.. he would be the “Deep Dish Apple Pie” muffin at My Favorite Muffin (aka Babs’ Deli.) While we would never normally send anyone to Raleigh — let alone a chain place in Raleigh — these muffins are really just that good. So good, in fact, that I make the 30 mile drive at least a couple of times a month to stock up. Babs’ Deli is located at 4500 Falls of Neuse Rd. Can’t someone open one of these in Durham?
.. he would be “tortas de carne asada” at Pupuseria & Taqueria Orellana. Orellana is located in the back of a convenience store at the corner of Roxboro and Infinity Rd in North Durham. Also, while the tacos and pupusas don’t quite reach holy stature, they are definitely pretty tasty. Check it out.
Someday we’re going to do a tour of Durham taquerias, but here’s just one for now. La Vaquita (2700 Chapel Hill Rd–it has a cow on the roof, so hard to miss) is a little taco shack with awesome tacos, and there’s a tiny store next door that’s packed with produce. There’s no seating (or interior, you order from a window) except for a couple of outdoor tables under an overhanging roof. The guy working there when I went recently was extremely nice; we asked him if he had licuados (a smoothie type thing) and he made me one even though it wasn’t on the menu. (He offered banana, strawberry, or chocolate, and the strawberry was delicious.) The tacos are also great, of course, and the menu helpfully tells you what animal each type comes from (though it doesn’t mention what part of the animal). You can ask for avocado, salsa, and probably a lot of other things to go on top, and they’re less than $2 each. It’s a good taqueria to start with, and about 5 minutes from the law school.
Toast is a new sandwich place in downtown Durham (near the Book Exchange and just past Brightleaf), also open for breakfast on weekdays. They have two kinds of sandwiches: panini (hot) and tramezzini (cold). They also have bruschetta and very cute little crostini, plus soups, a salad, and some desserts. Apparently most of the ingredients are local, the rest from Italy, and they’re combined in really great ways (spicy tuna, olivada, fennel and lemon—awesome). It’s also pretty cheap considering the quality of the ingredients—the most expensive thing on the menu is $6. The place is really nice inside: well lit and cheerful and green. I’ve heard they’re getting wireless at some point, and it would probably be a great place to study (though they don’t seem to have many outlets and it gets pretty busy at lunchtime).
In addition to the great options listed below, every other Saturday Durham’s own Triangle Brewing Company hosts a brewery tour that includes free beer. Doors open at 1:00pm, and the next event is on March 1st.
I think this is important enough to be the first post.
There are at least three places in Durham to get free alcohol and, at two of them, learn something about it at the same time.
Every Friday from 5 - 8 pm Parker and Otis, near Brightleaf, has a beer tasting. The in-store beer guy, or sometimes a rep from the featured brewery, is around to tell you about the beer, if you care.
Every Saturday, there is a wine tasting at 12 - 3 pm at Parker and Otis. At the same time (unfortunately) there is also a tasting at Wine Authorities, at the intersection of University and 15-501. Wine Authorities also has a machine that allows you to serve yourself wine on tap any time by swiping a wine debit card. It seems dangerous,* and is called an Enomatic.
Less interesting but also free (with a purchase) are the unlimited mimosas at Dale’s (the Indian place on Ninth Street) that come with the Sunday brunch buffet.
So, you’re pretty much set for the weekend, if you’re ok with starting early.
*UPDATE: When I say dangerous, I mean in a very good way.
This is the group blog of the Duke Law Epicurean Society. At some point we might have something useful to say, but don’t hold your breath.
