Raleigh, where the cool sneaks up on you
“Sneaky cool.”
That’s how goldsmith Lauren Ramirez, a transplant from San Francisco, described Raleigh to me when I popped into her jewelry studio in late November. It was the same morning that I saw a man break dancing in the middle of the street before 8 a.m. and one day after I’d made an impulse purchase that sparkled like a disco ball.
“It sneaks up on you,” Ramirez said about the city’s cool factor, as her dog Alfred sat at my feet. She moved to Raleigh on a whim five years ago and wasn’t sure if she’d make it. But then her business took off, and now she appreciates the city’s small-town feel and the extent to which locals support each other.
I hadn’t visited Raleigh for any length of time since I was a kid but had a sense that it was a staid state capital, the cultural underdog of the Research Triangle. (Its other points being Chapel Hill and Durham.) As I biked around, eating, shopping and talking to locals, I realized that if my assessment wasn’t already outdated it would be, soon.
The City of Oaks is growing swiftly, with a population of nearly 500,000. As I explored, I found a progressive city in a state that often isn’t, a place full of public art and bike paths and a university-inspired hub of innovation and design. Locals are at once excited about growth and worried about how it will change their city.
After three days, I wanted more Raleigh. I stayed an extra night and then an extra hour the next morning, waiting for Boulted Bread to open. The windows of the bakery were steamy, and I was second in line. I left town with a bag of pastries on the passenger seat and my new, super-cool purchase in the back. Glitter track pants from Edge of Urge had snuck into my life. I loved them already.
LOCAL FAVES
Hey, other cities: Just try to out-fest Wide Open Bluegrass, a free, two-day street festival with more than 100 bands on seven stages. Last September, it attracted 223,000 fans, with jams taking over entire hotel floors and music spreading to all parts of the city. The festival is part of the International Bluegrass Music Association’s convention (which moved here from Nashville seven years ago), a week of shows, instrument workshops and awards. During the rest of the year, you can join the well-attended music jams organized by PineCone, Wide Open Bluegrass’s local promoter. These knee-tok-nee traditional music sessions are free for participants and spectators alike. For a calendar of live music every day of the year, check out TheMostNC.com.
How can you go wrong with a brewer, baker and killer chocolate-maker, a creative partner who happens to be the Avett Brothers’ cellist and a general manager who happens to be a popular local DJ? Transfer Co. Food Hall is a gorgeous new gathering spot and food space in the oft-overlooked east side of downtown. Built in a historic Carolina Coach bus garage, Transfer’s centerpiece is a huge, lug-nut-shaped bar. Open now: Locals Oyster Bar, Che Empanadas and Asheville’s Burial Beer. By the end of the month: Benchwarmers Bagels (from the Boulted team). In the spring, Videri Chocolate Factory will move its production here, with space for classes and a test kitchen. Summer will bring Saxapahaw General Store, the first grocery in the neighborhood, along with a calendar of music, gardening and nutrition events. Also check out Morgan Street Food Hall, which opened last summer.
GUIDEBOOK MUSTS
The BookBot at North Carolina State’s Hunt Library is hands down the coolest thing I saw during my visit. From the lobby of this award-winning STEM library, you can watch the robot zip down giant aisles and fetch a bar coded book in minutes. This “Jetsons”-like design enables the library to hold 2 million books in one-ninth the space of traditional stacks. And that has made room for large, museum-quality spaces for students to sit, read, write, study and collaborate; it’s open to the public, too. Also, there’s a collection of more than 80 types of chairs (quirky, modern, comfy, posh, retro, designer) in 100 colors. In the “Seriously?” department: The chairs even have their own website and book. On the tour, I saw a game lab, visualization lab, virtual reality space, maker space, gorgeous top-floor reading room and quiet room where you can still sniff books from a real shelf, if that’s your thing. Free tours every Friday and Saturday except around holidays and exam time.
On a mild Sunday, I biked with a new friend to the North Carolina Museum of Art’s 164-acre Ann and Jim Goodnight Museum Park on the city’s western edge. We pedaled around a three-mile path that connects to the Greenway, passing strolling families, happy dogs, a pond with a stunning viewing platform and a few dozen art installations. There’s a 46-foot, stainless-steel tree, a massive naked human form, a giant, patterned pig that you can enter via an airplane-style staircase and a sculpture made entirely of crowd-control barricades. Rebelliously, we biked off-path to cruise through local artist Thomas Sayre’s three gigantic earthcast rings. We couldn’t help it – just being in the park makes you feel like a kid. Check the schedule for park tours and a summer outdoor concert series. (Past performers have included Earl Scruggs, Rosanne Cash, Wilco and local fave Tift Merritt.) The free museum has the Southeast’s largest collection of Rodin sculptures and hosts Art in Bloom, a spring festival with floral interpretations of the museum’s pieces.
LOCAL FAVES
Always a good sign: a meat-eater fancying a vegetarian restaurant. At the Fiction Kitchen, a colorful downtown spot, I ran into Mitch, who owns legendary Mitch’s Tavern across from North Carolina State. Although he’s not a vegetarian, he’s a regular here on Tuesdays (half-priced bottle of wine night) and a big fan of the popular Eastern North Carolina-style barbecue pulled faux pork. The small restaurant (which doesn’t take reservations and fills up quickly for dinner and brunch) has bright walls and a bar decorated with collages of old magazine pictures. I ordered the seasonal risotto with grilled balsamic-marinated king trumpet mushrooms and a basil-pistachio feta sprinkled with housemade cashew cheese. For more excellent veg fare, try Garland, owned by local darling and indie rock star Cheetie Kumar; and Irregardless, where writer David Sedaris worked for nine months in 1980.
