Celebrating 25 Years with Larry's Coffee: Triangle Downtowner Magazine, Issue 148

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Larry’s Coffee – 25 Years and Counting Community Leaders – An interview with Carolina Hurricanes Head Coach, Rod Brind’Amour Triangle Downtowner Magazine has acquired BOOM! Magazine and both have been merged into one locally owned and run publication.

From the Publisher Triangle Dining – Rey’s

Mailing Address: PO Box 27603 | Raleigh, NC 27611

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919.828.8000

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www.triangledowntowner.com/pages/contact press releases:

press@welovedowntown.com —— — —

Publisher & Co-founder

ON THE COVER: Larry Larson, founder of Larry’s Coffee, recently celebrated the 25th

anniversary of roasting fair trade, sustainable, organic coffee beans in the Five Points area of Raleigh, NC.

Co-Founders Business Development Food Editor Lead Designer

Follow us on our social media pages for photos and more news between print issues.

PhotographerS Writers/Copy Editors

Crash Gregg Randall Gregg, Sig Hutchinson Brittany Hogin Brian Adornetto Cyndi Harris Randy Bryant, Darryl Morrow, Crash Gregg Brian Adornetto, Christy Griffith —— — —

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A portion of Larry’s Coffee roasting facilities

25 Years and Counting at Larry’s Coffee An interview with Larry Larson, founder of Larry’s Coffee and our Publisher, Crash Gregg

C

offee artists on a mission.

Larry’s Coffee combines coffee excellence with a belief that business can be a force for good. Based in Raleigh’s Five Points neighborhood, Larry’s occupies a cluster of three buildings with a roastery in the center, incorporating solar water-heated floors, rainwater-driven restrooms, and a massive passive-solar clear story. To help propagate pollinators, they turned one of their old whiskey barrels (used to age coffee beans) into a beehive, and they host one of Raleigh’s first biopumps for plant-based biodiesel.

All Larry’s Coffee is Organic, Fair Trade, and Shade-Grown, (including the fully recyclable k-cups the company recently launched). Larry’s is a certified B-Corporation, modeling the role of business as a source of good in the world. The company is also a founding member of Cooperative Coffees, a group of independent coffee roasters importing coffee directly from farmers with the goal of defining a higher standard of partnership and fairness. They produce coffee roasts that hit the sweet spot between the caramelizing flavors that result from roasting and the inherent nuances of indigenous beans that vary from origin to origin.

If you’re in downtown Raleigh, you can taste their latest experiments at the 42 & Lawrence coffee lab and espresso bar on Martin Street in the bottom floor of the Skyhouse apartment building.

Crash: Tell us how you initially got involved with coffee here in North Carolina.

Larry: I was going to graduate school at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, and I wanted to discover how to best approach world economics in a way that was usable and real. I felt like traditional economics

Paul Sabatta, new president of Larry’s Coffee and founder Larry Larson at their facility near Five Points

were isolated and had trappings of not really understanding how the world worked together, how people interface with the world. The head of the department at UTK and I didn’t get along, so I transferred from UTK to NC State and ended up in the MBA program. After

about two semesters, I realized I was going down the same path of traditional economics and I was going to end working in a cubicle at a bank across from *that* guy. That just looked like hell to me, so I dropped out of the program. However, while I was in graduate school, I was working at Raleigh’s first coffeehouse, the original, the iconic Cup A Joe, which was a wonderful place to work. When I dropped out, I was like, “You know what? I’ve always wanted to be an entrepreneur, so why not now?” I grew up in Washington State and saw how coffee was evolving in Seattle. Coffee is going to flourish in the east the same it had done in the west.

That was in early 1993 when I was putting together the plan to get my own company going and creating partnerships with people to make that happen. At the time, there was only one other roaster in the Triangle, Broad Street Coffee Roasters in Durham. I really enjoyed roasting coffee, and I was the first employee at Cup a Joe to roast coffee. By 1994, I was working on a coffee house in Cary and a roasting operation on Morgan Street here in Raleigh, and that was the beginning of my coffee career. It started with just me, a telephone, a warehouse, and a Subaru wagon, but even now, 25 years later, we’re still relatively small and only have around 24 employees, if you count the staff down at the coffee shop at 42 & Lawrence. We ship our coffee across the country, from Florida to Alaska. It always makes brings a smile on my face when we ship coffee back to my old stomping grounds in Seattle.

Crash: After a few years, you started seeing a bigger picture of sustainability?

Larry: Exactly. By 1998, a colleague of mine in the coffee importing business contacted me and said > > >

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he wanted to create an import company made up of small roasters like ourselves to buy directly from coffee farmers. And this was way before fair trade ever existed as a buzzword. Originally there were only seven of us, and then it spread out all over North America from Canada to Florida. This cooperative allowed us, myself specifically, to go directly to the source for the first time, and it was amazing. I went to Mexico to visit coffee farmers – under military controlled suppression – who were trying to eke out a living selling coffee. Going to Central America for the first time really opened my eyes to what life is like for coffee farmers. That was monumental for me. We began to systematically unwind all our conventional coffees to be fair trade organic coffees over a three-year process. It felt really good to do that.

