Burny Wild’s Adventure Sauce takes everything you thought you knew about traditional hot sauce and turns it on its head. The new sauce from Mike Rosado, a creative director at Raleigh-based brand design studio MRC, and Bobby McFarland, a chef and a culinary consultant for The Kitchen agency, blends tangy, sweet, salty, savory, smoky and herbaceous flavors with just a touch of heat into a concoction you’ll want to lather onto everything.
“Hot sauce is limiting,” says McFarland. “By design, they’re mostly just giving you heat. To me, ‘adventure sauce’ says this is going to be more than just heat—it’s going to be an adventure.”
Rosado and his team at MRC created Burny Wild’s right before the pandemic hit in an experiment to craft a brand from scratch and a desire to create a versatile condiment sauce that could take any dish to the next level.
“In the COVID era, where we don’t get to go out to great restaurants as much as before, it was important to make a sauce that was chef-made, giving homemade meals—quick or thoughtfully prepared—that restaurant-quality flavor,” Rosado says.
Unlike many hot sauces on the market, Burny Wild’s isn’t meant to be so hot that it hurts to have it in your mouth; Rosado calls it a “heat sauce.” McFarland balances hot yellow and chipotle peppers with steamed carrots, maple syrup, rosemary, charred onion and other unique ingredients to give the all-purpose sauce a complex flavor that delivers a kick of heat and takes your taste buds on an adventure. Drizzle it on eggs, dunk chicken nuggets in it or mix it into a stir fry—the options are endless.
McFarland says he drew inspiration for the ingredients for Burny Wild’s from the brand’s namesake character, Burny, who Rosado and his MRC team developed as a gruff and determined adventurer “traversing the globe in search of the perfect ingredients.” The recipe sends Burny to soy fermenteries for red miso in Japan, the great American North for maple syrup and to Peru for aji amarillo chili paste. The sauce is vegan and gluten-free.
Burny Wild’s Kickstarter campaign launches this month to support MRC in raising money for production so the team can share the signature adventure sauce with the rest of the world. Visit burnywilds.com to find the link to the campaign and join the mailing list, and follow the brand on Instagram @burnywilds and Facebook at facebook.com/burnywilds for more updates.
Local caterers pivot to offering family style meals during the pandemic.
As the coronavirus crept into Raleigh and North Carolina earlier this year, people and companies started abandoning plans for parties, weddings, conferences and all kinds of other large-scale events. The hospitality industry was hit hard and local caterers found themselves in a bind: What would they do if they didn’t have any events left to cater for? Many of Raleigh’s independently owned caterers spun the fatigue folks were feeling from constantly cooking at home to their advantage, using their resources and know-how to pivot to offering family style meals people could easily order, pick up, or have delivered—contact free—and have on hand to feed everyone for at least a day or two. So if you’re tired of cooking at home, but not quite ready to go out to eat a restaurant yet, try a family style meal from one of these local catering companies.
Donovan’s Dish
Donovan’s Dish, perhaps most famous for its outstanding shrimp and grits, typically specializes in weddings, corporate events, birthdays, anniversaries, baby showers and holiday parties. But nearly five years ago, the company launched a dish-to-door meal service and pivoted to include contactless delivery at the start of the pandemic (yes, the shrimp and grits are available to order to your home!). With all events cancelled, owner Jill Donovan says dish-to-door took priority over catering and the company gave the service its own platform, added more meal options and offered next-day delivery seven days a week—customers get a text message when their frozen heat-and-eat meals are dropped off at their doors. Donovan says profits from dish-to-door don’t make up for the loss of revenue from events but keeps her employees paid and her customers seem to love the service. “We were fortunate to have this system already in place,” Donovan adds. “All of us have had to pivot. It means we’re survivors.”
Order online for contact-free delivery or pick up at 800 W. Williams Street in Apex. dishtodoor.com
Feed A Family For…
Under $20 – Texas-style chili with ground chuck, onion, jalapeños, kidney beans, ancho chili and tomato, 1 quart, $15
Under $30 – Big John’s three-cheese mac & cheese topped with buttered croutons, serves 4, $24
Under $50 – Hibachi chicken and steak served with fried rice, vegetables, yum yum sauce and ginger sauce, serves 4-6, $44
Catering Works’ Fig’s Market
Catering Works, whose award-winning food and drinks are just as popular as their fairy-tale weddings, corporate events and special occasion coordinating services, pivoted to a family style meal service right at the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Hoping to maintain some income, the company branded its new service as Fig’s Market, a concept piloted a few years prior that the company found easy to return to. “It’s been quite terrifying, to say the least,” says Jill Santa-Lucia, Catering Works’ president and culinary director. “But we’re not giving up.”
