TRIANGLE TODAY | THE NEWS & OBSERVER
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 31, 2018
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REVAMPED VILLAGE DINER
keeps spirit intact but gives food a fresh, tasty update 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.
ites 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-asoufflé orbs served with pepper jelly and an inspired red-eye mayo.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Drew Jackson for Triangle Today
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
Fried chicken leg and thigh, Cane Ceek Farm collards, chow chow, country biscuit at the Village Diner. Chuck Liddy 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 favor-
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
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