NYTimes: Visit Durham in 2011
The has just released their list of , and number 35 is Durham! Here is what travel writer had to say about the Bull City:
A decade ago, downtown Durham was a place best avoided after sundown. But as revitalization has transformed abandoned tobacco factories and former textile mills into bustling mixed-use properties, the city has been injected with much-needed life. In the heart of downtown, a crop of standout restaurants and cafes has recently sprouted around West Main Street, where low rents have allowed chefs and other entrepreneurs to pursue an ethos that skews local, seasonal and delicious.
The farmers’ market favorite Scratch Bakery has a brand-new storefront for its seasonal homemade pies that include chestnut cream pie and buttermilk sweet potato pie. At the cafe-cum-grocery , the menu features sandwiches made with freshly baked bread from nearby Rue Cler and locally roasted java from Durham’s Counter Culture Coffee. And at the sophisticated , squash tamales, mascarpone gnocchi, and tuna with wasabi caviar rotate through the seasonal menu.
It seems like the national press are going to continue their love affair with Durham in 2011!
Check out some of the other locations on the list – , NYTimes Travel Section.
The attention is pretty exciting! When I moved to Chapel Hill for school more than 10 years ago Durham was way off my radar (other than places like South Square and New Hope Commons). When we bought a house here in 2003 downtown was still sort of … well, [insert disparaging term here]. It’s been really interesting watching developers take an interest in the downtown area to reinvigorate it rather than cut down trees on some wooded lot somewhere and make yet another strip mall.