the Durhamist

Reliable Cheese

craigclement — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 15:14:00 -0400

Hello Readers,

Craig here. Matt invited me to start posting on this blog now that I’m an official Durhamite. We’re hoping to cover a wide range of topics with The Durhamist but seeing as I have a large love of all things food my posts will likely be gastronomic in nature. Introductions aside - let’s get into this shall we?

Reliable Cheese opened this past Thursday (6/16). Situated close to Rue Cler, this latest Durham addition shows a great bit of promise and instantly adds a nice touch of sophistication to the up and coming downtown area.

On opening day the shop featured a limited but comprehensive selection of cheeses, deli meats, a few pre-made sandwiches, freshly baked bread from Guglhupf Bakery, as well as some odds and ends - olive oils, various condiments, non-alcoholic drinks, and a few variatial six-packs of beer.

In the future the shop plans to offer a wider selection of cheeses, more sandwiches, wine, and local beer from the likes of Fullsteam and Bull City Burger and Brewery. In other words, this little store could be your one stop shopping destination for a fancy night of entertaining friends.

The owner/operator was quick with the samples and gushed forth knowledge of all things cheese related.

On our inital visit we picked up a small sampling of cheeses including Forsterkase, Monje Blue, Beemster XO, and Les Frere’s. While these 4 cheeses run a pretty wide gambit of styles, textures, and flavors, the Beemster XO (a 26 month aged Gouda) with its complex flavors and tasty tyrosine crystals stood out above the rest. We also grabbed a half pound of the “Johnston County Prosciutto”, which is thinly sliced country ham with all the salty/fatty deliciousness of normal prosciutto but at the low low price of only $8 a pound. A fresh baguette for good measure and our afternoon snacking was in full tilt.

I can very easily see myself swinging by Reliable Cheese after a trip down to the farmers market on Saturdays. The prices seem spot on for the quality of products you can purchase and the knowledgeable staff are sure to find you the right cheese (and meats, and bread, etc.) for your taste.

Check it out won’t you?

Reliable Cheese

Tuesday-Saturday 10-8, Sunday 10-3
405 East Chapel Hill St, Durham, NC 27701
(919) 680-3939 | Map/Directions

Reliable Cheese opens today! http://reliablecheese.com/

theurbanist — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 09:00:30 -0400

Reliable Cheese opens today!

http://reliablecheese.com/

Durham’s famed Dogstar Tattoo has moved from it’s...

theurbanist — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 12:46:52 -0400

Durham’s famed Dogstar Tattoo has moved from it’s old digs on Ninth St. to the Golden Belt Complex and will be celebrating at the this month’s Third Friday event. There’ll be beer and music, so come check out the art at Golden Belt and meet the people who might give you your next tattoo.

TimeFriday, June 17 · 6:00pm - 11:00pm

LocationGolden Belt807 East Main StreetDurham, NC

I See Durham

theurbanist — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 10:57:00 -0400

I See Durham:

There’s a great new Durham blog making “terrible drawings of wonderful things in Durham, N.C.”

There are only a few posts up right now, but this could be a Durham blog staple.

http://iseedurham.tumblr.com/

Bring Back the Fourth [of July]!

theurbanist — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 10:52:00 -0400

Bring Back the Fourth [of July]!:

Liberty Mutual is hosting an online contest until June 14th, the winning municipality will receive $10,000 in grants to be used for the city’s Fourth of July Celebration!

Follow the link above and answer an eight question quiz to help Durham win $10,000!

Liberty Mutual

Grand Opening! Reliable Cheese is reporting on Facebook that...

theurbanist — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 20:26:00 -0400

Grand Opening!

Reliable Cheese is reporting on Facebook that they will be opening on June 14th, pending their health inspection approval. Make sure to go pick up some local cheese, from your new local fromagerie.

405 E. Chapel Hill St. Durham, NC 27701

http://www.reliablecheese.com/

Herald Sun

Fund this Project! Bound Custom Journals is one of the new...

theurbanist — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 17:35:00 -0400

Fund this Project!

Bound Custom Journals is one of the new businesses being incubated by Durham’s Startup Stampede and they’re looking to raise $10,000 to buy their machinery, etc. If you pre-order your custom journal today you’ll be helping an awesome new business set-up shop today. And with Kickstarter you only pay if the project get’s fully funded.

The journals let you customize how many, and what type of pages (blank/grid/lined/to do/music composition) and let you add (custom calendars/maps/etc). I’m definitely adding a map of Durham, a calendar, half grid, and half lined.

Kickstarter Link

Fourth Annual Home Tour Saturday, June 4, 2011 10:00 am –...

theurbanist — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 15:19:50 -0400

Fourth Annual Home Tour

Saturday, June 4, 2011 10:00 am – 2:00 pm

Starting point: Oakwood Park

Corner of Holloway Street and Oakwood Avenue/Dillard Street

(Look for the food trucks)

$5 donation is appreciated

For more information visit http://clevelandholloway.blogspot.com

Media contact: Adrian Brown 919.886.1703 yoadrian13@gmail.com

Meet the author: Jean Bradley Anderson Sunday, June 5 at 3...

theurbanist — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 15:09:30 -0400

Meet the author: Jean Bradley Anderson

Sunday, June 5 at 3 p.m.

at Durham County Main Library,

300 N. Roxboro St.

Jean Anderson literally wrote the book on Durham County. This is the definitive history of our county and an indispensable resource for anyone doing any research on this area. Come see the author speak and hear about the new edition.

Amazon

Street Art in Durham!

theurbanist — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 14:55:04 -0400

Street Art in Durham!

