Inspiration from the Capital City

The more time I spend in Raleigh, the more I'm inspired by the stuff going on in the Capital city.

The recent influx of young entrepreneurs, artistic expression, and community-focused development in the past few years is sprouting a seemingly endless supply of Raleigh spots worth exploring.

Last week, I was fortunate enough to take an entire day perusing the city (accompanied by an extremely patient girlfriend), and got to check off a few things that had been on my Raleigh to-do list for quite a while.

Here's how the day unfolded:

Tom Shields's Forest of Chairs brings

wooden furniture back to their natural habitat

First stop was the North Carolina Art Museum's sprawling outdoor art walk: Art in the Park. 

NCMA commissions artists to create pieces that are interlaced with the natural surroundings, stretching across 30 acres of land between Blue Ridge Road, Wade Ave and 440. 

Varying in size, scale and subject matter, the Art Park exhibits sparked some great ideas and conversation, while we tried to decipher the artist's message about society and our current role interacting with nature. There were also some cool old chairs hanging out in trees.

We wandered through the Art Park trails, back up towards the NCMA main buildings, and came across the Rodin Sculpture Garden. 

Raleigh State Farmers Market

Full Disclosure: I already have a pretty major obsession with farmers markets.

The co-mingling of people, produce, baked goods, homemade jellies/jams/pickles, dogs and babies on a sunny Saturday morning never fails to put me in a great mood that can last an entire weekend. But while I've made many trips to the Carborro and Durham markets, I had yet to experience what NC's capital city market had to offer.

I'm happy to say I was not disappointed by my first visit there.

Shoppers peruse the array of fresh
fruits and vegetables

El Cuscatleco

Never judge a book by its cover...

But with certain restaurants, you can tell something special waits inside. Local spots that may not be much to look at, but the parking lot is always full and the crowds are overflowing. 

Hidden gems, hole-in-the-wall, Dives. Call them whatever you like, just be sure to check prejudgments at the door and channel an adventurous spirit.

El Cuscatleco in Durham is one of those places, and should not to be missed out on.

Cinco De Mayo Margarita

Downtown Raleigh Food Truck Rodeo - May 4th

The first installment of the Raleigh Food Truck Rodeo series kicked off this past Sunday afternoon, and was the culmination of everything there is to love about the food truck scene in the Triangle.

Fayetteville Street was brimming with men, women, dogs, babies, strollers, a guy kicking fresh poetry freestyles in an all-white suit (food trucks are a powerful muse), all gathered together in order to bathe in the vast sea of food truck deliciousness.

Cafe Meridian

If having a lot of choices at lunchtime is something that overwhelms you, you may want to consider bringing a brown paper bag to Cafe Meridian. Deep breaths. You really can't make a bad decision. It'll be okay.

With a massive list of hot sandwiches, daily/rotating specials and more homemade sides than you will know that to do with, Cafe Meridian is certainly not lacking in menu variety.

BLT+ with Pesto Bowtie

Deli-icious Truck

Crab Quesadilla with Black Beans

@DeliiciousTruck

Putting the Deli in delicious (or is it the icious?), Deli-icious has more going for it than just cleverly hyphenated word play. 

This truck puts out a solid lunch spread that goes beyond standard deli style sandwiches.

Monuts Donuts

Carrot Cake Donut.
Up close and personal

Where: 110 East Parrish Street, Durham
Hours: Monday through Thursday 7 AM - 3 PM
Friday and Saturday 7 AM - 5 PM
Sunday: 8 AM - 3 PM
http://monutsdonuts.com/
@MonutsDonuts


A morning that starts at Monuts usually has a way of turning into a particularly awesome morning. Walking down Parrish street, anticipating the deliciousness that's just on the horizon, my mood is magically lifted by the prospect of expertly crafted sweet circles of fried dough.