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Ok, we've lived in Raleigh for almost a year and really like many things about it. We are originally from NC, so are glad to be back. Having lived in Philadelphia and the DC area for the last 10 years though, we were spoiled by good food, at any price level, everywhere! And the BYOB small restaurants in Philly are so great.
It seems that Chapel Hill and Durham are more the foodie places around here, and I was wondering if anyone has any ideas on how to support local restaurant owners (or potential restaurant owners) in Raleigh? I recently went to Taste on Dixie Trail and we had a really good meal. It would be great to have more of these restaurants around! With all the development near North Hills, large apartment buildings going up in Cameron Village, and downtown, I'd think the demand for good food will be there. I am worried that these areas will fill up with chain restaurants or just high end places. What I would give for a down home Thai or Vietnamese place in my neighborhood
There are TONS of locally owned foodie places in Raleigh. What are you looking for? I love. Chapel Hill and Durham, but you don't need to drive there for a great foodie scene. Raleigh has a thriving scene too. It isn't all downtown either. You can find great joints ticked away in strip malls (just like in Durham & Chapel Hill) but you need to know where to look.
Thai? Go for Lemon Grass or Sawasdee
Korean? Kimbap
Laotian? Bida Manda
Lenanese? Neomonde, and Sitti
Gourmet food trucks? There will be 50 of them set up downtown for a food truck rodeo in August and you can find several scattered about all week long.
Many Many others ... Dont even get me started on all the great local coffee shops and breweries in Raleigh. (If you haven't been to Trophy you haven't lived). But I'm tired and need to go to bed now!
North Hills doesn't charge for parking like downtown Raleigh does. I'm always afraid my car will get booted or ticketed if the time runs out and I just don't like the idea of paid parking whether it be downtown or not. I won't even get into predatory towing...but downtown Raleigh just isn't worth the risk.
What? DT Raleigh has to be one of the most well laid out, parking friendly cities in the country. There is an ABUNDANCE of parking garages, many free on nights and weekends, on literally every block. If you're worried about being towed, you're doing something wrong.
I'm a foodie, and Raleigh isn't really a foodie town like Philly or Portland, or any other much larger city really. There are many great mom n pop places with variety (guglhupf, chucks, remedy diner, caffe Luna, dames, klaras, little hen, carrburitos, tallulahs, neomonde, can list a ton more) you just need to look or ask around.
North Hills doesn't charge for parking like downtown Raleigh does. I'm always afraid my car will get booted or ticketed if the time runs out and I just don't like the idea of paid parking whether it be downtown or not. I won't even get into predatory towing...but downtown Raleigh just isn't worth the risk.
I don't quite understand what this as to do with this thread since the foodie scene is not limited to downtown, but I have to disagree. Parking downtown is not very complicated. It's also worth pointing out that street parking is free everywhere downtown after 5pm (when most people get off work and head to dinner) and all weekend long.
I don't quite understand what this as to do with this thread since the foodie scene is not limited to downtown, but I have to disagree. Parking downtown is not very complicated. It's also worth pointing out that street parking is free everywhere downtown after 5pm (when most people get off work and head to dinner) and all weekend long.
But that's not what this thread is about anyway.
"It seems that Chapel Hill and Durham are more the foodie places around here, and I was wondering if anyone has any ideas on how to support local restaurant owners (or potential restaurant owners) in Raleigh? "
This question by the OP does make downtown Raleigh parking issues relevant when compared to North Hills and other areas in Raleigh. I've had to pay every time I've been to any restaurant in downtown Raleigh and I don't want to keep track of where and when I can park for free...it just isn't worth the hassle for me as a potential customer so I avoid going downtown. Parking is a relevant concern when supporting any business.
I think this is a great question! We have this discussion with our foodie-loving friends in Durham all the time. I think there are several reasons why Durham and Chapel Hill are more highly touted as "foodie" places and Raleigh really gets overlooked.