Then one of the people that I was working with said to me, “Hey, if we’re doing this fair trade stuff, why aren’t we doing more environmentally good things?”

We started recycling back when it wasn’t easy to do.

Then we started making a wholesale shift in how we thought we were harming the planet by being in business. We had the opportunity to buy the two buildings we’re in now, and we wanted to make them have a little demand on the environment as possible. We worked with a number of folks – including architects and engineers – to make that happen. And even though it took

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Green coffee beans, ready to be roasted

a while, we said, “Hey, that was pretty easy. Let’s do public tours to show people what we did and how easy it is.” Our company is about sharing, whether it’s about the experience of a good cup of coffee, the life of coffee farmers, the journey the coffee takes to get here, and

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anything else that we’ve learned, such as the sustainable stuff we did here. Then we started doing other things, like collecting rainwater in a cistern to flush the toilets, adding skylights to save power, etc. It ended up being pretty simple. But if you talk to your average engineer, they don’t understand how easy it can be.

Moving forward, it wasn’t just about making fair trade coffee, or renovating our building and showing folks how to do that, but other choices as well. What about the choices we vote for with our dollars we spend? When you buy a cup of coffee, you vote for the company that makes the coffee, you vote for all the elements of that cup of coffee. It’s the beans themselves – maybe they’re fair trade, maybe they’re not. You’re voting for a manufacturer like Larry’s. And by voting with your dollars for this coffee, you’re voting for the business practices that company follows. Same story with say, a tennis shoe company. You like a specific tennis shoe, which you’re also going to vote for with your dollars, and all the practices that go into that company’s business decisions. If it’s just a cool tennis shoe and it makes you run faster, well, that’s great. But what if I told you that tennis shoe company was clearcutting forests, hypothetically, or they’re running a sweatshop with a bunch of children making tennis shoes, would you still vote with your dollars for those tennis shoes? Hopefully, not. I’m hoping we start paying a lot more attention

to the entire ecosystem that makes up a business and all the products and decisions made by that business.

Voting with your dollars for the companies doing good, that’s how it’s all going to change. The internet has made business transparency a lot easier for consumers, so they can continue voting with their dollars for environmentally-sound manufacturing companies and products in general. If all we’re doing is selling another bag of coffee, BFD. It needs to have a lot more attached to it than just being another good cup of coffee.

We might do a Go Fund Me campaign to help hire a Director of Sustainability to spearhead that. I really would like to share this knowledge and sustainability, and dovetail it into the company in a big way. I want people to think of us as a big lab of sorts, a live working model. And I want to show people that it’s okay to fail. I fail all the time. I say that whenever I give tours to college students, I always say, “Don’t be afraid to change your mind about what you want to do in life, and no matter what, failures are okay. You just have to learn from every mistake you make and you’ll be rich with knowledge.” I was talking about this a few months ago with some students, and I said a good title of my book might be, “Ten Thousand Things I Did and They All Failed.” But I did manage one or two things that worked. And that’s all you need to do to succeed.

Crash: 2019 marked your 25th anniversary, which is a significant milestone for any company. You just hired about a new president who will be taking the bean baton from you so you can get more involved with some of the other parts of the company that you want to expand?

Larry: Yes, Paul Sabattas joined the company a few months ago, and he’s got the bean baton. This will free me to do more fundamental sustainability work. I want to work on sharing with more people where our coffee comes from, where the food in our coffee shop come from, where do the ingredients come from, and so on. My goal is to spend my bandwidth around how to achieve this vision. Restaurants are going to do this

more and more, as well. Imagine going to a restaurant and using your phone to find out where all the ingredients of a particular dish came from. The more we can discover about where our food and ingredients come from, the more this transparency starts to take place.

We used to hold a kind of “sustainability school” and I want to resuscitate that and get it going big time.

Larry’s Coffee roasting facility and offices are located east of Five Points in Raleigh at 1507 Gavin Street.

Stop by their retail shop to pick up a few bags of freshly roasted coffee, t-shirts, mugs, home roasters, and more.

You can also sign up for their free building tours. Learn more about Larry’s Coffee, their fair trade farmers, and current bean offerings at www.larryscoffee.com. Watch our full video interview with Larry (and other Triangle folks like Larry) on our Downtowner YouTube page at www.youtube.com/downtownermagazine.

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C O M M U N I T Y

L E A D E R S Rod Brind’Amour raising the coveted Stanley Cup in 2006, where he captained his team to victory. (left)

Our publisher Crash Gregg interviewing Coach Rod Brind’Amour at the PNC Arena before practice.

Rod Brind’Amour

Carolina Hurricanes Head Coach Crash: You’re an NC State fan?

