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From Tulum With Love

From Tulum With Love

by | Dec 1, 2017 | December 2017/January 2018, Eat

A young entrepreneur finds inspiration for his new restaurant behind the stone walls of an ancient city

Alfredo Lara worked his first job at the age of 8, selling bright balloons to passersby from a flea market booth in Raleigh. Sixteen years later, at just 24 years old, Lara is the owner of Tulum Restaurante and Bar, a Mayan-inflected Mexican restaurant on Fayetteville Street downtown.

The restaurant is named after the ancient, fortified Mayan city on the coast of the Yucatán Peninsula—a city bordered by jungle and the Caribbean sea. In the Mayan tongue, “tulum” means wall or barrier. But for Lara, his restaurant is the opposite—it’s a bridge, a way of embracing the downtown community through food, drink and hospitality.

“Tulum is meant to be a fun place,” Lara says. “The energy that you feel in the building, the music, the service, the drinks…It’s a fun vibe, a place full of experiences where we try to be as personal as we can with the customer.”

Tulum Mexican Restaurant

Photo by Jennifer Robertson

The menu is full of items one would expect to find in a Mexican restaurant, like fajitas, empanadas, burritos, chimichangas and quesadillas, and traditional flavors like garlic, cilantro, lime and jalapeno. But a portion of the menu is devoted to Mayan dishes like Poc Chuc, pork in citrus marinade; Tikin-Xik, fish filet served with Mayan barbecue sauce; Papadzules, an enchilada-like dish with egg; and a Mayan version of tamales. There are some other surprises, like a Cuban sandwich, or torta, with chorizo and shredded pork, and a chicken dish topped with a ginger mole sauce.

The dishes are created by kitchen staff from the Yucatán Peninsula, and Lara believes this authenticity helps to set his restaurant apart.

“We just try to be better,” he says. “We use a lot of higher quality ingredients, and we have some recipes no one else has. In this industry, it’s so hard to be different, but I want this to be the best Mexican restaurant around.”

Lara is an optimist, a trait that has carried him through the yearlong process of opening the restaurant. The space, located in the belly of an old bank in the Duke Energy Building, was formerly occupied by a Caribbean eatery, Twisted Mango, and before that, Italian bistro La Volta. It took Lara far longer to open than he planned; he ran into permitting issues, had contractor troubles and dealt with last minute setbacks.

Then, a week before the grand opening, Nick Bobbie, his bar manager—and best friend since high school—passed away.

“He was the person that was by my side through this, supporting every idea I had,” Lara says.

The pair worked together at Jersey Mike’s, where Lara was employed through high school. He didn’t have a lot of friends back then; he was shy and quiet, the result of having been uprooted from his home in Mexico and moving to a country he found less than welcoming. When Lara was in the third grade, his mother, Ruth, and stepfather, Tom, moved the family to the United States from Guadalajara.

“When I came here, I was just shocked by all the negative things around me—number one being racism,” Lara says. “You have no idea how many times I was told to go back to my country. I never understood that. It made me feel unwanted, and when you feel unwanted, you don’t want to talk. You see everyone with friends, having fun, and that only depresses you more. It was really hard for me.”

Alfredo Lara

Photo by Jennifer Robertson

After high school graduation, Lara returned to Mexico to study industrial engineering at Anáhuac Cancún University. He enjoyed life in nearby Playa del Carmen, exploring sandy beaches, ancient ruins and the deep caves of jungle cenotes, but quickly realized that school and his field of study were not a good fit. He moved back to Raleigh and took a job waiting tables at La Rancherita, where his confidence—and affinity for hospitality—blossomed.

“I was going to work as happy as ever and it was such a cool experience,” he says. “You learn that it’s about speaking with people, communicating, being personable.”

Lara learned the ins and outs of running a business when he became an owner and manager at Mi Cancun, which has locations in North Raleigh and Morrisville. He still marvels at the fact that investors had faith in someone as young as he was, and laughs that he applied for a liquor license when he was still underage. To prove he was serious, he worked the first year without taking a single day off, running the front of the house as well as doing marketing, the website and social media. He has since divested his ownership in the company to focus on Tulum.

