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the North Carolina restaurants I'd make a trip for
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items North Carolina is so much more than barbecue. From Appalachian-inspired tasting menus and coastal seafood to Spanish tapas, whole-hog barbecue, and inventive Southern cooking, these are the restaurants I'd put on a North Carolina food itinerary. I pi...
Map
If you're planning one serious dinner in the Raleigh area, I'd save it for Herons. Located inside The Umstead Hotel & Spa, this is the kind of restaurant where the meal is designed as an experience rather than simply a nice dinner. Its cooking re...
Herons in Cary, NC - Restaurant of The Umstead Resort & ...
If you're visiting Asheville, this is one of the restaurants I'd genuinely plan around. Cúrate has been defining Asheville's dining scene for years with traditional Spanish tapas, and the whole experience is built around sharing dishes rather than or...
Cúrate Bar de Tapas — Asheville
This is where I'd go when I want Mexican food that feels genuinely different. Mala Pata is built around masa and heirloom corn, including corn nixtamalized in-house and turned into tortillas, tamales, and tlayudas. It earned a Michelin Bib Gourmand f...
Mala Pata Molino + Cocina — Raleigh
If you want to taste the kind of Southern cooking that made Raleigh famous beyond North Carolina, I'd start here. Poole's has been a Raleigh institution for years, and chef Ashley Christensen's approach turns familiar Southern comfort food into somet...
Poole's - Raleigh
You can't come to North Carolina and skip whole-hog barbecue. Sam Jones cooks whole hogs over wood and serves the meat fresh every day, continuing a tradition that is deeply connected to Eastern North Carolina barbecue culture. Their family has been ...
Sam Jones BBQ - Raleigh
If you want the classic North Carolina barbecue experience but prefer a full-service restaurant, put The Pit on the list. The restaurant specializes in whole-hog, pit-cooked barbecue and uses North Carolina-raised pigs, with the meat cooked slowly an...
The Pit Authentic Barbecue
For seafood with a little Southern attitude, I'd make room for St. Roch. The restaurant combines shellfish and seafood with Creole influences inspired by chef Sunny Gerhart's New Orleans background, so the menu feels different from Raleigh's usual So...
St. Roch Fine Oysters + Bar
Louisiana food in a polished Durham setting? Yes, please. Seraphine brings Louisiana flavors into Southern cooking with dishes like gumbo, fried catfish, and broiled oysters, while keeping the atmosphere more elegant than a traditional seafood shack....
Seraphine
This is where I'd go when I want seafood without the white-tablecloth performance. Chef Ricky Moore built Saltbox around fresh local seafood and a straightforward approach that lets the ingredients do the work. Moore won the 2022 James Beard Award fo...
Saltbox Seafood Joint
If you're traveling with someone who loves trying food they can't easily find at home, I'd save this one. Chef Saif Rahman's menu jumps between cultures in a way that somehow remains cohesive, with dishes moving from Bengali wedding chicken to Nigeri...
Peregrine Raleigh
If you want an Asheville meal that's casual, colorful, and actually different, don't overlook this little spot. Little Chango is a Latin American-inspired kitchen centered around arepas, with fillings ranging from ropa vieja to pernil and vegetarian ...
Little Chango
If you're heading toward the North Carolina coast, I'd make seafood one of the main reasons for the trip. Seabird is built around seasonal, sustainable seafood and ingredients from local fisheries, with chef Dean Neff putting the focus on the actual ...
Seabird
Sometimes the meal worth traveling for is the one you can eat standing at a counter. Good Hot Fish takes inspiration from traditional fish camps and turns fried seafood into something modern without losing the Southern comfort-food feeling. The menu ...
Good Hot Fish
The reason I'd drive out to Davidson for this restaurant isn't one flashy entrée—it's the little details. Kindred combines Italian influences with Southern ingredients and is famous for bringing out freshly baked milk bread almost immediately after y...
Kindred — Davidson
If you want dinner to feel more like an experience than a reservation, this is the Charlotte pick I'd investigate first. Counter- builds its entire concept around immersive, constantly evolving tasting menus where the food, presentation, service, and...
Counter – Charlotte - a MICHELIN Guide Restaurant