WEB EXCLUSIVETake in views of Raleigh at these eight local rooftop hangouts.
Dinner and drinks with a view? Say no more. Raleigh’s rooftop bars and restaurants are ideal for a summer hang with friends, romantic dinner or solo outing—you can’t beat the city’s skyline as a backdrop for a meal or sunset happy hour. As the weather starts to warm up and the sun begs you to dine alfresco, check out some of our favorite local rooftop spots below.
This self-dubbed craft and Belgian beer mecca of Central NC has quite the newsworthy rooftop space! Decked out with market lights and unique murals, the space is perfect for grabbing a cold brew with the squad or having a nice casual dinner Downtown—you can even get married there! Order nachos (some of the best in town) and a pitcher for the table. Extra extra!
Nothing beats tapas and a view. Named best rooftop in our Best Bars of 2020 feature, Level 7 has views for days. Sample the North Hills’ bar and resto’s delicious Spanish- and European-influenced tapas and delicious signature cocktails (we’re currently loving the grapefruit spritz) all while taking in the district’s skyline.
Enjoy a quaint French bistro without paying the airfare. Decked out with lush greenery and a custom canopy, Jolie’s rooftop is just as intimate and romantic as its main dining room. This is the ultimate date-night resto, complete with dining by candlelight. Savor classic French dishes like escargot, mussels and steak frites. Bon appétit!
The Terrace at The Dillon is a gem of a getaway tucked in the heart of the Warehouse District—and the perfect spot to gather with friends over a cheese board and bottle of wine. Or, swing by during the day with your laptop to get some work done while taking in the views of Downtown. The hidden oasis can be found on the ninth floor; just make sure to gather your things before sundown when the building becomes residences-only.
Delicious cocktails and small plates abound at the Residence Inn’s elegant rooftop bar and resto, making 10th & Terrace the perfect place for pre-dinner snacks or pre-Duke Energy Center show drinks in the future. Nothing beats a charcuterie board featuring local cheese and a glass of wine. And now that it’s almost summer, we’re hoping it’s only a matter of time before the famous boozy popsicles make a comeback!
With over 300 beers on tap, RBG boasts the world’s largest selection of draft beers available in one restaurant—meaning your whole squad can find something sipworthy. Grab a drink and a beloved beer-battered pretzel (served with beer cheese!); then head up to the rooftop for people-watching over Glenwood South.
Opa! Transport yourself to Greece for the evening on Taverna Agora’s vine-covered intimate rooftop and Mamma Mia! vibes. Nosh on Greek classics for lunch, dinner and Sunday brunch—and no Taverna dining experience is complete without the Greek lemonade and Greek tasting platter!
While technically not a rooftop, Wye Hill without question serves up some of the best views of the city skyline. Amazing craft cocktails, brews and a delicious menu make it the complete package. And if you haven’t tried Wye’s Sunday brunch yet, you’re in for a real treat (short rib and grits and falafel waffle, please!).
WEB EXCLUSIVELet’s Choose Love’s mini grants empower individuals to bring forth a world where love rules.
The world can always use more kindness, and local business owner Wendy B. White couldn’t agree more. Her passion project, Let’s Choose Love, grew from the realization that, in this odd time, we have the unique opportunity to reshape ourselves and the world around us. The movement is designed to challenge the way we think and inspire us to take action while spreading the love to those around us (#LoveRules).
Let’s Choose Love was built on four main ideas: inclusivity, individuality, interconnectedness and community. In addition to creating a safe space to reshape our thought processes, the platform’s main goal is to fund small passion projects with mini grants that give back to a great cause.
“We envision a world where love rules. Where people can boldly cross the lines that divide us and come together to envision a new world and a new way of being that works for all.”
So, what counts as a positive impact project? For starters, projects must be U.S.-based and can focus on any passion area, whether it be animals, children, fighting hunger, fostering the environment, etc.—as long as your aim is to help something or someone, you’re on the right track (projects must be for something, not against).
Individuals age 16 to 30 are encouraged to apply due to the financial and experience barriers that age group typically faces. Grants of $500, $750 or $1,000 come with a business consultant that volunteers their time to help you achieve your goal of fostering peace, joy, appreciation, passion and love in the world. So, essentially, as Reese Witherspoon once said, “You always gain by giving love.”
Let’s Choose Love’s first grant recipient, Tarpestry
Let’s Choose Love recently presented its first mini grant to Ted Swartzbaugh of NC-based outdoor company Tarpestry. With the money, Swartzbaugh plans to launch a Watauga River cleanup event that will result in healthy river systems. Let that love flow through the state!
