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Around Town: Living Kitchen Plants Its Latest Store

Living Kitchen

Living Kitchen picked Chapel Hill for its third N.C. location, offering an all-plant, gluten- and dairy-free menu of organically grown fruits, nuts and vegetables. (Photo by Living Kitchen)

No, Living Kitchen is not a kitchen-supply store. Manager Josh Michael ’01 gets that a lot.

The new restaurant on the ground floor of the Alexan, the high-rise apartment building next door to Whole Foods, is a clone of the popular Charlotte restaurant, where mixed juices such as Purple Rain (red cabbage, pear, lemon and mint) and El Greengo (kale, collards, romaine, cucumber, celery, dandelion greens, cilantro, lime and jalapeno) are pressed and delivered three times a week to Chapel Hill in refrigerated vans.

Founder Juliana Luna opened Luna’s Living Kitchen in Charlotte in 2010. She and business partner Stephen Edwards expanded to Raleigh last year; Chapel Hill is their third location. They share an all-plant, gluten- and dairy-free menu of organically grown fruits, nuts and vegetables, featuring main dishes such as the Living Burrito: sunflower seeds, refried beans, cauliflower rice, sprouts, pico de gallo, guacamole and cashew sour cream wrapped in a collard leaf. Side dishes include the Oyster Mushroom Kale Salad (kale, oyster mushrooms, walnuts, cabbage, carrots and radishes with an orange-ginger dressing).

Hours: Monday-Saturday, 8 a.m.-9 p.m.; Sunday, 9 a.m.-3 p.m.

Living Kitchen, 201 S. Elliott Road, Chapel Hill, 919-535-9191

OneFishTwoFish,andMore

Hawaiian cuisine is hot these days, judging from the line at One Fish Two Fish, a new fast-casual restaurant on the ground floor of Carrboro’s Hampton Inn.

The restaurant’s servers dish out dozens of fresh ingredients on demand, behind a head-high glass wall evoking an aquarium-like view and playful warning: “Our employees scare easily,” reads a chalkboard sign. “Please don’t tap on the glass!”

The basic concept is poke (pronounced “POH-kay,” meaning “chunk” in Hawaiian), a traditional meal made by combining chopped raw fish with spicy sauces, then scooping this mixture onto a bed of coconut sticky rice, jasmine-flavored rice or salad and topping with vegetables and fruit. The tricky part is getting the freshest possible fish to landlocked Carrboro; at the moment, manager Julie Roberts said, the tuna is flown in from Trinidad.

Owners Scott and Lauren Kleczkowski are marketing the corner where the town’s East Main Street splits into Chapel Hill’s West Franklin and West Rosemary streets. They own two other restaurants in the same building: Esperanza, an empanada and tequila bar; and The Shoppe Bar & Meatball Kitchen.

One Fish Two Fish is open daily 11 a.m.-9 p.m. There’s a large terrace with tables shaded by umbrellas for dining al fresco.

One Fish Two Fish, 370 E. Main St., Carrboro, 919-240-5532

GlasshalfullServesUp FavoritestoCelebrate10Years

Glasshalfull is marking its 10th anniversary by reprising favorite dishes of guests and staff. Diners have been reunited with the restaurant’s famed strawberry and fennel gazpacho; summer favorites may include local shrimp with polenta and pan-roasted chicken breast on couscous with nicoise olives and seasonal vegetables.

Every Tuesday, the restaurant is giving 10 percent of its gross to support UNC’s Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Former partner Mickey Maloney retired last year; executive chef Tony Del Sarto is now a co-owner with Jim Wald, who got his start in the wine business at New York’s Plaza Hotel. Glasshalfull’s wine shop sells hundreds of wines from small producers in France, Italy, Spain and Austria.

Hours: Monday-Friday, 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m.; Monday-Thursday, 5 p.m.-9:30 p.m.; and Friday-Saturday until 10 p.m.

Glasshalfull, 106 S. Greensboro St., Carrboro, 919-967-9784

OpeningandClosing

Dunkin’ Donuts has opened at 1509 E. Franklin St., near the Siena Hotel. Franchise owner Peter Turner has several Triangle locations. … Bella’s Cafe (formerly Bella’s International) at 360 E. Main St., Carrboro, has closed. Despite good reviews and reasonable prices, the restaurant failed to catch on after moving from its original location in Durham. … TCBY has closed in Eastgate Shopping Center after more than 10 years. Owner Bob Sutton told The Daily Tar Heel that the business was priced out of its location by rent increases.

Ann Loftin


CarolinaInnLuresStarChef BackHome

The Carolina Inn Chef Brandon Sharp ’97 has gone from busing tables at Chi-Chi’s in Greensboro to earning seven consecutive Michelin stars. (Photo by Melanie Busbee ’04/UNC)

The Carolina Inn Chef Brandon Sharp ’97 has gone from busing tables at Chi-Chi’s in Greensboro to earning seven consecutive Michelin stars. (Photo by Melanie Busbee ’04/UNC)

In the Review’s first food issue in 2014, Chef Brandon Sharp ’97 shared his recipe for char siu bao (barbecued pork buns). Living in Napa Valley and wowing diners as executive chef at Solbar at Solage Calistoga, he told how his fusion recipe grew out of his consternation with Californians’ use of “barbecue” as a verb and his love of the local Asian flavors.

Now the Greensboro native, graduate of the Culinary Institute of America and seven-time Michelin star winner is back in Chapel Hill, overseeing The Carolina Inn’s Crossroads restaurant.

“The tug of home was pretty strong. And this job opened up, and I was excited about the possibility of this job,” Sharp told the University Gazette.

Sharp says he’s adjusting to the Piedmont’s shorter growing season. “I try hard not to whine about the ingredients I had out there,” he said. “I could get peaches delivered straight from a nearby orchard.”

The former philosophy major thinks some chefs tend to put too many things on the same plate. His philosophy: “Respect the ingredients.”

Read about Sharp’s strategy for keeping food simple. Find his char siu bao recipe in the July/August 2014 Review.

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