Chapel Hill’s Famous Time-Out Chicken

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As newcomers to the Triangle in 2007, one of the first areas we visited was the always awesome city of Chapel Hill.  It was then that we first stumbled on Time Out Chicken, but at the time we fairly clueless about the area and did not even get a second look.  It took a long time and a Man Vs Food feature to realize that Time Out was a something of big deal to college students and Chapel Hill locals alike.  We had since been meaning to try it, and we finally got the opportunity when we ended up in Chapel Hill way too early for the Southern Season yearly sale.

In Search of: Chapel Hill Sushi at Sushi Yoshi

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While everyone talks about Durham being a burgeoning food capital, I always thought that Chapel Hill could give it a run for its money. I think the mix of academia, internationalism, and its hippie past create the perfect storm, it’s a place that both embraces the crunchy local food movement, high end cuisine, and a slice of Greasy faux-NY pizza, all within walking distance of each other. However, it surprises me that with all of different tastes and place to choose from, finding a decent sushi restaurant there is pretty daunting. After all, sushi is pretty darn ubiquitous now, so you’d think there’d be at least one good sushi joint in all of Chapel Hill. Tony and I didn’t realize it’d be such a search.

You scream, we all scream for Fresh.

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Growing up in suburban Virginia, summertime meant late nights hanging outside of the local Dairy Queen. Not so much for the ice cream,  but to be seen by other awkward teenagers. But, everyone knew that for actual ice cream, you drove down to Bergey’s Dairy farm for the richest, creamiest frozen treat you could ever find. When I moved away and heard that due to financial woes and health department codes, Bergey’s had to shut down, I felt like a part of my youth was gone. Since then, I haven’t had much interest in ice cream, who could compete?

Food Truckapalooza in Durham

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In theory, the Bull City Food Truck Fiesta should have been an awesome day. Foodies, loads of good food, and a great selection of beers at Sam’s Quik Shop, which was hosting. While the day was good for introducing the growing food truck scene in the Triangle, the heat and the massive amount of people turned a good time into a sunstroke-inducing afternoon.

Mama Dips: The best fried chicken in The Triangle?

My parents were in town from Illinois a couple of weeks ago and they wanted to try some local Chapel Hill cuisine while they were in town.  We had heard that Mama Dips (408 West Rosemary Street Chapel Hill, NC) had some of the best fried chicken in the area, so we figured it was worth giving it a shot.  My parents had been there in a prior trip to the Triangle, but had failed to order any of Mama Dips’ specialty fried chicken.  So we all loaded in the car in search of a tasty classic Southern meal.

Out of this world burritos at Cosmic Cantina

*a little note of admission here, as we were taking pics for this review, we were asked by one of the guys at Cosmic Cantina if he could use our pics for the site he was creating for the place. We’re flattered, but it had no bearing on our review*

If you love food, I can’t think of a better place to be in North Carolina than Chapel Hill/Carrboro. It’s really got it all; gourmet shopping at A Southern Season, great vegetarian meals at The Spotted Dog, lots of great local shoppes and restaurants. But let’s face it, I can’t do my grocery shopping at A Southern Season, my bank account would groan under the debt. Sometimes, you just need a good, fresh, and cheap meal. I remember lots of ramen-filled nights and how incredible good food on my meager work-study budget could be. Where, oh where was Cosmic Cantina at my school?

A Southern Season and gnocchi

Just a quick post with some pictures of our wonderful dinner and some of the goodies we got from A Southern Season and Trader Joe’s on our visit to Chapel Hill today.