With the tapas craze sweeping the Triangle, you’d think Tasca Brava, Cary’s authentic Spanish tapas bar, would be packed every night. After all, they have a lot going for them; they have been doing tapas longer than anyone else in the area, and they are the only restaurant around where you’re likely to get a […]
Besha Rodell
Posted inNews
Eat for Relief
The tsunami in the Indian Ocean is one of those events that makes for a confusing set of emotions–empathy, fear, a longing to do something to relieve the suffering. We want to help but we don’t know how; some of us volunteer, some of us donate, some of us feel we can’t afford to donate. […]
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Starlu’s New Year’s resolution: fine dining and champagne for everyone
There are plenty of reasons to visit Restaurant Starlu this New Year’s Eve. Like many area restaurants, they will be serving a prix fixe menu that will showcase some of the chef’s best work. New Year’s Eve is a great time to check out a new and exciting restaurant, and as one of the newest […]
Posted inFood & Drink
Support your local deli
The sandwich can be, should be, and in its proper incarnation is, the perfect meal. For breakfast there is nothing better than an egg sandwich (preferably with red onion, hot sauce, cilantro and cheddar cheese). Whoever invented the ice cream sandwich deserves a spot in the food hall of fame. The barbecue sandwich, the BLT, […]
Posted inFood & Drink
Ramadan’s Delicacies
Last June when Nawwaf Said and his wife Bayan opened La ShiSh café in Cary’s Reedy Creek Plaza, they were hoping to fill a niche. Like many people who open restaurants, they were looking to start the kind of restaurant that they themselves had wished for but could not find in the area–a family-friendly, sit-down […]
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His father’s dog tags
My dad died when I was 8, and it really completely messed with my head for a long time. There were certain things of his that I wanted, and one was a guitar that I’ve since left in Harrisonburg,Va., like a dumb-ass, and the other thing was he had a pinky ring that I really […]
Posted inNews
Planting a SEED
At one of the immense indoor spaces of the American Tobacco campus, we dined on duck prosciutto with fig goat cheese, butternut squash flan, black grouper with basil pesto fume, and pineapple sage roast lamb shank. It was the SEEDS 10th anniversary dinner and the meal was made of totally local and sustainable foods–as Alice […]
Posted inGuides
Get cookin’!
There’s no doubt about it–cooking has changed. Not just what we cook, but why we cook and what cooking means to us has taken on a whole new significance in the last 10 years. Food has always been entertainment–to “entertain” in one’s home implies that food will be the main attraction–but cooking has not. The […]
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Nana’s Chophouse makes Raleigh one step closer to perfect
What would the perfect restaurant look like to you? What function would it serve? The answer for me is as many functions as possible. To me, the perfect restaurant would be somewhere that could be casual yet gourmet, where you could just as easily meet a friend for drinks and a $10 meal at the […]
Posted inFood & Drink
Sexy, juicy and full of sin
For religious scholars and food historians, one of the great questions has been what fruit the serpent offered Eve. Almost everyone agrees now that the apple has had a bad rap. The Garden of Eden must have been somewhere in the Middle East, and at the time this story emerged, there were no apples in […]