The Triangle Regional Transit Program is hosting four more...

theurbanist — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 18:38:00 -0400

The Triangle Regional Transit Program is hosting four more meetings to discuss potential options for transit in the region. The public’s input is vital for moving these issues forward.

www.ourtransitfuture.com

Bull City Beer & Burger

theurbanist — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 18:18:46 -0400

Last night my significant other and I went to Bull City Beer & Burger’s opening night. It was a mad house, and it was awesome. We unfortunately had a long wait for our burger, because they had run out of their fresh baked rolls for the second time that night. We didn’t mind waiting though, because there was plenty of beer and the communal table prompted a conversation with the couple seated across from us. (Communal tables are something I find wonderful in a city like Durham where the people are warm interesting. I think these tables were a brilliant idea.) The conversation with our new acquaintances was a special facet of the night out.

Our burgers were awesome, and the fries were even better. The beef is all grass fed and comes from a local farm in Hillsborough. It’s good to know where your food comes from, and it’s good to know it’s been treated humanely and not pumped full of horomones. (Many thanks to, local Durhamite, Eleni Vlachos’ documentary “Seeing Through the Fence” for making me conscious of this.)

J and I went back with her parents for lunch today, and had a chance to talk to the owner, Seth Gross. Bull City Beer & Burger made over 400 burgers on the opening day, they ran out of buns twice, they ran out of tomatoes during dinner, and they ran out of potatoes by the end of the night all because of the incredible demand. Permits for the sale of their own beer were held up, but they should be able to start selling their own creations in a week or so. In the mean time they have plenty of guest taps.

I’m excited for the English style bitter ale Seth plans on selling. I’ve found very few bars in the states who keep a bitter on tap.

This blog post does not do the place justice, I hope you check it out BCBB for yourselves.

Bull City Beer & Burger

107 E. Parrish St., Durham, NC

Durham Drivers are the Worst

theurbanist — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 22:18:00 -0400

This was the aftermath of a driver treating the neighborhood streets of Durham like a Rally Car Race. The driver had been screeching around corners and doing donuts before somehow bouncing off the telephone poll, into the tree, and into the fence. This driver was also operating a motor vehicle on an expired or revoked license, (I didn’t quite overhear what the police officers said).

This accident happened in Cleveland-Holloway at the intersection of Oakwood and Mallard around 6 PM, right underneath the basketball hoop where kids normally play after school. And where kids did come out to play basketball after the accident occurred.

We need more speed bumps, and we need to make the driving test harder.

To Chief Lopez, and the rest of the Durham Police Department:

I know you have your hands full, but please start enforcement of speeders and red light runners. This isn’t just a quality of life issue. Reckless drivers show an utter disregard for the safety of others. Granted, it’s a symptom of a larger problem, but enforcement will send the message that it is unacceptable, and won’t be tolerated anymore.

It’s a miracle more people haven’t been killed by reckless drivers already.

fletter: We should bring this back. Poster by Dave Wofford of...

theurbanist — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 10:45:10 -0500

fletter:

We should bring this back. Poster by Dave Wofford of Horse & Buggy Press.

I’m in, especially if we start in June. matt.dudek(a)gmail.com

"There’s so much energy here,” he said. “It’s very diverse and there are..."

theurbanist — Sun, 07 Nov 2010 09:37:55 -0500

““There’s so much energy here,” he said. “It’s very diverse and there are different types of people here. And everybody seems very mindful of keeping the people here who have been here. It’s everybody’s neighborhood.””

- Keith Flynn, talking about the Cleveland-Holloway Neighborhood.

Read more: The Herald-Sun - Cleveland Holloway Neighborhood ‘Renaissance’ tour is a hit

There have been a number of great articles written about the C-H neighborhood recently and their 3rd annual home tour, here are a collection of the links.

Bull City Rising

The Durham News

Video

theurbanist — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 21:06:01 -0500

Here are two great videos from South West Central Durham Quality...

theurbanist — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 21:06:00 -0500

Here are two great videos from South West Central Durham Quality of Life Initiative (SWCDQOL). They are doing great work helping revitalize the Burch Ave. Neighborhood, Lakewood Park, Lyon Park, Morehead Hill, Tuscaloosa-Lakewood, and the West End. The QOL Initiative is a partnership between the neighborhoods, Duke University, and Self-Help.

These videos are about the positive impacts of affordable home-ownership initiatives in the area. It’s interesting to hear about Habitat for Humanity’s building urban infill housing in these neighborhoods.

It’s great to see in this video that Duke entered this organization as a partner and asked the neighborhoods how they could help. I hope to post more about QOL, Duke’s involvement in revitalization, as well as Self-Help’s significant work in affordable housing.

http://www.durhamqualityoflife.org/

http://www.self-help.org

http://www.durhamhabitat.org/

Durham makes another list. According to GQ, Duke is the second...

theurbanist — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 12:39:00 -0400

Durham makes another list. According to GQ, Duke is the second most Douchiest School.

Reason it’s not #1? “They’re probably number one. But we’d rather not rank Duke number one at anything.”

See the full list at GQ here.

Herald Sun finally redesigns Website, Hell freezes over

theurbanist — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 08:51:00 -0400

The Herald-Sun in Durham has finally redesigned its website so that it is both usable and attractive. Here’s hoping it’s a sign of other good things to come at the paper.

After:

Before:

This is how we rock in the C-H. Photos of Uke Box from Philly,...

theurbanist — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 16:10:23 -0400

This is how we rock in the C-H.

Photos of Uke Box from Philly, and The Bronzed Chorus from Greensboro. One hell of a house show.