Cory Quammen

The Broad Street Cafe in Durham is a cafe, bar, music venue, and restaurant rolled all into one. Recently, the owners put about a month of remodeling work into the cafe, moving away from the traditional home-grown coffe house featuring funky couches from bygone eras scrounged up from garage sales to a more elegant and modern interior catering a little more to the creative professional class. The cafe specializes in gourmet wood-fired pizzas and burgers, including lamb and tuna burgers. They have a full bar, about 10 beers on tap, and around 20 beers in bottles. Most beers are American microbrews, particularly microbrews from North Carolina such as Triangle and Foothills.

We recently went on a Friday night to check out some local bands that were on the docket. Broadstreet Cafe never charges a cover, except for occassional special events like the Troika Music festival, so there really is no reason not to go check out a band. The cafe definitely has more of a bar feel in the evening than in the daytime, which makes sense as the laptop and latte set makes way for the beer and band crowd. The cafe is arranged so that this transition can take place with little effort.

On the night we went, we saw Chip from the band Simple play an acoustic set followed by local funk nontet Bull City Syndicate. A few songs into the Syndicate’s set, some grad students pushed a single table near the stage off to the side, forming a perfectly adequate dance floor for a dozen people or so.

The Original Q Shack is a great place in Durham to get classic North Carolinian barbeque. They offer pulled pork, chopped or shredded brisket, and smoked turkey sandwiches and plates. Sandwiches come with a side and hush puppies while plates substitute an additional side for the sandwich bread. Sides include baked beans, cole slaw, onion rings, french fries, mac and cheese, and some others.

You can find the Original Q Shack here:

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If you ever find yourself on Ninth Street in Durham, NC, and have an inkling for the best burger around complimented by a delicious American microbrew, make your way to Dain’s Place. You can have your burger any way you want with over 10 free toppings and sauces as toppings that cost a little extra, such as fried onions, a variety of cheese, bacon, and chili, among other toppings. My favorite burger there features the following toppings:

• Pepper jack cheese
• Bacon
• Chipotle mayonnaise
• Horseradish sauce
• Jalapeños

Dain’s also features a few dozen American microbrews from across the country. The particular selection varies from week to week as new beers are constantly cycled in.