I write about food for a living. But after dining out approximately 120 times this year, my winter clothes are feeling a bit snug. I may need to go on disability. Never one to diet without a fight, I went on a mission: find the tastiest meals for the fewest calories. And because I know […]
Jane Hobson Snyder
Posted inFood & Drink
Red Palace: Don’t mind the strip mall
Greeting me at the door is Lily, as lovely as her name, pixie-like, with a quick smile and lively eyes. I imagine we’d have a good conversation if either of us spoke the other’s language. She shows me to the covered entryway where two elaborately carved wood and marble chairs overlook a modest paint-chipped fountain. […]
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George’s Garage is quite a catch for seafood and sushi
George’s Garage turns 13 this year, which in restaurant years makes it eligible for an AARP card. There’s a biological reason this Ninth Street landmark has made it to its 13th birthday when so many others haven’t: adaptation and diversity. George’s Garage 737 Ninth St., Durham 286-4131 ghgrestaurants.com The Durham restaurant evolves through the course […]
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Carmen’s Cuban Cafe: Dance the calories away
“What do you want to know?” he asks. Tell me your story. “I escaped Cuba in 1962, at 19 years old,” he begins. “I was picked up by a submarine; it was when they had the blockade. It scared the shit out of me! Have you ever seen a submarine surface? We were lost for […]
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Where’s the next link in the chain?
Food Chain is a restaurant series the Independent began in November 2006. We’ve gone to the most seasoned navigators possiblechefs at local restaurantsand asked, “Where do you like to go out to eat on your night off?” Each article profiles a chef, reviews his or her food, and then asks that chef to recommend the […]
Posted inGuides
Balcazar Bakery serves up Colombian sweets in Raleigh
See also: The Triangle’s Latino supermarkets | Mexican cuisine: A glossary | The Indy‘s restaurant guide All right, hand over that box of cake mix. Take your hands off the cookie dough tube. You there, with the Entenmann’s, listen up. You’re in for a real summer sweet treat. Tucked into one wing of the Ashton […]
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Tacos El Corral
The truck shows up at Disco Rodeo each Friday and Saturday night sometime after 7. “But, 7:30 guaranteed,” says co-owner Manuel Garcia Jr. “You know, the Hispanic community, they don’t punch out at 5; they work till the sun goes down. So I have [customers] that just come when it gets dark, when the job […]
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J. Betski’s
J. Betski’s 10 W. Franklin St. Seaboard Station, Raleigh 833-7999, www.jbetskis.com I’m sure there’s a German word for it that would have six or seven guttural syllables, but I took French in my Louisiana school, so when I walk into J. Betski’s for the first time, the phrase that comes to mind is trompe l’oeil, […]
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Lantern
Where does Michael Schiffer, founder of Maximillians in Cary, champion of all things from the Orient bold and spicy, subject of last month’s Food Chain, go when he wants to be wowed? His answer is quick and decisive: Lantern, to immerse himself in the menu of chef Andrea Reusing. To describe Reusing’s food, Schiffer uses […]
Posted inGuides
How a cinnamon bun became a taste of heaven
The fall and rise of good bread: Home is where the hearth is As bread has improved, so have bread books A master bakes success at Cary’s La Farm Bakery Building bread, ovens and community at Weaver Street Market Bread and politics in downtown Durham How a cinnamon bun became a taste of heaven As […]