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/

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.

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/

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 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 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

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

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