Of Swedish cars, Birkenstocks and Tofu – Vit Goal Tofu, RTP

For decades, I used to make fun of people who drove Swedish cars, wore Birkenstocks and ate tofu. Volvos and Saabs always seemed a bit too much like fashion statements to me. Priced like Benz's and Beamers, but with less horsepower, they didn't make sense to me. I always thought of Saabs as BMW wannabes. 

Indeed, when I was living in the horsey part of Westchester County, New York, there was a couple down the street who had one of each. Their house was immaculate and their gardens were so perfect they look Photoshop-ed™. It was like they were making a statement about their hyper-sensibilities and their sterling non-conventionality. The cars, the house, the garden were all statements. Like obnoxious political bumper stickers or those stupid Darwin fish affixed to the back of people's cars, "statements" as political fashion gave me headaches.

However, in my advancing age, I seem to have mellowed and ripened like -- dare I say it -- French cheese. Now, I stare into my garage and there is a Saab and a Volvo parked right next to each other, each a different shade of gray. No, there is not a obnoxious political bumper sticker or a Darwin fish on either. They are well designed and well engineered machines and I like them both and will drive them until their wheels fall off. I now think of my Saab as a BMW don't wannabe. As for Birkenstocks, 15 years of waiting tables and bartending ruined my feet. So now, I own six pair including two pair that looks like real shoes. They made my heel spurs go away.

And yes, I even eat tofu. I love it in fact.

What I once maligned out of sheer ignorance and did not enjoy when I did try it because of sloppy preparation, I have returned to out of devotion to one dish from one restaurant. It's an unassuming Korean place in a strip shopping center located next to an Asian grocery store in Durham, just outside of Research Triangle Park, off the 54/55 exit north.

Vit Goal Tofu. Just typing this makes me hungry.

The dish of choice sits in the middle of the place's DNA: the tofu soup with vegetable dumplings. Delivered in a smoking hot stoneware bowl, the soup is mixture of broth, vegetable dumplings and massive amounts of tofu, with the creamy consistency of scrambled egg whites. One can order it with a variable level of spiciness. Her Imperial Majesty Junior likes hers plain white, while the Missus and I take ours a bit spicier. It's served with rice and the usual compliment of pickled kim chee sides. My glasses always fog as this soup is served steaming hot.

The other dishes I've had there – beef short ribs, bibimbop and scallion pancakes – are all good. But one of Dave's Rules of Restaurants is that you should never go against the DNA of the place. Just like you should never order chicken in a place named for burgers, if tofu is in the joint's name, you need to go with it. In this case, it's nothing less than spectacular. The food couldn't get any simpler or any better.

Vit Goal Tofu Restaurant

919-361-9100

2107 Allendown Dr. Ste 101
Durham, NC 27713