Interviewed by Crash Gregg • Transcribed by Esther McCaskill-Baker

R

od Brind’Amour played 20 seasons in the NHL for the St. Louis Blues, Philadelphia Flyers, and Carolina Hurricanes. He captained the Canes to the franchise’s first Stanley Cup championship in 2006. In 2018, Brind’Amour was hired as the Hurricanes’ head coach. In his first season, Brind’Amour guided the team to its first playoff berth in a decade, leading them to the Eastern Conference finals. Rod has four sons and is married to Amy Biedenbach, the daughter of former NC State basketball standout and former UNC Asheville men’s basketball coach, Eddie Biedenbach. We caught up with Rod during a rare moment of downtime to learn more about this inspiring hockey legend.

Crash: After moving to North Carolina, is there anything you’ve grown to appreciate and enjoy?

Rod: When I first got here twenty years ago, it was two days before the snowstorm of the century. I was like, what did I get myself into?! I thought it was supposed to be nice down here and we were stuck in a hotel with 20 inches of snow. The amazing thing about that time was how friendly everybody was. Even though it was crazy, I couldn’t have been happier to come to Raleigh. For me, the relationships that I’ve been able to establish here with the players I’ve played with and coached, the good friends I’ve made away from the game, and meeting my wife here. It’s all been special. I keep going back to the people. That’s what makes North Carolina special for me.

And I love the food here. I think this area, and North Carolina in general, is becoming one of the best places to live, if not the best. I’m really fortunate to call it home.

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Rod: I love college sports, and when I moved here, I didn’t have a team yet. The NC State people that I met were awesome. So, I put my State hat on and said I’m gonna be an NC State fan. Then I got to know a lot of the people at the school. My wife’s family had played basketball at NC State. I loved the whole scene and the rivalries.

Crash: What’s the most significant difference for you in coaching versus playing?

Rod: Playing is having control of what happens; it’s up to you. Coaching is not. You open the door, you put the guys out there, but they have to go and make it happen.

As much as you want to feel like you have control you really don’t. So, what I miss is being on the ice and being able to make it happen versus hoping from afar.

Crash: You’ve been the Canes coach for a little over a year now.

What do you think of your first season as Head Coach and what do you plan for the next few years?

Rod: As a coach, you don’t plan a couple of years ahead, I’ll tell you that. It’s all day-to-day. I felt we had a pretty good year last year with everything coming together. I couldn’t have asked for more from our group. They gave me everything they had. This year, it’s all new, so I’m still adjusting. I’m trying to figure out these guys and I think they’re still trying to figure out how I work. We do our best. All we’re trying to do is make the team proud and the fans proud. That’s really what it’s all about.

Crash: What’s a typical day like for you?

Rod: If it’s not a game day, we get in here early. We try to get some workouts in, get the mind going, get ready for the day, get our practice plans ready, then we’ve got video work. Then we’ll bring in the guys and we’ll skate around depending on when the next game is. And then I’m preparing for the team, so I’m back into the coaching room

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for more video work. I try to pick my kid up from school if I have time. And then I’m at the rink usually watching him skate. My days are pretty full. If it’s a game day, obviously it’s gonna differ. We’re here all day and most all night. That’s what I signed up for. You gotta love it.

Crash: What do you enjoy doing in your downtime?

Rod: In my downtime, I can’t sit still. I’m one of these guys that always got to be doing something. So, if I’m not working, then I try to be with my kids, my wife, doing something. I’ve got four kids. Running them around or keeping track, that keeps me busy. One’s playing hockey in college where he just started as a freshman. My daughter plays volleyball at James Madison. I get to watch her play, which is cool. I’ve got another son at school in New York, then I’ve got a seven-year-old. I stay pretty busy, but I love it.

Crash: What nicknames have you had throughout your hockey career?

Rod: There’s one I don’t like, so I’m not even gonna mention it. You know hockey players are weird; everything ends with a “y.” I’ve been called Brindy, Roddy; everything is something with a “y.” That’s how everything goes. I don’t care; call me whatever. I just don’t like being called coach that much because I used to call coaches “coach” when I didn’t know their name. So, I don’t like payers calling me that and I don’t call a player “player.” I call them by name. Guys around here call me Rod. That’s my name and that’s fine by me.

Crash: If you had chosen a different career path, what might it have been?

Rod: A P.E. teacher. In shorts and working with the kids. That’s what I actually wanted to do as a Plan B. Watch our full interview with Rod and other community leaders at www.youtube.com/downtowner.

if dining , wine charit o ou t s , s l t n e a s o n c e y i i r t h s i e s u s t a b n n f e i , d , s f t trucks ics o h l g l i e h w od ther topighlight ngle as them. d o rs. We h the Tria around e, l eades across m unities s positiv y b n rea busy com features writte loca he magazine article otos by h h p t r nthe i uFrom d w n Publisher a t s e r t o n h o c I al aut loc t’s hard to believe we founded the Downtowner 15 long years ago. A decade and a half later, our mission remains the same: to carry on the timeless tradition of sharing amazing local stories of the community around us. Over two million readers have joined us for articles on small business, food and beverage, community leaders and everyday folks, non-profits, the arts, and more. We love being storytellers, capturing time and connecting people through the pages of our magazine and social media.

