Last Thursday, I was a guest in a beautiful apartment on Telegraph Hill for dinner. Situated right near the top of the Vallejo Steps, the home was full of art painted by our host’s girlfriend. Kristie. You can see a few of those paintings behind fellow guest and food writer, Marcia Gagliardi, the mastermind behind
Read more

Today on the blog, I’m talking about Cozymeal, a new Bay Area startup that got me super excited when I talked with one of the founders, Samad Nasserian, about the company. Why did it get me that excited? Let me count the reasons why: 1. Intimate meals you won’t find elsewhere. Cozymeal puts on dinners
Read more

I’m slowly digging my way into the foodie world here on the east side of the San Francisco Bay, and as always, Meet Up has proven a good resource for meeting like-minded lovers of food and wine. In particular, I’m enjoying the Tri-Valley Foodies group run by Miggi Demeyer, a local chef and sommelier with
Read more

I was thrilled to again judge a Fire in the Triangle battle, having judged my first last year when NC Competition Dining premiered in the Research Triangle. If you love food and live in the area, then you simply must make next year’s series—it’s too late for this year’s. All the battles have been sold
Read more

Counter Culture Coffee 4911 South Alston Avenue Research Triangle Park Website Free! Durham has several notable coffee roasters–Joe Van Gogh and Bean Traders make my list–but none have as large a profile and the nationwide distribution that Counter Culture does. The company is headquartered here and Durham hosts one of their several training facilities. Counter
Read more

Dishcrawl, based in San Jose, has spread its food-tour wings throughout the US and Canada. Their expansion into the Triangle is new, with the first Dishcrawl being held in Raleigh last February. Durham’s Dishcrawl debuted last week over two separate evenings due to high demand.  I attended the first night on a press pass (which
Read more

It’s time for another Triangle Foodie Happening post, in large part because Dishcrawl is going crazy in the Bull City this week! What is Dishcrawl? It is a nationwide company that puts together one night events with the goal of focusing on a city or neighborhood’s cuisines. If you are thinking food tourism, you are
Read more

When An’s (2800 Renaissance Park Place, Cary) promotional team invited me to a blogger night to sample some cocktails and appetizers, I was thrilled. An’s beautifully presented dishes, photographs of which are always on rotation at the RDU baggage claim screens, have tempted me for years, but I had not managed to visit the restaurant
Read more

Back in the fall, I spent a few days at TOPO Distillery’s facilities as part of the Terra VITA Sustainable Classroom. It was a strange sort of torture being so close to their organic, 99.6% local (more on that later) array of spirits that includes white whiskey, vodka, and gin. So I asked Esteban McMahan,
Read more

One of my goals before we move is to hit up a few North Carolina heritage sights I’ve wanted to explore but have never gotten around to before now. One was checked off the list on Memorial Day when my friend Ellen invited us to join her at Bennett Place in Durham. What’s Bennett Place?
Read more