Walking around a new city, getting lost, chatting up strangers and scribbling in my notebook is exhausting. I’m usually ready for lunch by 10:30, so the midmorning kolaches at Carroll’s Kitchen really hit the spot. The hockey-puck-size sweet rolls (one spinach and feta, the other apple butter and brie) were warm and satisfying, and the mission behind the food made me feel even better. The nonprofit restaurant employs women transitioning from homelessness, incarceration or abuse. It also provides job training, helps in securing housing and teaches life skills. The grab-and-go restaurant, which has a line out the door at lunch, also serves sandwiches, wraps, salads and soups. A second location recently opened at Morgan Street Food Hall. Also in the eat-well-feel-good department: A Place at the Table, a volunteer-staffed, pay-what-you-can cafe where you have the option of paying it forward for another patron.
GUIDEBOOK MUSTS
One night, I gathered five local friends at the buzzy Brewery Bhavana, a striking, high-ceilinged space that houses a little flower shop (you can build your own bouquet) and a small book shop. There’s a vast lending library to enjoy while dining, including Tennyson’s poems, Ai Weiwei’s art and the 1,364-page compact edition of the Oxford English Dictionary, should you find yourself debating a definition over dim sum. The brother and sister owners, who grew up in Laos, also own Bida Manda next door. Over dinner, my friends talked about their city, and we shared beautifully plated items such as scallion pancakes and edamame and ginger dumplings, and I wanted the food and conversation to last all night. On tap: a citrusy IPA, chocolate rye stout and a mango peppercorn saison.
Almost without fail, locals suggested I eat at one of James Beard award-winner Ashley Christensen’s restaurants. In 2007, the chef opened her first restaurant, Poole’s Diner, which remains a favorite. One night, I grabbed a red bar stool and swiveled around to the green, horseshoe-shaped Formica bar, a relic from its midcentury days as a pie shop and luncheonette. On the chalkboard menu, which changes often, was pickled pumpkin with burrata, pimento cheese with fried saltines and a 10-ounce Royale with aged provolone. My late-season heirloom tomato pie was scrumptious; portions are generous. The vibe is relaxed and welcoming. On one end of the bar sat a man in flannel and a baseball cap; on the other, three well-dressed Danish men, in town for work and eager to compare travel notes. They’d gone skydiving and target shooting, which I didn’t add to my list, but when their macaroni au gratin arrived, I gazed longingly. Poole’s is open every day until midnight and doesn’t take reservations. Looking for kid-friendly? Try Christensen’s Beasley’s Chicken + Honey or Chuck’s, her burger joint.
LOCAL FAVES
For the record, I loved Edge of Urge even before I bought myself that pair of glitter pants. I mean, what a coup when you discover both Llamanoes (dominoes with llamas) and hats that read, “Failure is an option.” Up the street from Krispy Kreme in the hip Person Street neighborhood, Edge of Urge carries apparel, artsy accessories and playful gifts - like the wedge-shaped notepad with a cover that reads, “Gouda ideas.” You can find quirky, pea-sized earrings with celebs’ likenesses (Jason Alexander, Dolly Parton, the Obamas); women’s coveralls; men’s Red Wing boots; and super-fly toddler threads like Beastie Boys and Bowie baseball T-shirts and Vans the size of Roma tomatoes. Check out the “North Freakin’ Carolina” shirts. (All proceeds go to help feed kids affected by Hurricane Florence.) And if you’re flying into town, stop in Root & Branch, Edge of Urge’s new airport shop, a collaboration with hip downtown shop Deco.
At Oak City Cycling Project, you can buy a new or refurbished bike, accessorize your ride or simply hang in the groovy, underground garage space and gab. You can also tinker with your own bike, using their workspace and tools, for $5 an hour. And best of all, you can sit at the bar and enjoy a local, cycle-themed beer like Unicycle pale ale from Crank Arm, a brewery in the Warehouse District that organizes a weekly group ride. OCCP, as it’s known, is a short spin from the Greenway and the beautiful Oakwood (don’t miss the cemetery) and Mordechai neighborhoods. The shop rents hybrid and mountain bikes, hosts a free bike maintenance class and a Third Thursday Cruiser Ride – affectionately known as the slowest ride in town, because all cyclists and speeds are welcome.
GUIDEBOOK MUSTS
At some point while browsing the velour V-neck sweaters and button-up polyester shirts at Father and Son Antiques, I wondered if anyone in town was hosting a “Saturday Night Fever” party that night. This vintage furniture and clothing shop, in a beautiful new space in the Warehouse District, has treasures from our most fab decades. I found a Royal typewriter in pristine condition; midcentury modern lounge chairs; a Kelly green Izod dress; Western shirts; Sears overalls; a pair of white, beaded, fringed moccasins that I’m sure came out of my middle school locker; and a “Dukes of Hazzard” tee that my tween self might have coveted. If you’re looking for less curation and more bargains, try the Raleigh Flea Market, open every weekend.
“People walk into Stitch and say, ‘Oh, I love that smell,’” a sales associate told me. “They don’t realize it’s the new car smell, but that’s what it is!” Holly Aiken graduated from North Carolina State’s College of Design and set up shop making vinyl bags and wallets in fun, retro colors with simple geometric shapes. In addition to being cow-friendly and durable, the bags can be cleaned with pretty much whatever household cleaners you have on hand (think 409, Magic Eraser). Yay, vinyl! The bags are handcut in the store, and custom orders with mix-and-match styles and colors are the same price as the in-store bags. (Custom’s a cinch with the online Design A Bag feature.) Spend any time in Raleigh and you’ll start seeing Aiken’s bags around town. Don’t miss the bluegrass-themed totes during Wide Open Bluegrass.