Culinary Odyssey: Memories of Dining and Cooking dinners with friends in Chapel Hill.

My freshman year at Carolina began in August of 1967 and ended in May of 1968 when I decided to leave school and go into the USN where I spent the entire four years waiting to get back to Carolina.

At that time both campus and the town to me, had definite geographical boundaries–to the south Manning Drive–on the west South Columbia Street–then north to The corner of Rosemary and Church Street –And finally on the east by South Road which on the north side of Franklin Street became Hillsborough Street .

Those boundaries may have been the same for a lot of us at Carolina during that period, largely because Chapel Hill had the feel of the small towns and cities many of us grew up in.

Being away from home for the first time I had to learn about fending for myself to do things like eating something other than my mom’s cooking. The only places I can remember eating at other than the Lenoir Hall on main campus and the original Chase dining Hall, which was practically next-door Morrison Dormitory to my residence hall in that year were Sutton’s and Lum’s https://openorangenc.org/buildings/305-w-rosemary-st an early fast casual restaurant located where Pantana Bob’s is now.

My return in 1972.

In many ways that first year in Chapel Hill and my

Navy stint had a lot to do with my learning about food and finding out more about the world of food and dining

That old cliché about joining the Navy and see the world was very true for me especially when it came to travel and food. 

My navy tours of duty took me to the Philippines, Honolulu, Hawaii, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Osaka and the 1970 World’s Fair, Kelung and Taipei in Taiwan, Bangkok, the Azores, Copenhagen, and Amsterdam. When I was transferred To the East Coast in my last two years, I took my leaves making frequent trips to New York and Washington a tradition I continued on every spring, fall and Christmas break after I returned school in 1972 and throughout the 1980s and 90s when my foodie destinations expanded to places like Montreal, Toronto, Chicago, San Francisco, New Orleans, Philadelphia, and Denver .

When I returned to school in 1972. I found that the dining scenery has changed significantly and discovered how different Chapel Hill’s dining scene was. Below are places my friends and I happily explored when we weren’t entertaining one another. Here’s to our happy days David and Linda, Bob and Laurie Scott and Nancy, Charles Harrison, and Mark Bateman

Harrison’s was located below street level in the space that later became Goodfellows. Once you had descended the long narrow staircase you became aware of the stunning tropical fish tank on the south wall. Harrison’s served excellent food and had the general ambience of a Georgetown bar like Mr. Smith or Fourth Edition. The restaurant was located in the spot they eventually became Goodfellows.

Zorba’s was on Elliott Road in what in the 70s was called Kroger Plaza. It was a comfortable, welcoming place with very good Greek cooking. It was a good place to go to when you wanted a different cuisine before heading to the Plaza movie theater.

Aurora was one of my all time favorite restaurants in the area. It’s location ‘genealogy’ is interesting too. The original restaurant was located on West Franklin in the space that became Elaine’s according to a longtime waiter on my last visit there. Then it relocated to Carr Mill Mall in Carrboro. The Mill location was a beautifully designed spot on the Greensboro Street side of the building. The dining area was a roomy space in segments set off by its soft golden lighting a kind of stylized grotto effect. The bar and waiting area had natural lighting from the windows on the building’s north side. But Aurora was always about the wonderful Northern Italian food. I didn’t dare make eating there routine, I’d only go there when friends came to town or on special occasions. At some point in the early 90s the restaurant relocated to its last location, in the old home of another iconic local restaurant Slugs at the Pines near Finley Golf course where it slowly faded away. The Carr Mill has had two very nice replacements. First was Panzanella which was followed by Tandem.

From the late 70s and during most of the 1980s I’d go to several different restaurants like clockwork—Pyewacket, Carolina Coffee Shop, Spring Garden [in Carrboro], Hunam [when it was located on West Franklin], and Papagayo. Papagayo was located in the Nation’s Bank center. Tijuana Fats probably the first real Mexican food I’d ever had and a longtime local favorite had closed and this place opened with a lot of buzz. Getting a seat in the first week was impossible but friends finally got to go to the with our hopes high. We waited forever to get a table in a packed restaurant. That first night was a dud and it was months before I gave the place another try. Patience was rewarded, however, and I Probably visited the place for at least one meal there every week during the restaurant’s first couple of years.  

There we’re always good sandwich shops in and around Franklin Street. I can remember a Blimpie on Rosemary, Jersey Mike made huge sandwiches in the spot that’s now Buns on North Columbia, and at one point there were incredible sandwiches sold at a shop on the lower level of He’s Not … . My choice as best sandwich shops are three amazing places lost to us—Tripodi’s Deli, Sandwich and Sadlacks. Sadlack was situated where Linda’s Bar and Grill is now. There menu was filled with creative and appealing sandwiches. For a short period after their shop closed and they were replaced by Linda’s, they sold some of their sandwiches from the lunch counter at Sutton’s.