While most people just don’t think of going to a caterer for dinner, says Santa-Lucia, Catering Works’ chef-curated heat-and-eat meals are a delicious example of why you should. The menu includes a variety of signature entrees—including fried chicken, steak and crab cakes—that come with a choice of two sides and add-ons, such as rolls, bread and wine, and arrive as a single serving or family pack of four servings. Instructions on how to reheat or finish the meal are included with each item and Fig’s Market also features a la carte items such as desserts, deli sandwiches, salads, flatbread pizza and casseroles. Order home delivery or get curbside pickup at 2319 Laurelbrook Street between 1-3 p.m. Monday through Saturday. figsmarket.com
Feed A Family For…
Under $30 – Frozen chicken pot pie, serves 4 to 6, $29
Under $60 – A four-serving portion of boursin chicken with roasted balsamic tomatoes plus a choice of side and a choice of salad, $59
Under $80 – Salmon glazed with raspberry tamarind and sweet potato salsa dinner served with roasted haricot verts and quinoa pilaf, serves 4, $79
Ladyfingers Caterers
When you think of Ladyfingers, the first thing that comes to mind for many Raleighites are the to-die-for ham rolls, which have become famous around town and across the country thanks to the company shipping nationwide. While Ladyfingers’ ham rolls haven’t been gracing many weddings, corporate events, anniversaries and cocktail soirees recently, Ladyfingers’ owner Tudi Jackson tried a few different things at the beginning of the pandemic to try to maintain business, including drive-through-Fridays, barbecue meal kits, taco Tuesdays and back-to-school lunches. Then, Jackson launched a weekly food program in which customers sign up for Ladyfingers’ newsletter and get a rundown of each week’s meal offerings sent to their inboxes. There’s keto-friendly Thursdays, deli salad Wednesdays, pre-marinated kabobs to grill at home and, now that football season has started, sandwiches and snacks fit for the big game. “I’m certainly not happy that there’s no catering but it has opened doors to new ideas that I’ve enjoyed,” Jackson says.
Call Ladyfingers at (919) 828-2270 to order home delivery or get curbside pickup at 627 East Whitaker Mill Road. ladyfingersofraleigh.com
Feed A Family For…*
Under $20 – Smoked baby back ribs, $14
Under $40 – Cashew chicken with broccoli, bell peppers and onions in a sesame ginger sauce served over cauliflower fried rice, serves 4, $34.75
Under $50 – Mix-and-match kabobs (1 each of chicken, Hawaiian beef, shrimp, vegetable) plus a large side of mac and cheese, feeds 4 to 5, $44
PoshNosh
Coleen Speaks, whose resume includes stints under renowned New Orleans chef Emeril Lagasse and Ashley Christensen at Enoteca Vin, launched her PoshNosh Catering company here in Raleigh in 2007 with the goal of working with local farms, fishmongers and purveyors to curate seasonal menus for her clients. Two weeks before North Carolina’s pandemic shutdown was announced, Speaks realized she had to pivot her services in order to maintain income while weddings and other events were being cancelled. Speaks says providing a family style meal service was a natural way to keep doing business.
PoshNosh’s six-week meal plans—featuring a different entree, salad, side dish and dessert each week for $55, plus tax—started by mainly offering comfort food but has evolved to more health-conscious meals as “we’ve all experienced a little bit of expanded waistlines,” Speaks says jokingly. She says she wants to create meals people normally wouldn’t prepare at home and keeps it interesting with seasonal ingredients. Speaks’ customers have enjoyed the family style meals so much, she’s planning to continue them, even once the pandemic is in the rearview. “I can’t imagine crawling under a rock and waiting for this to pass,” Speaks says. “We decided to really invest in this.”
