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TRIANGLE TODAY | THE NEWS & OBSERVER

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2018

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STUFFED PIZZA AT NANCY’S takes deep dish pizza to another level Greg Cox for Triangle Today If you’re from Chicago, chances are you’re familiar with Nancy’s Pizzeria. You probably know that Nancy’s is considered the home of the original Chicago-style stuffed pizza, and no doubt you’ve eaten your share. In moments of homesick desperation, you may even have had a Nancy’s pizza shipped to you — because, short of flying back home (or to one of a handful of other cities where you can find a location of what has grown to be a national chain), that was the only way you could get one.

Uncle Tony’s stuffed pizza is from Nancy’s Pizzeria’s signature menu in Raleigh.

The “thick, round pie has a high, crisp,golden crust ringed around a red sauce center” stuffed with italian sausage, pepperoni, green peppers, onions.

Juli Leonard

Until March of this year, that is, when Nancy’s opened a location in North Raleigh. Now, not only can you indulge whenever the craving hits, but you no longer have to try to explain to your uninitiated friends the difference between a stuffed pizza and its more famous culinary cousin, the Chicago-style deep dish pizza.

You can take them to Nancy’s, where they can experience for themselves what mere words don’t do justice to:

that a stuffed pizza raises the ante on a deep dish pie — already a behemoth in its own right — by making it even deeper with more fillings, and adding a top crust and a final layer of tomato sauce.

NANCY’S PIZZERIA 8111 Creedmoor Road, Suite 137, Raleigh nancyspizza.com Cuisine: Italian Rating: 2 1/2 stars Prices: $$ Atmosphere: casual, contemporary Noise level: moderate Service: variable Recommended: meatball trio, grilled broccolini and sausage, stuffed pizza Open: Lunch and dinner daily.

Reservations: accepted Read the full review at triangletoday.com.

As the days cool down, the fun heats up at Kids Town!

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Find fun family-friendly events, crafts, recipes, offers and contests at kidstownnc.com.

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2018

TRIANGLE TODAY | THE NEWS & OBSERVER

Revamped Village Diner keeps spirit intact but gives food a fresh, tasty update Greg Cox for Triangle Today

Nobody can say exactly when the original Village Diner opened in Hillsborough, but the best guess is 1975.

That’s according to Joel Bohlin, and he should know. He bought the restaurant last year, and he has become something of an expert on its history.

He can tell you, for instance, that The Village Diner is the oldest restaurant in Hillsborough. And that, in its heyday, it was a prime gathering place for the community, where mill workers and politicians commingled over fried chicken, meat loaf, collard greens and banana pudding.

Bohlin, a Hillsborough resident who has worked as general manager at Hillsborough BBQ Co., has seen local tastes evolve over the years. When he learned that The Village Diner was up for sale, Bohlin — a Culinary Institute of America grad whose resume includes an externship at the renowned Aquavit in New York — saw his chance to update the old local favorite in response to those changing tastes.

Bohlin hired Justin Cole, who grew up in Hillsborough (where he regularly ate with his grandmother at The Village Diner) and cut his culinary teeth as chef at Nana’s under renowned chef Scott Howell. He brought along David Petipas to man the grill and make desserts. He cooked for Fetch, the food truck that Bohlin owned before shutting it down to focus on the restaurant.

For all their culinary pedigree, Bohlin and his team agreed that the food should remain true to the diner spirit.

Indeed, fresh takes on old Village Diner favorites account for much of the menu.

Grits, a staple on the former restaurant’s breakfast buffet, are transformed into fried stone-ground grit cakes on the new dinner menu.

“Cakes” doesn’t do justice, though, to these delicately crisp, light-as-a-souf-

Fried chicken leg and thigh, cane creek farm collards, chow chow, country biscuit at the Village Diner in Hillsborough. Chuck Liddy

flé orbs served with pepper jelly and an inspired red-eye mayo.

The pepper jelly is homemade, as is pretty much everything here — including everything but the buttered rye toast (that’s from The Bread Shop in Pittsboro) on a shareable starter plate of pimento cheese, pickles (okra, cucumber and red onion) and salted pecans.

