Compare Triangle neighborhoods to those in Chicago?

[Jim1921]

Originally Posted by Mr. Coffee

Rosati's Pizza is a great cure for that!

I still miss the Lou Malnati's, Portillo's, Gino's, Hackney's, etc............or even a quick dash North of the state line for a quick meal at the Brat Stop. The food at these places were well worth the 45 minute to 1 hr drive in heavy traffic on pothole filled roads just to get a bite!

[Amica23]

We'll have to experiment making these foods at home!

[Mr. Coffee]

Originally Posted by Jim1921

I still miss the Lou Malnati's, Portillo's, Gino's, Hackney's, etc............or even a quick dash North of the state line for a quick meal at the Brat Stop. The food at these places were well worth the 45 minute to 1 hr drive in heavy traffic on pothole filled roads just to get a bite!

Sorry for hijacking a thread....but....if you need a brat fix, the meat shop at the State Farmers Market sells some incredible brats out of their freezer! If you need one prepared, GrillWorks sells some pretty good ones out of their food trucks at Lowes stores.

A decent Chicago dog shop would clean up here with a good old $1.99 basket with fries.

Now, back to the original question, much of the area reminds me of Lake Forest or Barrington. Perhaps the exception is Cary - it brings back memories of Schaumburg.

[CHI2RTP]

We recently made the move from Chicago to Raleigh. We were in the South Loop and nothing in this area is like the downtown areas of Chicago (obviously, and we weren't expecting it). We are in North Raleigh in Brier Creek, and love the area. I don't know if its like anything in Chicago, even the further out neighborhoods like Rogers Park. Most of the area is pure suburbia and I dont know the chicago suburbs well enough to compare them.

The Durham = Hyde Park comparison is a good one. The great thing about Brier Creek is its < 15 mins to Durham but also close to Raleigh and RTP.

Agree on the restaurants, but then again any place in the US has a hard time competing with Chicago on that front. I have been really thrilled about the abundance of amazing farmers markets here. Its a Saturday morning tradition for our family to head out to Durham, Carrborro, Western Wake, North Hills, or Raleigh farmers market. They're all very kid-friendly and a great time out to have fun, eat well and get much of the week's food shopping done.

Feel free to PM me if you have any more questions as you go through the process. Welcome!

[YetAnotherTransplant]

I lived in Aurora (by 59, so east Aurora) for 2 years, downtown Naperville for 3 years and downtown Wheaton for 2 years...

I _SO_ miss the food. We just went to a wedding in the area a week ago and I hit up Portillos within 2 hours of landing in the Chicago area.

I would compare Cary to Naperville, maybe, but Wheaton or Schaumberg might be closer. I guess I can see the Barrington comparison. Naperville is pretty packed... you drive north south and barely move. I don't think Cary is as densely populated and doesn't seem to have even close to the same level of traffic. It will really blow your mind.

I've only lived in the area about 3 months, but I haven't found anything like the neighborhoods in Chicago. I didn't live in them but I loved to visit a different one every weekend and just walk around and explore.

Good luck with your move!