“I can’t really separate the business and personal life, because my personal life is the business,” Lara says. “This is what I do—I live here. My mind is always here, even if I’m not. People know how passionate I am being here, and I care so much for the customers—it means the world to me. They keep me going, them and my family.”

A Magical Matinee

A Magical Matinee

by | Nov 20, 2017 | Do, November 2017

Theatre in the Park presents a sensory-friendly production of A Charlie Brown Christmas

There are few things more magical than a family visit to the theater. But it can be difficult to navigate the noise and spectacle of a live performance with a child on the autism spectrum— especially during the commotion of the holidays, which can be a whirl of bright lights, loud music and unfamiliar experiences.

This year, parents and caretakers have an opportunity to attend a show that caters to individuals with sensory needs, with a special sensory-friendly performance of “A Charlie Brown Christmas” on Saturday, Dec. 9 at 11 a.m. at Theatre in the Park.

“In the past few years, theater communities around the country have begun to host sensory-friendly performances as a way to include all families and theater-goers,” says Tiffany Mallory, a community volunteer with Theatre in the Park. “We thought ‘A Charlie Brown Christmas’ was the perfect show to introduce this to our supporters and all families in the Triangle area.”

During the show, a designated section of the lobby will serve as a quiet area for children and parents who may need to leave their seats. To address sensitivities to light and sound, the stage lights and volume will be adjusted for the performance. Trained on-site volunteers will be on hand to assist families upon arrival at the show and throughout the performance. A downloadable information sheet will be available with detailed instructions and character comparisons for parents and caregivers to view and print at home; it will outline, in words and pictures, the experience that families can expect during their visit to see the show.

“Slight adjustments will be made to the production of “A Charlie Brown Christmas,” such as lower overall volume and fewer loud noises and flashing lights that could be challenging to some audience members,” says Brent Simpson, Theatre in the Park’s managing director. “In addition, designated areas of Theatre in the Park will help make the experience safer and more enjoyable for those with autism and other sensitivity issues.”

The show’s actors are preparing ahead of time for the special show and learning more about what to expect from the audience, like more movement and some outbursts. They will have a better view of the audience than usual, as the house lights will be on and dimmed to 40 percent. Mallory will coach the cast based on training she received through the Theatre Development Fund, a not-for-profit organization that works to make theater more accessible for all. She and Simpson will also attend training through Arts Access, a North Carolina nonprofit that aims to increase access to the arts community.

“We are thrilled to be presenting this and have greatly appreciated the community support,” says Mallory. “We are so happy to be offering this relaxed, welcoming theatre experience to all families.”

“A Charlie Brown Christmas” follows the classic 1965 television special, based on the popular “Peanuts” comic strip by Charles M. Schulz. Charlie Brown, unhappy with the commercialization of the holidays, grapples with the meaning of the season. He directs the school’s Christmas pageant—an aggravating experience, in true Charlie Brown style—and gives a forlorn little Christmas tree a home.

The show will run Dec. 1-10, but the Dec. 9 matinee performance has been designated as sensory-friendly. The theater’s staff and cast members hope that this special performance is the first of many to come.

“All are welcome,” says Simpson. “There will be some movement and noise, and we want all families to understand that this is acceptable and welcomed. We want them to come enjoy a day at the theater, which may be normally be challenging and we hope to be able to provide many more experiences like this in the future.”

Theatre in the Park is an indoor black box theater located at the northern end of Pullen Park, near the NC State University campus. All performances are wheelchair accessible and parking is free. For more information, visit theatreinthepark.com.

Wheat-Free Eats

Wheat-Free Eats

by | Sep 8, 2017 | Eat, September 2017

More and more local restaurants are addressing gluten sensitivities with varied (and tasty) menus.

For one out of a hundred people, something as small as a crumb can trigger intestinal damage and that number may be on the rise. Recent research, according to a study by the Mayo Clinic, points to an increase in the number of patients diagnosed with Celiac disease, an autoimmune disorder in which the ingestion of gluten (a protein found in wheat, rye and barley) causes a reaction that injures the lining of the small intestine. This can lead to a host of problems, including vitamin deficiencies, lactose intolerance, infertility and intestinal cancers. There is no existing cure for the disease, and the only proven treatment is a lifelong avoidance of gluten in every form.

