Heading to the Research Triangle for a soccer game on the 12th of September. Any recommendations for restaurants, interesting roadside tourists things, etc...?

I want some good food! No BBQ Please!

Both the duke (durham) and unc (chapel hill) campuses are very pretty.

downtown durham is very artsy and has been revitalized lately. you can also go see the durham bulls minor league (AAA, i think) baseball team.

the triangle makes itself out to be some sort of great cultural place, but personally i dont think much is here. i live just south of raleigh.

nice museums on the Duke campus. Don't know about food. That is what the interwebs are for.

If you see a cookout (they're a local chain)...they make pretty good burgers...fries suck though. great shakes too.

if you are in downtown raleigh, Big Ed's has excellent breakfast

mellow mushroom by the DBAP (durham bulls) has really good pizza.

that's all i can think of right now...i dont know the durham-chapel hill area as well...
see if you can get surfisle to post. he's a rivalries regular and lives near durham.

Mellow Mushroom does have good pizza!

Mellow Mushroom...nail on the head. I have one in my town. Good place and good peoples.

Thanks for the offers so far!

I think we are wanting to stick to local places, so no mellow mushroom.

Thanks for the tips on the museums, Viking. Food wise, that's why we posted here on the innerwebs.

Anyone know anything about a Margret's Cantina or 101 Lounge + Cafe?

Yellags, you ought to come join us at the soccer game.

[This message has been edited by Pro Sandy (edited 8/31/2009 8:42p).]

quote:

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That is what the interwebs are for.

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TexAgs IS the interwebs.

The Angus Barn located between Raleigh and Durham. Exceptional baby back ribs.

Is that the place that is also home of the self-kicking machine? I really want to check that out!

angus barn is WAYYYYY overpriced for good, but not great food.

i'll definitely be at the game. see you folks there.

Nope on the resturants and stuff...but depending on how late in Sept., the leaves might, just might be changing and it's awesome driving around there during that time of the year.

http://travel.nytimes.com/2009/06/14/travel/14hours.html?em

Pretty Perfect Article for the situation

[This message has been edited by CDub06 (edited 9/7/2009 12:14p).]

Moved here (RTP) last summer and love it here with a few exceptions.
1. I hate Vinegar in bbq. Sucks more then you will know.
2. Moved from a very conservative town in BCS to the ultra liberal campus of UNC.
3. The 3 schools (NCST, Dook, and UNC are all very pretty campuses. I compare Dook and UNC to texas and A&M in that we hate but have a respect whereas we all just hate ncst like tceh.
4. Weather is beautiful this time of year. Mid 80's at the most with some lower 90's but at or elow 70 at night.
5. Lots of trees. You will drive down the interstate and not know there is a dang town next to it. Much less the southpoint mall if you didn't know any better.
6. Good luck finding a drive thru in Chapel hill. (see #2)
7. The UNC basketball hall of fame is pretty cool to see and I hate basketball. Seeing cameron is also weird when you see how small it is. Both arenas are open on weekends and you can walk right in to both most often. The game will be near all the other facilities on campus. Kenan Stadium is pretty with all the treees around it, but tiny compared to just about any Big 12 stadium. The baseball stadium is brand new and really cool.
8. Mexican food sucks here. Next
9. Downtown Durham does have some very eclectic places to eat. Think $$$$$
10 Chapel Hill has two main places to go which I consider to be really really good for more signature expensive dinner. Top of the Hill and Spanky's are two places you can not go wrong at. They are across the street from each other on Franklin street. Get a reservation for both. Dress is casual at each. Carolina footballp lays at noon this weekend so the places won't be as packed, but they will still be packed.
10. After you have gotten your drink on, walk 2 blocks west of top of the hill and eat at TimeOut, made famous by the show Man vs Food. Think Freebirds at 2am and what it does to your stomach.

Hope this helps. Any other questions?

BEWARE:

the UNC football game starts at noon and is right next to fetzer field. i'm trying to find out where soccer parking can be found.

the soccer game should be ending about the same time, or just after the football game (my guess around 4), so traffic is going to be horrible.

I thought UNC was playing away. I was sure NC State was the only game in town this weekend.

UNC's website has them at UConn this Saturday.

Nevermind...I misread something elsewhere.

Thanks for looking out for us

We made our trip last weekend and I am happy to report back on what we found.

Food
Big Ed's City Market Restaurant in Raleigh


Interesting place. They serve your typical country breakfast and are delicious. Prices were low. Atmosphere is quite interesting as the walls and ceiling are covered in antiques. I recommend it.

Taqueria la Vaquita in Raleigh


This place was recommended by the New York Times. We had lunch here. Cheap and pretty good. I had pollo tacos and enjoyed them. No complaints from the other members of the party. I recommend it.

Peppers in Chapel Hill


Pizza joint near UNC campus. We got the Slaughter House Five pie which had lots of meat. I don't care for pizza, but the others in the party seemed to enjoy it.

Village Draft House in Raleigh

Our waiter was a little slow, but he got the job done. They have a good beer list, however, quite a few of the brews were out-of-stock. Food was good, I had the wings in the house sauce. However, the salsa for the chips and salsa is just Pace out of the bottle.

Things to Do
We like to tour college campuses, so that is what we did.

NC State University
We ended joining two groups on scavenger hunts and it was a good way to see the campus and to meet people. Sights included the library, some random statue of a professor, the Wolf Ears, and the Free Expression Tunnel.


Our new friends and us at the Wolf Ears.
There are two of these blocks that are a good distance apart. However, because of the shape, when you sit in one, you can hear the other person talking at a normal voice level. Pretty cool.


Free Expression Tunnel.
An authorized place to paint whatever you want to paint. Quite interesting. Bring your own paint.


Duke University
Our first stop was the gardens. Absolutely gorgeous. If we had a place like this at A&M, I would have been there all the time.



We also toured other various buildings including the psychology building. Nothing too exciting.

The chapel was closed for a wedding.

We tried to not let the sign on the door deter us, however, we were thrown out upon entering.

And what visit to Duke would be complete without a visit to Cameron Indoor Stadium?

The Duke volleyball team was playing Loyola, so we watched for a bit.

UNC


The campus of UNC was our primary reason for going to the area. We went to watch the Aggies play UNC in soccer.



We lost, but it was still worth the trip.

We tried to join in some scavenger hunts, but they were not as friendly as the students at NCSU.

North Carolina State Capitol

It was near Big Ed's where we ate breakfast, so we stopped by. Lots of statues of course, but the structure is not has interesting as other capitols.

Hotel
We stayed at the Courtyard Durham Research Triangle Park
301 Residence Inn Boulevard
Durham, NC 27713

Big Ed's was good (Biscuits and Sausage were tasty), I enjoyed The Taqueria (if I lived in the area, I would frequent the place), Pepper's was good.

I liked the area, good weather and nice scenery. Duke had a beautiful campus and the people we met at NC State were friendly.

I wasn't impressed by the UNC campus or the state capitol.

Bugfest was going on when we were at the capitol, but we couldn't stay for the Beard of Bees demonstrations.

We only had a couple of days, so we crammed the sites in. It was a nice trip.

On the way back, my flight stopped in Orlando. Nice airport (Free WiFi!), but the passengers that boarded there were all loud 8 year olds. Worst stop ever...