The Triangle Explorer

September 27, 2012 · 9:20 am

Recap of the August Counter Culture Coffee “TNT” Latte Art Competition at Sola Coffee & Cafe’

September Latte Art Throwdown at Sola Coffee

Sola Coffee & Cafe’ in North Raleigh was the host for the August Counter Culture Coffee latte art competition, lovingly known as the Thursday Night Throwdown or “TNT” for short. As shared in my July TNT recap post, the purpose of these friendly competitions is to cultivate a coffee culture that respects presentation and quality coffee drinks and provides an opportunity for the local coffee community to come together and have some fun!

Spectators at Sola Coffee watching the throwdown unfold

Sola Coffee & Cafe is relatively new to the local coffee scene being open for only a little over 6 months, but they dove in head first and did a fantastic job of hosting their first TNT competition. The pool of baristas competing was the largest I have ever seen (there were a total of 28) and the crowd of spectators gathered was pretty darn big too.

Barista from Cafe Helios prepares his latte

As always, Lem Butler of Counter Culture did an awesome job of MCing the competition and keeping things moving along seamlessly. Things got kicked off shorlty after 7pm with the first two baristas going head to head to create their latte art to be presented and scored by a panel of three judges.

“Tulip” design latte art

Latte art is typically judged based on four criteria: balance and symmetry, use of space, color contrast and definition, and overall impression. The judges compare the appearance of the two drinks based on these factors and decide which barista will move on to the next round.

Baristas working at the espresso machine

As the competition advances, baristas will sometimes be asked to pour their drinks blindfolded or will willingly choose to use increasingly smaller cups to present their drinks. These variations make creating latte art more difficult and can cause for some interesting results from even the most experienced baristas.

The crowd waiting for the final results

After several rounds of competition, the field was narrowed down to two baristas to face off in the final round. It was a fun evening that saw a plethora of great pours from the many great local baristas, but it all came down to Austin Oliver of Jubala Village Coffee and Michael Harwood of Open Eye Cafe in the final round.

August 2012 TNT Winner
Michael Harwood of Open Eye Cafe in Carrboro

Both Austin & Mike did a great job, but in the end Mike of Open Eye Cafe was crowned the August TNT champion. With that, he won some prizes and bragging rights for a month before being called on to return to help judge the next throwdown. The details for the next TNT competition are provided below. You can visit my flickr photo album for more of my pictures from the August 2012 TNT Latte Art Throwdown at Sola.

September TNT event Details
– Date/Time: Thursday September 27th, 7-9:30pm
– Location: Scratch Bakery – 111 Orange Street – Downtown Durham
– Free & Open to the public to watch
– $5 for baristas to enter the competition

Third Annual TerraVITA Food & Wine Event – November 1-3, 2012

Terralogo

With Terra meaning “of the earth” and Vita meaning “life,” the name captures the very spirit of the Triangle’s premier foodie event which returns to the area this November 1st through the 3rd. The third annual TerraVITA Food & Wine Event will bring together some of the finest biodynamic and organically-grown wines and microbrews in the world with some of the very best North Carolina chefs, known and celebrated for their outstanding reputations and chosen for their devotion and allegiance to locally-grown ingredients.

TerraVITA 2012 will offer a stellar line-up of the best chefs, from the coast to the mountains of North Carolina, and unite their amazing food with select beverages produced by some of the best craftsmen in the world.

TerraVITA Grand Tasting Event 2011
(photo courtesy of TerraVITA)

The “Grand Tasting on the Green”, the headlining event of TerraVITA, takes place on Saturday, November 3, from 1 – 4:30 p.m.

This event brings together some of the best sustainably-produced wines, microbrews, coffees and spirits and offers them side-by-side with culinary tastings by James Beard-nominated chefs, artisan chocolatiers, charcuteries and cheese makers from across the state of North Carolina. Advance tickets are $65 for the all-inclusive event with a special designated driver/no alcohol ticket offered for $55. Tickets can be purchased on the event website here.

