Hi Shroom
You are headed to my hometown, though a lot has changed since I left eight years ago.
Yes, Fearrington House is a real winner. Eat there if you can afford it. You should also check out Allen and Sons Barbecue on Hwy 86. It's about 7 miles north of town toward Hillsborough. It offers some of the best and most difinitive NC barbecue around. It's just a little hole in the wall kind of place near the railroad tracks, but the 'cue is delicious.
There are several retail food stores worth visiting. Go to Weaver Street Market on Weaver St. in Carrboro (Chapel Hill and Carrboro are sister cities that flow into one another). It's a cooperatively owned food store with the best artisan baked bread anywhere. Even living here in NY I miss the ciabatta from Weaver Street. There is a big beautiful lawn in front shaded with huge oaks where many people gather. Sundays they have an outdoor jazz brunch and Thursday nights an after hours wine tasting-both with live music.
A Southern Season in University Mall is quite an experience. It has gone through several changes of location and emphasis, but still remains a bastion of the culinary and fine wine world.
Of course, there is Whole Foods, but one is really just like any other these day,s aren't they? They're kind of becoming the McDs of natural food and stripping all personality out of the business.
Carolina Brewery on West Franklin St. and Tyler's on Main St. in Carrboro makes some really fine microbrews.
I've heard Jujube is really good, but Giorgios Bakatsias restaurants (his group owns several in the area) are famous for their inconsistency while occasionally being superlative.
Crooks Corner on West Franklin (in an area called Midway-the fuzzy transition strip from Chapel Hill to Carrboro) is worth a trip. Bill Neal opened it many years ago to celebrate the finer aspects of southern cooking. Shrimp and Grits is the signature dish that put the place and Neal on the national culinary map. The blackened rib eye, southern eggs benedict (brunch-made with finely shaved country ham), hoppin' john and blackened sweetbreads are all scrumptious.
Mama Dips Country Kitchen on West Rosemary St. (runs parallel to Franklin St., just one block north) has the best soul food around. Her fried oysters, fried chicken, roast pork, collard greens, squash casserole and sweet tea are southern soul food "Defined." I went to high school with Spring Council, Mama Dips daughter, one of the Council family who have been running the restaurant since it's inception.
If I think of others, I'll add them. There are many other good places to eat, but the ones above are favorite of the local clientele and most closely represent the true nature of Chapel Hill/Carrboro.
Oh, if you're dying for a slice of great pizza, go to Pepper's Pizza on the main drag of Franklin St. between Henderson and Columbia. Check out the dough mixer in the front window and don't be scared off by the fetish kids-all tattoos and metal bits who work the place. Plenty of pizza joints here in NY don't hold a candle to a slice from Pepper's. Then again, maybe I'm just nostalgic.
Have fun! |