On my second day downtown, and fourth day in LA, my sister joined me for sightseeing and face shoveling dining. We took advantage of DineLA! week to try out a spot called Tiara Café, roughly ten blocks from my hotel. It’s going for a hipster aesthetic with a focus on market-fresh, healthy ingredients and the
Read more

Beasley’s Chicken + Honey 237 S. Wilmington Street Downtown Raleigh We tried Beasley’s with a bunch of fellow foodies, two of whom are huge fans of the spot. It’s a concept restaurant by Ashley Christiansen, a two-times James Beard nominee, which is a huge honor. The space sells only fried chicken and sides. You can
Read more

Root Beer Flip Foundation Downtown Raleigh Website I shy away from cocktails that have soda as a main ingredient—I prefer less dilution and more thoughtful ingredient combinations than soda-based drinks usually reflect. The root beer flip at Foundation, however, is an absolutely delicious cocktail that I don’t regret breaking that rule for at all. The
Read more

Mexicano Mojito  Bandidos Woodcroft, Durham $5.95 There are two things you can count on a Bandidos drink being: stiff and affordable. The Mexicano Mojito fulfills both of those qualifications, though it leaves something to be desired in the flavor department. That’s because the strong alcohol from three, count ‘em, three rums—Bacardi Light, Bacardi Dark, and Bacardi
Read more

Veev is a liqueur made mainly from the acai berry. The back of the bottle waxes poetic on the heart of the Amazon, the adventurous benefits of acai, and the pleasing addition of other exotic (their word, not mine) fruits. I won’t be quite as mysterious as they are—those other fruits are prickly pear and
Read more

Corn ‘N Oil Geer St. Garden Central Park District, Durham $8 This unique cocktail was recommended to me by the lovely @nutellaisevil after she tried Geer St. Garden for the first time on the same day that I was about to do the same. It’s a simple mix of blackstrap rum, falernum syrup, and fresh
Read more

The Floridita Cuban Revolution American Tobacco District, Durham This cocktail, an alluring deep brown, was made with Bacardi Select dark rum, sweet vermouth, lime juice, and crème de cacao. If you’re thinking that’s an odd mix of ingredients, you’re right! But it’s a combination that works pretty well. The rum absolutely dominates the drink, and
Read more

Durham Spirits Company 311 E. Trinity Avenue Website Single Classes run $49 to $59 Durham Spirits Company is a new venture by Katie Coleman, a chef and culinary instructor at The Art Institute of Raleigh-Durham with years of international training. She opened Durham Spirits Company to offer cooking and mixology classes, and I had the
Read more

Mole-Mole bu·ku, Downtown Raleigh This thick cocktail should be listed as a dessert. With both chocolate vodka and crème de cacao in the ingredient list, it’s awfully close to drinking a Mexican hot chocolate in cold cocktail form. The Navan, which is a vanilla cognac as I just learned, is very subtle in the mixture.
Read more

Raspberry Veranda Parizade, Durham $6.50 Website The Raspberry Veranda is a welcome addition to cocktails using sweet tea vodka—this is no simple twist on an Arnold Palmer! Instead, this cocktail uses the sweet tea vodka, sour mix, triple sec, lime juice, and Chambord. It combines very nicely into a sweet drink that, not shockingly, resembles
Read more