I have worked in some of the most gastronomic cities in the South and I must say that Durham's food scene is mediocre at best. The Durham Food Hall, which borders Central Park on Foster Street, has ten vendors inside. It has more than 130 restaurants and bars in the city center alone, offering different types of cuisine and prices. Durham is one of the most popular dining destinations in the South and one of the city's best-kept secrets.
You'll love the Brightleaf area if you enjoy great food, drink, and entertainment. Packed with great restaurants, you can see an image of the square here. The Durham Farmers Market is a must see, and I recommend that you drink a special seasonal coffee from the award-winning Cocoa Cinnamon. While the usual latte and coffee options are pretty good, Cocoa Cinnamon's seasonal menu includes some truly ingenious creations to take.
Durham's dining scene is excellent, with apparently every culinary culture represented. But for me, some of the best new restaurants in town are Latin. Bold and dynamic roasted pork, rice and beans, citrus ceviche, fresh grilled fish and stews filled with meat and root vegetables. I grew up with the characteristic flavors of Latin America.
I was born in Puerto Rico but grew up in the South and, as a documentary filmmaker, food historian and author of cookbooks, I love the stories that food tells. I also sincerely believe that our food is some of the best in the world, and Durham's offerings don't disappoint. When it comes to eating in the Triangle, Durham has been the center of attention for nearly the last decade. Far from being a veritable bastion of steakhouses and chain restaurants, Durham's dining scene encompasses a wide range of cuisines and styles.
Thanks to Duke University and Medical Center and nearby Research Triangle Park, Durham's restaurants offer a wide variety of dishes that diners could literally eat anywhere in the world without leaving the city. There are Indians, Thais, Cubans, Japanese, Zimbabweans and Salvadorans, and the list goes on. These international offerings get along very well with older local institutions, making them a gastronomic setting where lunch can easily be converted into a comforting Carolina-style barbecue before moving on to a shared plate of doro wat and Ethiopian waze tibs for dinner. From Monday to Friday, the Hong Kong Chinese restaurant serves typical Chinese-American food, but on weekends, the dining rooms are transformed into a bustling dim sum room.
Diners line up outside to wait to be served seats while from table to table they pass sui mai carts, turnip cakes, steamed rolls and other classic dim sum dishes. A hot cup of green tea is a must, and the whole experience is best enjoyed with friends or family so everyone can try a little bit of everything. Sometimes all life needs is a classic steak and chips. Or perhaps Moules Mariniere? Cassoulet? The Vin Rouge menu looks like a classic French bistro's greatest hits list.
When the weather is nice, a table for lunch on the weekends in the walled courtyard is a sought-after reserve. The wine list is the dream of every French-speaking oenophile. With the exception of a year or two, King's Sandwich Shop has been open since 1942 long enough that it's not uncommon to find grandparents bringing their grandchildren to get the same burgers and sausages they enjoyed when they were little. Grilled hamburgers with King's sauce, sausages with all the ingredients, hot french fries and cold shakes complete the menu.
There are often special offers, but it's the classics that have kept people coming back for decades. Dame's started in Greensboro, but won praise in the Triangle when the Durham branch opened. It's now in the Liberty Warehouse, where diners line up almost daily to try Dame's version of this soul cooking classic. Restaurants offer a list of specialties, such as the red-crested rose comb (two fried chicken legs on a classic waffle with strawberry schmear and candied walnuts) or the orange-speckled chabo (a fried chicken chop on a sweet potato waffle with orange honeycomb schmear and orange dijon sauce).
Diners can also create their own chicken and waffle adventure by choosing the type of fried chicken, the flavor of the waffles, and the flavored buttershake they prefer. Goorsha is the ideal place to meet friends and family and enjoy generous portions of expertly prepared Ethiopian food. The menu is full of doro wat, timatim salad, cutlets for grilling and much more, all prepared with pieces of injera, the spicy Ethiopian flatbread that serves as a handmade utensil. Gojo by Goorsha, a coffee shop and sandwich shop right behind the restaurant, is also worth visiting. Chef Mike Lee has created a mini-empire (M-pire?) in Durham (M Kokko, M Tempura, M Pocha), but M Sushi It's the original flagship.
A few steps further down the semi-underground space transport diners to a world of expertly crafted sushi and luxurious Japanese cuisine. Rolls and other products are available à la carte, but the full M Sushi experience is the omakase menu; the smaller version has six dishes, while the large selection is eight. Shaker Shannon Healy teamed up with chef Carrie Schleiffer to create an artisanal combination of cocktails and food that is as unique as it is tasty. Healy's cocktails are legendary and vary seasonally, while Schleiffer's menu includes shisitos with blisters, oysters fried with cornmeal, and crispy pork belly.
The famous Alley burger (a half-pound burger, cheddar cheese with truffles, bacon and bourbon jam, chipotle aioli and arugula) is always available, and those in the know ask for foie (a generous piece of foie gras stuffed right in the middle). Taking a selfie with a hamburger and a cocktail in an alley is something that cannot be missing from the list of things to do in downtown Durham. Warm up in these 11 cozy restaurants that surround the triangle Luna offers classic South American dishes, such as handmade empanadas, Peruvian-style roasted chicken and tacos, but what really makes it stand out from the multitude of restaurants in the center is the wide vegan and vegetarian offer. Try grilled vegan jackfruit with chili in a cereal bowl (quinoa, pearl rice, black beans, and kale) or in a patacon pisao, which comes with jota cheese, cabbage salad with jicama and kale, and chili and lime mayonnaise, and is placed between two disks of fried plantain. Luna also has a bustling takeout business, and those empanadas travel well.
Perhaps nothing represents the inexorable march of development in Durham than the loss of Parker & Otis's original space. Owner Jennings Brody created one of Bull City's most loved restaurants (coffee shop, wine bar and gift shop) in Brightleaf Square and, thankfully, was able to move the business to the American Tobacco Campus when a real estate developer bought the original building. The new Parker & Otis is a little smaller, but it still holds all the gifts, books, wine, stationery and more most selected by experts. Long-time customer favorites, such as the grilled pepper cheese sandwich, turkey and pepper jam sandwich, and Green Goddess tuna salad, are still available at the delicatessen counter, with the added bonus of being able to dine outside among the meandering streams and gardens of American Tobacco.
There is no website or social media presence. It is only open until 2 p.m., Monday through Friday and is closed on weekends. You only pay in cash and, of course, no frills, but L&D is an institution in East Durham and a tradition dear to many long-time Durham residents. Classic Carolina-style sausages, affordable burgers and fried chicken, which is so popular that it's usually eaten before noon. The grocery business part is almost non-existent right now, but that's not why people show up.
Lunch at L&D is the most affordable and old-school thing you can find in Durham these days. With what could easily be Durham's best outdoor restaurant, Namu serves craft beer and Korean fusion cuisine in a renovated mid-century modern house. Korean barbecue tacos, kimchi fried rice and bibimbap are just a few of the options. A favorite of remote workers, there are plenty of places to hide and answer emails while drinking beer and enjoying a bowl of rice.
From awesome fluffy cookies to lots of piping hot pancakes and crispy fried chicken on waffles, True Flavors has been a staple in the Durham breakfast scene for years. The menu is largely based on Southern classics with some modern touches: a sweet and savory blueberry and chipotle chicken cookie, brioche French toast topped with Oreo cookies, and an open-faced blue crab tortilla. Get ready to wait on the weekends. Durham's economic growth boom began with the tobacco industry, with the Bull Durham Tobacco Company and the W.