$55 – Soy-glazed chicken thighs with cucumber salad, fried rice and spiced apple cake; Bacon-wrapped smoked meatloaf with mashed potatoes, braised greens and banana pudding; Chicken parmesan with linguine, Caesar salad, garlic focaccia and lemon-glazed olive oil cake
*These are examples of past meals and may not be available as of press time
After one of the hottest North Carolina summers on record, fall is finally here and we couldn’t be happier! As you swap out your tank tops and shorts for sweaters and leggings, your iced cold brews for steamy pumpkin spice lattes and deck out your house with Halloween decorations, get into the fall spirit with our list of local ways to celebrate fall. Though some of Raleigh’s best autumn events have been canceled this year due to COVID, including the NC State Fair and all the downtown music festivals, there are still plenty of ways to safely enjoy the cooling weather. Here are our top 25 suggestions.
Visit Spring Haven Farm in Chapel Hill for a socially distanced farm visit complete with tractor rides, meet and greets with the animals, a pallet maze and fall-themed eats and drinks. You can also buy tickets to carve pumpkins with goats—they love to nibble on pumpkin flesh as you scoop it out. Schedule a day to visit Wednesday through Sunday. springhaven.farm
Pick up a pumpkin from the State Farmers Market. There are so many shapes, colors and sizes to choose from, meaning you can get completely creative with your carving. ncagr.gov/markets/facilities/markets/raleigh
Using whatever pumpkin seeds you have left, wash off the pulp, dry and toss with olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic powder and paprika. Then bake at 350 degrees for 12 to 15 minutes, tossing the seeds every five minutes to brown evenly.
Take a sweeter route and whip up a homemade pumpkin pie with a baking pumpkin, also available from the State Farmers Market.
Plant a fall garden with help from Logan’s Garden Shop. Vegetables such as carrots, cauliflower, beets, kale, Brussels sprouts and potatoes thrive in the fall when temperatures drop below 70 degrees. Logan’s also offers cozy patio furniture for soaking up those cool fall evenings—dinner al fresco, anyone? logantrd.com
Make a day out of pumpkin picking at Page Farms, a family favorite in Raleigh for its you-pick pumpkin patch, corn maze, hay rides and cow train. Bring the kids or let your inner child come out on the haystack slide. The whole experience just screams fall. pagefarmsraleigh.com
If you’re not worried about getting spooked, visit Phillips Farms’ haunted farm in Cary. Four attractions—The Field of Lost Souls, The Rebellion Trail, The Gore House and the Big Top Terror—are designed to haunt you long after you’ve left. For something a little more light-hearted, make your way through the farm’s old-fashioned corn maze or take a wagon ride. phillipsfarmsofcary.com
Build your own local pumpkin spice latte hop and visit Raleigh’s many coffee shops for their unique takes on fall’s favorite drink. On the list: Jubala, Sir Walter Coffee, Benelux and Global Village, among others. If you’re not into pumpkin spice, many of these coffee shops offer other delicious seasonal beverages, too!
Host a socially distanced game day or movie night in your backyard with a 20-foot inflatable screen from Triangle Backyard Cinema. You can stream from Disney+, Hulu, Amazon, Netflix, play a DVD or Blu-Ray, watch the game or the upcoming MMA fight, stream your favorite concert or play your favorite multi-player game. trianglebackyardcinema.com
If you have a kayak or a canoe, take it for a relaxing float through Robertson Millpond Preserve, the only bald cypress blackwater swamp habitat in Wake County. You’ll also find sheltered picnic tables, a quarter-mile boardwalk and walking path and a fishing platform with benches at the preserve. wakegov.com/parks/robertsonmillpond/Pages/default.aspx
Kick off red wine season with a virtual wine tasting at Wine Feed, Raleigh Wine Shop or Seaboard Wine & Tasting Bar. You’ll get to taste your way through various wines and learn how best to pair them with certain foods. Some tastings even come with tasty snacks to enjoy with your wine!
The State Fair may be cancelled this year, but you can still get your hands on all the guilty pleasure goodies you get to indulge in once a year with Grazin’ Gals’ State Fair charcuterie board. It contains cotton candy, caramel apples with bacon from Kandy Apples By K, chocolate-covered marshmallows from Elevated Chocolates, apple cider doughnuts, Carolina Kettle Chips, stuffed buttercream cookies and spiced nuts from Joy Filled Foods. grazingals.com
On rainy fall days, visit Raleigh’s renowned museums, many of which have finally reopened. The Museum of Natural Sciences celebrates women scientists such as Marie Curie in a new exhibition. The Museum of History’s Beach Music exhibit explores the history of beach music in the Carolinas and the NCMA opened several unique exhibitions when it reopened last month. Marbles, the COR Museum and The Gregg are also open.
