Restaurant

ANOTHER BROKEN EGG CAFE (2608 ERWIN RD SUITE 120)
HIBACHI GRILL & SUPREME BUFFET (4600 DURHAM-CHAPEL HILL BLVD.)
HOG HEAVEN (2419 GUESS RD)

Food Stands

COOL BEANS (1101 W CHAPEL HILL ST THE COOKERY)
COORDEGY INC (1101 W CHAPEL HILL ST THE COOKERY)
BULL CITY BUTCHERY (1101 W CHAPEL HILL ST THE COOKERY)
CHINELOS CATERING SERVICE (2945 S MIAMI BLVD SUITE 118 DANNY’S BBQ)

Mobile Food

EASY EATS DC #69 (2108 ANGIER AVE TOOTIES)
BUILD A BURGER DC #8 (2100 ANGIER AVE JOE’S DINER)
“EL COMPADRE” MFU DC #63 (CHINO LATINO 2900 HOLLOWAY STREET)
4TH AND GOAL GRILL DC #57 (MAMA JEANS 308 DRIVER ST)

Push Carts

ENO RIVER EATERY DC #76 (5277 N. ROXBORO RD.)

As with Living Social and Groupon, folks up for an account and start receiving deals. Currently on their site they are offering deals benefiting the Durham Arts Council for Dos Perros, Pop’s, Rue Cler, Six Plates Wine Bar and more.

The current restaurant deals.

For more on Viva Hub, check out their site.

Olde North State BBQ has been regularly making appearances outside of Fullsteam for quite some time, but it has never worked out for me to give their grub a try. This changed last Saturday during the Art Walk. Olde North State BBQ was parked outside of Golden Belt and after a heated game of putt-putt (can we start a petition to keep the Art Walk/Scrap Exchange putt-putt course a permanent Durham fixture?) I decided to give them a try.

I got the classic BBQ plate thinking that it would be the best way to judge their offerings, which include sandwiches, ribs and more. It was $8 and came with slaw, hushpuppies and a side option – I went with fried okra. The bbq was the classic NC chopped smoky pork variety. With a dash of Olde North State’s tomato-based sauce and some Texas Pete, the bbq was moist, flavorful and nicely studded with those coveted slightly charred bits. It was solid bbq. The slaw was just ok, shredded cabbage tossed with vinegar and not much else. The hushpuppies could have been fresher. The okra was excellent, but in truth I’m a sucker for okra in pretty much any incarnation. Olde North State’s was (I’m guessing) the frozen variety – but battered, steaming hot and fresh from the fryer, it was my favorite part of the meal.

Olde North State BBQ does sell bbq by the pound for take-out and a bbq tofu option for vegetarians.

Find the truck by following Olde North State BBQ on twitter or checking out Olde North State BBQ’s site.

Another new truck on the streets of Durham is Big City Sandwiches, a healthy sandwich truck. This is not a review as I didn’t actually try their sandwiches. This is just a quick post to let folks know about Big City Sandwiches, their menu, their prices and what one of their sandwiches looks like.

From their website:
Big City Sandwiches is the Triangle’s premier food truck, bringing famous sandwiches from big cities across the US directly to the streets of the Triangle area. We specialize in preparing sandwiches that feature fresh local produce, homemade condiments, artisan breads and wholesome cold cuts from Applegate Farms that are free of hormones, antibiotics and nitrates

This is a picture of Big City Sandwiches special: The Aspen — $6.50
Classic hummus, havarti cheese, sliced avocado, sweet roasted peppers, sliced red onion, broccoli sprouts, sunflower seeds. Served on spinach wrap.

Big City Sandwiches

With so many food trucks/trailers/carts on the streets of Durham, it’s becoming hard to keep up and a truck’s premier barely makes a ripple. As was the case with the launch of MaMa Duke’s on Friday night outside the much-beloved Sam’s Quik Shop. There were no lines and we strolled up, ordered a kebab plate to share, grabbed a beer out of Sam’s cooler and sat on one of Sam’s two picnic tables to enjoy our eats. It was the perfect food truck experience.

