Pizzeria Toro 105 E. Chapel Hill St. Five Points, Durham Website $12 to 1$16 11 am to 11 pm daily Pizzeria Toro is an alluring and exciting gourmet pizza restaurant. I am jealous of downtown Durham residents who have this gem down the block.  At first look, the main dining room appears to be an
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Luxardo Maraschino Original Liqueur Veneto, Italy 32% ABV This is a spirit of legend for me, in that I’d seen it in a million cocktail recipes before I could ever track it down. Now that it’s finally appeared at my local ABC store, I can explore it. And it’s full of shockers. Per Luxardo’s website,
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elements 2110 Environ Way East Highway 54 Chapel Hill Website Entrees: $18 — $26 Opened in the fall of 2012, elements is a farm-to-table focused venture of Chef Michael Chuong’s. He opened ăn in Cary in 2006. I have never made it to ăn, but it’s always been high on my must-dine list, so I
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Caipirinha Calavera (my restaurant review) Downtown Raleigh $8 First things first: the rum-soaked sugar cane. It is both visually pleasing and an essential garnish for this cocktail. Caipirinhas are a favorite in my cocktail repertoire, so I am always happy to try a new one, and having one from Calavera’s impressive bar just made sense
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Cilantro Jalapeno Margarita Calavera (my restaurant review) Downtown Raleigh $8 I have been dying to try the tequila cocktails at Calavera. They plain sound amazing, and it’s hard to go wrong with me, tequila, and something spicy. So ordering the cilantro jalapeno margarita was basically a foregone conclusion. I’ve tried a million varieties on it
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RumChata Wisconsin 13.5% ABV RumChata is a liqueur coming from the Agave Loco brand, and you can bet I squealed when I saw it on the shelf. Why? Because I love horchata, and an horchata made for imbibing sounded perfect to me. My expert background in foodie Spanish means I can translate their horchata con
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City Kitchen Media Dinner Website Last week, I had the pleasure of attending a complimentary dinner at City Kitchen for media types, which I am occasionally considered thanks to my WRAL Out and About posts. This dinner was put on by Giorgios Bakatsias himself, owner of the Giorgios Hospitality Group and a man who has
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Bobbi’s Rum Punch West 94th Street Pub Woodcroft, Durham Website   Bobbi’s Rum Punch is silver rum with orange and pineapple juices and a floater of Bacardi 151 and grenadine. Well, it is supposed to have a floater, but based on the lack of layers and its singular color, I’d say all those ingredients are
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Tico Fresco W XYZ Lounge Aloft Hotel, Chapel Hill $9 The Tico Fresco is a beautiful cocktail made with Myer’s dark rum, fresh watermelon and lime juice, and jalapenos. It is a dark-rose pink, and the flavor of watermelon comes through strongly then is chased away by the tingly heat of jalapeno. The rum and
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Firefly Mango Palmer Alivia’s Durham Bistro (Restaurant Review) Brightleaf, Durham   My delight in this drink takes me by surprise. It is made with Firefly sweet tea vodka, sour mix, simple syrup, and Malibu mango rum. If you are a regular reader of this blog, you already know why the Firefly Mango Palmer was more
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