Food News: Big Bite, Indy Week

Chapel Hill paves the way for more food trucks

Elizabeth Bartholf — Tue, 14 May 2013 10:56:00 -0400

Good news for foodies in the Triangle: Chapel Hill's Town Council has cut fees and amended rules to make the town more food truck friendly. With new policies, the council hopes more food trucks will come find their home on the hill.…

INDY's Jill Warren Lucas to participate in NYT Recipe Lab

Lisa Sorg — Mon, 13 May 2013 16:31:00 -0400

Jill Warren Lucas, who writes about food for INDY Week and her blog Eating My Words, is the only home cook in the South invited to join The New York Times' Julia Moskin for an online chat as part of the Recipe Lab series.

The event will be streamed live Wednesday, May 15, at 8 p.m.…

Bar Lusconi opens in downtown Durham

Victoria Bouloubasis — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 16:37:00 -0400

Among a string of historic storefronts on Durham's East Main Street—torn down and rebuilt during the Prohibition era—the new Bar Lusconi is luring modern drinkers into a new era of beer and wine.

Narrowly tucked into 117B E. Main St., Bar Lusconi presented a thriving and casual soft opening last night.…

A sneak peek at The Pit's new location in Durham

Emily Wallace — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 13:57:00 -0400

The best barbecue joints often boast piles: a cord of wood, visible by the side of the restaurant; a heap of slaw, ready to cool pepper-spiked pork; a mess of banana pudding, to finish things off.

At yesterday's private viewing of The Pit, a barbecue restaurant scheduled to open this July at Durham's former 7UP bottling plant, the piles were different.…

Yum, Durham is the tastiest, says Southern Living

Lisa Sorg — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 11:20:00 -0400

If you work in tourism or the food business in Durham, the phones may have already started ringing.

Durham was named the Tastiest Town in the South by Southern Living , which announced the winner of the contest this morning.…

Top of the Hill beers, spirits take top honors

Lisa Sorg — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 15:31:00 -0400

Good timing: Three days before Top of the Hill’s TOPO Piedmont Gin debuts on Sunday, the company has announced its brewery and distillery won a total of four medals in beer and spirits competitions this week.

The Chapel Hill brewery won two platinum medals for its Rams Head IPA and Singleton Ale at the World Beer Championships in Chicago.…

3Cups in Chapel Hill closing Feb. 2

Lisa Sorg — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 15:32:10 -0500

3Cups, a popular purveyor of wine, beer coffee and tea, is closing on Saturday, Feb. 2, owner Lex Alexander announced today.

In a blog post on the eatery's website, Alexander said the "business model is no longer financially sustainable."…

Durham in the running for Southern Living's Best Food Destination

Victoria Bouloubasis — Fri, 11 Jan 2013 09:19:18 -0500

Durham, we’re at it again, making national headlines with our hard work and pride in local cuisine. Southern Living Magazine just named Durham one of the Tastiest Towns in the South in 2013.…

Wilmoore Cafe sold to Ashley Christensen

Lisa Sorg — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 10:57:00 -0500

The Wilmoore Cafe in downtown Raleigh is being sold to chef Ashley Christensen.

David Fowle, who co-owns the Wilmoore, confirmed the deal.…

Was it something we said? Bella Mia being sold

Lisa Sorg — Thu, 20 Dec 2012 15:43:39 -0500

We've featured them on the cover of INDY Week. We've lauded them as having some of the best pizza in the Triangle—David Ross called Bella Mia "a tireless exemplar of rigor and integrity"—the Mercedes Benz of pizzas.…

Jonathan Bonchak, Michael Harwood take top barista honors

Lisa Sorg — Mon, 17 Dec 2012 09:21:28 -0500

Michael Harwood of Caffe Driade in Chapel Hill and Carrboro Coffee Roasters is one won two awards in the Southeast Regional Barista Championship, held in Atlanta earlier this month.

Jonathan Bonchak of Durham's Counter Culture Coffee, won top honors in the Brewer's Cup.…

At the vigil for Kabab & Curry owner Mohammed Arfan Sundal

Jeremy M. Lange — Fri, 14 Dec 2012 11:39:00 -0500

A candlelight vigil was held Thursday, Dec. 13, for Mohammed Arfan Sundal, the owner of Kabab & Curry House at 2016 Guess Road, Durham.…

Reliable Cheese in Durham closing

Lisa Sorg — Mon, 08 Oct 2012 10:30:00 -0400

Reliable Cheese Co., which sells artisan cheeses and meats from its cozy storefront at 405 E. Chapel Hill St. in Durham, is closing Friday, Oct. 19, according to an announcement in its weekly newsletter.

