One

A few weeks ago the newspaper came out with its Best Restaurants of 2014 report and I had never even heard of the winner! It's called One and is in Chapel Hill. The chefs have worked at some of the best restaurants in the world and we had made a pledge to try to get to Durham and Chapel Hill more this year. It was fate! We went there on Friday night. 

When we arrived the server went through the menu and specials and then said they also have a thing called Impromptu Tasting, where they just bring you lots of things and it's all a surprise. Well, why would we not do that? I like lots of things. So we went for it. 

First they brought us 3 little snacks. A pepper macaroon, fried pimento cheese ball (Ben had eaten his before I took the picture), and a little cookie that was chicken liver with cocoa. I know that last one sounds weird but whoa, it was good.  And did not taste remotely like meat. 

Then came the first real course, which was beef tartare and puffed tendon. ALL IN! I had never eaten either of these things before but they were great, and the combination complimented each other perfectly. 

Then this item arrived, which was duck confit with pickled carrots and other carrot-shaped items. I had also never eaten duck before but oh my god, it was so good. I think my favorite thing of the meal. 

Then we got shaved rutabaga with grains and a mustard oil sauce. Excellent. 

This was called chicken of the sea, but it was some kind of cod-like whitefish with a chicken- based sauce and smoked potatoes and turnips. 

At this point I was starting to get nervous about how much food was still to come as my stomach was pretty full. Fortunately there was only one more savory course, poached hen with broccoli in miso-butter sauce. 

Then came this delightful item, frozen blueberry meringue with cotton candy. 

And then dessert, a pavlova, which I am familiar with from recently reading a bunch of Australian chick lit. It's big in New Zealand. We are pretty sure there were pickled apples involved. It was good. 

And then they brought us house made passion fruit chocolates to finish. Again, Ben ate his immediately so it's not pictured. 

This meal was so fun and everything was perfectly done, including atmosphere and service. One is the total package! The only downside, naturally, is that we ate too much and spent a lot of money, but it's fun to do once in a while! This place is going on our special occasion short list for sure.