We Love Durham NC

Creperie

The Girl and I had a light lunch at Shade Tree Coffee to try out the crepes. Shade Tree is located on Erwin Road, down the street from Dunkin Donuts.

I had gruyere and she had chocolate with powdered sugar. We both ended up eating my cheese crepe (which was wonderful) because hers was a bit Hershey’s-syrupy. I like to put chunks of chocolate in my chocolate crepes, but at $2.95, the syrup makes sense. Shade Tree Crepe Menu at Lenore’s

Shade Tree appears to be a Duke-student-studying hangout, but there were a few hospital visitors with children; it is only a few blocks from the Children’s Hospital. I’d love to see them stock a few juice boxes for the little ones. It is cheap and easy to do so, and makes for less spills. There was only Odwalla, which can evoke a “Mommy! There’s something floating in my juice!” reaction. Obviously they have a variety of coffee and tea for the adults.

Plenty of seating indoors and out. On one side is an enclosed sidewalk area, which may be fun to run and jump on. On the other side are multiple flights of stairs, which can be pleasantly distracting or nerve-wracking, depending on how old your kid is (and how recently a family member has broken an arm).

Quizno’s Subs are right around the corner~you could easily share an outdoor table~if you need heavier fare.

A big list of Durham restaurantsÂ

Food at Morning Star Coffee, Soon

The Girl and I stopped into Morning Star Gourmet Coffee Shop for a quick lunch. The couches are gone in favor of padded booths, and the play area is gone (though some of it remains scattered on the stage). Wifi was still pending.

Coffee and tea offerings are the same. Baked goods are provided by Sweet Jane’s.

One of The Picnic Basket locations is housed in the kitchen, and reportedly will provide sandwiches and other lunchtime fare, soon, but no firm date on that. Their menu promises to make this a great addition to the lunchtime offerings on that part of University Drive.

Elmo’s Kid Friendly

Lots of places claim to be kid-friendly, because getting those family dollars is good business. But Elmo’s Diner (no, not that Elmo, silly-billy) in Durham really is kid-friendly, from the kid menu down to the brand-new crayons, from the school donations every Tuesday to the waiters and hosts who don’t snarl at kids like at many restaurants. Comfy booths with clean boosters, clean bathrooms. And coffee while you wait–bonus for mom.

About Thyme

It only took me 22 years to find this out, but the Ravioli at Anotherthyme is divine. As is the service. I always thought it was a vegan restaurant, but there’s pork.

Grab your wii-mote!

Starting at the end of the month: Wii tournaments at Bull McCabe’s. No prisoners!

Joe Van Gogh

Broad Street Cafe is currently closed on Mondays. But, you can walk down the sidewalk one short block to Joe Van Gogh. Cozy place with about 12 tables; friendly staff. They have their own roasted coffee (Cup A Joe) and treats from Weaver Street Market (chocolate croissants included), Sweet Jane’s (muffins; SJ’s is a wholesale bakery), and Guglhupf (but not on Mondays, as they are closed that day, too).

Sunday

Another successful Family Day at the Nasher. The people in charge of art activities never cease to amaze with their creativity. On today’s agenda was making NC-themed postcards with magazine clippings and markers, to slip into a mailbox for posting. We addressed ours to the grands, who will be pleased with their pop-art-with-geese. On the other table were squares of corrugated cardboard, to dip the edges in tempera and print lines. The Boy printed a symmetrically designed grand flying machine, and the girl deviated by smearing her purple and red paint on a paper plate.
Speaking of geese, also thrilling us were the Rags to Riches folks with Jack and the Beanstalk. The Boy had worked on the same piece with them last summer at a camp, so he was excited to see how “real” actors did it. We have songs stuck in our heads… “heeee-eeeey.” Two new (to us) actors… Kelly and Cody… both delightful.

On leaving the museum, I tumbled off my shoes and the sidewalk edge to land hard on my left knee (breaking the fall of the girl, who I was holding). Durham-related because Durham people are so darned nice. A whole family stopped to see if we were okay, if we needed help or bandaids from the car.

But even knee-quite-bleeding could not stop us from stopping by Taqueria la Vaquita (you know, the foodstand on Chapel Hill Road with the cow on the roof) for lunch. The kids chose (surprise) quesadillas, which should always be on corn tortillas. For the adults, the Cubana (second choice) which was big enough for sharing. While waiting for the order, I noticed they have chilaquiles, which will be on the table for next weekend. Good find; Gourmet mag was not wrong.

Ammmmmante

After about 8 years of eating Amante pizza, we’re still discovering new favorites. I love that Amante is locally owned and all the ingredients (except for a few things like banana peppers) are handmade or hand-sliced fresh. Even a lot of the suppliers (like for basil) are local. And mmm mmm good. I put the menu over here so you can see all the choices.

Amante Pizza in Durham

The owner of this pizza shoppe is so super nice. At Amante, the pizza dough and sauce are made fresh in the store, and most of the toppings are sliced fresh daily (except for things like black olives and banana peppers, obviously). Yum!

Durham
572-2345
135 Martin Luther King Blvd.
(in The Shoppes at Hope Valley, by Kroger and Blockbuster)

Mon.-Thurs. 11am-10pm
Fri.-Sat. 11am-11pm
Sun. 12pm-10pm

Bistro64

Okay, Bistro64 is in Cary, but the owners are Durhamites… I salivate every time I look at menu.