The fifth annual photography festival kicked off in April in historic downtown Wilson and viewing is open to the public through the summer. Take a stroll down Nash Street and the 100 block of Tarboro Street and take in vibrant, large-scale photographs from 100 different photographers, including 45 from different countries around the world. The theme of this year’s festival is “Main Street: A Crossroad of Cultures,” with a goal of cultivating cross-cultural understanding through photography. For 100 days, 100 photographs will be on display in 100 storefront windows around downtown Wilson and visitors can follow the exhibit as it links east and west Wilson into one large, shared community.eyesonmainstreetwilson.com
Taste 2019
June 26-30, Durham
In celebration of Durham’s 150th anniversary this year, Taste will feature six culinary events spotlighting the area’s cherished food and beverage community. The signature event of this four-day celebration is the Grand Taste Experience, featuring more than 30 dishes from some of the best chefs in the area. On Wednesday, a beer garden tent will serve up craft brews, while Thursday will feature a wine garden with a variety of wines available from around the world to try.tastetheevent.com
Cha House
Chapel Hill
This Asian-style tea house is one of the cutest, most cozy spots to get your tea fix in the Triangle. The Taiwanese owners source ingredients directly from Asia to produce craft teas and a variety of Asian-inspired snacks. Choose from loose-leaf blends, boba teas, matcha or signature offerings like the Cream Cheese Taro Brûlée made with torched brown sugar, cream cheese and sweet taro root. Served with Taiwanese popcorn chicken or green onion pancakes, we couldn’t blame you for accidentally spending a whole day at Cha House. chahouseusa.com
Pizzeria Mercato
Carrboro
Pizzeria Mercato claims to be the spot where “Italy meets the South,” with a menu that utilizes local ingredients sourced from the Carrboro Farmers Market in traditional Italian-style dishes. Their Neapolitan-inspired pizza is the main attraction, which boasts classic Italian toppings like fior di latte, guanciale – a cured meat prepared from pork jowl, anchovies and oregano. When the mood for pizza doesn’t strike, they also offer handmade pasta dishes, fresh salads and a variety of Italian appetizers, as well as to-die-for cannolis and gelato for dessert. pizzeriamercatonc.com
NC Symphony Presents: A Space Spectacular
June 1, Koka Booth Amphitheatre, Cary
This performance is going to be out of this world! In celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Apollo moon landing, the North Carolina Symphony, led by conductor Keitaro Harada, will perform music from space-inspired movies like “Star Wars,” orchestral suites such as Gustav’s Holst’s “The Planets,” and more. Costumed characters from the 501st Legion, an international fanbase dedicated to dressing like the “Star Wars” villains, will be available to meet and take pictures with fans. boothamphitheatre.com
Back in June of 2019, when Transfer Co. Food Hall had just opened it doors, I was tasked with eating my way through the then-seven enticing food vendors. It was an exciting two-week project that consisted of cream-cheese stuffed bagels, spicy Indian curry, a giant soft shell crab sandwich, loaded burrito bowls and more. Below you’ll find my reviews on each of the vendors; I encourage you try them all out for yourself now that Transfer Co. has officially reopened for dine-in, along with the new restaurants that have opened in the food hall since this piece was published. Bon appetit!
Chhote’s
Chhote’s
This Indian street food-inspired restaurant specializes in curry bowls. I opted for the palak paneer bowl, a flavorful, semi-spicy Indian cottage cheese in a vibrant green spinach gravy, served with fluffy white basmati rice and slices of tomato and cucumber. The curry was fresh, the cheese soft and each bite burst with flavor. On the side, I ordered a samosa with chutney, a perfectly crisp pocket full of a savory mixture of warm vegetables and spices.
Locals Oyster Bar
Locals Oyster Bar
On the day I visited, Locals Oyster Bar had a fried soft shell crab sandwich with green goddess dressing, bread-and-butter pickles and pea shoot salad. Having never had soft shell crab before, how could I not? I won’t lie—I was intimidated. The sandwich consisted of all 10 of the crab’s long, golden-fried legs poking out. But I dove in and thoroughly enjoyed the crunchy, perfectly battered crab, the soft bun, the fresh lettuce and creamy dressing.
Benchwarmer’s
Benchwarmers Bagels
Benchwarmers is ridiculously popular for a reason. I ordered the za’atar and sea salt bagel with plain cream cheese, full of flavorful spices and featuring a fluffy texture that wasn’t too heavy or too light. The cream cheese was soft, creamy and mild-tasting and I was impressed with the ratio of bread to cream cheese—it’s one of the most important aspects of bagel preparation in my opinion and Benchwarmers nailed it.
Bul Box
Bul Box
You get bang for your buck with the Signature Bul Box, which comes with your choice of protein and rice, arugula rice noodles or green mix. I opted for the tofu steak—big chunks of tofu with arugula rice noodles. The box came with grilled veggies, a crispy dumpling, green beans with sesame sauce, cucumber-tomato salad and a soy-glazed soft boiled egg. It was like opening a treasure chest, an ideal balance of textures, flavors and colors.