It’s hard enough to follow such a strict diet at home but can feel almost impossible to dine out. A restaurant can be a dangerous place for a person with Celiac disease, from the omnipresent fear of cross-contamination to the specter of ill-informed staff. Luckily, some Raleigh eateries are in the gluten-free vanguard, offering safe and scrumptious gluten-free meals served by people who understand the importance of dedicated fryers and separate spaces for those with food allergies.

“For us, education has been the key,” says David Lucarelli, Director of Operations at The Cowfish Sushi Burger Bar. “It’s really important to make our staff aware of the consequences of making a mistake by ‘wheating’ someone. The risk and complications that gluten intolerant people face make it necessary to treat this allergy with urgency and seriousness, so our policy requires that a manager deliver any item that may have an allergen. Gluten is our most prevalent allergen, and we are keenly aware of it.”

The restaurant’s gluten-sensitive items are marked on the menu, including filler-free burgers served with a Celiac-friendly bun, certain sushi rolls and a flourless chocolate torte with almond crust and caramel creme anglaise. When served, a flag denotes the gluten-free items confirming the order.

“We have a large menu with exotic ingredients, so menu training in general is very important in both the front of the house and the kitchen,” says Amanda Haisley, chef at downtown global street food restaurant bu*ku. “It helps that a good majority of our ingredients are gluten-free so we don’t have to be as concerned, but when we are dealing with them we change cutting boards, knives, etc., and naturally gloves and hand-washing are crucial.”

Bu*ku offers a gluten-free menu with a range of flavors, including Harissa-spiced hummus with local vegetables, duck larb, empanadas with chipotle-braised chicken, pad thai and Aloo Chana Chaat with spicy potato cake. It has designated one of its two fryers as gluten-free to avoid cross-contamination.

“Our head chef Matt knows how important it is that a gluten-free pizza is prepared separately,” says Pizza La Stella managing partner Rudy Theale. “The precaution that we take is that we cook each gluten-free pizza on its own independent metal tray in the pizza oven so it doesn’t touch the base of the oven.”

The new downtown pizzeria can make any of its specialty Neapolitan pizzas, like the Italian Stallion or the Bolognese, with gluten-free dough, and cooks the pizzas on the opposite end of the oven as the pizzas made with wheat flour; they also offer all-meat meatballs and gluten-free wood-fired wings. However, Theale cautions that the restaurant’s very nature creates an atmosphere in which an accidental glutening could occur.

“We take every human precaution we can,” he says. “But let’s face it…at the end of the day, you’re still working in a kitchen that has an abundance of flour because of the business we’re in. If someone will get deathly ill, it’s not worth the gamble, but we’ve had many Celiacs, some friends of the family, that come back again and again to eat here.”

The Cowfish’s Lucarelli agrees.

“It is impossible to be gluten-free in an environment where wheat flour is being used,” he says. “We make every effort to not cross contaminate, but we do work in an environment that has gluten particles in the air. For this reason, we call our products ‘Gluten Sensitive.’”

One Raleigh restaurant has eliminated the risk of cross-contamination by operating completely gluten-free. Fresh Levant, a Mediterranean bistro in Lafayette Village, offers a Celiac-safe (and soy-free) menu with fresh organic and non-GMO ingredients, stuffed with items usually verboten for Celiac sufferers: pita, flatbreads, pasta and pastries.

“My motivation was a lack of restaurants serving this niche,” says owner Anita Khalek. “My family and I have food allergies and we could not eat out without getting sick from cross-contamination.”

The restaurant sprang from a blog Khalek created to share her recipes. She says it took many years to perfect her dishes, but now her baked goods rival any traditional cakes and pastries.

“No gluten enters our kitchen, we prepare everything on premise from scratch to ensure no fillers or artificial ingredients, (so) our guests can feel very comfortable enjoying any of our menu items without worries,” she says. “We believe in clean healthy ingredients; we never use any fillers or gums, artificial colors or flavors, no high fructose corn syrup, no MSG.”

