Dispatches from Durham: 9 Places I Miss While Traveling Overseas
I’ll be home for Christmas…..unless I fall in love with a French man and never come back to the States. Which is likely possible.
This newsletter is a rewind back to a city I love in my home state: Durham. A city I rediscovered after moving back to North Carolina in 2018 and a city that’s full of delicious food and extraordinary characters, makers, and shakers.
If you’re visiting the airport Raleigh-Durham International, let’s get one thing straight here: Durham and Raleigh are like apples and oranges. Like Manhattan and Queens or Dallas and Fort Worth. Like night and day. Like confusing toothpaste with Bengay in the morning. Yes, this has happened to me and therefore I can say that toothpaste isn’t comparable to Bengay (still triggering), and because I grew up in the Tarheel state (go, Duke!)….Raleigh is not Durham.
While it’s hard to compare $4 Aperol Spritzes under the Sicilian sun and Neopolitan pizza as the norm for lunch, there are a few spots in Durham that I do miss while extended traveling—places I look forward to coming back to for both the characters and the eats + sips.
Bitchen will resume more regularly starting next week and until then, here are 9 of my favorite haunts and some of my go-to’s at each spot:
Rose’s
A savory and sweet perfection. Justin and Katie Meddis opened Rose's in 2013 and I believe I discovered it in 2017 and it’s just one of those spots that’s a consistent homerun—a rarity these days. Katie is the brains behind the sweets I can never get enough while Justin focuses on the savory bits. Drooling constantly for pork and mushroom dumplings, a divine tofu salad with shallots, mint, mushrooms, and chili (calling all vegans), seasonal ramen that’ll put you to sleep in a good way, and an East Asian-inspired sandwich menu that’s hard to narrow down. The katsu sando with bouncy white milk bread and perfectly fried chicken cutlets followed by a white gingersnap ice cream sandwich that's sweet and salty and simply flawless imo.
And don’t forget about weekend brunch.
Saltbox Seafood Joint
I grew up fishing with my dad and fish fries were in normal rotation for supper in the summer—as was eating around the bones of the fish. Throw in hushpuppies and slaw and what else could you possibly need? Oh yeah, Dad’s sweet tea. Saltbox brings all my epic childhood memories to the surface. Ricky and I will often spiral into a multi-hour-long chat about food and nostalgia until my stomach starts growling profusely and I must eat. His seafood is always fresh from North Carolina’s coast and pending the season is what I decide to stuff my roll with.
Can’t quit: a seafood roll, always fried (for me), with shrimp, catfish, or oysters, and an order of hush-honeys (to share or maybe not to share).
Alley Twenty Six
When I miss Europe I head to Alley Twenty Six, grab a table in the alleyway, order an Aperol Spritz or a dirty martini and a few snacks, and pretend I’m in Italy or Spain. Carrie Schleiffer is a phenomenal chef and I love her even more after she recently sourced 27(!!!) different kinds of conservas for the most abundant tinned sea snacks menu in the Southeast. It’s not just sardines and it’s a far cry from Chicken of the Sea.
Conservas is a centuries-old tradition of preserving seafood from Spain and Portugal. Ease your way in with tuna and sardines, and if you don’t like sardines, there are mussels and salmon and oysters and squid and trout and anchovies and mackerel, oh my! Perfect for a weekend outing with friends if you’re not looking for a heavy meal but Carrie’s got a drool-worthy menu if you get a little tipsy hungry. The burgerssss.
Queeny’s
Queeny’s is like Cheers for me. It’s open 7 days a week from 11:45 am to 2 am and has become a solid contender for my “work from home” office space rotation. There’s a library, there’s a podcast room, there’s a bar with plugs for charging, there’s an outdoor patio, and there’s always something going on.
I am obsessed with the creamy tuna tip served in a single-serve pottery bowl made by Michelle Vanderwalker, a filling kale salad with smoked cheese, just-the-right-size sheet pan nachos for one, and of course, the birria dip….like a French dip and birria tacos became one. Ice cream cake and frozen Irish coffee in a slushie machine are an ideal pairing. And if you want to shake it up, Kingfisher is downstairs.
