October 23 – November 9

Later in the fall we embarked on one or our usual runs to North Carolina to visit friends and family, starting in Raleigh and ending in Charlotte.  As with prior trips here, we generally don’t do a lot of sightseeing and so posts in the past tend to just feature where we ate and drank.  This one won’t deviate too much from that scenario but there were some worthwhile meals and interactions to report on, so hopefully it won’t be too boring.

We picked up our rental car, a Kia K4 Hybrid that would get good gas mileage and  given all you get on any flight now is pretzels or cookies, made our way to a Cook Out for a much missed burger southern style.  I’ve covered this before but for newcomers to the blog, this is a burger, or a hot dog with chili, mustard, slaw and onion.  It generally isn’t found outside of a few states on the east coast and much like getting a taco in LA after landing when we lived in Charlotte, Cook Out is our first stop in the Carolina’s.

Finished, we drove to Joanna’s sister Nicole’s place in Durham droped off our luggage and drove back to Raleigh where we would meet up with our fried Kemet (Nicole was busy that night), who we’ve profiled many times in this blog.  He is now the director of Director of Alumni Relations at William Peace University.  When we last saw him, he held a similar role at Eastern New Mexico University, and we spent time with him there in 2021 and 2024.

We would meet him at Raleigh Beer Garden, known for having over 350 beers on tap and arrived before he did as he had an alumni event he needed to attend to.  We ordered a first round of beers, including a Hofbrau Haus Festbier and a Pumpkin Porter while we split a serving of the Esquites Corn dogs (Two corn dogs topped with roasted corn, pimento peppers, pickled onions, cojita cheese, avocado spread & sweet mayo).  No food would follow (no need after our Cook Out indulgence) but many beers would, including but not limited to a Bell’s Two Hearted, an Ommegang 3 Philosophers, and a Crank Arm Road Hazard.

The next morning, we drove to the Durham American Tobacco District to meet Nicole and her friend Monica for breakfast at Press which is immediately adjacent to the Durham Bulls baseball stadium.  Joanna and I split a very Garden crepe (scrambled eggs, baby spinach, marinated mushrooms, blistered cherry tomatoes, red onion, roasted red peppers and goat cheese) along with a side of very good bacon.  Finished eating, we walked around outside the stadium observing participants and supporters who had completed a walk for a breast cancer charity. 

Bidding farewell to Nicole, we then drove to the Central Park District to meet Pat and Dan Adams at Boxcar Bar+Arcade.  I first met Dan when he was the Director of the Auxiliary at the University of Arizona in Tucson during one of the annual Pac-10 Director’s meetings I would attend from 1996 to 2007.  We would later be reunited when I worked at UNC Charlotte and he ran the Auxiliary, and much more, and NC State.  We all split a pizza, had some beers and just enjoyed getting caught up with travels and life in general.  And no video games were harmed during our session. 

Later that day we’d meet Nicole at Growler Grlz, a taproom near her house with a good selection of beer that we are likely to hit each time we are in town.  We sat outside on a chilly evening and split a pizza while chatting with a number of Nicole’s friends, always an entertaining proposition.  We turned in that night with a busy Sunday ahead of us, first meeting up with Kemet again for breakfast in Raleigh which led to one of those odd scenarios that one sometimes encounters in life and when traveling.  We were to meet him at Biscuit Belly just around the corner from his apartment and although it looked like a nice place to eat, it was completely full and had an indeterminate wait time. 

So, we walked across the street to the campus and had a short tour of the grounds and then drove into downtown Raleigh where we parked and walked to the Mecca Restaurant which is when the odd part of the morning commenced.  In business since 1930 and with good reviews, we had expectations that our experience would be a good one.  We entered the ground floor at just before 11am, which was crowded and were seated in a large upstairs dining room. 

We will never know what the issues was here but long story short, we didn’t get food or drinks until an hour later.  Multiple younger staff members (college students perhaps) kept assuring us that someone would be with us shortly, that our orders would get taken soon, and well you get the picture.  Once the food arrived though all was forgiven with Joanna having some of the best Shrimp and Grits in recent memory and for me, quite good Corned Beef Hash and Eggs, for a remarkable $12.50 apiece. 

Finished we all drove to nearby Mordecai Historic Park for a tour of its grounds and the house it is named after.  Built in 1785, the house is a registered historical landmark and museum and is the oldest residence in Raleigh on its original foundation.  In addition to the house, the Park includes the birthplace and childhood home of President Andrew Johnson, the Ellen Mordecai Garden, the Badger-Iredell Law Office, Allen Kitchen and St. Mark’s Chapel, a popular site for weddings.

The house was named after Moses Mordecai, whose first wife, Margaret Lane, had inherited it from her father Henry.  The Mordecai family, descended from immigrant grandfather Moses Mordecai of Bonn, Germany, became one of the original three hundred Jewish families in the United States and one of the few of Ashkenazic Jewish descent.  The family members were prominent in local and state affairs.

Mordecai descendants owned the mansion property until 1967, when the house and its surrounding block were put on the market.  Local preservationists protested and the city purchased the property, turning it over to the Raleigh Historic Sites Commission to supervise and develop as a historic park.  The commission was able to obtain many original Mordecai furnishings, as well as preserve the family papers and library.  It is always a treat when touring these older historic homes to know that much of the furnishings are original. 

We finished our tour and prepared to head west to Summerfield to Ann and Rendy’s house, saying goodbye to Kemet knowing we’d get to see him again the next time we head east.  We’ll pick up our continuing journey  in the next post. 

Links

Cook Out: https://cookout.com/

Peace University: https://peace.edu/

Raleigh Beer Garden: https://theraleighbeergarden.com/

Press: https://pressccc.com/

Boxcar: https://theboxcarbar.com/durham/

Growler Grlz: https://growlergrlz.com/

Mecca Restaurant: https://www.mecca-restaurant.com/

Mordecai House: https://raleighnc.gov/parks-and-recreation/places/mordecai-historic-par