STAYING LOCAL
It’s October and this is usually the month when the Chief Penguin and I spend some weeks abroad: in Italy, France, Chile, New Zealand, or even Madagascar in 2009. This year, as newcomers to the area, we are instead exploring our new neighborhood and venturing into Raleigh, the Oak City, and North Carolina’s capital. Our goal is to try a new restaurant for lunch every week this month and likely into November.
RALEIGH RAMBLE
This week we had lunch reservations at Whiskey Kitchen, an industrial looking dining room, in the Fayetteville Street District.
To make things stress free, we took Lyft in and arrived early to explore the few blocks around the restaurant.
Some years ago, my niece introduced us to Videri Chocolate Factory. We located it again and were able to check out the coffee roasters in this same building, the Raleigh Depot. The chocolate shop wasn’t yet open, but we wandered around outside the building enticed by the fragrant smell of chocolate.
The depot was built in 1912 to receive railway freight through large steel doors. It also had a doorway for horse-drawn carriages. In 2003-2004, the building was restored.
We heard a passing train and realized we were very close to Raleigh’s Union Station. We picked our way around a bit of construction before we found a walkway to the station entrance. The station was almost empty, but modern, clean, and attractive.
We consulted with the man at the ticket window and learned that the fare to ride the train from Cary to Raleigh is only $5 one way! You can also ride the Piedmont line to Greensboro and Charlotte.
We strolled into Nash Square, a compact green space with shade trees and perennials and crisscrossing walkways. In the center is a bronze sculpture, North Carolina Firefighters Memorial, honoring those killed in the line of duty. Plaques along a low brick wall around the statue list their names. The work was dedicated in 2006.
The square is named for Abner Nash, who served during the Revolutionary War from 1780-1781 as the state’s second governor and subsequently as a member of the Second Continental Congress.
Lunch at Whiskey Kitchen met all our requirements.
Friendly service and delicious food in an attractive setting. We both ordered the day’s special blackened mahi sandwich and had a side of cole slaw or a green salad. We also sampled one of the wines on offer.
On Martin and Davie Streets, we discovered several other restaurants we want to try. Across from Videri Chocolate is The Pit, a barbeque joint, and farther on in The Dillon are both La Terrazza and Barcelona. La Terrazza is on the 9th floor and has an indoor seating area and an expansive terrace overlooking Raleigh’s skyline.
This restaurant is only open in the evenings, but worth a return visit. Down at street level, Barcelona Wine Bar serves tapas at night and is open for brunch on the weekends. It beckons us to make a date soon!
READING: ESCAPING ON THE MIGHTY MISSISSIPPI
James by Percival Everett
Percival Everett has written several notable novels, so I was surprised that I had not encountered his writing until now. James is a re-telling of the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, but from Jim’s perspective. It is funny, perceptive, and a searing depiction of how one person’s appearance (be he be born Black or wearing “white face” over black skin) determines how that person is treated.
Knowing he is to be sold and moved to New Orleans, away from his wife and daughter, Jim runs away. Huck, who was taken in by the Widow Watson and whose father is mean and nasty, also escapes. Huck finds Jim and the two of them travel on the Mississippi River together, mostly by night, hiding by day, and catching catfish to eat. Jim has multiple reasons to need to escape; boy Huck is mainly fleeing his violent father.
They have adventures together and then get separated. Jim makes a friend, Norman, who appears white and pretends to own Jim. One of the funniest moments in the book is when Jim is recruited by a troupe of white men who perform in Black Face. Their faces need blackening, while Jim needs some whitening around the eyes.
Overall, it is a captivating and stunning portrayal of Jim, self-dubbed James, who endures physical and emotional brutality, while cherishing books. The gift of a pencil enables him to begin to write his own life story. Highly recommended and one of the best books I’ve read this year, it is a finalist for the Booker Prize. If I were a high school teacher, I’d assign in my English classes.
Readers may also be interested that Everett is the author of Erasure, the novel on which the Academy Award nominated film American Fiction is based.
Note: All photos ©JWFarrington (some rights reserved.). Header photo is a sign in the Raleigh train station.
