King of the Hill

Well I’m finally getting around to my trip I took to Chapel Hill, NC in September. I only spent 2 nights there but managed to do a few cool things and eat at some good places. The anchor of downtown Chapel Hill is Franklin Street; it is an awesome college area, with tons of people ranging from UNC students and professors, to local businessmen, all packing the sidewalks throughout the day and night. You of course have your basic staple chains, Chipotle, Starbucks, Caribou, Cold Stone, and all the other hip college spots. However, one of the most famous restaurants is Top of the Hill. It is located on the corner of Columbia and Franklin Streets, which is the main intersection in downtown. It’s called Top of the Hill because it is a 3^rd floor restaurant and micro brewery. They have a rooftop patio that is open all year round that gives you a unique bird’s eye view of downtown Chapel Hill. Not only do they have amazing food, they also have a great selection of in house brews. My suggestions; if you want to eat healthy, they have really good salads; I had one with walnuts, goat cheese and a raspberry vinaigrette dressing. If you go there at night and want something a little heavier, grab a burger, they are fantastic, and whatever you do make sure you get a side of their phenomenal sweet potato fries. If you only have time to grab 1 meal in Chapel Hill, Top of the Hill is definitely where you need to go. If you want to grab a cup of coffee after dinner I would suggest going to the Caribou Coffee on Franklin St, it’s across the street diagonally from Top of the Hill, it’s huge inside with multiple rooms and tons of seating outside as well.

My favorite place to eat had to be a wine bar I went to called 411 West, located on the west end of Franklin St. I had a great pasta dish with pesto, asparagus, and pine nuts, pared with a crisp Pinot Grigio recommended by the bar tender. A great feature about this place is that you can order full and half portions all day, not just for the lunch menu, which allowed me to have the most amazing dessert I have ever had. It is a seasonal plate so you should probably go there really soon to be sure you don’t miss out. It was a pumpkin cheesecake on a walnut crust with homemade whipped cream and a caramel cookie, which is just thin piece of caramelized sugar in the shape of a cookie that they stick right in the top of the cheesecake. It’s seriously to die for, as a matter of fact if anyone goes, please bring me a slice back. Not only was the food good here, but the restaurant is beautiful inside and out and has a great atmosphere along with a tremendously knowledgeable wait staff. It’s also very reasonably priced; a glass of wine, half portion of pasta and dessert was just under $25!

Another good restaurant is Lantern, also located on Franklin St. Lantern is especially cool because all of their produce and poultry is purchased from local North Carolina farms. I had a 2 delicious chicken thighs, cooked perfectly, and asparagus on a bed of rice and vegetables. I would definitely recommend Lantern however, it is a little pricier than 411 West. After dinner I walked across the street to a little dive bar/concert venue called The Cavern Tavern or “The Cave” for short. This place is unique, the inside is decorated like an actual cave, with the walls and ceiling both mimicking actual rock. The place is 100% dive bar and for that reason 100% awesome. Old school cash reps, tabs on post it notes, $1 PBR, even a little Chihuahua named Beast behind the bar guarding the joint. I saw some incredible talent that night for a $5 cover charge, Ernie Halter, Keaton Simons, Curtis Peoples and Andrew Hoover all played unplugged set lists to a good sized crowd given the size of the venue. If you don’t know who those guys are, go buy their albums on iTunes.

One more place to check out is Foster’s Market; I went to the one in Durham right by Duke University. Foster’s is in a word awesome. For those of you who have read my previous blogs, it’s a combination of Fido (Nashville), The Market (Denver) and Magnolias (Lynchburg). This place is has unbelievable food, cold sandwiches, hot sandwiches, cold deli case, salad case, dessert, baking goods and supplies, wine, old fashioned candy, seriously everything. The Durham location was crawling with Duke students, studying and hanging out, and there is plenty of seating inside and outside. You can eat out on the side porch, back patio, or even front yard, where they have 20 or 30 old school wooden beach chairs. I had a Panini that was out of this world but you seriously can’t go wrong, and it’s only a short drive from downtown Chapel Hill.

The two days I spent on Franklin Street were great, and I only scratched the surface, there are so many other places that I wanted to check out that I simply didn’t have time to explore. My suggestion go search for your own hidden gems, and if you can’t find one, or don’t have time for exploration of your own, go to one of the restaurants I tried, they’re all good, and all different.