Photo by Jessica Hirsch
The signature dish at Dame's Chicken and Waffles
Welcome to Friday Night Bites, your weekly round-up of local food and drink news and events. Have a tip for us? Email food@indyweek.com.
NEWS
Dame’s Chicken and Waffles Is Back in Durham
After closing its downtown Durham location on West Main Street fifteen months ago, Dame’s Chicken and Waffles will re-open in its new home on the ground floor of the Liberty Warehouse apartment complex on Monday, March 11. The beloved chicken-and-waffles joint—known for its signature fried chicken, waffles, and flavored butters and schmears as well as its affable owner, Damion Moore—has been a sorely missed presence in the Durham dining scene during its hiatus. Hat tip to Best of the Bull, who shared the news on Instagram.
Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools High Schools Transform School Cafeteria Lunch with “Student Choice”
In partnership with food service provider Chartwells K12, Carrboro High School recently introduced “Student Choice,” a program designed to re-imagine the school dining experience by getting students excited about new foods and flavors and to help develop healthy food habits. Carrboro HS is one of nearly a hundred and fifty schools nationwide to introduce Student Choice. The program will also be rolled out in East Chapel Hill High School and Chapel Hill High School next month.
During the Student Choice menu tasting at Carrboro HS, about nine hundred students cast their votes on three restaurant-inspired food concepts, including “Roost,” different takes on favorite chicken dishes; “Bok Choy,” an Asian-flavors inspired menu—think beef bulgogi and sweet and sour chicken bites—developed by celebrity chef Jet Tila; and “Butcher + Baker,” a line-up of specialty sandwiches such as chicken shawarma flatbread. The overall concept winner was Roost, and menu dishes such as Nashville hot chicken and a teriyaki-pineapple-chicken sandwich kicked off the new school lunch menu program last week.
EVENTS
Join a Cookbook Swap at The Durham
The Durham’s next Lobby Call event will be its first ever book social, a cookbook swap and panel discussion to be held Sunday, March 10 from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. Bring a cookbook or two to drop off at the swap table, sip wine from Piedmont Imports and nosh on snacks by The Durham’s executive chef Andrea Reusing, then pick up a “new-to-you” cookbook to bring home. At 5:30 p.m., Reusing will also moderate a panel of local food leaders, including cookbook author Ronni Lundy, chef Ricky Moore of Saltbox Seafood Joint, chef Vimala Rajendran of Vimala’s Curryblossom Cafe, and Jay Murrie of Piedmont Wine Imports, who will discuss the cookbooks that shaped their views on food and drink. The event is free, though RSVPs are encouraged. For more information or to RSVP, click here.
Toast Counting House’s Fourth Anniversary in The Vault
Counting House, the restaurant-bar inside 21c Museum Hotel Durham, will celebrate its fourth anniversary with an extended underground pop-up cocktail bar in The Vault. On the third Friday of each month, starting on Friday, March 15, the hotel’s historic bank vault will feature a different themed craft cocktail from Counting House’s archive of most-loved drinks. First up is the Antillean Daiquiri, a spicy-but-bright tipple that riffs on the traditional rum-sugar-and-lime daiquiri with an unexpected half-ounce of Angostura bitters, an ingredient that’s usually added in drops or dashes. The pop-up hours are 7:00 to 11:00 p.m.; space is limited and access is granted on a first come, first served basis. For more information, visit Counting House.
Feast on a Seven-Course Head-to-Tail Pork Dinner at Whiskey Kitchen
On Tuesday, March 19 at 7:00 p.m., Whiskey Kitchen will host the seventh edition of its supper club series with a head-to-tail, pork-centric dinner featuring seven courses inspired by and crafted with a whole, local, pasture-raised hog sourced through local purveyor Firsthand Foods. Each dish will be paired with a different whiskey, several of which are not on the restaurant’s regular bar menu. Tickets are $90 and can be purchased online.
BITE OF THE WEEK
Ever have one of those weeks when you feel like you don’t leave your desk (or whatever job space you might feel chained to)? It’s been a week of sad lunch-al-desko moments amid quick dinners of lukewarm leftovers, so today I’ll throw it back to a week in late February when I dined at Scratch Kitchen and Taproom in downtown Apex twice in one week. But it’s particularly the lunch memory that’s stayed with me, when my mom and I doubled down on ordering arguably the richest sandwiches on the menu (which isn’t hard, given that the menu reads like an unapologetic ode to comfort food, with a few salads and a solid poke bowl sprinkled in for good measure).
There was the Fusion Reuben, a multi-napkin affair where thinly sliced ribeye is piled onto very good rye (from local bakery Stick Boy) and dressed with collard green kimchi and Thousand Island dressing. And there was the truffle mac ‘n’ cheese burger, where the beef was crowned with a truffle mac ‘n’ cheese “patty” and candied bacon, because, well, why not? And since we’re making up for lost time here, ask for extra roasted-garlic-truffle aioli to dip your fries into.
Correction: This article previously listed the Orange County school district as implementing the "Student Choice" program instead of Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools.