Have an idea that’ll make a positive difference in your community? Let’s Choose Love’s mini grants are the first step in empowering to change the world. Submit an application, join the conversation (and get a free sticker!) and/or follow along.
WEB EXCLUSIVE8 local biscuit spots to try on National Buttermilk Biscuit Day May 14.
The biscuit is by far the South’s greatest delicacy. Nothing—and we mean nothing—beats a fresh, fluffy, buttery, flaky biscuit, whether you opt to top yours with meat, jam, pimento cheese (another excellent Southern op), eggs… or just eat it straight up.
Now we know you can find delish biscuits at quintessential Southern-centric staples like Biscuitville and homegrown (NC, baby!) Bojangles, but the following all-local joints help you feed your biscuit needs and support local by taking the biscuit to a whole new tasty level with time-honored recipes and toppings galore. So, in honor of National Buttermilk Biscuit Day on May 14, try one, or try them all—just be careful of overdough-se-ing.
While this casual joint may not look like much from the outside, the smell of its freshly baked biscuits alone will clue you in to why this hidden gem has been around for so many years. Dallas Famous Chicken—dubbed the oldest restaurant in Apex—has been serving up classic Southern dishes for decades. Take a hint from its name and order the biscuit with famous fried chicken, or try a classic—and one of our personal faves—a bologna biscuit!
With the URL realbiscuits.com, you know these biscuits are legit, and the State Farmers Market Restaurant means business. The famed restaurant’s iconic, giant buttermilk biscuits are big enough to fill you up and give you that warm and fuzzy feeling a la Southern comfort food, and you can have just about anything served on them. Go full-on NC and try the World Famous Jim Graham Biscuit, named after the former agriculture commissioner and served with tomato, mayo, onion and streak o’lean (a deep-fried salt pork).
Talk about an establishment—Big Ed’s has been serving the City of Oaks since 1958! And there’s a reason this classic breakfast locale always has a line out front. Its menu is huge and includes options for every type of eater—you can’t go wrong with anything you order. But, of course, the biscuits are where it’s at. A couple of our faves are the Cajun chicken biscuit and classic cheese biscuit. No matter what you order, though, don’t forget a side of bacon!
“Bigger, better biscuits” is the MO here—and you can taste why. Serving patrons out of a drive-thru window in Chapel Hill for over 40 years, Sunrise Biscuit Kitchen’s no-frills approach to Southern fare puts owner David Allen’s grandmother’s biscuit recipe front and center—and its must-try eats have even been featured on Food Network. For a breakfast that tops any other, try the Bad Grampa Combo: crunchy fried chicken, fluffy scrambled eggs, cheese and lots of bacon served up on a freshly baked biscuit with a side of hash browns and a sweet tea (never forget the sweet tea!).
Coffee and biscuits—the sweet and savory combo of your dreams. Jubala is known for its highly addictive biscuits (try it sweet and topped with local Big Spoon peanut butter and honey, or savory with a fried egg, cheese and country ham) that pair perfectly with craft coffee drinks featuring beans from Black & White Coffee Roasters out of Wake Forest. With two locations (Hillsborough Street and Lafayette Village) and a third in North Hills in the works, Jubala is always a good idea for breakfast or a midday pick-me-up.
Besides the killer biscuits, the best thing about Durham’s GRUB is that it serves breakfast until 3pm. That’s right, you don’t have to wake up at 9am on the weekend to get your hands on one (#Bless). The eatery’s biscuit breakfast sandwiches are next-level—right now we’re loving the Country Road, a sweet potato biscuit (!) piled high with holiday roasted ham, a fried egg, melted sharp cheddar cheese and creole mustard. Pair it with a Blue Devil Mary for the ultimate #BrunchGoals.
No meal at the Flying Biscuit is complete without one of the famous restaurant chain’s fluffy biscuits topped with its signature apple butter—which come with every order and are utterly irresistible (so don’t even pretend like you’re going to skip it to “save room” for your meal. Psh.). And once you get a taste, you’ll be left wanting more, so order the Dirty Bird Bowl with biscuits, oven-fried chicken, cheddar cheese and sausage gravy. It’s perfection in a bowl. You’re welcome.
Righteous, indeed, Rise’s menu revolves around two staples—that’s right, biscuits and chicken (and, honestly, that’s all we really need). The Southern chain’s buttermilk biscuits are filled with everything from fried green tomatoes and housemade pimento cheese to Buffalo chicken and blue cheese, or be adventurous and go for the almost-famous glazed blueberry biscuit served with Cooper River Farms pork sausage.