Pedal Power

Pedal Power

by | Jul 17, 2017 | Buzz, July 2017 / August 2017

No happy hours. No liquor sold in grocery stores. There are few things as well regulated in North Carolina as alcohol, so when Trolley Pub Founder Kai Kaapro decided to expand his fledgling mobile business to the South, he was prepared for an uphill battle. Luckily, he came armed with a law degree and a business with drive.

If you’ve visited downtown lately, you’ve probably seen one of his open-air vehicles ramble by. Trolley Pub Raleigh is a fleet of (mostly) pedal-powered vehicles that seat up to 14 people for pub crawls around town. Riders bring their own beer and flex their muscles as they cycle through the city.

These BYOB booze cruises have turned into big business. Tours are often booked a month in advance, and the company recently expanded to include a bottle shop where passengers can stock up on libations before their tour.

Six years ago, the self-described accidental entrepreneur was in law school when he watched a YouTube video of a pedal-powered trolley in Amsterdam. He and business partner Andrew Cole found a craftsman to make a working prototype and opened the first Trolley Pub in Tucson, Arizona in 2011. They now operate in five states, including in four cities in North Carolina.

Kaapro moved to Raleigh in 2013, quitting his young law career to focus full-time on Trolley Pub. The 32-year-old mostly works behind the scenes, but every once in awhile, he hops back on the trolley for a tour around the city he now calls home.

What makes a great Trolley Pub driver?

You need the right personality. You have to have a certain amount of outgoingness and assertiveness to deal with 14 personalities who are out drinking and celebrating. You have to be able to assert yourself, but you also need to be fun. So that’s two conflicting traits, in a way, and we have to find people that can balance both. We’ve actually found that our best drivers are teachers! They know how to have fun and deal with people.

Has anyone ever gotten a little wild and fallen off the trolley?

We actually have a great safety record…and customers better wear their seatbelts or they’ll get kicked off!

So what happens if someone does act up?

We have different policies, but they first get some warnings. A lot of times, it’s just one or two people who aren’t obeying the rules, and the drivers will simply eject that person from the trolley. They can meet back up with their friends later on. It happens at least once a month here in Raleigh, where we have to cancel some portion of a tour. I’m always happy when it happens, because it means the drivers are doing their job.

Did you meet interesting people when you were conducting the tours yourself?

I once had a group of Russian visitors who didn’t speak any English. They were just blaring Russian pop music and having the time of their lives. I’ve met so many interesting people from all walks of life. Once, I drove a Mormon tour that brought Jello and snacks and we went to ice cream parlors. That was probably the most wholesome tour I’ve ever thrown.

Do you ever take the Trolley Pub tour for fun?

Yes! I’m my own best customer. I built a business in that classic line of thinking that I would create something I’d want to use. Even after all these years, I still love going out, entertaining people visiting town or celebrating with friends.

Tell us about getting Trolley Pub up and running here in North Carolina.

Every city we worked with has been different. Raleigh was the most welcoming city we’ve ever opened in and it was actually the easiest—thankfully—because it was early on. If we hadn’t been able to do it, we could have gotten discouraged! My legal background has been an advantage. North Carolina regulates alcohol and vehicles at the state level, but every city also has their own regulations over for-hire and carriers like limousines and taxis, so you have to work with both. In Raleigh, it really just took a few conversations with the city attorney and the police attorney; they agreed with our interpretation and were very helpful. Also, the downtown business community was very supportive. But opening in Wilmington took a year-and-a-half! We had to get an ordinance passed, basically, to make it legal there.

What have you learned while building your business?

The first two years were very difficult and the business took some time to grow. But we’ve always been very versatile when things didn’t work. It’s important to change your mindset and change your ambitions based on the circumstances. Don’t get stuck on one idea.

Like your idea to only use pedal power?

When we first opened it was pedal-only, and I would say the motor came by a very loud customer demand. I figured out pretty quickly that the exercise component of it wasn’t the main reason people were coming out to ride it. We found a handyman and some contractors and came up with a design to add a motor.

