Big Oak Drive In & BBQ
by Deborah Miller A long weekend on Emerald Isle was in the works and as visions of sun, sand, and seafood swam in my imagination, a light bulb moment pushed through the haze of vacation anticipation. NC Food was about to publish a guest post by John E. Batchelor, author of Chefs of the Coast: Restaurants […]
Chefs of the Coast: Meet Chef Thierry Moity of Caprice Bistro in Wilmington
by John E. Batchelor Note: We love seafood! So much that we practically licked our lips all afternoon when we received a copy of John E. Batchelor’s newest offering Chefs of the Coast: Restaurants & Recipes from the North Carolina Coast. John agreed to a special post for NC Food. We hope you enjoy it […]
Red Rooster: Something to Crow About in Stokes County
by Malinda Fillingim Back in 1977, my senior year in high school, I worked at Hicks Pharmacy in Walnut Cove, NC. I knew what ailed everyone and what medicines they took to help cure those ails. But, as an added bonus when they were short staffed, I also got to help out at the in-house […]
La Cacerola Home Style Honduran
by Deborah Miller If you weren’t paying attention, you’d almost miss La Cacerola Café and Restaurant, tucked as it is between the Latino Super Market and Guess Road Mini Mart. The three of us were celebrating a special date, and no ordinary lunch would do for this occasion. Though rescheduled from the actual anniversary date, […]
Enjoying Barbecue Prepared Like When You Were a Kid
By Ray Linville Have you ever passed a restaurant, wondered how good its food is, but didn’t stop because you were saving money by not eating out? That’s my story about North Carolina barbecue when I was growing up. I grew up in the Piedmont in a stable but modest neighborhood of Winston-Salem. In the […]
Old Havana Sandwich Shop
by Evan Hatch The Old Havana Sandwich Shop faces Main Street in downtown Durham, North Carolina. Business and life partners Elizabeth Turnbull and Roberto Copa Matos surely pinched themselves when they first saw the limestone edifice that became their restaurant. Arched porticoes, vaulted windows and polished wood floors lend this space a warm and historic […]
A Food Sisterhood Flourishes in North Carolina, and then some
Just in case you weren’t paying attention, North Carolina got some seriously good props this week from the New York Times. The North Carolina Food Sisterhood, to be exact, and it’s a nice change from all the athletic and political press we’ve grown used to. We’ve always been an agricultural state and women have long […]
The Zack Attack
by Evan Hatch Many mistakes are made by those individuals not initiated to the Zack’s Hotdogs Experience. Those individuals refer to a menu before they order. They try to pay with a debit card. They try to explain what they want to their waiter instead of using accepted jargon. They misunderstand the double line, first […]
Would You Order Livermush at a Classic Family Diner?
by Ray Linville Want to step back in time and explore early food traditions of our state? Then stop at a family-owned diner that has been in business for more than 50 years. When you do, expect to find items on the menu that link back to days long ago. The menu boards immediately caught […]
Van Loi II. Heaven.
by Evan Hatch My parents used to live in Graham, North Carolina. The burgs of Chapel Hill, Carrboro, and Durham were cultural destinations. Only 20 minutes down the road were concerts, exotic food, funky places to drop money, a better selection of cheeses. In July, 2014, my parents moved to Whitsett, North Carolina. Only 20 […]
Halgo
by Deborah Miller (with tasty comments from Joy Salyers) Joy surely wasn’t looking for a European Deli and Grocery while Googling (it’s a word now, right?) for something else. It was one of those happy accidents. From the corner came “Deborah! We’ve got to go here!” and I knew there was another adventure in our […]
The Queen of Clean Goes Sanitary
by Malinda Dunlap Fillingim In my 1941 first edition of Jonathan Daniels’ book, Tar Heels: A Portrait of North Carolina, I read with delight his sentence in the ‘Frying Pan and Jug’ chapter, “North Carolinians don’t eat out unless they have to.” This was the case in my house while growing up. We never ate […]
Snak Shak
by Evan Hatch How much do we love collard sandwiches here in North Carolina? So much so that we’ve featured several posts over the years from Jefferson Currie II and Ray Linville, each singing their juicy, fat-back laced praises. In this case, more is more. ~Deborah Miller, Editor, NC FOOD At the intersection of NC […]
J&G Bar-B-Que
by Evan Hatch Just one more addition to our month-long celebration of North Carolina Barbecue! We couldn’t resist Evan’s eulogy to his favorite barbecue memory. ~Deborah Miller, Editor, NCFood. This love letter is long late. J & G Barbecue, formerly of Haw River, North Carolina has left this earth. On December 22nd, 2012, after two […]
THE Perfect Plate of Barbecue, Round II
by Deborah Miller Two weeks ago, Elijah Gaddis fired up a plate for debate in celebration of National BBQ Month! We asked you what would make up YOUR perfect plate of barbecue, including sides — and from where? To all of you who responded, thank you. Here’s what you all had to say: Joe S: […]
THE Perfect Plate of Barbecue
by Elijah Gaddis Somewhere high on my list of favorite conversations is the one about a favorite plate of barbecue. It’s kind of like picking a fantasy team, I imagine. You dream up some alternative world where somehow your favorite meat, fried corn product, slaw, and those all too rare sides could somehow coexist on […]
Pounds of Love
by Malinda Dunlap Fillingam It wasn’t that I hadn’t ever eaten pound cake before, I had. Mama Dunlap made a wonderful pound cake, rich with a touch of lemon. She had it on top of the pie stand in case a visitor came by and was hungry for a bite to eat. No, what made […]
Downtown Bakery, Murphy, NC
by Ronda L. Birtha When Margie Freel Carpenter said that she is the kind of person who looks for a bakery as she travels about, I knew exactly what she meant and why she meant it. A good hometown bakery is to a neighborhood what your favorite room is to your home: the place where […]
Food, Service, and Prices from Yesterday at the Chicken Coop
by Ray Linville A few places serving food in our state are caught in a time warp and remain unchanged since the days that they opened. Price’s Chicken Coop, established in 1962, in the South End of Charlotte is definitely one. Seeing the name of Chicken Coop, you know exactly what to order. The classic […]
Boiled Peanuts, A Southern Tradition
by Elena Rosemond-Hoerr The dog days of summer, as the hot and humid late summer days are often called, inspire in me a deep seated desire to swampify myself. For as long as I can remember my family migrated to the coastal town of Morehead City in the late summer to camp out in the […]
A Honey of a Diner
By Deborah Miller I hadn’t been to Honey’s in years until last week when I heard that they were on the verge of closing. Now I feel kinda bad about that, especially considering the childhood history I had with the 24-hour diner. Not to mention those middle of the night breakfasts when I was in […]
“Farm to Fork”ing it Every Tuesday at Blue Mountain Grill & Coffee
by Ronda Birtha When I Google “Farm to Fork” I get “About 13,700,000 results (0.24 seconds).” Thanks to Google’s new search algorithm, these top-ranking hits reflect my general location so I get an idea of how popular this trend is in my neck of the woods. Give it a try and see what your results […]
Chicharron Gorditas
by Elijah Gaddis By way of introduction, to me and to this post, I should confess something that all of my friends know: I became a folklorist in part because it allows me to eat. Seeking out legendary barbecue places, hole in the wall taquerias, and roadside vendors all falls under the guise of what […]
Joy and Deborah’s Excellent Adventure to Person County
by Deborah Miller One of the things I already know I love about working here is when Joy starts a sentence with “We need to go …. ” Not one to need too much convincing, I can be ready to go in a split-second. And this time, she said “We need to go drive up […]