1) Size - Raleigh is MUCH more spread out than Durham and Chapel Hill with an equally spread out population. Raleigh does have great little joints everywhere but they are much more spread out and people either may not know where to find them or not feel it's worth it to drive 20-25 minutes across town (especially if you are factoring in kids) on a weeknight. We used to live in NW Raleigh and didn't mind travelling but we weren't about to trek out to Capital Blvd on a regular basis to get Thai or Vietnamese - we were thrilled that Sawasdee moved closer (until we moved further away!)
2) Cost of rent - Much higher in Raleigh certainly than Durham. Not sure about Chapel Hill but areas like Franklin St. in Chapel Hill are going to get a lot more foot traffic since UNC is there and it's the main drag. Can you imagine what the rent is like in Cameron Village? Just went to Rose's Meat Market and Sweet Shop (butcher and baker) in Durham and lamented that we didn't have something like that in Raleigh. Margins on restaurants and food are rather thin though and a small operation is more likely not to make it. Even Greg Hatem, who is one of the biggest local restauranteurs in the area, has had several failed restaurants in the downtown area - probably a combination of costs and broad appeal but I'm not positive.
Conversely, most of the cheap mom and pop places are in the cheaper areas like Old Wake Forest/Capital Blvd and further north (lots of good Mexican/Latin, Vietnamese up there). There are smaller mom and pop type of places closer, like Kimbap in Seaboard Station but they kind of have to have a "hook" with higher end ingredients and prices to match.
3) Raleigh has been less welcoming to food trucks than Durham and Chapel Hill but hopefully that is changing. But I was looking around yesterday to see if there were any food trucks nearby to go pick up some food but they were all in Durham/CH!
4) I think Raleigh is also a bt more conservative in taste (literally!) than Durham and CH. If you look at the Farmer's Markets in Raleigh and Wake County, I feel like they are more reflective of what I would consider more "Southern" foods - collards, tomatoes, mustard greens, zucchini, peppers in huge amounts at the State Farmer's Markets. Not as many organic offerings or "unusual" offerings. Spain Farm, which sells shiitake mushrooms, Muscovy duck, Cabrito (young goat) and duck/quail eggs, is based in Raleigh/southern Wake County but goes to Durham and CH Markets to sell. Lots of small, niche farms crowd the Durham Farmer's Market with new and fun things to try. This is happening in Raleigh too (e.g. North Hills FM or Western Wake) but still on a much smaller scale.
Raleigh is coming along though and the scene will grow - especially, as you noted, lots of building going on around North Hills, Cameron Village and NCSU area. Durham and CH also had some very passionate local chefs and restaurants that really built up reputations (Nana's, Crook's Corner, etc) that helped build the food scene. We have Ashley Christensen who has her own well-regarded mini-empire with Poole's Diner, Chuck's, Beasley's, Fox's and whatever is going into the Wilmoore Cafe place. People are starting to recognize that Raleigh (DT and the rest of it) are becoming more open to different concepts. Buku downtown used to be Fins, a high end seafood place but converted to a eclectic world-based tapas/small plates style (partly because of the economic downturn) but has very well.
Re: parking. I have to say that I don't think I've ever had to pay for parking downtown (except during Artsplosure - just to get close to Marbles and Moore Square) and we like to go there to eat weeknight evenings or on weekends. We might have to walk a block but really, that's about it. It's really nice to have free parking evenings and weekends.
I just re-referenced the Cary spreadsheet - we SHOULD do a Raleigh one!
By the way dimitri - check out Soo Cafe on Hillborough St, near Oberlin. Tiny little Korean place that has banchan, double fried Korean chicken. We happened on this one by chance even though we live a mile away. Hopefully they find somewhere close by once renovations to that area start (later this year?)
Sitti, Poole's Diner, Hayes Barton Cafe, Mandolin, Second Empire, 18 Seaboard, Gravy, Chucks, Caffe Luna, The Pit, Buku off the top of my head...and there are plenty more. Downtown Raleigh is full of great one-of restaurants.
Can someone post a link for the Cary restaurants spreadsheet? Much appreciated!
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