This is our home, and our goal has always been to provide an independently owned publication, devoid of politics and negativity, which consistently strives to promote local, diversity, inclusiveness, and sustainability. As old adage so eloquently states, “Y’all means all” and we firmly believe that. While this is a Southern saying, we include everyone of all origins – north, south, east, and west – in that statement. (We’re making T-shirts with this sentiment blazoned across the front, and a 10% of all profits will be donated to the Women’s Center of Wake County. More info in the next issue and our social media pages on how to order.) The Triangle is an amazingly diverse place now, with residents moving here from all over the country, the continent, and the world. You can easily find remarkable food, beer, music, arts, goods, and ideas, all made right here.

Pair that with friendly neighbors, more entrepreneurs than anywhere in the country, creative makers, plus extraordinary innovators, and it adds up to our collective home becoming one of the best places to live, anywhere.

As we move into 2020, we’re finalizing plans to continue our original mission by adding even more coverage of the local arts and business scenes. We’re currently in discussions with generous corporate sponsors and interviewing writers for both performing and visual arts stories, as well as reporters for more diverse business news. More details coming soon on upcoming events, interviews, and networking opportunities. If you’re

Rod Brind’Amour and me.

interested in learning more about becoming a sponsor or art/business writing opportunities, call us anytime, 919.828.8000. We’d love to chat.

P.S. Be sure to follow us on our social media pages and YouTube channel (listed on the inside front cover) to keep up with news and events between print issues.

Cheers, Crash S. Gregg Publisher, Triangle Downtowner Magazine Commercial and residential real estate agent 919.828.8000

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triangle Dining

The Fried Oysters were coated in a cornmeal batter, deep fried, set upon a bed of New Orleans-style succotash, and drizzled generously with a superb sweet and spicy aioli.

The beautifully browned Pan-Seared Scallops were expertly cooked and coated with a melted Cajun-style compound butter.

By Brian Adornetto, Food Editor Photos by Crash S. Gregg

R

ey Arias, owner of the eponymous Rey’s Restaurant, launched his 50-year hospitality career washing dishes at a pizzeria in New Orleans when he was only 15 years old. Throughout the years, Rey served in various restaurant industry positions until he landed a job with Ruth’s Chris in 1987.

Eventually he worked his way up to vice president of operations, a role in which he helped open Ruth’s Chris steakhouses around the globe. In 1995, Rey moved to San Antonio, Texas, where he met his future wife and helped a friend open and operate a few restaurants. Then, in 1997, another friend asked Rey for help

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opening a Ruth’s Chris franchise on Buck Jones Road in Raleigh. In 2004, when the friend decided to close the restaurant and sell the building, Rey made the decision to buy it, transforming it into Rey’s Restaurant.

Studded with red and green peppers, the delicate, loosely packed N’awlins Crab Cakes were flawless.

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Since 2004, Rey has given back to his community by supporting a wide range of charities, including the Tammy Lynn Center and Hope Community Church.

The one closest to his heart, however, is the Meg’s Smile Foundation of Holly Springs, a 501(c)3 charitable organization that provides special outings and gifts for children in North Carolina hospitals who have serious illnesses. Founded by Jim and Terri Wasley in memory of their daughter Meg, who passed away from a brain tumor at age 8 in 2011, Meg’s Smile exists to bring smiles to the faces of children and families who are going through a long, difficult, and emotional journey.

Although Rey’s Restaurant does offer a few daily specials and a few small tweaks are made to the menus as the seasons change, Rey’s prides itself on consisten-

Skillfully seared to create a gorgeous crust, the tender, juicy Grilled Filet Mignon was impeccably seasoned.

cy. Accordingly, our feast began with a few of Rey’s most popular appetizers. Four beautifully browned Pan-Seared Scallops ($14) were expertly cooked and coated with a melted Cajun-style Beurre Maître d’Hôtel (compound butter) that was flavored with garlic, fresh herbs, and lime. Studded with red and green peppers, the delicate, loosely packed N’awlins Crab Cakes ($15) were flawless. These don’t-miss 100% crab mini-cakes were a magnificent balance of texture – with their melt-in-your-mouth crabmeat and slightly crunchy peppers – and flavor, with their sweet brininess and heat. The Fried Oysters ($12) were coated in a cornmeal batter, deep fried, set upon a bed of New Orleans-style succotash, and drizzled generously with a superb sweet and spicy aioli. These perfectly cooked oysters were crisp, light, and juicy. The Crab Cocktail ($16), enough for two to share, was a crab lover’s dream. Large chunks of sweet, succulent, fresh crabmeat were arranged over mixed greens and flanked by pools of homemade cocktail sauce and Rey’s excellent spicy Cajun remoulade.