3 Cups
(photo courtesy of TerraVITA)

Participating restaurants and food artisans:
Herons Restaurant (Cary), Dan and Jael Rattigan from French Broad Chocolate Lounge (Asheville), Acme Food & Beverage Company (Carrboro), Knife & Fork (Spruce Pine), Elemental Chocolate (Raleigh), Little Hen Restaurant (Holly Springs), Mandolin (Raleigh), Chefs 105 (Morehead City), On The Square (Tarboro), Harvest Moon Grille (Charlotte), Il Palio (Chapel Hill), Crippen’s Restaurant (Blowing Rock), Crumb (Raleigh), Chapel Hill Creamery (Chapel Hill), Green Valley Grill (Greensboro), 518 West (Raleigh), Oakleaf (Pittsboro), Hillsborough Cheese Company (Hillsborough), Farmhand Foods (Durham), 18 Seaboard (Raleigh), Weathervane (Chapel Hill), Rose’s Meat Market & Sweet Shop (Durham), Market Restaurant (Raleigh), Lucky 32 Southern Kitchen (Greensboro/Cary), The Chef’s Academy (Morrisville), Escazu Artisan Chocolates (Raleigh), Sandwhich (Chapel Hill), and NamaKiss Chocolates (Raleigh).

The Market Restaurant
(photo courtesy of TerraVITA)

Beverage participants:
De Maison Selections, Sour Grapes, SIP…A Wine Store, Authentique Vin, Tryon Distributing, Highland Brewing Company, Peak Organic Beer, New Belgium Brewing, Mystery Brewing Company, and Full Sail Brewing, as well as Carrboro Coffee Company, Joe Van Gogh, Slingshot Coffee Company and TOPO Spirits and more. More than 100 beverage samples will be available for tasting.

Carrboro Coffee
(photo courtesy of TerraVITA)

In addition to the marquee Grand Tasting, three other events occur during the festival: Chefs’ Harvest Potluck,The Sustainable Classroom, and The Carolina Table: East Meets West Dinner.

Additional Event Information:

Chef’s Harvest Potluck
When: Thursday, November 1st (7-9pm)
Where: Town Commons in Carrboro, NC
Cost: $55 (for tickets purchased before Oct 15)

The dinner will feature dishes from 20 top chefs in the Triangle, including Andrea Reusing from Lantern, Sara Foster from Foster’s Market, Bill Smith from Crooks Corner, Sean Fowler from Mandolin, Adam Rose from Il Palio, Kevin Callaghan from Acme Food & Beverage Company, Bret Jennings from Elaine’s On Franklin, Seth Kingsbury from Pazzo, Vimala Rajendran from Vimala’s Curryblossom Café, Jim Nixon from Panzanella, Marshall Smith at Glasshalfull, Aaron Vandemark from Pancuito, Sam Suchoff from The Pig and more. All the featured chefs use Carrboro Farmers’ Market as a consistent resource for ingredients and 100 percent of the money raised through ticket sales will go to the Market for physical improvements to its current location.

The Sustainable Classroom
When: Thursday, November 2nd (9:30am-4:15pm)
Where: TOPO Distiller & Greenbridge – Both in Chapel Hill
Cost: $35 for two sessions, or $50 for four consecutive sessions.

A combination of culinary workshops, tastings, and beverage and food demonstrations featuring food and beverage experts and aficionados. The Sustainable Classroom sessions will be held in two locations, just one block from one another in Chapel Hill: The new TOPO Distillery on Graham St. near the intersection of West Franklin, and the event space at Greenbridge on Graham St. Each session lasts an hour and fifteen minutes and will include multiple experts specializing in different facets of food and/or drink.

Session Sampler: One session pairs chef and cookbook author Bill Smith from the James Beard-winning restaurant Crooks Corner in Chapel Hill with NC native and author Sheri Castle; they’ll offer tastings of favorite recipes and discuss the whims and woes of putting together a winning cookbook. Another session combines cheesemonger Alexander Kast (Southern Season, Chapel Hill) with Triangle chef/instructor Breana Lai, and sommelier and proprietor Inez Ribustello (On the Square, Tarboro) to do the ultimate wine, cheese and food tasting. Guests will choose among eight sessions and each guest may select a maximum of four sessions to attend throughout the day.

Other Sustainable Classroom experts: Dr. Bernie Herman from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Tom Gallivan from Shooting Point Oysters (coastal Virginia), Scott Maitland from TOPO Distillery (Chapel Hill), Scott Conary from Carrboro Coffee Company (Carrboro), Cassie Parsons from Harvest Moon Grille (Charlotte), Cheese Expert Sasha Shreders from Southern Foods (Winston-Salem/Greensboro), Jay Pierce from Lucky 32 Southern Kitchen (Greensboro, Cary), Leah Wong Ashburn from Highland Brewing Company (Asheville), Amanda Hodge from Great Lakes Brewing Co. (Cleveland, OH), Wine educator and consultant Mary Margaret McCamic from The Clever Vine (Carrboro), Sherry Stolfo from The Chef’s Academy (Morrisville), Marilyn Markel from A Southern Season (Chapel Hill), and more.