The only place with pizzas that make me think of the incredible pies served at Mariakaki’s are those at IP3. They also made cool, fresh, flavorful Greek salads and I remember the place as one filled with a friendly kind of comfort. This was one of those places some of us would pack into somebody’s car and go to from Lewis Dorm. Occasionally someone would suggest traveling a little further up 15-501 to Pizza place that was may have been located in a building where Sports Durst is now. They had a similar vibe to Mariakakis’ and a pie almost as choice.

Hector’s was an absolute haunt of mine between 1975 and1977. I lived in a rooming house on Rosemary Street after graduating in the class of ‘75. I had a job working at House Undergraduate Library and often with a shift ending at midnight. Hector’s was on the way home so stopping by for a late night snack was all too easy.

The food choices shown in the phone book ad above doesn’t list the Greek or Mediterranean options like souvlaki or gyros that I got as often as I got the burgers. There wasn’t much seating so I’d either take it home or dart across the street to eat on the stone wall on McCorkle or a park bench near the wall [the benches and trash receptacles were removed by the mid 80s]. The ad also notes other locations for Hector’s. As an undergrad and about every year afterward, I routinely made trips to DC. In 1978 I moved to DC and hung out in Georgetown a lot. That’s when I came across the district’s Hector’s on Wisconsin Avenue just above M Street.  The Franklin Street Hector’s burned in a fire that essentially gutted the corner of the building it occupied in the mid 80s. It took several years for the owners of the space to repair and reopen the old Hector’s space. When it did reopen there was no Hector’s. For a brief period one of its occupants was a an Oyster bar/restaurant which actually had very good sea food. Various dance or private clubs have occupied the space since. Hector’s did have several temporary locations near by on both Rosemary and Henderson. It opened as a second time in its original corner building but on the second floor with pleasing views of McCorkle Place and Franklin.

I returned to Chapel Hill to finish Carolina in 1972 after four years in the Navy. One thing I know had expanded significantly had been a much maturer palette for different kinds of food. I don’t know that I had experienced much Mexican cuisine beyond tacos. Going out to Tijuana Fats changed all that. For the first time arroz con pollo, chilli relleno, guacamole, and carne asada became delectable options for me. Fats was located at the end of a short alley on West Rosemary just a door over from Starlight Cafe and the first home for Cat’s Cradle.

I don’t know how often I went to seafood restaurants where the menu wasn’t dominated by fried or Calabash style dishes before I turned 25. For years my palette knew no salmon or tuna except from cans. One of the local seafood joints we visited from Lewis dorm was called the Fish Camp. I couldn’t remember where in Carrboro it was until a few years ago when I started going to Aki Hana. Fish Camp May have had grilled or broiled fish dishes but we college guys loaded up on whatever was fried, hush puppies and sweet iced tea.

My friend Ron Bartholomew and I often went out to lunch when we worked together at the UL media center and he introduced me to LandLubber’s. The late 80s and early 90s introduced the era of blackened dishes especially fish and this place gave me the option of steering from fried dishes. In the next decade my travels to places like San Francisco, Montreal, New Orleans and Toronto where even crustaceans on a menu caught my eye. I will add another vanished lunch spot that Ron and I visited. Before Bub’s appeared on the scene, there was in its place above Jourdan’s Le Charolais a restaurant called the Last Resort. It was a lovely place with several rooms with windows that generously let in sunlight. The food was just as pleasant with nice seafood options on the menu and an engaging staff. I visited Bub’s just once and that was only because some young friends worked there.

In my senior year or maybe the year before some friends suggested we try a new place on West Franklin. The place was called Pyewacket located in a building that I vaguely recalled had once been a Dairy Queen. The name sounded familiar and then someone mentioned that Kim Novak starred movie with a Jimmy Stewart from 1958 called Bell, Book and Candle. Novak’s pet Siamese was called Pyewacket. This was the first full fledged vegetarian restaurant in town.

Vegetarian places were stereotyped as wacky kinds of hippie havens all over the place so deciding to give it a shot made me pause — what on earth would they have that I would enjoy eating?

The dish I chose that night was simple enough, a vegetarian lasagna. It was an awesome dish, the first of many I would have there. Eating at Pyewacket was not just about the food. The restaurant itself was an attractive, expansive place. You entered from Franklin Street and and immediately were in a spacious open bar with tables and seating near the front entrance with windows allowing for views of the street. The rest of restaurant was divided into a series of smaller dining areas that led finally to an enclosed patio with a view to a central plaza surrounded by the rest of the Courtyard complex. At one time or another other tenants included a lovely French bakery called La Patisserie [which later was a first home for Sandwich]. Harmony, one of Chapel Hill’s first natural foods markets was on the east side the building with a pathway that led to the Courtyard’s parking lot. By the early 90s Pyewacket was closed. For a short while, an Asian fusion chain whose name I forget occupied the space. They totally redesigned the interior space removing the graceful space that was Pyewacket. Fortunately, when the Giorgio Group decided to open their Greek inspired restaurant Kipos in the building they restored the elegant spaciousness of the space.

Kipo’s moved from West Franklin to Eastgate in the spot that for years was Sal’s Pizza.