Pub grub with a gourmet twist
By GREG COX, Correspondent
You don't even have to set foot inside Federal to see that the place has become a favorite watering hole since it opened last year across from Brightleaf Square in Durham. Just drive by on a late sunny afternoon, and watch as twenty- and thirtysomethings arrive in clusters, drawn to Federal's patio like iron filings to a magnet.
The handful of booths and bar stools in the compact front room tend to fill as the evening wears on, as do the tables in the even tinier nonsmoking room in back.
If such quick popularity qualifies Federal as trendy, let me point out that the establishment is neither a tapas bar nor a martini lounge. You'll search in vain for a large screen TV tuned to a sporting event. In fact, just about everything about Federal runs counter to the rules of current bar and restaurant fashion.
For starters, the decor is a throwback to the days when bare concrete floors, low lighting, and walls plastered with beer paraphernalia and other bric-a-brac (here, mostly vintage ads for cigarette brands, a nod to Durham's tobacco history) were all the decoration a bar needed. And while Federal's emphasis on draft microbrews and hard-to-find imports is hardly passe, neither is it a slave to froufrou martini fashion.
What most sets Federal apart, however, is its food. Rejecting both the tapas trend and the tired pub grub formula of jalapeno poppers and Buffalo wings, the kitchen delivers a deceptively unpretentious menu, supplemented by an offering of chalkboard specials that change daily. It is more bistro in spirit than many places calling themselves bistros.
OK, I'll admit they do serve nachos. Burgers and fries, too, for that matter. But Federal's juicy, black pepper-crusted burger, served on a substantial Kaiser roll - with house-cured bacon and your choice of aged white cheddar, gruyere or provolone - bears little resemblance to the burgers commonly served at the big screen TV joints. Same goes for the crisp, garlicky skin-on fries and the nachos, made with scratch-cooked black beans and a chunky, first-rate guacamole.
If the house-cured bacon raises an eyebrow, you'll be happy to know that bacon isn't the only meat cured on the premises. Order the charcuterie plate, and the sampling might include capocollo, rosemary salami, pate de campagne - whatever chef Andy Magowan and sous chef Brian Avery have recently been working their salt-and-smoke magic on - with crusty baguette and butter.
Both Magowan and Avery are self-taught, and both are passionate about food - traits that go a long way toward explaining such attention to detail. It probably accounts for their freedom from the constraints of culinary tradition, too.
Consider Federal's version of a grilled cheese sandwich, a fanciful variation on the theme: sharp cheddar, avocado, roasted tomatoes, cucumber, mixed greens and red pepper mayo on panini-grilled focaccia. Or that the chunks of pork in a Mexican-inspired entree of carnitas aren't fried in their own fat as is traditional but braised in beer to tender porky succulence.
As varied and inventive as the menu is, Magowan and Avery really show their stuff with the specials, including a savory Stilton and bacon cheesecake appetizer and a rosemary cake with lemon sorbet for dessert. Entree options may include a crisp-crusted riff on duck confit, a leg-thigh quarter that's been fried after preserving. Or "barbecued" (actually, grilled with a light glaze of barbecue sauce) monkfish, served with collard greens, onion rings and skin-on baby red potatoes.
Federal's only drawback is service, which is as erratic as the kitchen is consistent. Still, I wouldn't let that keep me from enjoying the food -- especially since nearly every dish goes for under $12.
Come to think of it, maybe that's another reason Federal is so popular.