A full list of speakers and session descriptions can be found on the event website here.

The Carolina Table: East Meets West Dinner at Chatjam Mills in Pittsboro
When: Friday November 2nd (7-10pm)

This event began as an exclusive “thank you” event for sponsors. This year, it’s open to the public for the first time and showcases three chefs–one from eastern NC, one from western NC, and one from the Triangle. The chefs work together to prepare a six-course meal centered on local ingredients. This year, the chefs include James Beard nominee Vivian Howard from Chef and The Farmer (Kinston), Cassie Parsons from Harvest Moon Grille (Charlotte), and Adam Rose from Il Palio (Chapel Hill). Dessert will be prepared by Jael and Dan Rattigan from French Broad Chocolate Lounge (Asheville, NC).

For more information on attending TerraVITA 2012, please visit their website and Facebook Page or follow them on twitter at @Terravitafoodie.

2 Comments

Filed under Chapel Hill, Chocolate, Coffee, Events, Food, Local Beers and Breweries, Restaurant Reviews, Wine Tasting

Tagged as carrboro, Chapel Hill, Foodie Event, Terravita

September 21, 2012 · 12:29 pm

Monuts Donuts of Durham – The Best Donuts Ever! Period.

Monuts Donuts!

I’ll be honest with you, I have a lot of experience eating donuts. I grew up in New Jersey eating Dunkin’ Donuts and currently work around the corner from a Krispy Kreme in downtown Raleigh. On a recent trip to the Pacific Northwest I even made an early morning excursion to the famous Voodoo Doughnut shop in downtown Portland to try their famous donuts.

Well, I am here to tell you that none of those places even come close to the awesomeness of the donuts made by Monuts Donuts in Durham. As the title of this post states, Monuts make the best donuts ever! Period.

Monuts Donuts at the Durham Farmers’ Market

I first heard about Monuts through facebook when they opened a little over a year ago in Durham. It started off as a two person operation by Lindsay Moriarty and her partner Rob Gillespie but their reputation and popularity has quickly blossomed requiring them to expand their team to include Lindsay’s father and a new employee to help meet the growing demand for their donuts.

Monuts & bike coffee setting up along Hunt Street in Durham

Lindsey and Rob started off making a few dozen donuts each week in the professional shared space kitchen at the Cookery. Now it isn’t unusual for them to make 60-70 dozen doughnuts each week. Customers can pre-order their donuts online and receive them by delivery each Friday or you can find them at the Durham Farmers’ Market on Saturday mornings. They typically set up their donut table on Hunt Street each Saturday morning alongside the cool folks at BikeCoffee.

Fresh Monuts Donuts

Monuts Donuts are all hand-made. The dough is made the night before, and Lindsay and Rob get up well before dawn to perform the glazing process literally minutes before they head out the door to sell the fresh donuts at the Farmers’ Market.

Monuts fans lining up at a recent RTP Food Truck Rodeo!

The donuts typically run around $2 each (well worth it) and they offer a limited number of Saturday pre-orders through their website providing a great deal at $12.50 a dozen. Their donuts are very popular and they often sell out within 2 hours at the market.

Dulce de Leche Donut

In addition to their donuts being super fresh, Monuts Donuts stands out for their unique flavors using seasonally-inspired local ingredients whenever possible. On my recent visits to the market to buy their donuts I have experience everything from a Dulce de Leche donut, to flavors like Cinnamon Hibisucs, Maple Bacon Bourbon, and Blueberry Cabernet with Dark Chocolate Shavings (a favorite of mine).

Maple Bacon Bourbon Donut

As mentioned above, their donuts are very popular and in high demand each weekend at the Farmers’ Market. Fortunately for donut lovers like myself, Monuts has plans to open a brick and mortar location in 2013. Planning for the store is still in the early stages, but we do know it will be located at 110 E. Parrish Street, right across from Bull City Burger and Brewery.

Blueberry Cabernet Donut with Dark Chocolate Shavings

Recent updates on their facebook page indicate the store will feature 14ft ceilings, exposed interior brick walls and original hard wood floors in the dining room. Having their own store is an important next step for Monuts since it will mean more prep/ baking space allowing for them to increase production and experiment with even more flavors. For a behind the scenes glimpse at their current donut making process check out this fun video below.

