OnlyBurger rides again. Yay! That was the general feeling Chef Sam Poley got while working inside the rolling burger truck, making patty after patty to satisfy the hungry fans in line outside of Durham’s Wine Authorities, the site of OnlyBurger’s re-emergence party last week.
“We got crushed,” he said of the crowd, which ate close to 70 pounds of beef, one 4-ounce patty at a time. “That’s a lotta burgers. A lotta happy people.”
A collaboration between Poley and Durham Catering Co. Chef Tom Ferguson, OnlyBurger is a burger truck that sells only burgers. Well, it sells fries, chips and drinks too, but only to enhance the experience. The beef is ground locally and never frozen. Shortly after getting rolling last fall, OnlyBurger got literally crushed: It was involved in a collision that kept it parked all winter long.
Now OnlyBurger is back, with a third partner, Brian Bottger (formerly of Pop’s, Nana’s and Enoteca Vin) and a “superfly” GPS system that enables devotees to track its every move online at www.onlyburger.com or via Twitter at twitter.com/onlyburger. It’s open Monday through Friday, and if it’s parked near you, you can call the truck at 724-1622 and place your order. Poley and partners hope to gear up to all-local sourcing, as well as some fun stuff like burger launches and trivia contests. And, if you have your own medium-sized business (up to 300 people), they’ll park outside your door.
Lantern Restaurant (423 W. Franklin St., Chapel Hill, 969-8846, www.lanternrestaurant.com) hosts an almost all-local spring dinner honoring farmer and writer Tim Stark, author of Heirloom: Notes From an Accidental Tomato Farmer, at 7 p.m. April 8. The four-course meal includes ingredients grown by Stark, as well as some by our locals: Ayrshire Farm, Chapel Hill Creamery, Fickle Creek Farm, Peregrine Farm, Perry-winkle Farm and Pine Knot Farm. Cost is $60 per person, excluding wine, tax and gratuity. Reservations are required. Net proceeds from the evening benefit a local farmer in need.
Also in Chapel Hill, 3Cups (227 S. Elliott Road, 968-8993, www.3cups.net) hosts tea expert Kit Conway for a tasting from 3 to 5 p.m. April 5. Conway will lead a tasting tour of some of the finest teas that China, Taiwan and India have to offer, including Pai Mutan white, China’s famous Dragonwell green, Taiwan’s Green Dragon oolong and two fine quality black teas from China and India. Cost is $10 in advance and $12 at the door.
Tickets are now on sale now for the fifth annual World Beer Festival Raleigh (www.allaboutbeer.com/wbfraleigh), which happens May 2. And the world is quite literally represented: more than 150 breweries, from Pittsburgh to Poland, from Raleigh to Ruiselede (Belgium), from Salt Lake City to Slovakia, will share their wares. Information, tickets and volunteer opportunities are all on the Web site.
And finally, it’s no joke: Many restaurants have already posted menus for their Easter brunch. If you’re interested in eating out that day, make reservations now.
Know about a fun food happening in the Triangle? Send it to Now Serving at food@indyweek.com.
