Category: Locally Notable

Notable items of local interest.

Locally Notable

SportsChannel8’s ‘Blank Bracket’ Taylor Swift parody featured on Rolling Stone ↬

Write and produce a witty Taylor Swift parody when your brackets get busted, catch the eye of Rolling Stone.

Related: Who is Sportschannel8? I’ll let them tell you (from their Who is SportsChannel8? page):

Are you guys like The Onion?

Not at all. We don’t report fake news. Now we may report real news in ways that will make you laugh or see things from an unexpected perspective, but we don’t fabricate stories for the sake of commentary. We tell the same stories that you’ll find from one of our many excellent colleagues in sports media in newspapers, radio, or broadcast TV. We just complement those outlets by telling the story differently, like with our report on the national controversy of Cam Newton’s end zone dancing, or the controversial ending to the 2015 Duke/Miami football game.

O&F
Locally Notable

Building a Better Jubala Coffee ↬

The new Hillsborough St location of Jubala is really bringing it with a dual counter setup to help ease delays during high traffic times:

The split-service setup establishes what’s essentially like an indoor, walk-up drive-through counter devoted entirely to customers on the go from the hotel upstairs, the university across the street, offices nearby or anywhere else. That station, marked “Take” in a pointillist design on the front, caters to the hustlers with a three-group La Marzocco Linea PB custom powder-coated in yellow, matte white and black, with gleaming chrome and stainless accents. “We’re using the volumetrics for our to-go drinks,” said Wells.

At the other end of the counter over the pointillist-treated word “Stay,” a La Marzocco Strada EE two-group with see-through side panels is the tool for drinks to be enjoyed in-house. “People come up and they’re lifting their kids up over the counter to look inside, to see that there’s this analog, mechanical art to the thing that we’re making,” said Wells. The Strada is powder-coated in subtly contrasting gloss and matte blue, with matte black accents. Both machines have walnut portafilter handles, and both were customized for Jubala by Espresso Parts.

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Locally Notable

Business Insider picks Bida Manda as best in NC

For Business Insider’s Best Restaurant in Every State write-up, contributor Emmie Martin selects Raleigh’s Bida Manda as North Carolina’s best. No arguments here. The BI piece is short on details, so if you have any reservations about checking out Bida Manda, check out Walter Magazine’s 2013 profile of the restaurant. Here’s a taste:

With one of the few true Laotian restaurants in the United States, these two twenty-somethings are introducing Raleighites to the fresh and unexpected cuisine of their tiny native country. They’re doing it with the help of a local community rooted at N.C. State that has risen up to make their dream a reality. And they’re doing it in tribute to their parents, who have been prevented by post–9/11 visa restrictions from traveling here to witness their children’s achievement.

…

With ingredients common to the food of its neighbors in China, Vietnam, and Thailand, and with techniques inherited from its years as a French protectorate, Laos’s food is a tantalizing hybrid. Flavors are refined but surprising; dishes are familiar but refreshing, and always beautiful.

The accolades for Bida Manda are well-deserved and are a great testament to Raleigh’s ever-evolving culinary scene.

Locally Notable

Poole’s Diner makes The National Eater 38 ↬

More accolades and notoriety for Poole’s Diner in Downtown Raleigh:

Christensen has firmly planted herself at the crossroads of high-low dining: beyond the macaroni, her menu changes nightly, offering dishes homey in flavor and meticulous in execution. During a spectacular spring meal, that meant delicate flounder filet over turnip greens creamed with pureed turnips, and fried soft-shell crab over early tomatoes with Brussels sprouts slaw.

Via Indy Week

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Locally Notable

WSJ Discovers 11foot8 ↬

A height sensor on the street detected impending doom here last month. Yellow lights began flashing a block away. The danger: A Budget rental truck barging down the road wasn’t going to get under the railroad overpass.

The truck ignored the warning. It rumbled underneath. Its roof did not.

I stumbled upon 11foot8 a couple of years ago and spent the next couple of days obsessed with it. So good.

If you like this story, you might also like: @PeaceStBridge

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Locally Notable

H-Street Kitchen

Just the rich Raleigh and NC State heritage alone of the people involved piqued my interest when I first heard initial whispers about the restaurant concept coming to the vacant Varsity Theatre space on Hillsborough Street. And now that we know more, I can’t wait to get a chance to explore the space. Construction is only just beginning, but the renderings and description of H-Street Kitchen look and sound fantastic:

The 240-seat restaurant will feature an open kitchen serving up an American menu developed by executive chef Adam Rose, formerly of Il Palio and Straw Valley Cafe. Offerings will include sandwiches, burgers, entrees and a rotating selection of “Red Plate” specials. Bryant said dishes will run $8 to $17.

I love what they hope to accomplish and I hope they do it. This is the most excited I’ve been about an upcoming project in the Triangle in a long time.

Locally Notable

The New Yorker Covers NC’s East vs West (Barbecue) Battle

North Carolina’s East versus West battle over barbecue makes this year’s annual food issue of New Yorker. Writer Calvin Trillin doesn’t waste any time setting the line:

For some years, I’m now prepared to admit, I somehow labored under the impression that Rocky Mount is the line of demarcation that separates the two principal schools of North Carolina barbecue. Wrong. The line of demarcation is, roughly, Raleigh, sixty miles west.

Great read and appropriate attribution to long established purveyors of this debate.

Locally Notable

The Restaurant at The Durham

If you haven’t had a chance to visit The Durham Hotel and Andrea Reusing’s new restaurant, bar, and coffee shop yourself, then check out Eater’s gallery of the new space.

Instead of Asian-inflected dishes, Reusing is offering more classic fare like steaks, a roasted-to-order chicken, a house burger, and bone-in country pork ribs. Known for her commitment to North Carolina foodways, keep an eye out for local specialties like Durham mushrooms in a mushroom soup, North Carolina trout roe with sour cream from Durham, or an eggplant parm with mozzarella from Chapel Hill.

It looks like a huge departure from The Lantern both in decor and menu, kudos to the folks behind the concept for seemingly pulling off something really nice. I haven’t had a chance to check it out myself, but I’m looking forward to making a trip out there soon.

If you’re interested in more information about the new space, Eater spoke with Reusing earlier this year about the concept before it opened.

Locally Notable

IndyWeek: Why Is Research Triangle Park Building Its Own Mini-city? ↬

I don’t know if it’s going to work, but I respect the vision and the gumption to at least try to see it through:

The goal, Geolas says, is to offer the kinds of “experiences” that will keep the next generation of workers interested in RTP’s companies, which in turn will both keep existing companies in place and make the park attractive for new, smaller business, especially start-ups—a survival mechanism for the 21st century.

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