Even the humble diner classic tomato soup gets elevated here, transformed into a scratch-made brew rich with ripe tomato flavor, garnished with fried oyster crackers and a drizzle of garlic oil.

An emphasis on sourcing from local farms is reflected in the menu, and is especially notable in the seasonal vegetable plate. In early September, the harvest yielded a corn and blackeyed pea salad, candied yams topped with a salted pecan topping, and the best cornmeal-crusted fried okra I’ve had all year. A month later, the plate

was loaded with a grilled cauliflower “steak,” scalloped potatoes, and a tangle of fried carrot and parsnip ribbons splashed with a vibrant caper dressing.

Still, you can generally count on a few staples among the entree offering.

Country fried steak with mushroom gravy, snap beans and rosemary potatoes will satisfy your comfort food cravings. So will Hoof Beat Farms meatloaf with mashed potatoes, once you get past the unusual shape of the meatloaf — cylinders rather than the traditional slabs. The flavor is true to form, though, and it’s complemented by a rich roux gravy and a clever play on ketchup in the form of a tomato and onion jam.

Salmon patties (I’ve seen them called salmon cakes or salmon burgers outside the South) are a homespun classic rarely seen in a restaurant, even a Southern diner. Don’t tell my mom, but the salmon patties at The Village Diner are even better than hers.

Then there’s the fried chicken, sufficient reason in its own right to drive to Hillsborough — and then wait the 20 minutes or so it takes to make it because it’s fried to order. You get a leg and a thigh (plus a wing, though the menu doesn’t say so), exquisitely juicy beneath a crisp, peppery crust, served with a biscuit and collard greens topped with chow chow.

The Village Diner

600 W. King St, Hillsborough 919-245-8915 facebook.com/villagedinernc Cuisine: Southern diner Rating: 4 stars Prices: $$ Atmosphere: modest but cheery Noise level: low Service: welcoming, attentive and knowledgeable

Read the full review and watch the video at triangletoday.com.

TRIANGLE TODAY | THE NEWS & OBSERVER

Dining spots to try in downtown Raleigh Greg Cox and Drew Jackson for Triangle Today

To jump start your day: Breakfast Big Ed’s City Market: Come for Southern diner fare in the city center. At the City Market mainstay, you’ll find giant hotcakes, buttery, fluffy biscuits and everything fried that needs to be fried. 220 Wolfe St., Raleigh. bigedscitymarket.com Lucettegrace: Your perfect breakfast bite can be found within this artful French pastry shop: the Dixie Cannonball, a cheese and scallion biscuit filled with sausage gravy. There’s also a full coffee bar, delicate croissants and other breakfast sweets. 235 S. Salisbury St., Raleigh. lucettegrace.com The Morning Times: A menu that offers something for every mood, from breakfast burrito to lox and bagel, has made this a local favorite for more than a decade. 10 E. Hargett St., Raleigh. 919836-1204. morningtimes-raleigh.com Raleigh Raw: A juice bar and cafe with a loyal following, dedicated to curing the body’s ills with cold pressed juices, smoothies and poke bowls. 7 W. Hargett St., Raleigh. raleighraw.com Lunch and dinner options Beasley’s Chicken & Honey, Chuck’s and Poole’s: This Ashley Christensen joint does superb fried chicken drizzled with honey, but the sides menu, with creamed collards and mac and cheese custard, may lead you to skip entrees altogether. There’s a list of real deal Champagnes, including a vintage Dom Perignon, but in Christensen’s world, you can always get a $2 can of Stroh’s. Next door you’ll find Christensen’s Chuck’s Burgers, with inventive toppings. Near

Red Hat Amphitheater, head to her original Poole’s Diner, with its famed macaroni and cheese. 37 S. Wilmington St., Raleigh. ac-restaurants.com Brewery Bhavana: The hottest restaurant in Raleigh was also one of the Top 10 new restaurants in the country last year, according to Bon Appetit. Bhavana pours a gorgeous lineup of beers in an even more gorgeous setting. The dining room and light marble bar are always bustling, but join the ruckus and your rewards are true soup dumplings and crispy Peking duck. Reservations highly recommended.

218 S. Blount St., Raleigh. . brewerybhavana.com

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2018

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WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2018

TRIANGLE TODAY | THE NEWS & OBSERVER

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