Possible plan for "Mystery Dinners" coming to Raleigh soon

By Jen Primrose and Dathan Kazsuk | February 9, 2017
Twitter: TriangleAT | Facebook: Triangle Around Town | Instagram: trianglearoundtown

We at Triangle Around Town love a good meal. So when we were asked by our friend Kristen Baughman of Tabletop Media Group to take part in a media dinner at More. Kitchen & Bar for what is coined as its #MoreMystery Dinner – we were game!

We were asked to fill out a food survey with around 10 questions. What is your favorite ethnic food? What are your favorite spices? Where is your favorite restaurant? Your choice of protein? And so on and so forth. At the end of the survey, we both submitted our answers to More. Kitchen & Bar where Executive Chef Scott Phillips collected the data.

Then, on the night of February 7 we arrived at More to find out more about this new concept and what the chef had in store for us.

The two of us were joined with fellow blogger Meg Here and There and Instagram blogger Wicked Baking. We were then seated by More General Manager Dylan Zachman, who started to tell us about our evening.

With all four of our surveys in, Dylan, along with Chef Phillips crafted a 4-course meal using bits and pieces of all four of our responses and paired them up with a selection of fine wine. Our first course was Tuna tartare with forbidden rice, tomato-cucumber vinaigrette along with some sesame pasta chips. The tartare was paired with a Charles Bove Touraine Rosé. The pairing started off great. Who doesn’t love a sparkling Rosé wine paired up with some Tuna tartare? The best part was scooping the tartare onto the sesame pasta chips to add a nice crunch to our first course.

The second course then came out - Poached flounder with  olive oil poached leeks, grapefruit buerre blanc and shaved fennel-edamame relish. This was paired with a 2015 Charles Bove Vouvray. This was probably my favorite pairing of the night. The flakiness of the founder and the buerre sauce teamed up perfectly with the high acidity of the wine.

By our third course, chef Scott Phillips made his way to the table to introduce himself and answer any questions we may have. Which we did. He then went on to introduce us to his Confit Rabbit "pot pie" with glazed potatoes, carrots, pearl onions, peas with a roasted shallot cream, Sichuan peppercorn and flaky pastry bite. This was paired up with a 2014 Kruger-Rumpf Riesling. The wine was nice and blended well with the cream sauce of the pot pie – but in the end this was probably our least favorite of the four courses.

For the final course we were introduced to a slowly braised short rib with glazed carrots, pearl onions, rice and tomato broth. The ribs were so tender you were able to cut it with a fork. It was paired with a 2012 Yann Chave Hermitage, and the earthiness of the wine went well with the beef.

For dessert each one of us had a Malted Milk Truffle with caramelized Rice Crispy dust – which also paired well with the rest of the final wine.

Now, if our dinner sounded amazing, it's because it was. But if you are looking to do something similar, both Zachman and Phillips say this is in the works for future patrons to More. Kitchen & Bar. 


The cost of the four-course meal which includes the wine pairings will be anywhere from $60 to $65, and you must allow at least 72-hours advance notice upon turning in your questionnaire for Chef Phillips to put together your own personal #MoreMystery Dinner. Please be aware that these mystery meals will be for between 4 to 8 people maximum to get the full dining satisfaction you rightfully deserve.