Panzanella in Carrboro, May 1 “What’s for dinner?” Ryan asks. It’s our Sunday ritual. For breakfast and dinner, we struggle with where to go eat. He cooks for a living, and I cook all week. Neither of us will cook on Sundays. We decide on Panzanella. We have been meaning to try dinner there for […]
Besha Rodell
Posted inFood & Drink
Slow food, Crook’s style
This is Bill Smith’s 13th asparagus season at Crook’s Corner, and he’s just lived through his 24th graduation weekend working in restaurants in Chapel Hill. All restaurant work is seasonally based to an extent, with lulls and busy periods, and Chapel Hill is about to ease into its slow summer, when the students are gone […]
Posted inNews
Wine and dine
Recently, a friend called me asking for advice about some friends who had come into town from New York hoping to have a meal at Crook’s Corner. The night they had wanted to go, the restaurant was hosting a wine dinner to promote and celebrate the chef’s new cookbook. My friend worried that the wine […]
Posted inFood & Drink
The DIY Frazier’s dinner for two
Frazier’s on Hillsborough Street in Raleigh is evolving. For six and a half years the restaurant has been growing, both changing with the neighborhood and leading the way for neighborhood change. What started as a casual American restaurant serving sandwiches and pizzas is now elegant and eclectic, with New American and internationally inspired cuisine, and […]
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Durham’s City Beverage
If someone magically transported you into the Durham restaurant City Beverage and asked you to guess where you were, you’d probably guess a trendy neighborhood of a big city. The funky retro decorations, the kitschy records that adorn the walls, the curved bar and the pool table would all throw you off. At the very […]
Posted inGuides
¡Muy rico!
In the back of his shop in Carrboro, Miguel Valdez feeds masa into a huge machine, which rattles and clanks as it turns out fresh tortillas. The tortilla machine sits at the back of the small dining room, which is off to the side of the main part of the store. The store, Don Jose, […]
Posted inGuides
Tequila for the drunken marauder–and the connoisseur
I have always loved tequila, and not for the reasons I should. I love that moment of abandon when you throw all caution to the wind, give up your sense, dignity and any pretense that you’re not already trashed, and decide to leave beer behind (except perhaps as chaser) for shots of tequila. Stupidity in […]
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20th Annual Toast to the Triangle
Fans of the 1996 movie Big Night know how frustrating watching it can be. Set in the 1950s, it’s the story of a failing Italian restaurant, specifically the feast they put on one night in order to try to save the place. This is the type of Italian restaurant many of us dream about: those […]
Posted inNews
Pazzo! pizazz
Restaurants are risky business. A seemingly perfect idea can fail miserably in the execution, and sometimes even great location, food and service don’t add up to a success on paper. So when a restaurant takes off and does well with a new idea in an unproven location, it is especially remarkable. This is exactly what […]
Posted inNews
Love, sweet love
As you can see from the listings at the bottom of the page, which represent just a small sample of the options for Valentine’s dinners in the Triangle, there’s no shortage of things to do on Valentine’s Day, of ways to spend money in order to show you care. I am a little conflicted about […]