You can read more about the cool people behind Monuts Donuts in a recent feature about them in last month’s Durham Magazine. Or you can also follow them on Facebook and Twitter to stay updated on the flavors they are working on and where you can find them each week.

4 Comments

Filed under Durham, Farmers' Markets, Food

Tagged as bikeCoffee, Doughnits, Durham, Durham Farmers' Market, Monuts Donuts

September 14, 2012 · 4:31 am

White Street Brewing Co. Taproom in Wake Forest Opens Sept. 15th

Beer lovers take note. A new North Carolina Brewery is opening up in downtown Wake Forest this weekend! I plan to visit the brewery soon and will share my pics with you here on my blog in a future post. In the meantime check out the official press release below for all the details about this latest addition to the local beer scene.

White Street Brewing Co., Wake Forest’s first brewery and North Carolina’s 70th, welcomes the public to the opening of its taproom on Saturday, September 15, noon – midnight. The 4,000-square-foot beer manufacturing facility, located at 218 South White Street, will produce 1,200 barrels (Bbl) of craft beer annually with capacity for up to 4,000 Bbl/year.

Initial offerings will be White Street Brewing Co. Pale Ale, Scottish Ale, Black IPA and Kolsch served in flights, pints and growlers. Ales and lagers will be added by season and at the discretion and creativity of the head brewer. The craft beer will be self-distributed by the brewery and sold in bars, restaurants and other establishments in addition to what’s served in the on-site taproom.

“White Street Brewing Co. is thrilled to be part of the vibrancy of our historic downtown and the craft beer renaissance,” says Dino Radosta, owner of the new brewery with his wife, Tina. “The unique setting of the beer factory combined with the taproom is a first for Wake Forest. We invite beer enthusiasts and others to visit us as well as request White Street Brewing Co. beer at their favorite establishments,” he adds.

The microbrewery is in a building that was originally a 1930’s automobile dealership. Throughout the years, it was many things, including a furniture store, repair shop and vintage car sales showroom. Radosta, who owns three buildings in downtown Wake Forest, began renovations for the brewery in January 2012 and received the certificate of occupancy in July. Brewing commenced and was perfected in preparation for the Sept. 15 opening.

The beer manufacturing equipment is in full view of the taproom for an overall open space that features original brick walls and an exposed ceiling. The 36-foot-long, wrap-around bar is made of hand-stained red oak. Dart boards occupy a nearby wall for one of the many activities and events that will take place at the brewery. Sodas and snacks will be available and food can be brought in or ordered from nearby restaurants. The brewery does not have a full kitchen for food service.

White Street Brewing Co.’s Head Brewer Chris Bivins recently moved to Wake Forest from Atlanta, where he worked as a brewer at a local pub and homebrewed while he earned a finance degree from Auburn University.

To learn more, visit www.FaceBook.com/WhiteStreetBrewing or WhiteStreetBrewing.com.

2 Comments

Filed under Bars, Businesses, Local Beers and Breweries

Tagged as Beer, Downtown Wake Forest, NC Breweries, Wake Forest, White Street Brewing Company

September 12, 2012 · 1:31 pm

Recap Of The Labor Day Weekend Food Truck Rodeo In Durham

View looking down Foster Street in Durham

The Food Truck Rodeo at Durham Central Park over Labor Day weekend was the largest food truck rodeo in the Triangle to date. There were over 45 local trucks participating offering all kinds of culinary delights ranging from Detroit style pizza, dumplings, Korean BBQ, gourmet donuts, to raw healthy vegetarian foods! The event organizers organizers, Becky Cascio of Pie Pushers and Brian Bottger of Only Burger did an outstanding job coordinating this rodeo. Not only was the truck turnout impressive but the layout and spacing of the trucks really helped with the customer lines and crowd control making for a very enjoyable experience.

Trucks lined up along both sides of Foster St.

Trucks were lined up under the Farmer’s Market pavillion and along Foster and Hunt Street. To help limit generator noise, a large (and very quiet) industrial sized generator from Hertz was used to power all of the trucks at the rodeo which eliminating the need for individual generators which are often much noisier. I don’t make it to too many of these rodeos because I usually catch my favorite trucks on their regular visits to places like Fullsteam Brewery in Durham and Big Boss Brewery in Raleigh but I couldn’t resists seeing all of the trucks in one place.