protein-based dishes are à la carte, so if guests want a side or two to round out their meal, these can be ordered separately. We chose a few of Rey’s signature entrees: Scottish Salmon ($24), Grilled Filet Mignon ($33 for 8 oz. and $37 for 10 oz.), and Broiled Flounder ($29). To accompany our main course, we opted for the Au Gratin Potatoes, Asparagus with Hollandaise, and Garlic Mashed Potatoes ($8 each). The salmon was cooked to a delicious medium and covered with a strawberry, papaya, mango, and cilantro “tapenade“ which was strongly reminiscent of a salsa. Skillfully seared to create a gorgeous crust, the tender, juicy filet mignon was impeccably seasoned and showered with minced parsley, thyme, and chives – so delicious that it truly didn’t need a sauce. The elegant flounder was embellished with chunks of sautéed shrimp and crabmeat, then gilded with a palate-pleasing lemon butter sauce and minced herbs. The well-balanced dish was sweet and acidic, herbaceous and silky. For their part, the Au Gratin Potatoes were simple, cheesy goodness. The asparagus, steamed and served with an opulent hollandaise, was a fitting side for all three entrees. The mashed potatoes, speckled with chunks of potato, were buttery and garlicky. Either potato dish

Rey flaming up for his signature dessert, Bananas Foster, at the charity event, Toast to the Triangle, which Rey supports every year.

would pair remarkably well with any of the beef, chicken, veal, or pork mains.

Remember to pace yourself, because Rey’s has some unforgettable desserts, including its rich flourless Chocolate Raspberry Truffle Cake ($8), New York-style Cheesecake ($8), and Bread Pudding with Whisky Sauce ($8). Topping them all, though, was the show-stopping Bananas Foster with vanilla bean ice cream (serves 2 for $21) – a definite must. Made tableside (ours by Rey himself), this incredible dessert was sweet, nutty, boozy, caramel-y, and luxurious. With its stunning pyrotechnics, it was as entertaining as it was decadent.

Whether you decide to sit outside at a table or couch on Rey’s gorgeous patio, in the elegant main dining room, or in the fun and lively Voodoo Lounge, you are sure to meet Rey sometime during your stay.

He glides from room to room and table to table, > > >

Rey’s Tomato Mozzarella Salad featured mixed greens, thick-cut tomato steaks dolloped with creamy mozzarella, seasoned with balsamic vinaigrette, and sprinkled with basil chiffonade.

Our salad course consisted of two classics, Caesar Salad ($7) and Tomato Mozzarella Salad ($9).

For the Caesar, crunchy romaine lettuce was tossed in a creamy, cheesy dressing along with house-made croutons. This standard salad was abundant enough to share. Rey’s riff on Caprese salad featured a pile of mixed greens topped with three thick-cut tomato steaks, each dolloped with creamy mozzarella, seasoned with balsamic vinaigrette, and sprinkled with basil chiffonade.

With the exception of the vegetarian entrees, all

The Scottish Salmon was cooked to a delicious medium and covered with a strawberry, papaya, mango, and cilantro tapenade.

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Rey’s Restaurant

1130 Buck Jones Road, Raleigh, NC 919.380.0122 http://reysrestaurant.com Hours of Operation Monday – Thursday: 5pm - 10pm Friday and Saturday: 5pm - 11pm Sunday: Closed Price: $$$

The elegant Broiled Flounder was embellished with chunks of sautéed shrimp and crabmeat, then gilded with a palate-pleasing lemon butter sauce and minced herbs.

taking time to chat with all his guests while keeping an eagle eye on every detail to ensure the best service and highest quality of food. He personally makes 2–3 trips to the North Carolina State Farmers’ Market each week to guarantee that his produce is as fresh as possible.

Ever humble, when asked what has made his restaurant so successful over the past 15 years, without hesitation Rey explained, “It’s definitely my staff. Their professionalism, commitment, consistency, and longevity have made me proud. Even our newest employee has

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been here for five years.” Rey doesn’t merely enjoy what he does – he pours his heart and soul into his restaurant and everyone who eats there can feel it.

Brian Adornetto is a food writer, culinary instructor, and chef. His business, Love at First Bite, specializes in private cooking classes and intimate dinners. For more information, please visit www.loveatfirstbite.net. Contact Brian at brian@welovedowntown.com.

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Cuisine: New Orleans-style fine dining Service: Professional, synchronized, and knowledgeable Dress: Neat business casual Noise Level: Moderate Reservations: Recommended Parking: Huge private parking lot Wine List: Global with a heavy California influence and 25 by-the-glass selections Features: Some vegetarian and vegan options; Many gluten-free options; Full bar; Martini menu; Bar dining; Lounge; 100 seat outside patio; Private and semi-private rooms; Wine lockers; Cigars for purchase to smoke on the patio; Accepts major credit cards; Bar televisions; Free wi-fi; Live music in the Voodoo Lounge, and also on the patio in season; Wine dinners.

Downtowner Tips: Great for date night, special occasions, groups, and on-site parties. Rey’s makes one of the best Manhattans in the Triangle and has a menu full of fun martinis.

Around Town News in the Triangle We love hearing about new local businesses and sharing it with our readers. Please keep us posted on any new locally owned restaurants, bars, retail shops, or businesses opening in downtown Raleigh, Durham or across the Triangle. Send an email to news@welovedowntown.com and clue us in. To say “Thanks Y’all,” we’ll pick a random tipster each month to win a free Downtowner t-shirt.