Take up a new hobby, like embroidery, with the help of the Craft Habit. The locally owned store offers embroidery and cross stitch kits and supplies as well as punch needle kits, an alcohol inks starter kit, a DIY soap kit, terrarium kits and more. On the website you’ll also find embroidery how-to videos with helpful tips and tricks for making your very own designs at home. crafthabitraleigh.com
With pumpkin season comes pumpkin beer season, something that we can all get behind. Make a day out of trying all the pumpkin beers from local breweries. Big Boss Brewing has a Harvest Time pumpkin/yam beer on tap, Sycamore Brewing’s Pumpkin Latte blonde ale is on tap at House of Hops Glenwood and Aviator Brewing Company released a seasonal Pumpkin Beast ale in September.
Uncover the City of Oaks’ haunted past on the Raleigh Haunted Footsteps Ghost Tour hosted by Tobacco Road Tours. Along the tour, you’ll hear spooky ghost stories, centuries-old folklore passed down from generations and maybe even get a glimpse of some real-life paranormal action. This scary tour is not for the faint of heart!tobaccoroadtours.com/tours/raleigh-haunted-footsteps-ghost-tour
Before it gets too chilly, head out to the NC coast for one last beach trip. Wrightsville Beach is a little over two hours away and the Outer Banks and the Crystal Coast are three hours away. Fall at the coast is beautiful and the prices on rentals are cheaper than in the summer!
Deck out your house in spooky decorations that will scare anyone who happens to drive past. Zest Cafe & Home Art sells both cute and eerie decorations as well as themed tableware for your socially distanced Halloween get-togethers. zestcafehomeart.com
Bend and stretch as the leaves fall around you at one of Raleigh’s outdoor yoga classes. YOGA SOUL•LEC•TIVE, Raleigh Outdoor Yoga, Current Wellness, Midtown Yoga and many other studios have been hosting outdoor classes since the pandemic started.
Enjoy a cozy dinner in with chef Sean Fowler’s Mandolin Farmhouse Meals. The fall menu lineup includes comforting classics such as pot roast, chicken pot pie, New Orleans-style gumbo and chicken and dumplings. Just order online and everything will be delivered right to your door. mandolinraleigh.com/store/catering
With fall weather comes fall baked goods and we couldn’t be more excited about all of the seasonal offerings at local bakeries! Union Special’s produce-filled slices are great for breakfast, lunch or dinner, Yellow Dog Bread’s apple turnover is a fall must-have and you will get addicted to Boulted Bread’s currant and lemon zest scones.
Get in the Halloween spirit with Raleigh Road Outdoor Theatre’s Halloween Spook-Fest. There will be trunk-or-treating, a costume contest with prizes awarded for the scariest, most creative and best duo/trio costumes, as well as a car costume contest with prizes awarded to the best decorated vehicle. raleighroaddrivein.com
When downtown underground cocktail bar Foundation had to shut down due to the pandemic in March, bar staffers took the first three months of quarantine as an opportunity to renovate and deep clean the bar. Then, with little else to do, they started playing around with drinks and brainstorming ways they could get something out there for their dedicated customers. Cocktail mixes—the results of some experimentation—were the natural answer, as exceptional cocktails are what Foundation has been known for during the 10 years the bar has been open in its location on Fayetteville Street.
Foundation launched its cocktail mixes in late July, with a line of classic Old Fashioned mixes as well as a series dubbed “Home Alone,” which encompasses more experimental and seasonal mixes made with shelf-stable syrups.
Photograph by Felicia Perry Trujillo
Foundation bartenders Garrett Waddell and Kyle Hankin say they were already using seasonal North Carolina fruits and other produce to create flavorful, shelf-stable syrups for cocktails; making mixes was the simple and logical next step. Because of the preservation techniques and processes used to extract flavor from the fruit, the mixes also have a longer shelf life, thus broadening their flavors and rendering them preservative-free.