Philly’s Cheese Steak Truck

I also wanted to check out some of the newer trucks on scene like the Philly Cheese Steak truck pictured above. They are the newest truck out of Raleigh, and regularly setup in the parking lot of Gypsy Jule on North West Street in downtown Raleigh on weekend nights. Although I didn’t get a chance to sample their food that day, they are now on the top of my list to try!

The Humble Pig

I also spotted the The Humble Pig truck. They have been around for a while now, but I’ve never seen their truck during my travels before and thought I would grab this shot of the crowd getting in the line to buy some of their well regarded locally sourced bar-b-que. I like the little pig in their logo too. So many trucks were there that day and I had so little time eat. I hope to find their truck again soon.

Gussy’s Greek

As I walked along Foster Street I came upon another truck I hadn’t seen before It was a blue truck called Gussy’s Greek. As the name implies they feature Greek fare like gyros, grilled chicken pita sandwiches, homemade hummus, falafel and Greek salads. I liked the look of the truck (upon looking over the truck I realized it was the old Slippin’ Sliders truck) and the customers I spoke to were very excited about the food the got from Gussy’s. So now I have them on my list to try soon as well!

Sympathy for the Deli

It is always good to go to these rodeos with a plan in mind. Know what trucks you want to try and get to them early. If you spend too much time meandering around, the lines will grow long before you make up your mind on what to eat. On this occasion I was determined to try one of the sandwiches from the Sympathy for the Deli truck. They are mobile deli serving sandwiches made with locally-sourced, sustainable meats, all hand-cured, roasted, and smoked in Durham. I got in line as soon as I arrived to beat the crowd and was rewarded with the most amazing sandwich I have ever had.

My smoked turkey sandwich from Sympathy for the Deli

The smoked turkey sandwich I purchased from Sympathy For The Deli had incredible smoked turkey meat topped with lettuce, locally grown tomatoes, onion, herb mayo, and swiss cheese. All nestled between warm toasted sourdough bread. I also had a side of their signature spicy pickled sugar snap peas that they call “Peakles”.

The sandwich was amazing! It was full of flavorful chunks of succulent smoked turkey that went great with the herb mayo and veggie toppings. They bread was fantastic too – it was thick (but not too thick) and toasted yet had a soft center making the sandwich very easy to eat! I loved this sandwich and thought the “Peakles” were a tasty and creative side. I can’t wait to try another sandwich from them and plan to do a more in-depth review of their truck and food offerings soon.

Triangle Raw Foods

Just because it is a food truck doesn’t mean the food you get from it can’t be healthy. A perfect example of this is the Triangle Raw Foods truck. Matthew Daniels and Jane Howard Crutchfield, the folks behind TRF, offer raw, gluten-free, dairy-free, meatless meals. They come to the rodeo with their meals already prepared so there is no wait time which is another huge plus.

On this particular day their menu featured pad thai, green burritos, tunot nori rolls, asian marinated kale, sweet potato & apple salad, and pumpkin & chocolate tarts. I stopped by and said hello to Matt and Jane, who are both fantastic people by the way, and picked up some of the tunot nori rolls and pumpkin tarts to take home and share with my wife. We both thoroughly enjoyed their healthy raw food creations and I look forward to trying more of their menu items in the future.

The Paws4Ever Waggin’ Wagon

Some have speculated that the food truck scene in the Triangle may have reached capacity with over 45 trucks now serving the area. However, I think there is always room for a new idea as long as it is executed well. I found it very interesting to see a food truck dedicated to Dogs. It is called the Paws4Ever Waggin’ Wagon and serves gourmet treats four our four-legged friends. Not surprisingly, the truck was quite popular with many customers in the crowd who had their dogs along with them. I heard later through twitter that the Waggin’ Wagon was completely sold out by the end of the day!

Food trucks lined up along Hunt St.

If you missed the rodeo this time around there will be another massive Food Truck Roundup at Durham’s Central Park next month on October 28th. You can also view the rest of my pics from the latest rodeo in my flickr photo album.

The Triangle Explorer

Recap of the August Counter Culture Coffee “TNT” Latte Art Competition at Sola Coffee & Cafe’

Third Annual TerraVITA Food & Wine Event – November 1-3, 2012

Monuts Donuts of Durham – The Best Donuts Ever! Period.

White Street Brewing Co. Taproom in Wake Forest Opens Sept. 15th

Recap Of The Labor Day Weekend Food Truck Rodeo In Durham

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