P.S. We’re looking for contributing writers who want to help us report on what makes the Triangle a great place to live, work, play, and shop for both our print issue and our website, www.TriangleDowntowner.com. We have writing opportunities on a wide range of topics: business, visual and performing arts, dining, breweries/local beer, music/bands, tech, startups, charities, personalities, and just about anything else interesting and different. Email us at writers@welovedowntown.com if you’re interested. Be sure to include a few writing samples and we’ll get back to you asap.

To keep up with news between issues as well as lots of event and food photos, be sure to follow us on all of our social media pages: Facebook www.facebook.com/triangledowntowner • Instagram www.instagram.com/triangledowntowner • Twitter www.twitter.com/welovedowntown Zambrero Mexican has opened on the ground floor of the One Glenwood building at the southern end of Glenwood Avenue. Zambrero is Australia’s largest Mexican franchise, which “features fresh ingredients, superfood options and customizable dishes, such as burritos, bowls, tacos, nachos, dos capas, and quesadillas.” Hours are Sun-Thurs 11am-9pm and Fri & Sat 11am-10pm. www.zambrero.com/locations/one-glenwood Wake Tech culinary professor Preeti Waas has opened Cheeni – an Indian-inspired tea and coffee shop – inside the Poyner YMCA at 227 Fayetteville Street in downtown Raleigh. Cheeni offers chai, coffee, and tiffin (light snacks, including chili cheese toast, which includes a cheese blend of her own making, sliced green chilies, and sourdough bread from luccettegrace). Open Monday through Friday, 6:30am to 2pm. www.instagram.com/cheeniraleigh One of our favorite local chefs, Michael Lee (previously of Sono in downtown Raleigh), announced he’s opening another location of M Sushi in Cary’s upcoming Fenton development, a 69-acre mixeduse destination opening later this year. He’ll be joining Scott Crawford’s Crawford Brothers Steakhouse, Ford Fry’s Superica, and Steve Palmer’s Colletta. His current restaurants are all located in Durham: M Sushi, M Tempura, and M Kokko. https://www.m-restaurants.com/m-sushi If you’re still worried that the State Farmers Market is moving/closing because of Dix Park developments, fear not. N.C. Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler announced that claims that the market is moving or being sold are simply not true. The state did, however, complete a longterm plan to add new entrances, more retail and restaurants, and more parking. Read the N&O article below for more details and check out the Farmers Market website for hours, in-season produce, retail shops, and more. www.ncagr.gov/markets/facilities/markets/ raleigh/ www.newsobserver.com/news/local/ article238288948.html Arthur Gordon and his wife Anya have sold the

45-year-old institution that is Irregardless Cafe to Trophy Brewing co-owner David Meeker, and Lee Robinson, who was a manager at The Player’s Retreat. Other than a few superficial upgrades, they plan on keeping everything close to the same, other than adding Trophy beers to the menu. Irregardless was the city’s first vegetarian restaurant before it started serving meat in the 80s, was one of the first restaurants in the state to ban smoking in 1985, and has featured some form of live music every night for many, many years. Congrats to Arthur and Anya for 45 years of amazing food and music. https://irregardless.com Ashley Christensen’s still unnamed fast-casual chicken sandwich concept was listed as BB’s Chicken Coop on the University Hill website – which is one of her three upcoming locations. The others are in Midtown East (near Wegman’s) and Parkside Town Commons in Cary. Nothing official on her website as of yet, so we’ll be curious to see if this is the final name. (props to TriangleFoodBlog and Jake Weir-Gertzog for the discovery). www.ac-restaurants.com Congratulations to Briggs Hardware and owner Evelyn Briggs Murray on celebrating their 155th anniversary this year. Founded in 1865, Briggs moved three times, the second time into Raleigh’s first “skyscraper” on Fayetteville Street in 1874, which now houses the City of Raleigh Museum.

Their current location is 111 E. Hargett Street in downtown Raleigh. Briggs is open Monday-Friday 9am-6pm and Saturday 10am-5pm. Learn more about Briggs at www.briggshardwarestore.com.

Phase One of the Citrix Cycles project is finally done with the completion of bike-sharing station number 30 at Pullen Park (with a total of around 300 electric-assist bikes). The proposed Phase Two will expand the perimeter of bike stations further out and could include as many as 20 more stations with 200 more bikes. For more info on renting a Citrix Cycle, visit www.citrixcycle.com.

Rosewater Kitchen and Bar in North Hills is adding lunch to their offerings, from 11am. to 2pm.

