Hey foodies! The first half of 2023 has flown by, but if you’ve been following me on Instagram or TikTok then you know that I’ve been eating GOOD! There has been a lot of great food places that have opened since the end of last year that I’ve just gotten around to trying that I can’t stop talking about, so I wanted to share more details about them.
Here are 6 new•ish food spots in the Raleigh-Durham area that I’m borderline obsessed with:
Kale’s Kitchen
While Kale’s Kitchen has been serving up incredible comfort food to foodies around the Triangle area for a while, they just recently soft opened at their storefront where they serve take-out orders and preorders. They have weird hours and there WILL be a line when they open for pick up so be prepared to wait — I promise you that the food is worth it!
Leroy’s Tacos
Leroy’s Taco, owned by the same legends that own Lawrence Barbecue, opened in Boxyard this year. These Birria tacos are super flavorful and delicious and they also regular carne asada tacos that are equally as tasty. Their 90s memorabilia themed shop is an added bonus to visits them!
Where’s the Jerk
I can’t believe it took me five months to finally try Where’s the Jerk, especially since it’s a very short distance from my house. They have special brunch events that have some of the best brunch food in the area, but during their regular hours they serve a wide variety of Jamaican and soul food platters that don’t miss.
Corner Yaki
Corner Yaki is one of the many new food vendors to join the Durham Food Hall and they have an amazing Asian fusion menu that you definitely need to try — especially the buns and the short rib dumplings!
La Mala
La Mala is La Santa’s (located in Raleigh) sister restaurant that brings the same modern Mexican dishes and drinks to downtown Durham. The drinks are beautifully decorated and very refreshing for tequila lovers like myself and they have really good guacamole and ceviche.
Midwood Smokehouse
I was pleasantly surprised by the food at Midwood Smokehouse — I am always worried about chain restaurants because their food tends to be lackluster and bland when I go. Everything that I had at Midwood Smokehouse was delicious and that’s saying a lot because we got to try a little bit of everything. Definitely try the BBQ platter so that you can get a little taste of all their smoked BBQ!
There are definitely some other new-ish places that I plan to hit this summer, so I’ll look to update this list at east one more time this year.
Joy Eats World 