MaMa Duke’s, Mediterranean eats with a Southern influence, is the truck of father-son team Michael and Mike Alexakis (Mike used to work in the kitchen of the Federal as a sous-chef). On opening night they were offering a choice of three types of Greek Souvlaki “skewers” (chicken, pork and shrimp) and a variety of sides. The menu was limited, but I’m guessing that will change with time. MaMa Duke’s was charging $10 for two skewers of meat, two slices of flatbread, a sauce and a side. We chose one chicken skewer, one pork skewer, tzatziki sauce and falafel tots as our side. Other sauce options included classic BBQ, a red onion remoulade and tahini. On this, their premier night they were offering falafel tots, baked beans, slaw, cucumber/onion salad and spanakorizo as sides. I was so focused on the falafel tots that I failed to even find out what spanakorizo is.

The presentation was lovely and somewhat unexpected for truck eats, the meat skewers laid artfully atop two long slices of flat bread, drizzled with tzatziki and topped off with chopped green onions and a red pepper. I preferred the chicken – perfectly moist, garlicky and expertly grilled – to the pork. The pork was solid, it just didn’t lend itself as well to the kabob presentation and was a little tough. I would have liked more tzatziki sauce, in which to dunk the lightly fried, airy falafel tots. Unlike traditional falafel, these small bites seemed to be filled with more a zucchini/chickpea mix rather than parsley. However, even without a dipping sauce, the falafel tots were rather addictive. I noticed via twitter, Mama Duke’s was also offering fruit skewers with a yogurt dipping sauce as a dessert option when they were out on Saturday.

I really like the concept of a Mediterranean inspired truck and Michael and Mike Alexakis seem to know what they’re doing. It’s nice to have a somewhat healthier mobile food option and I look forward to MaMa Duke’s menu expanding and seeing them around town.

MaMa Duke’s
Facebook
Twitter

Museum of Life and Science’s Magic Wings Festival
As most Durham families are well aware, The Museum of Life and Science is another one of those great treasures of Durham. We’ve taken many an out-of-town guest to check out the butterfly house and giant cockroaches.

On Saturday, May 5 from 10am–5pm, the museum is hosting its annual Magic Wings Festival. There will be dancing, arts, gardening, entomology, live music, a bug safari hunt, butterfly crafts and more. The new café will also be open (serving stir-fried insects).

“Visitors  can live life as a Leafcutter Ant and carry leaves on their back to the colony, explore the woodlands with entomologists to see where  bugs hideout, listen to music from around the globe, or celebrate Cinco de Mayo by making traditional paper flowers,” says Nancy Dragotta-Muhl, event coordinator at the museum.

The fine folks at the Museum of Life and Science are also providing a family four pack for Carpe Durham to give away. To enter just leave a comment below with what you love about the Museum of Life and Science or tweet with hashtag #MagicWingsFestival before 5pm on May 2. A winner will be drawn at random.

A complete schedule for the Magic Wings Festival can be found on the museum’s site.

The Museum of Life and Science
433 W. Murray Avenue

Beaver Queen Kick-Off
The annual Beaver Queen pageant is quite the spectacle and one of those events where you find yourself shaking your head saying “only in Durham.” The actual Beaver Queen pageant will take place on June 2 and merits a write-up of its on. The kick-off event gives just a taste of what you can expect at the actual pageant. There will be music (the Blue-tailed Skinks and the Bulltown Strutters), dancing, food trucks, raffles and a first glimpse at this year’s Beaver contestants. Not to pick favorites, but our money is already on Bailar Beaver who is hosting a scavenger hunt around Durham earlier in the day. All proceeds from all Beaver Queen events go toward protecting and restoring Ellerbe Creek. Starts at 7 pm. More information can be found on the Casbah’s site.

Other Cinco de Mayo events around Durham:
Beautiful Freaks Show at Motorco
Free Karaoke at Pinhook
El Coyote – Mariachi Band, Drink Specials, etc.

Motorco is showing the short film “Foodie,” a dark food-focused comedy from Eryk Pruitt, formerly the GM of Blu on May 17. In Pruitt’s own words it’s “about a food-service industry professional who is invited to an exclusive, underground dinner party and discovers there’s much more on the menu than he bargained for.” I’ve heard some of Blu’s fine staff appear as extras in the film.