They already offer brunch on Saturdays and Sundays from 10am to 3pm. Rosewater is “inspired

by European romance, the nourishing garden, and intimacy of slow-cooked food.” Visit their website for more information on dinner hours, menus, and more: www.rosewaterraleigh.com After 36 years, the casual dining spot Sunflower’s Café has closed in Seaboard Station, as their lease was not renewed due to the upcoming $250m redevelopment. Sunflower’s opened initially on Glenwood Avenue in the current site of Hibernian Restaurant. Owner Debbie Ferebee was slated to help manage a new restaurant in Hilton Head called the Jailhouse, but we’ve heard that is no longer the case. We’ll surely miss Sunflower’s delicious salads and sandwiches. http://trianglefoodblog.com/?p=1047 We loved seeing A Place at The Table and owner Maggie Kane featured on Good Morning America, complete with a surprise ending here in downtown Raleigh. A Place at the Table features a “pay what you can” format, with pay it forward dining tokens that allow others to buy less fortunate folks a meal. Well over 10,000 meals were donated last year. They’re located at 300 W. Hargett Street and are open for breakfast and lunch Tuesday-Friday 7am-2pm and Saturday-Sunday 8am-2pm. Learn more at www.tableraleigh.org.

The longtime live music venue, The Pour House Music Hall has opened a new and used record shop (and bar) in their second floor level. Open daily from 11am-7pm and during select performances downstairs, they feature free live music performances every Saturday and Sunday at 1, 3, and 5pm, open to all ages. www.thepourhousemusichall.com/record-shop An Umami Asian Bistro franchise is moving into the ill-fated H Kitchen/Pizza La Stella space on Hillsborough Street. There are other Umami Asian Bistro locations in Cary, Burlington, and Sanford.

They’re slated to open sometime in February.

Hear a rumor about a new restaurant, bar, or local business anywhere in the Triangle? Know about something opening soon or already open? Send us an email to news@welovedowntown.com or give us a call at 919.828.8000.

ISSUE 148 | THE TRIANGLE’S PREMIER MONTHLY

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TRIANGLE ARTS

Frida Kahlo, Diego on My Mind

Frida Kahlo, Self Portrait with Monkeys

Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera and M e x i c a n

Modernism

By Linda Kramer

H

ow many ways can you say magnificent? One way is by taking a trip to NCMA to see the exhibit, Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera and Mexican Modernism.

This major retrospective of 135 works by Frida Kahlo and her husband Diego Rivera – regarded as two of the most important Twentieth Century artists of the Americas – is open through January 26.

The showing, In conjunction with Luces y Sombras, Images of Mexico, from the Bank of America Collection, is a stunning grouping of 45 photographs by six internationally renowned photographers that include Manuel Alvarez Bravo, Manuel Carrillo, Flor Garduro, Graciela Iturbide, Paul Strand and Mariana Yampolsky who focused their lenses on Mexican landscapes, history, and culture.

Patrons will be overwhelmed by this magnificent and dazzling collection of examples of both Kahlo’s and Rivera’s works which are full of unexpected juxtapositions and strange detours that illuminate Mexican culture and politics.

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TRIANGLE DOWNTOWNER MAGAZINE

A crippling bus accident in 1925 at age 18 doomed Kahlo to a life of chronic pain as a semi-invalid. It was during her recuperation that she discovered painting.

30 surgeries and the preoccupation with her declining health became one the most distinctive elements in her personal iconography. Her intensely personal art also reflects symbolically, on another level: female struggles in a patriarchal dominated world painted through a haze of drug addiction and pain killers.

Kahlo is best known for her head and shoulder self-portraits that sometimes exhibit a stiffness and glacial distance. Noticeable in the works on view are Kahlo’s signature reflections of dark eyes, a faint mustache and her famous “V” of a unibrow, reflecting her exaggerated fondness for hair and extended to her elaborate coiffures, all projecting her own erotic forwardness.

Also on view are examples of some of her popular works portraying her with monkeys and parrots. Her subjects are more private than public, and many reflect her socialist/communist leanings during the Mexican Revolution. Trotsky was said to have visited her and Kah-

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lo was rumored to have had a relationship with Stalin.

In 1929, she married Diego Rivera, a well-established large-scale painter and muralist who left his impression not only in Mexico but also America via NYC, San Francisco, and Detroit. She lived and worked in Rivera’s shadow for years and was virtually unknown until the 1970s.

There are also several still lifes richly represented at NCMA that are uncomplicated at first sight; but most are personal close-ups of cut segments of watermelons and other exotic Central America fruit and vegetables. Kahlo’s wit shows in revealing seeds and shapes that are evocative of female genitalia, bananas and mushrooms, phallic in shape and introduced no doubt, to unnerve spectators.

Some called Frida Kahlo a folk or native artist, some a Surrealist, but whatever label applied, all of her works spoke strongly of nothing but herself, her life, her beliefs and travails, and her turbulent relationship with Rivera.

She was both the artist and the canvas. Her paintings simply do not speak strongly of anything but herself.

Much can also be said of Rivera in his ambitious murals with a regional and political vernacular. They were the strong social and autobiographical elements mixed with realities and fantasies that brought him fame.

In the years since her death, Kahlo has shown brighter than her husband, but they will be forever connected. Frida Kahlo died in 1954 and Diego Rivera in 1957. They were magnificent.

Also ticketed with this show is the amazing Scott Avett: INVISIBLE exhibition. Internationally recognized as co-founder of the band The Avett Brothers, Scott Avett has been a working artist, focusing on painting and printmaking, since he earned a BFA in studio art from East Carolina University in 2000. But until now, this art-making part of his life has been a secret and a more solitary creative pursuit in comparison to his life as a musician, singer, and songwriter.

