Element Gastropub

 

Located at 421 Fayetteville Street in Downtown Raleigh, Element Gastropub serves vegan cuisine, craft beers, and cocktails from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday-Thursday and 11-10 Saturday and Sunday. Food specials change regularly and there’s a brunch on weekends. Online ordering, outdoor seating, group reservations, and catering are available.

 

Conceptually, a plant-based gastropub screams “trying to be trendy,” but Element has been alive and thriving long enough to evade charges of faddishness. Its location — across from the City Center Marriot and a short walk from the Convention Center – is both a blessing and a curse: its proximate to everything but also in the thick of a restaurant-heavy area. Granted, none offers exactly what Element does, but unless you are specifically seeking vegan fare, it may not top your list.

 

Should you forgo the patio, Element offers an interior that suits its concept well: green trim (for the plant-based menu) and a “beer”iodic table graphic that add to a casual (read: seat yourself), comfortable atmosphere. There’s also a wall of taps, which looks impressive but may not include every draft advertised (it took my wife three beer requests to find one they weren’t out of).

 

Element’s menu is classic pub fare – apps, salads, burgers, and sandwiches – though the specials may get a bit more adventurous. My wife and I opted for a Carolina BBQ sandwich and a Nashville Hot Chickn sandwich, respectively, both with fries as our side.

 

As other reviewers noted, the kitchen here is a bit slow. The wait for our food wasn’t ridiculous, but it was long enough to be noticeable. The fries, however, were worth it. Element does them in a malt vinegar powder, and they came out perfectly crisp and addictively good. Ask for a side of ranch, and you’ll get a delicious, herby (mmm…dill) homemade concoction. The BBQ sandwich will raise the hackles of smoke-seeking purists, but it was perfectly tasty in its own right.

 

In lieu of a Nashville Hot sandwich, however, I ended up with a plain crispy chickn: no pickles, no sauce, no heat. The texture – faux meat is often hit-or-miss – was fine, but flavor was lacking. Our apologetic server offered a replacement, but having already taken a bite to confirm I wasn’t hallucinating, I opted to simply apply some Texas Pete.

Element’s atmosphere and location score points in its favor, and as a meat-eater, I didn’t find myself missing the real thing eating here. That said, I would probably only return for the outstanding fries.

Ghassan's Fresh Mediterranean Eats

Located at 6027 West Gate City Boulevard in Greensboro, Ghassan’s offers Mediterranean cuisine from 11-9 Monday-Saturday (closed Sundays). Online ordering and catering are available.

 

The newest location of this Greensboro institution opened recently in the Grandover Village shopping center near Publix. Those who have been to the Battleground or Cornwallis locations (or the old Coliseum-area spot) will find few surprises here. For the uninitiated, Ghassan’s serves up thoroughly average food quickly and affordably.

 

Though it doesn’t boast a huge menu, Ghassan’s offers a fair amount of flexibility. You can go light with a salad, hummus, or falafel bites, dig into a sandwich or pita, or load up on a bowl or platter. Meats include spiced chicken, kofte, and gyro (as well as a steak sub), but there are plenty of vegetarian options as well.

 

Seeking a lighter meal that would still leave me a little left over, I opted for a gyro pita with zaatar fries and added a side of tabouleh. Online ordering was easy, and Ghassan’s prices are wallet friendly ($9 for the gyro and a side, $1 more for the tabouleh). Everything was ready and waiting on a pick-up shelf when I got there.

 

For as efficient and convenient as Ghassan’s is, the food is, on average, merely OK. The zaatar fries (crispy and nicely seasoned) are quite good, but the tabouleh didn’t distinguish itself, and the gyro was bland. Unless you are brand-new to the Greensboro/Jamestown/High Point area and made Ghassan’s your first stop, you’ve likely had better Mediterranean food elsewhere.

 

All told, Ghassan’s is a great place to grab a quick and healthy lunch, but if you have the time to sit down and enjoy your meal, there are stronger contenders.

