The food writer Laurie Colwin once wrote, “My idea of a good time abroad is to visit someone’s house and hang out, poking inside people’s cabinets if they will let me.”
In this INDY special issue, you won’t need to travel far to do some old-fashioned pantry snooping: local chefs and food purveyors—Harry Monds, Erin Torgerson, and Bill Smith, among others—have graciously thrown open their refrigerators so we can peer in and learn their mayonnaise brand of choice and what ingredients they find themselves reaching for most often.
A peek inside refrigerators across the triangle
In her food essays, Colwin also wrote about the art of bringing people together.
For those in the hospitality industry who wish to make a living from that art, it’s gotten harder than ever as restaurants recover from the pandemic and costs creep up, affecting everything from the price of eggs to that of storefront rents.
These realities have impacted many of the people featured in the stories in this issue. In “When a Window Is a Door,” reporter Justin Laidlaw takes an extensive look at the obstacles that up-and-coming small food businesses in Durham face and how they’re finding their footing. And in “Bright Days Ahead,” writer Nation Hahn follows chef Scott Crawford’s triumphant emergence from the dark days of the pandemic to the recent and upcoming openings of several new concepts across Raleigh.
Gathering spaces, pizza kitchens, and more.
There’s more: an appetizing profile of Raleigh food truck Que Chula Es Puebla (a rare spot in the Triangle to find Pueblan food), a conversation with Jeff Seizer regarding his philosophy about beer and pizza (and new turn at the Raleigh Ponysaurus), and a look at what Preeti Waas has planned for Cheeni Durham (and its intimate adjoining bar).
Thank you for reading! Bon appétit.
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