Like his songs, Avett’s paintings speak to universal issues of spirituality and struggle, love and loss, heartache and joy, as well as more personal stories of career, family, and living in the South. The exhibition includes large-scale oil paintings, prints and paintings related to Avett’s musical career. INVISIBLE ends Feb 2.

Adult exhibit tickets are $18, Seniors $15, Youth $12, and children under 6 are free. Tickets can be purchased online or at the Museum box office, Tuesday through Sunday 10am to 5pm, with special evening hours on Friday, January 24, and Saturday, January 25.

Martin Munkacsi, Frida and Diego, 1934

Nickolas Muray, Frida Kahlo on Bench, 1939

NC Museum of Art 2110 Blue Ridge Road Raleigh, NC 27607 Ticket box office: 919.715.5923 www.ncartmuseum.org

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72. Dine 73. Life prefix 74. More crooked 75. Iowa city with garACROSS den center growers?

1. Way 84. Listen in Spanish Want to win a Downtowner T-shirt? Email us a photo of your completed puzzle to 6. Whipping winds 85. Accomplished at the xword@welovedowntown.com. We’ll pick a random winner each month. Need a hint?

11. Princess woe locale Visit www.triangledowntowner.com and search for xword for the answer key. No cheating! 14. Appeal 86. 180° turn, slangily 18. Itsy-bitsy bits 87. Masterstroke 19. For all to see 89. Rot 20. West Coast sch.

91. “Omigod!”

22. “The Sounds of In92. Pixies dia” musician, first name 95. Figure (out) 23. Tennessee city 96. Brickyard 400 org. talked? (goes with 25 98. Sunshine State city across) 99. School orgs.

25. See 23 across 102. Pennies, abbr.

27. Workplace safety org.

103. Marker 28. Axed 104. Kind of cleaning 29. Stat start acid 31. Circular plates 106. Cubs big hitter 32. Diamond’s site 108. Carpet 33. Waves’ home 109. Yellow spread 34. Recipe abbr.

113. Work in the kitchen 35. Strange and unique or in 115 across perhaps?

39. Spotted 115. Agricultural Califor42. His twin duped him nia city 46. Forked 118. Heed 47. Denial word 119. Weak 48. Spots 120. Cud chewer 51. Star Wars Jedi 121. Jude Law movie role 52. ___ Lingus (Irish 122. Custodian’s colairline) lection 53. Colorless ketone 123. Upset 54. “The loneliest 124. Full from food number” 125. Late bloomer 55. Southern California city with a recent bride?

DOWN 61. Thundering 1. Rich, Spanish 62. “S.N.L.” alum Tina 2. Sounds of surprise 63. Brit. record label 3. Bryce Canyon locale 64. Marked 4. “Toodle-oo” 67. Warning sound 5. Not an exact fig.

68. Got uneasy 6. Spoiled © 2020 Crossword Myles Mellor

DOWNTOWNER MAGAZINE Aquatic Occupations CROSSWORD PUZZLE

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7. Declarer 8. Ali-beater Spinks 9. Bit of work 10. Ogle 11. Brownish purple 12. Grotto sound 13. Car club 14. Unwrinkles 15. Bird 16. Pre-holiday periods 17. Give support to 21. Old Fords 24. Stuck, after “in” 26. Restaurant calculation 30. ‘’2001’’ computer 32. Bicycle part 33. Record points 34. Flourless cake 35. James Bond, e.g.

36. ____man Triathlon 37. Knot 38. Vex 40. Impatiently eager 41. Normandy city 43. Missourian’s demand 44. Poem by Virgil 45. Not mint 47. Lincoln’s st.

49. “This instant!”

50. Neighbor of Mo. 52. Just slightly 53. Tree having winged fruit 56. Golf benchmark 57. Bruin superstar 58. Supreme Court case surname 59. The Jacksons once had them 60. Hitherto 64. “Later” 65. Academy attendees 66. ___ glance (quickly) 67. “The Immoralist”

author 68. Glenn of the Eagles 69. Free (of) 70. Slippery one 71. Prefix for angle or lateral 73. Mouthfuls 74. Work unit 75. Gear teeth 76. Column’s counterpart 77. Gene component 78. Orgs.

79. Hummus holder 80. Court figures 81. Naval investigation show 82. Relied on player 83. Pudding ingredient 88. Good works ad 90. Fish-eating hawks 91. Suitable to ingest 92. Extremely hot & dry 93. Smug ones 94. Vermin 97. IV units 98. Machination 100. Hispanic aunt 101. Billing abbr.

104. Peach 105. Half of an informal affirmative 106. Slip 107. Wine prefix 108. 32-card game 109. Greasy fluids 110. Portside 111. Mario __ of the NBA 112. River of Brandenburg 113. __ choy (Chinese cabbage) 114. “So that’s how it is!”

116. ___ grecque 117. Transportation overseer, for short

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