My good friends Joe Philipose and Lesley Stracks-Mullem from Taste Carolina Gourmet Food Tours recently asked me to tag along one of their Raleigh food tours. I jumped at the chance because it combines two of my favorite passions… food and fotos! I became friends with Joe after meeting him at a Meetup party and my wife attended school with Lesley. Due to all of our busy schedules I haven’t had a chance to hang out with them as much as I would like but I hope to see them more as my schedule slows just a bit this winter. I really do think they are great people with great personalities.
Taste Carolina is an amazing concept where local North Carolina residents as well as out of towners are treated to a “sampler platter” of some of the finest restaurants, chat with chefs and owners, and learn more about the local history of a given area. Their current focus is the Triangle region including Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill and Carrboro area. Their walking tours cover a length of 2-3 miles and includes visits to six to eight total restaurants and shops.
Featured in this post:
Zely and Ritz
The Cupcake Shoppe
The Mint Restaurant
Sitti Authentic Lebanese
The Mint Restaurant
The Foundation Bar
Here’s a portrait of Chef Sarig Agasi at Zely Ritz… He seemed very knowledgeable and was very personable.
We stopped in at The Cupcake Shoppe on Glenwood Avenue.
They also provide cupcakes for weddings… I’ve had a few and they taste amazing.
Yum! Happy birthday cupcakes.
I really like their antique cash register.
Time to get those feet moving… The group heads down McDowell Street as they learn more about the surrounding area.
A photograph of downtown Raleigh on Fayetteville Street.
Onto The Mint Restaurant and Bar.
The main door that you go through to enter the dining room at The Mint is a six-ton bank vault door from the original bank.
An ascending staircase leads upstairs…
where they have an amazingly beautiful lounge and bar.
After dining at The Mint we listened to Lelsey as she shared some very interesting factoids about downtown Raleigh and Fayetteville Street.
I personally enjoyed learning about the historic Briggs Hardware bulding. It’s a four story building bulit in 1874 by Thomas Briggs as a family-owned hardware store. It is also currenlty home to The Raleigh City Museum. Don’t you just love the reflecting light from the buildings across the street?
We passed Raleigh Times Bar and Morning Times on East Hargett Street. It is over 100 years old. Old images and press clippings hang from the walls. I’ve had a few of their beers and have also eaten on their outdoor patio near Hargett Street. I don’t think there has been a single time when I’ve passed by and the place wasn’t bustling with activity.
I bet this shopkeeper wished he was on a food tour instead of working. I caught this photograph as the group passed across the street.
We now arrive at Sitti in Raleigh. Sitti is an authentic lebanese restaurant that is the brainchild of Greg Hatem. He joined forces with the Saleh family, owners of the area’s Neomonde restaurants, to open Sitti. It’s a tribute to the grandmothers (or sittis) who are the caretakers and teachers of the Lebanese culture.
Cooking up something good I’m sure. If you make it out there make sure you get the Seabass. It is to die for. Seriously a must!
Authentic labanese hookahs adorn the restaurant.
A quick photo of the back porch. They are starting to do wedding receptions there. I hope I get to photograph a rehearsal dinner or reception there. If you hire me please order that seabass. :)
And here we are at The Foundation.
The bartender shares the history of The Foundation Bar with us…
and pours us a “factoid chaser.”
Cheers!
Before we left the bartender showed us this secret area left over from long ago. They currently stash their kegs in here.
What a good looking group of people. Thank you Lesley and Joe for letting me be a part of this event.
3 comments
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I really want to do that tour…even though I’ve been to half of those places. That is exciting about Sitti starting to do receptions in the courtyard. That would be so pretty…and yummy.
I really want to do that tour…even though I’ve been to half of those places. That is exciting about Sitti starting to do receptions in the courtyard. That would be so pretty…and yummy.