Many restaurateurs successfully find their niche, an easy place between the cook’s comfort zone and the diners’ fancies. Some feel comfortable settling in with a mid-range menu that stays consistent, while others are exhilarated by changing it up frequently, and like to think of their kitchen as a laboratory. Poole’s Diner is one of the latter. I’m constantly intrigued by their Twitter messages, playing around with imported salmon, marinated avocados, ramps, and morels. The photos coming across on Twitter are sensational ( photo 1 , photo 2 , photo 3 ), and it appears that Chef Ashley Christensen is trying extremely hard to provide a selection of creative and difficult dishes to downtown Raleigh. I have enjoyed her other ventures in Raleigh, and this one has continued to be a success story, according to the masses. Unfortunately what landed on our table was another story.

The restaurant is a revived lunch counter place that went through a decade of looking like something in Pulp Fiction before Christensen dressed the place up a bit. The ceiling is metal tile and lights are low. Unfortunately the result is an extremely loud restaurant. The tables are retro formica, and the table setting is spartan (though I have no idea why a “bread plate†appeared given the restaurant’s lack of bread offering).

The very limited menu of 5 entrees and an accompaniment of salads and appetizers is posted on two chalkboards. We opted for the beet salad with marinated avocados and the green salad with red wine vinaigrette and sprinkled cheese. The beet salad was good, taking the strong flavor of the beet and steering it sweet successfully. The avocado was good, however the dish included an entire half of an avocado, a rich and fattening way to start a meal. The salad was ample size, the dressing was good, and the Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese was delicious, but that’s all there was to it. I was hoping for something more complex…maybe a roasted red pepper, candied pecans, or olives to add some layers of flavor. Hell, just an offering of fresh ground pepper would have been nice.

We also splurged and got the fried green tomatoes which were the hit of the evening. The cornbread batter was appropriately salted, and the tomato was perfectly firm. Around the rim there was an aioli and a red and yellow pepper relish that were both excellent, though I think the aioli could have used more garlic (something I have maybe said 3 times in my whole life). Better too light than too heavy, though.

At this point the meal was going fairly well. We enjoyed our first two courses, but probably should have left at that point. One entree we got was the Shrimp & Grits, which delivered a very rich version that included tomatoes but not bacon. The cheese grits were good, but got overly heavy after a few bites due to the heavy cream used. A couple of the shrimp tasted fishy, while the others had a stand-alone taste that didn’t blend with the dish. The other entree was a disaster: Pork Bellies served over warm potato salad and bacon. A better description would have been: “Eighteen Dollar Plate of Pork Fat, with a few morsels of meat and potatoesâ€. I literally got 10 bites of meat after scraping it off of the fat globs and into the 1/4†pool of clear, liquid fat swamping the plate (pictured). The potatoes may have been good, but the only flavor I could discern was fat, fat, and more fat. It was literally the grossest dish I’ve ever encountered in a restaurant. Why didn’t I send it back? We had already waited 45 minutes for this dish.

Dessert didn’t go well either. We got a little chocolate mousse cup that was topped with sour cream. Sour cream? We did send that back and the result was a simple cup with the correct, though heavy and fattening cream on top. Absent were interesting layers of berries, mint, legumes, etc.

While it would be more fair to review a restaurant after several trips, I really don’t think I can do it, not with so many great $50-per-head choices in the area. Unfortunately we happened on the restaurant on a night when the chef was out of town, which perhaps helps to explain it. However guess what…to run a restaurant it has to be consistent. There is too much competition out there to have off nights, especially on weekends, when people are spending hard-earned money.

Few chefs on the East half of the Triangle have really gotten the knack of blending layers of flavors while avoiding an overt fat storm. While dishes don’t have to be “heart-healthy†to be delicious, there is a point where the fat content overwhelms the flavor and the health benefits of organic ingredients. Unfortunately that line was crossed in almost every dish offered. Poole’s Diner is creatively swinging for the fences, but on this account, has only managed an infield pop fly.

5 stars (out of 8 )