The Home Alone mixes include Wet Bandits, made with fresh watermelon, cucumber and lime; Keep the Change, a fruity mix of blueberry, lemon and aromatic baking spice; and Eating Junk Food and Watching Rubbish, which contains strawberry, lemon, hibiscus and Peychaud’s bitters.
“All of the flavor profiles were predicated on previous cocktails,” says Waddell. “They’re a culmination of a lot of different things we’ve been working on for a while now, that we just happened to time right when we needed to do to-go stuff.”
The names of Foundation’s mixes are inspired by some of the bar staffers’ favorite old movies. Since we’re all stuck at home, Waddell says, “Home Alone” was a natural fit, and, as any “Home Alone” fan will quickly recognize, the names of the cocktail mixes come from memorable quotes or scenes from the classic film. So as not to spend too much on graphic design or branding, the Foundation team made all of the packaging and labels in-house. “A lot of our labels are kind of crooked,” Hankin jokes. “You can definitely tell we did them ourselves.”
Each of the Old Fashioned mixes are sold in a delicate 4-ounce bottle, which makes about 20 drinks, while the Home Alone mixes come in 8-ounce bottles and can make either four or eight cocktails, depending on how rich or sweet you prefer them to be.
Foundation co-owner Vincent Whitehurst says the Home Alone mixes work pretty universally with any neutral spirit, whether you prefer vodka, rum, gin, tequila or even bourbon. Besides cocktails, Hankin says the mixes would also be good in non-alcoholic sodas, smoothies or ice cream. As well as being a great way to support one of Raleigh’s best local bars, the mixes are handy for all of us who lack the tools and skills to make complex cocktails at home.
“People love them,” says co-owner Will Alphin of the mixes. “I don’t think we’ve had any negative feedback.”
Like the wet bandits themselves, you’ll surely be thirsty for more.
WEB EXCLUSIVE As local businesses continue to shut down for good, boards go up over windows and people are laid off from their jobs left and right, it begs the question of whether or not Raleigh will ever recover from the economic downfalls the novel coronavirus pandemic has brought onto the city. It certainly seems like there’s a chance things will never get better, but Marci McGregor, Managing Director and Senior Investment Strategist for Merrill Lynch and Bank of America, wants you to stay positive.
During Midtown Raleigh Alliance’s virtual event, “RECOVERY: The Economics of ReOpening”, held on September 23, McGregor shared data and trends that showed how Raleigh, and the nation, is already on the path to recovering from the coronavirus pandemic. McGregor answered three specific questions during her presentation: where we are in recovery nationally, what the market is telling us (is there a disconnect between the stock market and the real economy?) and what life on the other side of COVID will look like. McGregor calls that the “new frontier” and predicts we’ll get to that point in 2022.
Marci McGregor
McGregor says that Raleigh’s strengths—its work force and dynamic economy led by tech and healthcare—positions Raleigh well for the future. These strengths will be particularly beneficial in the movement of supply chains, a slow moving trend that was already in place but the pandemic accelerated, that are going to be more technologically driven and efficient. “Thinking about countries, globally, or regions—when they have educated workforces, they can operate smarter supply chains that benefit from [this pandemic],” McGregor said.
One of the biggest concerns of the coronavirus pandemic is the effect its had on local businesses. However, small businesses are already on their way to recovery, McGregor says. According to the NFIB Small Business Optimism Index, small business confidence increased in August and is now above the historical 46-year average. Job openings have increased and there are plans to hire more workers, something that’s extremely positive in the economy moving forward. In April, 1 percent of small business owners had plans to create new jobs, whereas now that number has increased to 21 percent. “We’ve all experienced and witnessed the pain of small businesses in all of our communities,” says McGregor. “It’s an important step in recovery because small businesses are so important to the U.S. economy.”
While McGregor certainly realizes that the early innings of recovery and economic expansion can be bumpy, we are already back on the path of economic growth. Areas seeing strength include manufacturing and housing. There will be an increase of cybersecurity thanks to all of the activities that are now taking place online. McGregor predicts 2021 will be the year when consumer activity adds momentum to the recovering economy as well.
Ultimately, McGregor says that innovation and productivity are what will get us to the other side. Already, healthcare and science have made it possible for us to get tested for the virus, maintain working remotely and allow children to learn virtually. “It’s important to find the silver linings,” McGregor says. “The recession is behind us and we’re on the path to recovery.”