KoKyu will be there with an exclusive menu created around the food served in the film. (The movie seems to involve canibalism, so not sure what Flip will come up with.)

Screening will start at 7pm, but the short film will be shown repeatedly throughout the evening. In hopes of entering film festivals, the organizers are asking for a $5 donation.

More info on the event and the film.

The atmosphere is all Irish pub, and it has an interesting layout with the main bar taking prominence.
The rest of the tables are set up around the edges of the restaurant, and there are some pretty cozy spaces like couches arranged near a bookshelf and a cathedral-like corner.


It’s been open for a month now. They are still working out the kinks, mostly in the service and delivery of food. Our waitress, busser, and the manager (I think!) were super friendly, but somehow they would all drop by within the same few minutes to check on us then disappear for a while. Our food came out pretty slowly, and when food was ran out to tables, the runner often wasn’t sure what table was supposed to get it or all the dishes didn’t come out at once. But I bet they’ll get the timing down better with a little more experience.

For drinks, they have about eight red and eight white wine options, a full bar, and roughly eight beers on tap. I saw Guinness, Blue Moon, and Magner’s Cider, but I didn’t catch the rest of the draft selection — food blogger fail, I know.

My friend and I were very happy with our entrees. The menu is a mix of standard pub fare like smothered fries and buffalo chicken wraps and Irish options that included corned cabbage, boxty, and shepard’s pie. I went for the bangers and mash.

It was delightful, especially the Guinness gravy in combination with both the sausages and the mashed potatoes. The sausages were grilled to the point of having a nicely charred skin, and the mashed potatoes were delicious and covered with a thick layer of cheddar cheese.

My friend went for the half portion of fish and chips, and I honestly can’t imagine wanting a full portion, which would be twice as much fish.

The French fries had a bubbly coating, which I love, and my friend enjoyed the fish. It looked nice and moist from where I was sitting, and I was happy to see that they served them in stick form — I don’t really like the full fried fillets more common to the East Coast.

The dessert options could use some work, however. My friend had the apple turnover on special.

She said the turnover itself was fine, but the apples were scarce and didn’t have any spices that she could taste, just plain apple flavor. The ice cream was the best part of her dish.

I had the Bailey’s cheesecake, which I assumed would be an Irish cream cheesecake.

I think I assumed wrong. It tasted like plain, but good, cheesecake to me. The problem was the gummy crust that tasted like graham crackers crumbs mixed with shortening — not my idea of a good cheesecake crust.

The desserts and service can definitely use improvement, but our entrees were great, and I liked the restaurant atmosphere a lot. We’ll be back to check out trivia night soon.

Doolin’s Irish Pub
3211 Shannon Road
South Square, Durham
Website
Entrees: $8 — $15

Reviewed 19 April 12.

If you live in Durham and aren’t regularly taking advantage of the Nasher Museum and its programming, you are missing out on not just great art, but also cool movies, interesting lectures, dance performances, photo booths, milkshake bars (have your attention now?) and much, much more.

Admission is free every Thursday from 5-9pm and often there is a cash bar and free nibbles in addition to programming. Any time an exhibit is opening, the museum usually holds a free themed event. For the recent Deconstructive Impulse exhibit, there were a Wonder Woman impersonator, themed cocktails, a lecture and lots of small bites from the Nasher Cafe. The Nasher’s calendar of events is definitely worth a bookmark.

In addition to their pretty great permanent collection (that giant head is almost as much a part of the Durham landscape as the Lucky Strike tower), right now the Nasher has a Alexander Calder exhibit that is on display until June 17.

The Nasher has given Carpe Durham two free tickets to the Calder exhibit to give away. To enter simply leave a comment with something you love about the Nasher and/or Alexander Calder here or tweet with the hashtag #CalderNasherLove. We will pool the entrants and pick a winner at random on May 2. Good luck!

Museum Hours:
Monday – closed
Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday – 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Thursday – 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. (Free to all on Thursdays, 5 to 9 p.m. except during Calder)
Sunday – Noon to 5 p.m.

Nasher
2001 Campus Drive, Durham, NC, 27705

Note: Photo from the Nasher site