WEB EXCLUSIVEThe Inter-Faith Food Shuttle serves up nutritious hot meals while giving back to the community through its new food truck.
“Hunger is unacceptable no matter when, where or why it happens,” says Inter-Faith Food Shuttle President and CEO Ron Pringle. So why—with North Carolina being one of the leading states in agriculture—is it that our state is the 10th hungriest in the U.S.? Currently, 1 in 5 children in The Old North State are at risk for hunger, and 9% of NC seniors experience food insecurity. And the pandemic is only making matters worse. While those are indisputably concerning stats, fortunately, a plethora of organizations are dedicated to spin that data around.
Enter Inter-Faith Food Shuttle’s new food truck: The Spinning Plate, a state-of-the-art mobile kitchen serving up nutritious hot plates (think homestyle chili over rice, spaghetti and hearty meatball subs—all of which incorporate fruits and veggies from the Food Shuttle Farm) while providing hands-on education and paid work experience for unemployed/underemployed individuals who want to pursue a career in the food industry via the food shuttle’s Culinary Apprenticeship Program. So, a win-win for the entire community.
In addition to its ability to give back to so many, the truck is capable of serving up just about anything. While “most food trucks are designed around a menu,” says IFFS Director of Culinary and Catering Jim Hinger, “I designed The Spinning Plate to have a variety of ways to cook things. We have an industrial rice cooker on board, a char grill, a flattop griddle, a stovetop, an oven, a steam table and a warming cabinet. It can do everything.”
Since launching in early April, The Spinning Plate has served over 5,000 free meals at community outreach events in all of the seven counties served by the food shuttle (Wake, Durham, Chatham, Orange, Johnston, Nash and Edgecombe). The truck is also designed to be on the frontlines in disaster situations in order to feed responders, volunteers, or those facing natural or man-made catastrophes across the region.
“The seed for The Spinning Plate was planted back in 2019, when we were discussing how we could reach rural communities and how to get them the food they needed,” says Hinger. Hence, the mobile aspect of it—an immediate solution to an immediate problem.
“We envision a healthy and hunger-free North Carolina,” adds IFFS Business, Corporations and Events Manager Rachel Quigley, “and The Spinning Plate is one of our new programs that is really serving our communities in an innovative way.” Be sure to give it a whirl the next time you see the colorful truck hit the streets in order to feed yourself—and those in need.
WEB EXCLUSIVE Dubbed an “invisible” illness, mental illness can oft take a backseat to or be overlooked by—not quantifiable or observable like its physical counterpart (think broken leg, cancer, etc.). But the two are no different—and that parity could help reduce the stigma surrounding mental health.
Each year, millions grapple with mental health—right now, nationally, 1 in 5 people are living with some form of a mental illness. Shining a much needed spotlight, May is Mental Health Awareness Month (#MHAM), working this year to amplify the message that “you are not alone” by focusing on the healing capacity of community and connection.
Leaning into that messaging, we’ve rounded up some resources and orgs that can meet you where you are (in person, telehealth, app, etc.), with the aim of helping healthy minds thrive and/or connecting the community. And, remember, “mental health is not a destination, but a process.” If you need additional help or support, don’t hesitate to reach out to loved ones or seek a trusted professional.
We can’t talk about fighting the stigma around mental health without mentioning Current Wellness. This new DTR biz is all about reducing the shame surrounding mental health and normalizing help-seeking behaviors. Whether it’s through movement classes or numerous services (think chiropractic treatments, mental health counseling, wellness coaching or massage therapy), the wellness center’s goal is to make you feel like the best version of yourself. 3 classes for $20 (current special); membership options available
Founded in 1958, Monarch is a Raleigh-based not-for-profit organization that supports and empowers individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDDs), mental illness and substance-use disorders in achieving their goals. With services ranging from telehealth services to residential options, there’s a treatment plan for everyone. Despite the challenges that may come with mental illness, the organization is here to help you thrive in 2021 and beyond.
Bring a little balance and peace into your life with the Healthy Minds Innovations App. The app was designed on four pillars: awareness, connection, insight and purpose. Its goal is to help calm your anxieties around everyday or professional stresses, likely at an all-time high for many over the past year especially. The app has a variety of sessions that fit in with any lifestyle, including traditional sitting meditations and active on-the-go meditations that last anywhere from 5 to 30 minutes. Additionally, in honor of World Meditations Day on May 21, Healthy Minds Innovation will be hosting a live meditation via YouTube at 10am EST. And, exhale.