Patrick Coleff opened the store in the summer of 2011.…

Community, city efforts slowly move urban agriculture forward

Victoria Bouloubasis — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 11:11:00 -0400

The City of Durham and local food advocates are pushing for reform that will allow for more lenient rules on growing food within city limits. Last night, Durham community members gathered at 801 Gilbert St. for a public information session provided by the Durham City-County Planning Department and community group Durham Food Prosperity Council.…

Clucking now legal within Cary town limits

Victoria Bouloubasis — Fri, 31 Aug 2012 11:58:28 -0400

On Aug. 23, Cary Town Council officially approved a Backyard Chicken Ordinance that now allows residents within town limits to legally keep a chicken coop on their property. The ordinance was approved by a 4-3 vote.…

Restaurant workers find respite in late-night soccer tournament

Victoria Bouloubasis — Thu, 19 Jul 2012 09:10:00 -0400

As a waiter at La Cocina Mexican restaurant in Mebane, Cesar Arturo Flores Valadez has got a tough set of feet. His nine-hour days include the tedium of wiping sticky food scraps off dining tables and repeatedly hauling bus bins back to the kitchen sink and its soggy vapors, all while never letting his friendly smile falter.…

That summer feeling: ice cream-themed music

Lisa Sorg — Thu, 21 Jun 2012 20:17:00 -0400

Who knew there were so many ice cream songs? Here are dozen or so to get you through a long, hot summer.…

New report highlights sexual abuse targeting farmworkers, including in North Carolina

Victoria Bouloubasis — Wed, 16 May 2012 11:15:56 -0400

This morning, Human Rights Watch released Cultivating Fear: The Vulnerability of Immigrant Farmworkers in the U.S. to Sexual Violence and Sexual Harassment. The 95-page report includes 160 farmworker interviews in its research, with more than 20 of them from the fields of North Carolina.…

East Durham's TROSA Grocery announces it will close

Victoria Bouloubasis — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 16:29:00 -0400

The TROSA Grocery is near a prominent corner in a neighborhood that otherwise would not have a market within walking distance. Nonetheless, TROSA Grocery owners announced last week that it will soon close.…

Recent study reveals violations in North Carolina migrant farmworker housing

Victoria Bouloubasis — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 16:28:17 -0400

A newly published research study conducted by the Center for Worker Health at Wake Forest University found violations in North Carolina migrant housing. The paper, published in the March edition of the American Journal of Industrial Medicine, reveals several violations of the North Carolina Migrant Housing Act at the 183 labor camps that were inspected.…

Chapel Hill accepting food truck applications beginning March 1

Lisa Sorg — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 11:31:00 -0500

Food truck vendors hungry to do business in Chapel Hill can apply for a permit beginning Thursday.

From the town's press release: The process will require several permits, including applications from the food truck vendor and the property owner, and business licenses, as well as documentation from the originating county's health department showing that approval has been given.…

Restaurant workers demand higher wage

Jason Y. Lee — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 10:24:00 -0500

On the eve of Valentine’s Day, as the waiters and waitresses of America braced themselves for the flood of well-intentioned dinner dates, activists gathered in Raleigh to argue restaurant workers should be paid more.

The representatives from the NC Justice Center, N.C. Council of Churches, North Carolina MomsRising, and the North Carolina AFL-CIO met in Nash Square Park on Monday chose the date—Feb. 13—to symbolize the subminimum wage that many restaurant and service workers earn.…

Cary: no chickens—yet

Tiara Hodges — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 13:32:00 -0500

There was no chicken coup in Cary Thursday night, as the Town Council postponed a final decision on whether to ease restrictions on backyard hens within the town limits.

The council voted 5-2 to direct town staff to draft an ordinance that would allow backyard hens, albeit with some restrictions.…

A chicken coup? Cary Town Council to consider back yard hens tonight

Lisa Sorg — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 10:48:00 -0500

Buckeyes and Buttercups, Lakenfelders and Leghorns: So many breeds of chickens, so few yards in Cary in which to raise them.

But Cary's great back yard chicken controversy could peak tonight as the Cary Town Council reconsiders an ordinance that would allow residents to raise hens in their back yards with some restrictions.…

Order up: Chapel Hill OKs food truck rules

Joe Schwartz — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 12:16:00 -0500

The Chapel Hill Town Council voted unanimously Monday night to allow food trucks to do business there, joining the party that Carrboro and Durham have long hosted and Raleigh and Hillsborough recently hopped aboard.

Food trucks can grace Chapel Hill streets beginning March 1.…