Any Durhamite familiar with David “Flip” Filippini’s cooking knows that nothing is off-limits on his fusion menus. The chef-owner of South Durham’s Kokyu Na’Mean sometimes comes up with dishes on the fly. But the really special items are rooted in a deep appreciation for people who have influenced his palate. For his coveted white (baek) […]
Erin Urquhart
Posted inFood & Drink
Preserve the Best of the Winter Season for Warmer Weather Rewards
The Mason jar, a now-trendy token of creative reuse, has come to symbolize Southern food. We see jars as cocktail glasses, sweating on bar tops from Carrboro to Brooklyn, while Pinterest devotes pages to ways of transforming them into everything from tiny votive candleholders to crafty snow globes. But preservation is the Mason jar’s most […]
Posted inFood & Drink
Steel String Brewery Proves Pickle Brine Can Make a Great Gose
Steel String Brewery 106-A South Greensboro St., Carrboro I worried at first that the beer I was about to try would taste like a gulp of pickle juice, swallowed straight from the jar. But I was proven pleasantly wrong. A dill-flavored, gose-style beer first created in collaboration between Carrboro’s Steel String Brewery and Saxapahaw’s Haw […]
Posted inFood & Drink
The Perfectly Fried Pickles at LaPlace
LaPlace Louisiana Cookery 111 N. Churton St., Hillsborough If you have lived your lifetime under the misconception that green tomatoes are the sole vegetable beneficiary of a deep fryer’s love in the Deep South, head immediately to Hillsborough’s LaPlace Louisiana Cookery. What chicken and waffles do for the combination of sweet and savory, LaPlace’s creole-style […]
Posted inFood & Drink
Mateo puts ham in its jam and delights
I distinctly remember my first taste of conservas, Spanish food preserved in cans or jars. It was rich, salty and, yes, meaty. I was a young traveler in Barcelona and eager to experience everything. In Spain, preserved foods are not simply a matter of economic survival; rather, the long tradition is a way to relish […]
Posted inFood & Drink
Alley Twenty Six’s perfect pickle plate in Durham
When settling in to a new city, I search for three things: a saucy slice of pizza, a strong cup of coffee and a quality gin martini. Four days a North Carolinian, I set out in pursuit of new best-ofs. Several sources agreed that, for that special cocktail, I needed to explore Alley Twenty Six […]