 

Asteroid City

 

In the 1950s, a television host (Bryan Cranston) introduces an adaptation of the play Asteroid City by esteemed playwright Conrad Earp (Edward Norton). Set at a military science installation in the desert, the play is centered on a Junior Stargazer convention to honor the inventive wizardry of a group of teen geniuses. They are joined by their parents - the emotionally numb war photographer and recent widower Augie Steenbeck (Jason Schwartzman), the famous yet guarded actress Midge Campbell (Scarlett Johansson), and others – as well as June Douglas’s (Maya Hawke) elementary school class, singing cowboy Montana (Rupert Friend) and his band, the astronomer Dr. Hickenlooper (Tilda Swinton), Augie’s disgruntled father-in-law Stanley (Tom Hanks), a motel manager (Steve Carell), and General Gibson (Jeffrey Wright), who is overseeing the convention. Another arrival (from the skies) upends the status quo for everyone. Meanwhile, amid scenes from the play, the playwright and lead actor foster a relationship while the director (Adrien Brody) loses one.

 

Wes Anderson’s latest film bears many of his trademarks: precocious yet alienated kids, nostalgia, a huge ensemble cast, an Alexandre Desplat score, and a distinctive visual style (the play scenes are in bright, highly saturated color while the frame story/interludes are in sharp black and white). To this, he adds hearty doses of retrofuturism, pandemic quarantine metaphors, and metatextual commentary on the process of creation. It is, like most of Anderson’s oeuvre, divisive (one person’s artistry is another’s puzzling pretension), and, truth be told, less than the sum of its parts, but for anyone with any appreciation for Anderson’s usual tricks, there is still a lot to like here.

 

For starters, the film handles its insanely talented cast well. Even the smaller roles are memorable and distinctive (a barely recognizable Carell fills in for a missing Bill Murray). These include all of the above plus Matt Dillon as a mechanic of questionable competence and Margot Robbie (barely recognizable as well) as an actress whose scene was cut. In some cases, the casting gleefully subverts expectations: Swinton, who so capably portrays an ice queen, is warm and encouraging as she bonds with the stargazers while the oft-genial Hanks gives Harrison Ford a run in the grumpiness department. The constant deadpanning is a source of humor (along with recurring visual puns like a never-ending police chase and a Looney Tunes-appropriate roadrunner), but though many characters are exaggerated in one way or another, those with the greatest presence also have the greatest complexity. Schwartzman plays Augie as enigmatically detached yet Augie’s actor Jones Hall in his usual anxious manner, trying desperately to find an “in” into the character. Johansson’s Midge, the subject of exploitation as well as adulation, is deeply unhappy despite her fame.

 

While the quirky characters and the striking aesthetics are enough to hold our attention, Asteroid City is narratively underbaked. The circumstances that bore it (COVID quarantine and its resulting detachment) left an imprint on the production, but the film never really rises to full-on satire. While the interlude scenes provide context for the audience, they also rob the play-within-the-movie of scenes that may potentially help it gel. Perhaps as an overcorrection, the cast awkwardly chants a mantra at the end. “You can’t wake up if you don’t fall asleep” isn’t an unworthy message though the delivery leaves something to be desired.

 

Asteroid City will not win over any Wes Anderson converts and may even test the patience of his fans, but it is worth seeing for the cast alone. It may not hold up to a lot of scrutiny, but then again, neither did the Atomic Age sci-fi that it artfully evokes.

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny

 

In 1944, Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) and fellow archeologist Basil Shaw (Toby Jones) retrieve half of Archimedes’ Dial, a device believed to reveal fissures in time, from Nazi scientist Jurgen Voller (Mads Mikkelsen). In 1969, a newly retired Jones receives a visit from Shaw’s daughter Helena (Phoebe Waller-Bridge), who is seeking the dial despite the fact that it drove her father mad. Voller is also in pursuit, and thanks to his contributions to the American space program, he has CIA protection. Soon, Indy finds himself thrust into adventures he thought were behind him.

 

The fifth and presumably final Indiana Jones film boasts new faces in the director’s chair (James Mangold, who also co-wrote the script – George Lucas and Steven Spielberg served as consultants) and among the cast but is otherwise as throwback as throwback gets. The Dial of Destiny walks a thin line between satisfying nostalgia and shameless call-back obsession, but despite its flaws, it’s an entertaining film more times than not.