Dimsum Asian Bistro
Formerly East Coast Asian Bistro, this spot is one I crave when it’s cold outside when I’ve had an insane week, for holiday parties, after a food festival, or simply to catch up with close friends. It’s easy, it’s delicious and it's proper dim sum that takes me back to Sunday eating rituals in NYC. Plus it's BYOB and go back and forth between sake and Champagne. Can’t go wrong with either.
What to order? Everything. Tick the boxes with an old-school pencil and let the good times roll. Turnip cakes with curry sauce, green chive dumplings, green chive pork dumplings, and a whole jar of chili sauce are a few of my favorite things. Don't go with picky eaters and dedicate one person to take control of the entire order.
The Durham Hotel
I became obsessed with Mark Daumen’s Coffee Soda at The Durham Hotel in 2017, so much, in fact, that I wrote about it for Vogue. I remember the first sip and haven’t been able to quit it since. Mark’s product, Markola, is best described as the following: cold brew and vanilla cream soda had a baby—in concentrated syrup form. He’s one of the characters I love seeing on the regular to discuss the most important things: coffee drinks from all around the world like Caffè Leccese from Puglia and the beloved Greek Frappe ...with Markola, naturally.
Mark aside, I also love the ambiance at The Durham. The power lunch is not dead here and I'm here to shout that their Cobb salad is one of the best lunch deals in town. And a great spot to stay overnight for a staycation.
Killer Queen Wine Bar
“Imagine if a disco ball and bottle of wine had a baby. That baby would be Killer Queen.” This should be enough to lure you in but if not, it’s a little slice of wine bar heaven with one of the most charming outdoor patio spaces. It has become a favorite spot to meet up with friends for apero hour(s). The wine list is easily organized by color, wine, and region and the staff is a dream in case you have no f*cking clue as to what you want. Most people don’t!
And to sip rosé out of a beautiful, daintily-stemmed pinot noir glass at sunset with a friend or a date—well, there’s not much more that compares. The spot is women-owned and there are lots of delicious wines made by women winemakers too.
Ekhaya
Leo and Zweli Williams opened Zweli’s several years back, the first-known Zimbabwean restaurant in the entire country. Yes, this is true. Piri piri chicken aside I became fixated on Muriwo Unedovi (collards with peanut butter) and made them for a veg crowd a couple of Thanksgivings ago. A dream!
As for Ekhaya, I could post up at the bar daily and sip on South African rosé and 5 orders of dovi rice bombs (peanut butter rice) doused in a perfectly-spiced pepper sauce. If you think Zimbabwean food is solely soupy and spicy, I urge you to enter Zweli’s world and let her show you differently. I’m also obsessed with the scotch eggs, bobotie (spicy minced baked with a drool-worthy egg-y topping), and savory sausage rolls. Did I mention the dovi rice bites yet?
Alimentari at Mothers & Sons
On the other side of Mothers & Sons…Alimentari exists. Josh DeCarolis put together a beautiful creation best described by yours truly as an Italian-American deli with a little Italian trattoria mixed into one chic space. It’s the only place that feels European in the morning with an espresso served in a proper not-to-go cup and a cornetto (like a croissant but tiny and made with eggs). Doppio espresso (two shots) is life.
It’s a space that flows throughout the day. People forget about it as a lunch option but the muffuletta on round Sicilian sesame bread and the meatball sandwich, which looks like a murderous red sauce splatter scene when consumed right, leave me full and happy every single time. A real treat is weekend brunch with friends because yes, there’s also booze. Ciao.
Feeling lazy AF? Josh makes fresh pasta and sauces so you can pretend to be a nonna and impress your friends.
BITCHEN ABOUT:
I’m currently about to hit publish on this and get ready for a date with a handsome Italian man that doesn’t speak English. What could go wrong? While we may not speak the same language we both appreciate the art of fine dining so I’m sure we can gesture our way through dinner. TBC!
xx (the real) Jenn Rice
so so good!!! my go to for where to go to
So many fun times with you at these places. ❤️❤️