By Tom Crosby
For rabid sports fans, Duke alumni, or anyone seeking a fine dining experience in Durham, the city's only AAA Four Diamond rated restaurant is the Fairview, located off the grand lobby of the prestigious Washington Duke Inn & Golf Club. The Inn is also a recipient of the AAA Four Diamond rating.
On the nights when Duke University is playing a home basketball game, reservations are hard to come by but they are always encouraged as the Fairview has been gaining a strong culinary reputation with a new executive chef and a new general manager.
Serving a continental menu with a southern emphasis is Executive Chef Rick Sordahl, who has more than 20 years experience in fine dining restaurants, including Trumpet's Restaurant in Las Vegas, NV; Longboat Key Resort in Florida and the private Ocean Reef Club in Key Largo, FL.
Overseeing the daily operations of the Fairview and the adjacent Bull Durham Bar, is Ida Martin, with 17 years experience in the hospitality business in south Florida. She has been a restaurant management consultant for the Biltmore Hotel, Mutiny Hotel, Pascal's on Ponce Restaurant, as well as the Grand Bay Hotel.
Together, they provide a dynamic duo of experience and youthful exuberance that blends fine cuisine with customer service for memorable meals.
The 90-seat Fairview is named after the impressive Victorian-style mansion built by Washington Duke in the late 1800's. It exudes a warm English Country Inn atmosphere with views of the Rees Jones redesigned golf course's 18th hole, practice greens surrounded by rolling hills and tall Carolina loblolly pine trees.
With subdued colors accented by mahogany wood trim and columns, the restaurant shares open space with the 26-seat bar, a favorite watering hole for post-game analysis of Duke sporting events. (A television behind the bar usually shows current televised sports.)
A mahogany arch serves as a room delineator to create a private dining area for parties under an 18-lamp brass chandelier. Diners gaze through over-sized windows onto the golfing landscape.
Since the hotel opened October 24, 1988, pianist Paul Holmes has been providing music from the baby grand piano located to the right as diners enter from the Duke Gallery entrance. (He performs Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday nights from 7-10pm and during brunch service on Sundays; a live jazz combo plays Friday evenings).
The Gallery contains Duke memorabilia, bronze busts, family photographs and children's dressing gowns. Off the Gallery are two private dining rooms with seating for ten each, one named for former North Carolina Governor Terry Sanford and the other for Ben Holloway, a grandson of Washington Duke who helped build the hotel.
The restaurant foyer contains one wall of AAA Four Diamond restaurant award plates (it has been a Four Diamond restaurant for 10 years), a glass cabinet fully stocked with vintage wines topped with an antique birdcage. (The restaurant received 2000 and 2001 Awards of Excellence from Wine Spectator Magazine.) It also is a recipient of special merit from the Chaîne des Rotîsseurs. On the floor, a colorful Persian rug adds an upscale feel. Paintings and prints on the walls and the three rectangular shaped columns provide visual diversion.
The Sunday Brunch, with signature Eggs Benedict, chef carved beef, and a variety of tempting cold salads and delicious hot entrees, includes two sittings, typically at 11:30am and 1:30pm. Holiday times are different; call for precise information.
One highlight of the restaurant (and the hotel's public rooms) is the afternoon tea served from 3 to 5pm on Royal Doulton china. Classic Tea costs $14.50 with teas from Taylor's of Harrogate, tea finger sandwiches, home-made scones and Devonshire cream, profiteroles and sweets. Tea Royale for $22.50 adds a glass of Roederer Estate sparkling wine. Reservations are requested and hats and gloves are optional.
The table settings receive Schott-Zweisel red wine glasses, cobalt blue tear-drop shaped water glasses, Reidel Crystal white wine glasses, "Jefferson" silverware by Oneida, and Dudson fine English bone china with a "Jacobean" pattern.
Fresh artisan breads include Rosemary garlic, black olive, and baguettes from Durham's Guglhupf bakery.
Martin's influence can be seen in the service, with wait staff flawlessly serving and removing dishes, attentiveness to proper levels in water and wine glasses.
The totally a la carte breakfast boasts more than a 18 different cooked items, as well as a varied assortment of breads, cereals, juices, coffees, omelets. Cooked items range from $8 poached eggs and homemade corned beef hash to $14 for a hearty Angus top sirloin steak and eggs with country potatoes.
Lunch choices include soups, salads or entrees in various combinations that range from $5.50 to $18, from the Soup du Jour to the Lump Crab Cakes with Cuervo-Bean Relish on Braised Mustard Greens with Spicy Citrus Aioli.
Savoring dinner can include various sensations - such as the option to have individual glasses of wine to complement courses. The Pan Seared Foie Gras on Johnny Cakes with Gingered Apple-Pear Preserves and Port Syrup, for example, was married well with a glass of 1998 Far Niente "Dolce."
An Hibachi Grilled Petit Filet and a Dry Rubbed Outer Banks Black Grouper with Tomato Jam matched up well with a 1995 Chateau Haut Lariveau Merlot from Fronsac, France. A la carte entrées range from $17 to $32.
Meals end finds enchantment with more than half a dozen $7 desserts, such as Mango Crème Brulée with Biscotti, a Chef¹s Selection of Cheeses with flatbreads, or Grand Marnier-Chocolate Truffles.
Coffees, teas, brandies, cognacs, sherrys, ports, dessert wines and Maderia are available.
The bar's ambiance includes a fireplace with another portrait of Washington Duke over the mantel fronted by a coffee table and overstuffed sofas and chairs. Other tables line the wall overlooking the golf course.
The bar's marble countertop trimmed with mahogany is served by half-a-dozen leather bar stools facing the television set and four shelves of premium liqueurs. Cigars are offered after 10pm with a healthy ventilation system that removes smoke quickly. One particularly exotic
cigar is the Ghurka Robusto, soaked in cognac and not easily found in even the most exclusive of cigar stores.
Evening's end usually finds Chef Sordahl and General Manager Martin chatting amiably with guests, a fitting finish to any fine dining event.
Please call 919-493-6699 to make a reservation.
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