It's Triangle Restaurant Week, and a lot of places are participating. Go enjoy yourselves.
Chapel Hill, NC
23 January 2012
06 July 2011
501 Diner: Chapel Hill, NC
A year or so ago, I said I wanted to increase my coverage of Chapel Hill. That's unfortunately fallen to the ground with the new ditch digging job. While I get to Chapel Hill on occasion, I don't post enough about Durham to satisfy myself. I have to work, eat, and buy food, but I still love this blog, even if posting is currently thin. I'm trying not to turn into my own bitch for it, but I miss you folks, and I miss posting here. Thank you, Gentle Readers, for your continuing readership and support. You are, as always, awesome.
Having gotten that out of my system: I did get a chance to go to 501 Diner in Chapel Hill several days ago. Some of you may remember 501 filling a hole in Durham's restaurant scene several years ago. I thought they were a great little place in a great location, and did a much better job of being a mid-list restaurant than, say, Elmo's (another diner-esque place that's co-located in Durham and Orange County).
This isn't an extensive review, but: I was greeted by friendly staff, seated quickly, got good-sized portions, and was really pleased at the quality of food I got for the money. I thought the specials looked particularly good. The inside is not large, but it's cozy, clean, kitschy-cute, and not at all crowded for dinner on a weekday night. It's far enough west in Chapel Hill to be extremely easy to get to from Durham, and definitely not walking distance from UNC-CH :) [Full disclosure: I have friends who work at this restaurant. The Agents of EAJ! are Everywhere. ;)]
I've bemoaned the waning of the mid-list restaurant before. On the bottom end, we have fast food places, which are always as cheap as possible. On the top end, prices can continue to go up, and probably should, given the crazy increases in food prices we've seen over the past several years. There's a real squeeze on, it seems, and the mid-list restaurants are going to be hit the hardest. So it's good to see places like 501 Diner working hard to bring affordable, decent dining to our area. Thanks, folks.
12 September 2010
Carolina Farm Stewards Tour This Coming Weekend (18-19 September 2010)
The Carolina Farm Stewardship Association is sponsoring its annual Eastern Triangle Farm Tour this coming weekend -- September 18th and 19th, 2010. If you have an interest in food or farming, this is a neat thing to do one afternoon. You basically pay $25 for a ticket for your car, then load up your car with whomever wants to go, and drive around to whatever farms you're interested in. There are two dozen farms this year and they're scattered over several counties, so it would be worth your while to plan out what you want to do. The information on the CFSA's PDF flier for the tour would probably be useful.
14 August 2010
Ham's In Chapel Hill Closed
Ham's on West Franklin Street in Chapel Hill has some legal mumbo-jumbo posted to its door related to their being closed. They seem to be down for the count, as are a bunch of others (apparently the Greensboro-founded chain had filed for bankruptcy). Better head to one of Chapel Hill's many other watering holes and sports bars instead. (Psst... some of them have better food anyway.)
04 August 2010
04 July 2010
[One] In Chapel Hill Opening Soon
Shane Ingram of Four Square in Durham will hopefully have his new restaurant, [One], open at Meadowmont Village in Chapel Hill within several days. The menu looks nice, but it doesn't look final: there aren't even prices up yet. I understand it's a rather open kitchen, with not a fryer in the place. I wish them well, and I hope I can get over there and give it a shot. With Jujube and Bin 54 at Glen Lennox, a Fresh Market across the street, and Shane's place farther east in the former B. Christopher's location, Raleigh Road between 15-501 and I-40 sounds like a nice food destination.
02 July 2010
Kildare's: Chapel Hill, NC
Come on, you're in Chapel Hill on Franklin Street. Can't you find something better to do than go to Kildare's? There are better bars and better places to eat. Yeah, the fireplace and some of the seating is nice, but I kinda felt like I was in some faux-Irish Disneyland. Ok, well, if you must, enjoy yourself.
BTW, if anyone can point me at a good, complete listing of Chapel Hill's many watering holes, I'll post a link.
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