Standard Foods

A group of us dined at Standard Foods for brunch. Standard Foods takes reservations and on Sunday mornings most of the other businesses in the shopping center are closed so there is plenty of parking. While the food is very good here, the service was lacking as the food was brought out sporadically and drinks were not routinely refilled. I had the steak and eggs that came with a side of rice and beans. The dish was great and filling. Standard Foods is a restaurant I'd return.

Fantastic meal here. If you're looking to try fresh, local NC ingredients, Standard Foods is a top pick in Raleigh. We went for dinner on a Friday night and were quickly seated. The restaurant has a grocery store combined with it, a large bar, and some pretty cool bathrooms. We ordered the butcher's board to start, which comes with various sausages, meats, pickles, sauerkraut, toasted bread, and mustard. The selection changes based on what's available/seasonal. The board was pretty good altogether, definitely a fun dish to share with others. Next we tried the mushroom toast (not pictured). Absolutely delicious. I don't even like mushrooms and I loved it. Easy to split between 2 people as well. We then did both raw and roasted oysters. I honestly favored the raw oysters. The roasted were a bit much. Both tasty options though. The main event was the whole fried speckled frost. Holy moley, this thing was humongous. You could easily share it with others and it comes with crepes, honey, pickles, and greens. So tasty and very fresh! All in all, great food, service, and cocktails. Highly recommend!

Yes, please! I am a fan of supporting local business and food, which Standard Foods is doing and doing it well! I came on a recommendation from an acquaintance in the local food scene. There's two sides to this: dining and retail. Dining: Lawd help me. I would eat here on the daily if I lived closer to it. I love that you can make reservations online. It boggles my mind why there are restaurants in 2017 that aren't doing this. Decor is good, bar is well stocked, service is on point, and the food is RIDICULOUS. Service: Theo won me over on our first visit. As long as he works there, that will be the server my household is requesting. He rocks! He's knowledgable about the bar offerings, food, is a foodie, and all around provides an enjoyable dining experience. Our glasses stay full and he has solutions for any of our requests. The Food: As my partner would say, this is the best omelette he has ever had. I'm pretty skilled in the kitchen and know how hard it is to work with the natural elements the ingredients present versus saucing a dish up, adding sugar, etc. I know what a legit omelette is supposed to look like...and Standard Foods is delivering! We've also feasted on the peaches and cream pancakes, shrimp and grits, grits with hoop cheese, Michael's english muffins with strawberry jam, and the steak and eggs. There's no leftovers because our whole family (two adults and one pre-teen) eat all the things. I'm a tough critic when it comes to food and service. I know this and my time in the Raleigh-Durham area has been disappointing in the food scene. Standard Foods deserves high praise for the restaurant side and I look forward to dining there more often since I have deemed so many other options lackluster. Retail: I'm kind of torn here. I like the concept and some of the items being offered. It's the only place (until the store front opens) that I can get Michael's english muffins with my current schedule. I like that they are carrying somewhat local butter and milk. It's cool to see some sauces and produce being offered from names I recognize. The kind of disappointing side is that there isn't THAT much local offerings. Local to me is within a 75 mile radius, if not closer. The produce offerings are slim and there's a lot of pre-packaged items that I can find in Whole Foods or Sprouts. It's not going to deter me from purchasing a few items here and there, however, I won't be shifting my grocery shopping to make Standard Foods a heavily relied upon provider. A worthy mention here is that they do bathrooms right (at least on the ladies side). No gaps in the doors! These are private stalls, floor to ceiling, door to door. Thannnnkkkkkk you!!! Clean, well stocked, a respectable shelf to set your stuff. This is the second best public bathroom set-up I have encountered in my entire life.

With time comes change, and this ambitious downtown Raleigh grocery store, craft cocktail oasis and farm-to-table kitchen has completely changed ownership and management in the last year. What hasn't changed is its original vision for showcasing locally grown heritage meat, seafood and produce in a thoughtfully curated and impeccably prepared way. Superbly fresh, locally grown and in some cases foraged or gathered delicacies can be found in season on the store's shelves as well as in the kitchen and the bar. The crisp, earthy radish slices on your salad have just been uprooted from the fertile patch of earth a few steps outside the kitchen's door, paired with the faintly bitter wild chickweed growing in profusion beside them. In the next garden row, green sprigs of thyme and basil as well as exotics like yarrow and bergamot wait patiently in the fertile earth to be muddled into a craft cocktail or fried crisp for a unique textural contrast atop a perfect Outer Banks oyster. If your oyster craving is more fungal than oceanic, producers like Fox Farm & Forage have you covered with beautiful pink and blue and yellow strains of their delicious locally grown "wild" mushrooms. You can buy them by the basket in the market or find them featured in the chef's excellent mushroom fritti, crisp and meaty and succulently breaded with heritage benne seed and house made panko. Not dinnertime yet? Don't despair. Thick, juicy, generous sandwiches can be found at the craft butcher's counter featuring house cured meats and delicious fresh garden produce. One sandwich easily feeds two, and it's a breeze to pick up one or more of the appealing side dishes rotating through the display case up front. Prefer to eat at home but don't want to cook? Standard's got you covered, with take-and-heat main dishes, sides and desserts that change daily. Love to cook? Raid their shelves for a selection of delectable local ingredients, some of which can be hard to find elsewhere, all of which are thoughtfully selected and approved by the talented chefs on staff. There is certainly no question that the former chef-owner of Standard Foods, the talented and recently controversial Scott Crawford, is a culinary rock star. Standard Foods was well worth the visit under his watch, and his new venture Crawford And Son is absolutely worth a visit for his visually stunning and consistently palate pleasing creations. The question in many minds has been whether Standard Foods could realize its original vision under new ownership. In the last year, I think that question has been resoundingly answered. Yes, yes and yes. Chefs Eric Montagne and Will Cisa have brought Standard Foods into 2017 with its original vision realized, a showcase of fresh local produce that is as accessible as your own corner grocery store. Farm to table has become something of an overused cliche in the restaurant industry, in part because quite a bit of it is actually fraudulent, as Katherine Whitaker pointed out in a Saveur article last year. And it's been done poorly as well as fraudulently in the past. But one thing that is very much worth noting is that those chefs who are actually doing it for real - and make no mistake, it is no easy thing - are regularly in the world's food news as being the ones to watch. Market in St. Helena, the inimitable French Laundry, and of course Noma use this model, and they do it well enough to play on the world stage. Standard isn't aiming to be a high end fine dining spot, so don't expect Noma-esque liquid nitrogen creations. At least not regularly. What it does aim for, and I think it hits the mark admirably, is to be a highly accessible and genuine farm to table kitchen, craft bar and local store. Prices are fair and affordable and portions are generous. Truly fresh local ingredients and thoughtful simplicity is the theme rather than extravagance. This isn't to say foodies won't be deeply impressed here. Just walk them out back during the day; chances are good that you will catch the chefs unearthing crisp radishes for the evening's service or selecting the tenderest leaves of peppery nasturtium to accent the cheese plate. It doesn't get any fresher than this.

Sensational resultant. My fiancé and I were in desperate craving for some Sunday brunch oysters. With the clock closing in on 3pm and brunch dwindling we called yo standard foods. We were greeted with welcoming smiles. Even though I know it's kinda annoying on the server end when someone walks in last minute. At least I called lol. Anyways out bartender sat us up with a dozen oysters and some delicious cocktails. Will definitely be back to enjoy the whole menu.