Eating my way around North Carolina (part four)

Another day, another city. On Sunday, we left Charlotte and headed back east towards Chapel Hill, but first, I had to introduce some of my travel buddies to Cracker Barrel. Going to Cracker Barrel reminds me of going to Disneyland. It's a made up place with shopping and good eats, only Disneyland doesn't have chicken and dumplings.

Cracker Barrel's chicken and dumplings with carrots and green beans

Stopping by Cracker Barrel was meant to only tide us over until we reached Chapel Hill, which was three hours away. Unfortunately, I wasn't at all hungry when we reached our lunch spot: Mama Dip's. We decided to still stop for a meal though. At this point, I was officially addicted to sweet tea and Mama Dip's was voted the best sweet tea in Chapel Hill.

Still, not hungry, I had a sweet potato biscuit and a cup of brunswick stew. This is definitely a stew, nothing soupy about it. It is basically a vegetable stew with some chicken meat, although our server said traditionally, it can be made of anything including squirrel.

Mama Dips

Sweet potato biscuits

Brunswick stew

It was also at this point that I was really beginning to like the Research Triangle (Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill). The people laugh easily and don't take themselves too seriously. After lunch, we drove around the UNC campus and then walked along the street leading to campus, Franklin Street. It occurred to us that no one was around. School was out and everyone must have left town for the weekend, so like the seasoned travelers we are, we decided to scrap our plans and head back to Raleigh.

Another night in Raleigh gave us an opportunity to see some of the things we missed because of our mishaps on Friday night.

For dinner, we went to the Raleigh Times Bar, which seems to be famous because President Obama had a can of PBR there. I believe it should be known for its bbq pork nachos. Who ever came up with that is a genius and I don't know why it isn't on every menu of every bar in the nation. Barbeque pork nachos are nachos with a scoop of pulled pork on top! Hello! Genius!!! We also split a french dip sandwich, which had soft toasty bread, as well as a salad, which I didn't take a picture of because who wants to see a picture of salad.

Raleigh Times Bar's French dip

Raleigh Times Bar's BBQ pork nachos

After dinner, I entertained my travel buddies for a while, hopping from one dead bar to the next, before realizing that no matter how many more bars we step inside, there won't be more action happening. One bar patron even told me this, saying "Everyone goes to the beach" during memorial day weekend. I made a decision to stay put and enjoy some quality time with my college roommate before walking back to the hotel. Less than an hour later, the rest of the crew threw in the towel as well. 

Mama Dip's Kitchen

408 West Rosemary St

Chapel Hill, NC 27516-2301

Raleigh Times Bar
14 East Hargett Street
Raleigh, NC 27601-1426