Where to eat? What's your favorite local restaurant?

[New Joy]

It's in the far north part of Raleigh off of Rte 1 but we love Spinners Grill.
We drive 35 miles one way......the food is cheap and tasty!!

the club sandwhich is insane!

http://www.spinnersgrill.us/

[Beermat]

I recommend An in Cary - Asian Fusion menu and excellent

an Restaurant - Fine Dining Cary, Sushi, Vietnamese, Chinese, Asian fusion - An New world Cuisine (http://www.ancuisines.com/index.html - broken link)

[nogard13]

Here are some of the restaurants I've enjoyed:

Crazy Fire Mongolian Grill - Crazy Fire

Kimono Pao Lim Asian Bistro - Kimono (http://www.alice-dsl.net/romie-leslieswiderski/html/home.html - broken link)

Foster's Market - Foster's Market

Carmen's Cuban Cafe - Carmen's

Shiki Sushi - Shiki Sushi

Baba Ghannouj - Baba (Great Shawarmas!)

Twisted Noodle - Noodles (Best Thai I've had in the area)

Pei Wei - Pei Wei (Yes, it's a chain, but we still enjoy the food)

There are probably some more, but I can't think of them right now.

[Clever User Name]

If you're looking for local cuisine, then consider Magnolia Grill in Durham for southern influenced food. It's been listed by Gourmet Magazine as a Top 50 restaurant in the U.S. in the past. It's more upscale, but you can get away with jeans there. Crooks Corner, a James Beard award finalist this year is another southern influenced restaurant in Chapel Hill. For local BBQ, consider Allen & Sons, the one north of Chapel Hill not in Pittsboro (same name, different owners and quality). Many BBQ purists consider this to be one of the best in the area. They start cooking their hogs at 2 a.m. each day. The Pit in Raleigh is another Eastern Carolina BBQ hotspot. It's odd for being an upscale place (hip decor, winelist!), but jeans are the norm. Some BBQ foodies knock it because it isn't a shack in the woods, but to me, it's the most consistently good BBQ spot I've been to. If you go, order the chopped pork, which is the specialty and gives you a true Eastern NC BBQ flavor. I also like Watts Grocery in Durham for southern influenced as well.

A few other casual (or a bit upscale but ok with jeans) standouts that are not local cuisine include: J. Betskis (a German/Polish place, they make everything in house, great German beers); An (mentioned above, expensive though and more chi-chi); SuperWok (a strip mall place in Cary, but they have a Chinese menu where you can get authentic and firey Szechuan food).

[StoneOne]

Here are my personal moderately-priced favorites across the area:

Panzanella (Carrboro)
Spotted Dog (Carrboro)
Fiesta Grille (Carrboro / NC 54West)
Guglhupf (Durham)
Neomonde (Raleigh & Morrisville)
Q-Shack (Durham)
Bocci (Durham)
Sawasdee Thai (Raleigh)

[panchodog]

Are you in Raleigh or Durham?

There are tons of excellent highly regarded restaurants, especially in Durham and Chapel Hill/Carrboro. I know there are some great ones in Raleigh, too. Can you give a price range and/or cuisine?

In Chapel Hill and Carrboro you might like:

Neal's Deli (very casual breakfast and lunch)
Sandwhich
Panzanella
Lantern (a little bit more upscale)
Elaine's ("")
Crook's Corner
La Res (upscale)
Acme
JuJuBe (upscale)
Bin 54 (upscale)
Allen & Son (NC BBQ)
Mama Dips (southern soul food)
Queen of Sheba (ethiopian)

for very casual diner type food you might try
Elmo's
Spotted Dog
Breadmens

for beer with your food you might try
Carolina Brewery
Top of the Hill
Tyler's Taproom
City Tap (in Pittsboro)


further afield you might try
Pittsboro General Store
Saxapahaw General Store

both have excellent food!

You might also like to check out the southeast chowhound forums if you're a foodie-type. We really have an over abundance of truly excellent restaurants in this area.

[ntwrkguy1]

Bonefish is outstanding.....I've eaten there 75-100 times over the last 6 years, and have never had a bad meal.

If you are into burgers, you owe it to yourself to hit up Abbey Road in Cary. OUTSTANDING burgers, and now that all of the bars are smoke-free, you don't come out smelling of smoke. I've been going there since 2000, and just love the place.

Second the reco for Nana's as well...