Like a Fine Wine: Margaux’s turns 25

Like a Fine Wine: Margaux’s turns 25

by | Jun 30, 2017 | Eat, July 2016 / August 2016

The restaurant celebrates its 25th anniversary this year. The secret to its success? Imaginative fare and extraordinary service since 1992.

If you ask co-founder Steve Horowitz the origin of the name Margaux’s, he’s likely to spin you a tale of backpacking through France “on the crumbs in his pockets,” a beautiful vineyard owner, and a chance encounter with his future brother-in-law. But then he will laugh and tell you the truth—he’s never even been to France.

“We named the restaurant after Margaux, a top-of-the-line wine from the region of Bordeaux,” he says. “When we first opened up, it was a classical French nouvelle style restaurant. We loved the M and we loved the X in the name—it really fit the bill of our fare.” 

Horowitz, 50, opened Margaux’s in 1992 with his brother-in-law Richard Hege, a classically trained chef with whom he had owned a restaurant on Fire Island, New York. Hege, a Whiteville, NC native, was visiting his home state when he discovered the perfect location for a restaurant: a former sporting goods store in Brennan Station.

“It was an outdoors outfitter for the Beverly Hills hunter—they sold gold-tipped archery equipment,” says Horowitz. “Richard came down and said, ‘You really have to see the space—it has a 600 gallon aquarium, it has a fireplace, it’s got stone walls, it’s got three levels. It’s just meant to be a restaurant.’ And I said, ‘There’s no way I’m moving away from New York.’”

But move he did, leaving New York City at 25 to open the restaurant—something he never imagined he would especially since he studied marketing and advertising.

“I’ve been trying since birth to get out of the restaurant business,” he laughs. “My dad had five Hickory Pits coffee shops scattered around Manhattan. I grew up, from about 4 years old, always helping my pop—cutting Swiss cheese, forming hamburgers, serving coffee, working the cash register, delivering cornbread muffins to all the bankers around. I got into advertising for about six months, and I knew 30 seconds into it that the corporate ladder and bureaucracy of the corporate world was not for me, especially the suit and the tie.”

Creative Changes

Margaux’s celebrates its 25th anniversary this year, and many things have changed since its grand opening. London-born chef Andrew Pettifer, who has transitioned the menu from classic French to an internationally influenced fusion of French, Asian and Southern cuisines that changes daily, bought out Hege.

“It’s exhilarating,” says Horowitz. “You never know what’s coming in, and the chefs have such high standards that if something comes in and they don’t like it, it’s not going on the menu. That’s what makes the place— you never know what you’re getting, and it is always going to be fresh and interesting and super creative.”

The menu is seasonal, based on what their purveyors are offering that day. But the fare isn’t all local: a day’s menu can feature Wahoo from Hawai‘i, lobster from Maine and antelope from a ranch in Broken Arrow, TX.

“Our guests love the exotic meats,” he says. “We can’t keep them in stock—they fly off the menu. We will go from venison to antelope to bison to boar to ostrich to Sika t-bone chops. Folks are extremely adventurous and for those that are not, we still have the classic stand-bys. People who’ve been coming here for 25 years know that our menu changes daily and really appreciate the fact that we kick it up a notch with our selections.”

Where Everyone Knows Your Name

There’s another reason guests keep coming back to Margaux’s after two-and-a-half decades: the staff.

“The service is what really makes people come back,” says Horowitz. “We have so many folks that this is their Cheers, their neighborhood bar. This is where they come when they are on their own or they’re on their date night. And for the same bartender to be in place for 25 years, who knows your name and your cocktail and where you’re going to sit…that’s just comfort.”

Among those celebrating Margaux’s 25th anniversary are guests who have come to mark their own milestones over the years.

“We have, since day one, handled folks’ engagements, marriages, rehearsal dinners, baby namings—to watch these children progress to their proms and graduations is an amazing thing,” he says. “Watching folks come in and say, ‘Do you know we’re celebrating our 25th anniversary, too? We got engaged in front of your fish tank in 1992!’” I talk about that all the time with our staff, about how many amazing memories have been made here. Every day, there’s another story, there’s another highlight, there’s another memory.”