The Gourmez

Piola 1101 Environ Way East Highway 54, Chapel Hill Website Pizzas and entrees: $8—$13 Piola is an Italian restaurant chain that now has 10 branches open in the US, including one in the Highway 54 East development in Chapel Hill.  It’s done in bright colors, with grey floors and a bit of a squiggly line [...]

Kiwi + Strawberry Caipiroska Piola Chapel Hill Website $7 This very pretty drink has the perfect ratio of alcohol to sweetness. The freshly muddled kiwi and strawberry add much to the good quality of the vodka, and the taste is clean and full of tasty bites of pulp. Definitely worth a drink! My only complaint [...]

Placido Chianti 2008 Tuscany, Italy This chianti tastes pungent, and not in a good way. Unripened blackberries, nectarines, apples, mild chocolate, and herbs—dried thyme, mostly—are the notes I taste. Those don’t make for a great combination. I’m not spitting it out, but it’s not really worth drinking, either.

My last day in DC started with a nice, long walk—probably too long as I get a little crazy with the walking when travelling—down Embassy Row. Embassy Row is the stretch of Massachusetts Avenue between Scott Circle and the DC National Cathedral, I believe. I headed up Massachusetts Avenue from Dupont Circle, and right away, [...]

TerraVITA is the brainchild of Colleen Minton, who planned this big tent event to help promote better and more natural food and drink movements. The first was held this past Saturday at Southern Village in Chapel Hill and brought in regional restaurants with similar philosophies and wine and beer distributors from further afield. In line [...]

After lunch and the Museum of the American Indian, I made my way across the Mall to the National Sculpture Garden. Or rather, I made my way toward the National Archives, but you have to wander through the Sculpture Garden to get there from that direction. This is not a bad thing. The Archives as [...]

There are two exciting events coming to downtown Durham this weekend. Unfortunately, I can’t make either of them, but I hope some of you can! First up is Bright Lights, Bull City on Saturday, 10/23, an event sponsored by Durham Magazine to celebrate our vibrant downtown, Brightleaf, and West Village businesses. There will be live [...]

Global Village 2428 Hillsborough Road Raleigh Coffee: $1.60–$2.10 Espresso Drinks: $2.65–$4.25 Global Village is a coffeehouse on the main strip of Hillsborough Road, right across from NC State’s campus. They specialize in organic coffee, and reviews indicate that the baristas and owners know their stuff quite well. Comfy half-booths/half-tables abound, with plenty of seating, but [...]

This year’s Corn Maze Adventure came courtesy of Mckee’s Farm, in Rougement, NC, about forty minutes away from us. In addition to a few farm animals and Mapleview Farm ice cream, they’ve got the largest maze we’ve tried yet: 12 acres! The Welcome Sign Before we headed in, we spent some time taking pictures of [...]

Christina G. (@yelpnctriangle), the wonderful manager of Yelp for our area, invited me plus the husband to come to their free Pop Culture Palooza event this last Friday. Pop Culture was a bit hard to dress for, so we didn’t attempt costumes, but there were a few mild takes on Lady Gaga’s style and plenty [...]