Dank Burrito
Dank Burrito
Dank Burrito is, indeed, dank. I’m more of a bowl person so on my visit I order the Cajun shrimp bowl, which was just as colorful as it was tasty. It was loaded up with perfectly seasoned rice, black beans, flavorful Cajun fried shrimp, lettuce, tomatoes and a delightful creamy dill cocktail sauce to tie the whole dish together. The shrimp was super crispy and the Cajun spices weren’t too overpowering. The bowl came with Cajun spiced chips that were extremely on point.
Che Empenadas
Che Empanadas
Hot, crispy and flavorful, Che Empanadas did not disappoint. I chose the Caprese empanada, an open-faced, flaky bowl-pastry filled with a gooey mixture of tomatoes, mozzarella and basil. I also got the Col Rizada y Hongos with kale and mushrooms, a conventionally shaped empanada, insides bursting with fresh, hot, tender mushrooms and velvety sautéed kale. For dessert, I got the Alfajor, a dulce de leche-filled shortbread sandwich. It was just the right amount of sweet.
Captain Cookie & the Milkman
Captain Cookie & The Milkman
I was not prepared for how large the signature ice cream cookie sandwiches at Captain Cookie actually are. My sandwich—composed of chocolate chip cookies and cake batter ice cream—was probably two inches thick. Biting in required me to stretch out my mouth to its full extent. The cool, sweet ice cream combined amazingly with the warm chocolate chip cookie in my mouth. Friends, I ate it all.
We all need a little retail therapy every now and again. Spend your dimes in the most trendy of ways in one of these new and unique locally owned boutiques. They specialize in everything from funky North Carolina T-shirts to fancy men’s shoes to divine French soaps.
Voda Boutique Kayla Brewer Cheek, the owner of Voda (a Slavic word meaning “water”) strives to create a laid-back, casual shopping experience with on-trend and fashion-forward apparel and accessories including light, airy dresses, fun tops and dainty jewelry, as well as locally-made goods. Relax and let your mind be at ease in the boutique’s new, much larger space at North Hills. 4209 Lassiter Mill Road, (919) 706-5783, shopvoda.com
Ealdwine
Ealdwine Gentlemen, prepare to don your classiest outfits yet. Ealdwine, an Old English name that means “Old Friend,” is a new men’s store from Alden shoe aficionados Matt Gray and Jim Pietryka. The store features some of the finest men’s shoes, suits, ties, belts and other accessories available in all of Raleigh. 412 S McDowell Street, (984) 242-0025, ealdwineraleigh.com
Bella Vita Bella Vita is an earthy boutique in City Market with a minimalist philosophy offering global gifts and handcrafted home decor, including handmade jewelry, kitchen accessories, Raleigh-inspired T-shirts and furniture, as well as a unique French soap bar. 323 Blake Street, (919) 697-5033, facebook.com/bellavitaraleigh
Munjo Munjo This funky new pop-up shop downtown from a Raleigh-based design studio specializes in graphic tees, stickers, pins, coffee mugs, magnets and more. With its expressive merch, Munjo Munjo hopes to give life to inspiring artists’ work and facilitate a fun and creative environment for all those who refuse to grow up. 120 South Wilmington Street, Suite 103, munjomunjo.com
Dove & Olive Mercantile
Dove & Olive Mercantile This dreamy shop and coffee and tea lounge new to Five Points sells a rotating collection of goods, including both locally-sourced pieces and products inspired from owner Hannah Weisberg’s various travels. 233 Bickett Boulevard, doveandoliveraleigh.com
The Flourish Market
The Flourish Market Recently relocated to the Warehouse District, The Flourish Market features lovely, feminine clothes, shoes, accessories, home goods and gifts from 50 international and U.S. brands that provide jobs and fair wages to talented artisans in vulnerable communities. Owner Em Sexton’s expanded space also houses a coffee lounge and a co-working space for Triangle-based female entrepreneurs called The Locality, opening June 3.theflourishmarket.com
It’s a passion that the owner and chef of newly opened Papa Shogun has been exercising since he was a student at the Institute of Culinary Education. It’s a philosophy he carried with him to wd~50, a haven for molecular gastronomy in Manhattan that closed in 2014. And it’s one that started long before, in the kitchen of the New Jersey native’s Italian-American mother, cooking pasta with her near daily, plus a meat-and-tomato special sauce—or gravy—that was reserved exclusively for Sundays.
Dinners were always served with the whole family, Cuomo recalls.
“The dinner table is where everybody comes together. It’s amazing how central food can become, as opposed to just viewing it as basic sustenance,” he says.
Even when he was very young, when most children would get stuck home with a babysitter, Cuomo regularly dined out with his parents, experiences he says broadened his exposure to good food and a wide range of cooking styles.
It wasn’t until after college, though, that Cuomo got seriously involved in the restaurant industry. While studying archaeology at New York University—“I wanted to be Indiana Jones,” he recalls—he cooked on and off at various restaurants, taking kitchen gigs during the summer. Following a short stint as a teacher in New Jersey, Cuomo realized his true passion for food at Vetri Cucina, an upscale restaurant in Philadelphia, where he learned about mixing different flavor profiles together to create the perfect bite.
