I was headed out of town to visit family for the Easter holiday last week and made my very first visit to new Terminal 2 at RDU Airport to catch a flight. The new terminal is very bright and slick looking. I snapped the picture above as I made my way to my flight’s departure gate. I had no idea that the 42nd Street Oyster Bar had a second location in Raleigh. Until last week I was only aware of their location in downtown on West Jones Street. It is interesting to see them branch out and open a second restaurant out at the airport. I was pressed for time and couldn’t stop to eat, but I hope to try out the food at this location on a future visit. Two thumbs up overall for the new Terminal 2 out at RDU!
Pit Master Ed Mitchell checks on the smoker at Cuefest!
For some reason there hasn’t been much buzz about this as in previous years, but I want to make sure word gets out this fun event. The 4th Annual ‘Cuegrass Festival is set to return to the The Pit BBQ in Raleigh on Saturday April 21st from 12-6pm. The action will take place along Davie street in front of restaurant with a jam-packed day full of great ‘cue, local brews and toe-tappin’ bluegrass music! The folks at The Pit will have the pig cookers fired up to serve plenty of their famous Eastern North Carolina-style barbecue and offer a selection of local brews.
Ed Show's The Musicians hot it's done ~ 'Cuefest 2010
Musical acts planned for this year’s event are Mandolin Orange, Delta Rae, Old Habits, and American Aquarium.
The crowd settles in for some great music ~ 'Cuefest 2010
Make sure you bring your lawn chairs and blankets for a day filled of relaxing with great food and music. Proceeds from the $5 gate donation go to the North Carolina 4-H Youth Development.
Enjoying my first Locopop outide of Fullsteam in Durham
Locopops are special frozen treats known as “paletas” (Mexican popsicles) made right here in the Triangle by a local business started in Durham by Summer Bicknell back in June 2005. The frozen pops come in both traditional Mexican flavors, such as mango-chile and tamarind, and quirky ones like honeydew-lavender and chocolate-rosemary. Locopops can be broken down into two groups: dairy based or non-dairy based. In addition to their regular flavors they are constantly introducing weekly “guest stars” (like blueberry buttermilk) available for a limited time only based on the availability of their seasnonal ingredients.
I had my first Locopop last year while attending the a street festival in Durham. I was lucky enough to stumble upon the Locopop street cart set up along Rigsbee Avenue outside of the Fullsteam Brewery. The first pop I had was one of their more traditional falvors (Pomegranate Tangerine). More recently I had a strawberry coconut flovred locopop which was equally fantastic. Locopops are typically sold for around $2 each and the number of places you can buy them continues to grow.
What started out as one small storefront in Durham seven years ago has now grown to three Locopops locations throughout the Triangle. Locopops are also now sold by over two dozen area merchants in Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill, and can even be found in Pittsboro, Cary, & Greensboro! (full list here)
Locopops Locations:
2604A Hillsborough Road
Durham, NC 27705 Open daily from 1-7
231 S. Elliott Road
Chapel Hill, NC 27514 Open daily from 1-7
1908 Hillsborough Street
Raleigh, NC 27607 Open daily from M-Th 3-7; Fr-Su 1-7
Clyde Cooper's BBQ ~ 109 East Davie Street Raleigh, NC
I snapped this picture of Clyde Cooper’s BBQ yesterday afternoon while walking along Davie Street in downtown Raleigh. Clyde’s is a Raleigh institution famous for their Carolina-style barbecue. They have been serving area residents with their slow cooked top lean pork shoulders and hams since 1938. While there are many great BBQ places in the Triangle, no BBQ tour is complete without a visit to Clyde’s. To view their full menu visit their website: http://clydecoopersbbq.com/
(Every week I feature a photo of a local business or event taken during the past seven days. If you would like to submit a photo for consideration please email met at triangleexplorer@gmail.com. If your photo is selected proper credit will be given along with a link back to your website. Thanks!)
Wake Forest just got a whole lot more flavorful. Lumpy’s Ice Cream has been serving up some of the best locally made ice cream at events around the Triangle since 2001, but this weekend they make the leap to opening up their first brick and mortar location in downtown Wake Forest. Their grand opening celebration is scheduled for this Saturday, March 24, 2012 with an official ribbon cutting ceremony at 11am.
Lumpy's Ice Cream ~ 306 Wait Avenue, Wake Forest, NC
Earlier this week I was lucky enough to be invited to attend a food blogger preview of Lumpy’s to sample some of their flavors and meet with the owner Buck Buchanan. Buck is a great guy who clearly has a passion for what he does and supports the community by using all natural ingredients from local producers to create his ice cream. All of the ice cream at lumpy’s is made using hormone free cream from Maple View Farms in Hillsborough, NC and contain no artificial coloring, flavors, or corn syrup.
Lumpy's Ice Cream
Lumpy’s currently produces over 200 gallons of ice cream a week and makes over 200 different flavors. At any given time they feature 14 different flavors in the case at their shop with 6 or more flavors offered off their mobile cart at events. One of their operation goals is to maintain a proper balance of production vs. demand so their ice cream is always as fresh as possible.
Of the various flavors I tried on my visit two of my favorites were “Baklava” (with cinnamon, honey, and walnuts) and “Drunken Berry”, a celtic flavor inspired by the Highland Games that features vanilla ice cream with rasberries that have been soaked in 12 year old scotch. Lumpy’s also offers more traditional flavors including “Sally’s Silly Strawberry”, “Kickin’ Kenny’s Chocolate” and “Bernie’s Butter Pecan” (made with real butter).
Seating Inside Lumpy's
I found that I really enjoyed the unique texture and consistency of Lumpy’s ice cream. It isn’t soft serve, but it also isn’t hard like the typical ice cream you buy at the grocery store. Buck explained that they strive to serve their ice cream at just below 5 degrees. Once you get over 5 degrees ice cream begins to start melting, but just below that it is the optimum temperature at which the flavors of the ice cream are fully expressed.
In addition to serving ice cream, Lumpy’s future plans include offering hamburgers and hot dogs made from locally sourced beef supplied by Harris Robinette Farms out of Pinetops, NC. This is a family farm that has been managed by the same family for over 100 years and practices sustainable and environmentally friendly practices to raise 100% grass fed cattle free of hormones and pesticides. The hamburger and hot dog samples I had were very juicy and flavorful. The hot dog is not your traditional type of hot dog but more of an Italian sausage made with flavorful spices.
Lump's Ice Cream Pints
In the future Buck hopes to sell Lumpy’s ice cream through grocery stores throughout the Triangle, but in the meantime you can purchase their ice cream by the pint at the store and find it for sale by the scoop at local restaurants, sporting events, and concert venues (full list of location here). To learn more about Lumpy’s check out their website or watch this cool Hartford Insurance commercial below that features Lumpy’s story as one of their small business clients.
The Triangle Explorer 