Otis, my man!

So I was in Durham, NC the other day scouting locations for an upcoming story on Amy Tonrquist, the super-talented chef/owner of Watts Grocery (a hip new restaurant near Duke's east campus).  I left Birmingham on a 6am flight (which meant rollin’ outta the rack shortly after 4am) with little more than a granola bar and flavored water in my tummy.  By lunchtime I was ready to chow down.

My tour guides, Zavi and Babs, whisked me away to Parker and Otis, a gourmet grocery store, restaurant, wine store, and all round cool place to hang and be seen.  I don’t know who Parker is, but Otis is a regal looking pug who shows up in photos throughout the store.  Located in a jazzed up downtown warehouse, Parker and Otis has only been open a few months, but appears to already have quite a following.  I reckon if I lived in Durham, I’d spend a lot of time here too.

Jefferson would be proud

Thomas Jefferson was onto something back in the day when he envisioned the hills of Virginia planted with vines whose fruit would yield top-notch wines.  Unfortunately, Jefferson moved on to the great Rotunda in the sky before his dream was realized; however, based on the current state of winemaking in Virginia, I reckon he’d be pretty darn proud.