hill (and no, The Golden Arches do not count).  There are some good pizza places, restaurants, etc., but nothing where I could get just a burger and fries and chow down.  Buns fits that description to a T.

I came by here with some of my fellow grad-students, and found the setup to be conducive to ordering relatively quickly.  The entire menu is on the wall, and easily readable.  You can get single, double, or triple stack burger, with a variety of toppings and sauces, with some stuff (fried egg, extra cheese, bacon) for a dollar more.   They have the value deal for $2.99 extra with a decent amount of fries (regular or sweet potato!!!) and soda (together, the entire meal ends up being somewhere between $8-10, based on what you order).  

The food is quite good.  The burgers are beefy goodness, the choice of toppings is incredibly good, and the fries (both french and sweet potato) are delectable.  The burgers are big too.  The double is a big size, and I (and the others who got doubles) couldn't finish, instead going into food coma mode :)

Coupled with outstanding service (they call everyone "Sweetie", and are very good about table clearing :)  )  and I have to give Buns a 5-star rating.

Simply put, OM NOM NOM NOM!!!

Spare Change is actually a half-way decent paper going towards a good cause.  All of the articles I believe are actually written by the homeless, and the paper itself is sold by the homeless (yes, the guys who apparently yell at bubba, though I think he may be referring to "Spare Change" Guy at Park Street, who I've never seen selling "Spare Change").  

It deals with a variety of issues, both homeless and non-homeless.  And while it might be a little steep at $1, that $1 is going towards work for the homeless, as long as you follow Allix's advice.  So that's always good.

The Spotted Dog is a weirdly-placed (I mean, it's like in the middle of the street, but then again it's not! :-O ) restaurant, in between two streets and across the street from Carr Mill.  It's good though.

I came in here with some people on a nice Friday night and was able to get a cheap Rum + Diet Coke, as well as some chicken fingers.  It's primarily a vegetarian place, but I did like the chicken fingers.  Deals seem to be generally good as well.

Overall a nicely eclectic restaurant in the middle of Carrboro.