 

From Nazi villains to an overmatched archeology colleague to a Short Roundesque kid sidekick to a hulking villainous henchman, The Dial of Destiny tries to cram as many of the series staples into one film as it can get away with. Even Helena – a much younger woman – is suspiciously similar (quick-thinking, adventurous, and morally questionable at times) to the Indy of earlier films (albeit with a welcome dose of British snark). Mercifully, in its thirst to ape the past, the film doesn’t neglect Ford’s age. He’s (convincingly) digitally de-aged for the opening World War II sequence, but for the bulk of the film, he’s old, grumpy, complaining about various maladies, and (rather poignantly) saddened by losses. He still dons the hat and cracks the whip, but when Voller (a cold, bitter antagonist role that Mikkelsen plays with ease) suggests that the world has passed men like them by, he isn’t exactly wrong.

 

The lack of novelty extends beyond characterization and plotting though when it comes to the film’s production and aesthetics, this is hardly a grievance. The globe-hopping settings (France to New York to the Mediterranean) are eye-catching, and Mangold’s polished, fluid direction helps the film feel shorter than its two-and-a-half-hour runtime. A nonagenarian John Williams provides the score, and he hasn’t lost his touch. On the other hand, the film’s chase sequences feel a bit rote and the one true bit of innovation – a climactic battle scene toward the end made possible via time travel shenanigans – is ridiculous even by this franchise’s standards.

 

If it truly is the last film in the series (Waller-Bridge’s Helena could easy take up the mantle), Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny isn’t exactly a grand finale. It’s a step up from the much-maligned Kingdom of the Crystal Skull but lags squarely behind the first and third films. However, it gives Ford a chance to reprise an iconic role without looking silly doing so, and there is enough of a classic feel here to give series fans a satisfying note of closure. 

Kapadokia Grill

 

Located at 5814 West Gate City Boulevard in Greensboro, Kapadokia Grill offers Mediterranean and Turkish cuisine for lunch and dinner every day except Tuesday. Online ordering is available.

 

This building beside the ABC Store in the Sedgefield area has been home to several eateries over the years, and given the prior tenants, a Turkish restaurant is definitely something different. Staying power and consistency are long-term question marks, but Kapadokia Grill has made a very favorable first impression.

 

For those well-versed in Mediterranean fare, you’ll find familiar favorites such as kebabs, falafel, and hummus. However, Kapadokia Grill also offers a few dishes not as readily available elsewhere. These include gozleme (cheesy flatbread) and tarator (a beet/yogurt/herb dip). There are plenty of vegetarian options, and for those with a sweet tooth, baklava and Hershey’s ice cream (a holdover from the previous tenant).

 

Hoping to try a little bit of everything and make our order last for a few meals, we went with a Kapadokia Sampler (kibbeh, cheese rolls, falafel, tahini), a Mezze Sampler (any four mezze selections – ours were baba ganoush, spicy red feta, tabuleh, and dolmas), and a small Doner Kebab (with rice, a tomato/onion/cabbage salad, pita, and Turkish salsa). I ordered online and everything was ready by the estimated pickup time. The owners seemed friendly, and a display case of sides near the register was a reassuring sight.

 

The food, overall, was good with the potential to become great. All of the apps in the sampler were tasty and offered a welcome crunch. While the baba ganoush may not top Odeh’s, it was quite good in its own right: creamy with a hint of smokiness. The tabuleh had an herb/vegetable-to-wheat ratio that heavily favored the former, which made for a light yet savory bite. Speaking of savory, the thin slices of kebab meat were very nicely seasoned. On the other hand, while the “spicy” red feta did have a slightly sweet red pepper flavor, it wasn’t the least bit spicy. The pita here is much thicker than what you’ll find elsewhere, closer to a pide bread. One of our rounds was a bit overdone, but it was still well-suited for dipping.

 

Kapadokia Grill is a welcome addition to the Adams Farm/Sedgefield area and well worth a visit for anyone who enjoys Mediterranean cuisine or simply wants to try something new.