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I love Asheville. In fact it is one of my favorite cities in North Carolina. My husband, and a couple of my friends and I were walking around downtown recently. It was raining and I was quickly running out of steam. I needed some protein. We were going to eat at Salsa, but there was a 20 minute wait and I wasn’t about to wait a minute longer to get some food! So, we dashed into Farm Burger.
When we first [...]

We all love the convenience of a fast food restaurant, but many people would prefer to have fresh, local, organic and sustainable ingredients in their food selection, including getting a sandwich. Wouldn’t it be nice if you could have both? Well, that’s what the folks at Sandwhich in Chapel Hill thought too.
We recently got a Groupon for Sandwhich that gave us a great excuse to try this place out. I had heard some good things about it but never got [...]

Walking into the Top of the Hill last night, I felt like I was entering the cast of “Boardwalk Empire” and would run into Nuckey Thompson at any moment. No, this was not just any night at Top of the Hill, this was the Bootlegger’s Banquet, an event set to celebrate the 80th anniversary of the end of the Prohibition and what a great way to celebrate than to try out the new TOPO Piedmont Gin from Top of the [...]

We are so lucky to have a thriving wine industry in North Carolina. In addition to the great wines being produced by places such as Raffaldini, Grassy Creek Winery and Ragapple Lassie Winery, there are also some wonderful restaurants that are feeding the many tourists who are coming to the Piedmont region. Some of my friends and I recently visited Sander’s Ridge in Booneville during a weekend outing to what I call “NC wine country.”
Sander’s Ridge is located on a [...]

Vegans and vegetarians (and even many of us meat lovers) are cheering because Raleigh has a new all vegan and vegetarian restaurant in town! Fiction Kitchen on Dawson Street started first as a pop up restaurant at Pinhook in Durham. Executive Chef and co-owner Caroline Morrison, after getting her culinary degree from Wake Tech, worked as a line cook at many of the Triangle area restaurants, creating all kinds of unique and flavorful vegan and vegetarian dishes.
She and Siobhan Summer [...]

On the corner of Geer Street and Foster Street in downtown Durham is a quaint, little restaurant that has quickly become one of my “You have to try this place” restaurants when someone comes to town. Geer Street Garden is located in an old gas station and has lots of charm. Old brick walls, exposed air ducts with a sealed foam ceiling and a bull on the wall reminds you that you are in an old part of Durham, just [...]

I have eaten at Watts Grocery several times for lunch and thoroughly enjoyed it each time I have eaten there. The restaurant features ingredients from local farms, and typically uses items that are in season. Chef Amy Tournquist grew up in Durham and has been very committed to making this an icon in the restaurant scene and she has certainly succeeded in fulfilling her vision. But I had never been to Watts Grocery for brunch until a few weeks ago [...]

I’ve been on a vegetarian kick lately, though I am by no means a vegetarian. I am just trying to cut down on my red meat intake and live a healthier lifestyle. One way I’ve been doing this is by participating in Meatless Monday. I made this my New Year’s resolution and am happy to say I’ve stuck to it this whole time! It’s actually way easier than you might think it would be.
One nice thing is that there are [...]

We traveled to downtown Greensboro recently and wanted to have some good locally sourced food. A person who was in the downtown area suggested we try Fincastles Diner. This charming, old-fashioned diner is located on South Elm Street, within easy walking distance to the famous Woolworth’s, where the civil rights sit-ins occurred in the 1960s, and the current International Civil Rights Museum is located. The restaurant features burgers, hot dogs and sandwiches using local foods and honoring some Southern traditions.
We [...]

I don’t know about you, but one food I usually crave is a good pizza. Nothing is better than one that is steaming hot, right out of the oven, with lots of mozzarella cheese and garlic!
There have been a couple of food trucks that feature pizza that have popped up in the Triangle area and one I particularly like is Pie Pushers. Pie Pushers truck is mainly seen around the city of Durham. They serve pizzas that feature locally grown, [...]

A group of friends wanted to celebrate our friend’s upcoming wedding, so we decided to go to the Oakleaf Restaurant, located in Chatham Mills in Pittsboro, North Carolina. The Oakleaf recently opened in this old textile mill, and touts itself as an upscale farm-to-table restaurant. The menu changes frequently, depending on what is available at the farmer’s market. Many of the ingredients, in fact, are purchased at the Chatham Mill Farmer’s Market on Saturday mornings, which is just outside the [...]

 
Both my sister, Nancy, and I are huge fans of “Top Chef” and “Top Chef Masters” on Bravo. Watching these creative chefs gets us excited about food and its endless possibilities. We both became big fans of Hugh Acheson, executive chef of several restaurants in Athens, including the 5&10. So, when my niece, Alexandra, was graduating from the University of Georgia, my sister immediately got on the phone to make a reservation at the 5&10 for her graduation dinner.
We were [...]

Most days when I’m at work, I’m too busy to think about getting in the car and traveling somewhere to eat lunch. I usually try to make lunches ahead of time, but there are days I just don’t feel like cooking either. These days there’s a solution to this problem and it’s called Lunchbox N’ More. Thao Beck, formerly one of the partners of the Mom’s Delicious Dishes food truck, has started a new business.
Each week Thao emails her menu [...]

After spending a day watching documentaries at the Fullframe Documentary Festival and feeling uneasy about the world, it was a nice relief to take a stroll down Foster Street and see a sunny, pink daisy on the door that immediately made me smile. “It’s Daisy Cakes!” I declared. I had heard about Daisy Cakes back when they just had their food truck and were serving their cupcakes at the Durham Farmer’s Market.
About a year ago, they purchased this cute little [...]

Tucked in a little corner of The Courtyard off of Franklin Street and South Roberson Street is a warm, inviting cafe called Vimala’s Curryblossom Cafe. This cafe was an instant hit with students from UNC and residents of Chapel Hill, many who used to go to owner Vimala Rajendran’s home to get her wonderful Indian food.
I had heard from many people about this great lady who served the most incredible Indian dishes from her home several years ago. You just [...]

Driving to the quaint village of Saxapahaw can be a fun endeavor by itself. The rolling pasture land is beautiful and yet, you are a mere 15 minutes from Chapel Hill. In recent years, Saxapahaw has had a bit of a renaissance after the old cotton mill was renovated. One of the many establishments that is in the building is the Saxapahaw General Store.  Actually, the General Store had been operating as a gas station convenience store for many years, [...]

Durham, as many people know, has become the hip place to be in the Triangle. Much of this can be attributed to the dozens of new restaurants that have popped up in recent years, along with the development of the American Tobacco complex and the Durham Performing Arts Center (DPAC). But, there were also some groundbreaking restaurants who had started the trend years before it became popular to hang out in Durham after dark, including Pop’s Restaurant, A Durham Trattoria.  [...]

There’s a cozy new restaurant that has opened in downtown Pittsboro. The Small B&B Cafe is part of the Small Bed and Breakfast, on the corner of Small Street and East Street (also known as Business Highway 64). Owners Lisa Piper and Dave Clark recently moved to our little slice of heaven from Minneapolis, Minnesota where they used to run a coffee shop and cafe.
Lisa and Dave are continuing their tradition of serving seasonal, local and organic food in a [...]