“Prior to that, food was central to my life, but there were moments during this meal where it was like, ‘Wow, this is incredible,’” Cuomo says. “It hit me that, yeah, you can do this kind of stuff with food.” So he moved to New York City to study at the Institute of Culinary Education.
Kombu Gnocchi
During the yearlong culinary program, molecular gastronomy sparked Cuomo’s interest. He aspired to work with the innovative chef Wylie Dufresne and was soon hired as a prep cook at wd~50, where he learned new techniques and had opportunities to experiment. Dufresne encouraged Cuomo and the other chefs to play with their food as if they were kids, to branch out with different flavors and ingredients.
“We really pushed the envelope with techniques and added special elements to make the dishes better when they came out,” Cuomo says of his time working under Dufresne. “He really pushed us to think more about food.”
As Cuomo worked his way up through various back-of-the-house positions at wd~50, he created his own dishes using Japanese cooking techniques and different Asian ingredients. He naturally began to see throughlines between Japanese and Italian cooking and cuisine and his concept for a Japanese-Italian fusion restaurant began to take shape.
Last November, that concept—Papa Shogun in Raleigh’s Seaboard Station—became a reality.
“I was always amazed there weren’t more people doing it, because it just seemed so logical to me,” Cuomo says of Japanese-Italian fusion cooking. “The flavors, the techniques, just seem to go together so seamlessly. When you strip away the differences of ingredients, the cuisines are very similar.”
Now, Cuomo has free range to do whatever he wants with his food. Italian and Japanese cuisine come together in dishes such as Kombu Gnocchi, Chicken Parm Ramen and Giardinara Giapponese, which change seasonally based on availability of fresh ingredients.
Cuomo hopes his diners will be inspired to experiment with their own fusion cooking at home, and that they will enjoy creating and trying dishes together, with their families, as his did.
“I want people to eat these dishes and realize that seemingly disparate things can be put together on a plate,” Cuomo says. “Hopefully, by the fact that we’re doing something cool and interesting, we can get conversations started and make food central to people’s lives again.”
You might consider Sonny Caberwal as somewhat of a social butterfly, and you’d be right to assume so. It’s kind of hard for him not to be one, considering he’s the owner and creator of Union Member House, a 900-member social club in Durham.
A Sikh who grew up in Asheboro, it was easy for people to see Caberwal as different. But, Caberwal says, “I can find common ground with almost anyone.”
Since he was a kid, Caberwal has shown a passion for putting people with common interests together. While attending Duke University, he’d commonly organize events and parties to help bring different kinds of people together in various social environments. That was only the start of it.
After moving around to New York, San Francisco, Washington, D.C. and India, Caberwal, an entrepreneur, came back to Durham to open his fourth startup, Union Member House. The beautifully designed space, complete with plush couches, luxurious decorations and a bar, restaurant and lounge, provides a way for people in Durham and the surrounding Triangle area to facilitate meaningful connections with a diverse range of people.
“People can be their best sense of self through each other,” he said. “Helping people connect is an important mission that not only has benefits for individuals, but creates a lot of opportunities in our communities.”
To join Union Member House you must first pay a yearly fee of $250, about $20 a month. Caberwal purposefully made the price affordable in order to help create diversity within the space and to make it accessible by all. Next, members answer questions, much like a dating site, so the club can get to know you better, and discover what your interests are.
Union Member House uses the information you share with them to help make meaningful connections with other people they feel you’d get along with, create programming, show you some good times and give you a place to do good work. Programs include workshops, happy hours, book clubs, discussions, game nights, mindfulness sessions and dinners with strangers, where you literally go to a group dinner knowing no one.
Intimidating? Maybe. But Caberwal felt the need for a place like Union Member House for Durham and Triangle residents to have somewhere where they can connect and come together, especially in the age of the Internet and social media. Because while online communities can certainly bring people together, they can also make people feel very far away. “We all have more in common than we have differences, and sometimes it’s hard to see that when we engage through these online conversations,” he said.
Stephanie Angelini, 42, joined Union Member House shortly after moving to Raleigh from New York City in November, where she was a member of a social and networking club in Manhattan, as a way to meet like-minded people in her new home.
“I’ve made a handful of new friends at Union Member House and have met many interesting people,” she said. “But most of all it’s a cool little spot with a great, relaxed vibe in the heart of downtown Durham that has good food and great drinks where everyone is welcomed.”
With such a diverse population of members, it’s easy to find someone to connect with at Union Member House, whether it’s through a shared hobby, interest, or just the fact that you sat down next to each other during lunch. Members include both males and females, and a range of ages and ethnicities.
“The beauty of a club like this is the opportunity to meet people whose paths you might not cross otherwise in everyday life,” said Angelini said.
If you’re interested in meeting new people and being exposed to new things, Union Member House is worth checking out. It’s a gorgeous, inviting space where people from all over the Triangle can come together and engage in social activities, while allowing individuals to feel like they’re a part of something bigger than themselves.
