When the sun is cooking your head and your mouth feels like the Mojave desert, it’s time to retreat to the cool confines of a watering hole with your favorite drinkslinger shaking and stirring behind the bar. Here are some of the most inventive and friendly barkeeps we’ve encountered. Stop by, have a cocktail and […]
Jane Hobson Snyder
Posted inFood & Drink
A toast to Calavera’s empanadas and tequilas
Calavera Empanada & Tequila Bar 444-101 S. Blount St. Raleigh 919-617-1661 Website On Facebook On Twitter Lunch: Monday–Friday 11 a.m.–2 p.m. Dinner: Daily 5 p.m.–2 a.m. Just about every country in the world does death better than America. Last week I was tutoring a group of kindergarteners in their library. One looked up at a […]
Posted inFood & Drink
Mandolin hits the right note
Mandolin 2519 Fairview Road Raleigh 919-322-0365 Website Facebook Twitter Sunday, Tuesday–Thursday 5:30–9:30 p.m. Friday & Saturday 5:30–10 p.m. Brunch: Saturday & Sunday 11 a.m.–2:30 p.m. It was a corner with “bad karma,” as one neighbor put it, despite a prime location at the mostly residential crossroads of Fairview and Oberlin roads in Raleigh. Parking was […]
Posted inFood & Drink
Battistella’s: an ode to New Orleans
Want a sip from the bar? We checked out Battistella’s Hurricane, Sazerac and more. Battistella’s 200 E. Martin St. Raleigh 919-803-2501 Facebook Tuesday-Saturday 11 a.m.-2 p.m. and 5:30-10:30 p.m.; open until 11 p.m. Thursday-Saturday; Sunday brunch 10:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Raleigh’s City Market, dating from 1914, is generations removed from the 18th-century Vieux Carre of New […]
Posted inFood & Drink
Tonight: Visiting Chef/Writer Tamar Adler in Five Points, Raleigh
This evening from 7-9:30 p.m., meet Brooklyn-based chef Tamar Adler on the occasion of her new book, An Everlasting Meal, inspired by M.F.K. Fisher’s classic How to Cook a Wolf. Tonight is Adler’s only North Carolina appearance. This is a book launch party like you may never have seen before: The event will take place […]
Posted inGuides
Skip the Singha: Sip wild beverages from around the world
Thai iced tea recipe Adapted from Sawasdee restaurant in Raleigh. Yields approximately 2 quarts of tea. Sawasdee proprietor Duangsiri (Deanne) Sriphetcharawut writes, “The key ingredient that makes Thai tea so flavorful and aromatic is star anise. Other ingredient[s] may include spices such as vanilla, cinnamon, orange or red food coloring or orange rose tea leaves. […]
Posted inFood & Drink
Chef Ashley Christensen bets it all on downtown Raleigh
Beasley’s and Chuck’s will serve food Sunday–Wednesday 11:30 a.m.–10 p.m. and Thursday–Saturday 11:30 a.m.–midnight. Fox will begin regular hours 4 p.m.–2 a.m. every night. Check the AC Restaurants website for final opening dates. Read our interview with Karin Stanley, who designed the cocktail menu for Fox, and get her Eastside Cocktail recipe. If you persuade […]
Posted inFood & Drink
A conversation with Karin Stanley, Fox’s cocktail menu designer
Eastside Cocktail 1 oz. fresh lime juice 3/4 oz. simple syrup (equal parts white sugar and warm water) 8 mint leaves 2-3 cucumber slices 2 oz. Gin Combine all ingredients in a cocktail shaker and shake vigorously with 1 large piece of ice. Strain into a chilled cocktail coupé and garnish with a cucumber slice. […]
Posted inFood & Drink
How to Bake Up a Damn Good Party
Should you drive up North Duke Street tonight between 8 and 10 p.m., you may catch a faint whiff of buttery crust or the aroma of warm spiced fruit. It’s National Pie Day today—not to be confused with National π Day, celebrated on March 14 (think about it)—and thus, it seems a good and right […]
Posted inGuides
Frazier’s Wine Bar
Frazier’s Wine Bar 2418 Hillsborough St. Raleigh 919-828-6699 Best suited for: Cosmopolitan friends visiting from out of town, or any party of adventurous eaters who value a wide wine selection and aren’t above passing plates between friends For more than a decade, Frazier’s was a one-note sort of place. Granted, it was a lovely notesay, […]