It's called Kipos
http://www.kiposgreektaverna.com

I realize that snickering at Parizade is a board staple, but this is a serious and good place, folks. Giorgio Bakastias seems to have decided that the area is stable enough for him to do the restaurant he always wanted to do, a Greek Taverna like those he grew up with. He brought his sister over from Athens to do the bakery, and another friend from Athens as chef.

The website is very loving, with family pictures everywhere.

The space is great -- Pyewacket is long gone. Open kitchen more accessible than Parizade, bakery at the entrance with lots of great stuff to take home for breakfast, etc.

Was there for dinner on Wednesday -- place packed, active bar. All Greek wines and many Greek beers. And the food was really special. Wife and I made a meal of four mezzes -- spicy sausages in sauce, koftes with dressing, calamari with tzatziki, and baked eggplant with onion and tomatoes and cheese.

Great service, including from Mr. Bakastias himself who was hosting and facilitating service. I've spent time in Greece, and this place is for real. It has a great feel, with UNC couples, Greek families (friends of the owner probably in these friends and family early opening period?), academics, BFF tables, etc.

It was a happy experience, good prices, really tasty (and a lot of locally sourced) food, and we'll become regulars it seems. What's not to like?

The first, the Chef Special, is a section of the regular menu -- it's like every other American Chinese restaurant's Chef's Specials, which are not particularly special, just more expensive.

The other three are all sections of their "Special Chinese Menu". For my money, that's where the good stuff is.

I go around once a week. The Special menu certainly has several bitter melon offerings. They have two paper menus, the regular and Special: several items on the Special are only available at lunch Saturday and Sunday. And yes, quality remains excellent. Personally, I'm fond of the spicy dried bean curd with shredded pork, and the noodles with Szechuan meat sauce, both from the Special menu available all the time.

I've checked threads, and can't find any discussion about places in the Triangle that do a good bowl of chili. I don't mean chili mix ground beef, like the stuff that tops hot dogs or burgers, but actual chopped unground meat that is slow cooked with chilis, or veggies with good powder or such. Years ago there was a real chili parlor in Raleigh, but it didn't last long.

The (original) Q-Shack has a good chili, but using smoked brisket makes it too smoky for my taste. Ted's bison chili is ok, but ...

With winter coming (maybe), a good bowl of red might be nice to find. Durham or Chapel Hill preferred, but a serious chili is worth a drive to Raleigh or Cary. Suggestions?

I've used Kitchenworks twice, and have been pleased. Southern Season also sharpens knives (of course in the same University Mall as Kitchenworks.) Might I ask which of those did work that was unsatisfactory? Cliff, at Cliff's (butcher) Market in Carrboro, sharpens knives too.

Exactly right on Italy/NY issue. I've lived several places in Italy for periods of one month to five months, North, South, and Central. NY style pizza is not found in Italy. Philadelphia style is close to Neopolitan though. The only place around Chapel Hill that has an Italian style pie, albeit Roman not Neopolitan, is Piola. Their pies are like the Roman ones, thin crust, reasonably small, and not by the slice. Those you get in Rome by the slice are close to the square pies here with pieces in rectangles, like what are sometimes called "Sicilian" in Philadelphia, breadier than 8-10 inch full pies with thin crusts. Given this, when I'm nostalgic for Rome, I go to Piola. When I'm nostalgic for Philly, I get a Piola Neopolitan style (which isn't as tasty as their Roman pies), and when I'm nostalgic for a NY pie, I rotate among Randy's and the others discussed in this thread.
I've never understood what "authentic" pizza means as a result. Pizza is a food group, not a collectible.

Maybe this thread should be combined with the "pulling all the stops" thread? Dinner for four, eight glasses of wine, a single malt, 3 apps, four mains, 1 dessert, for $222.
Menu is online each day, as fresh and local dominates. NC smoked trout app is delicate, and the blinis are lovely. The NC shrimp app was beautifully plated and delicate. The porcini risotto is more explosive than Nana's, and even creamier. Dayboat scallops were cooked precisely, caramelized on one side, and luscious all through. The NC snapper sat on a bed of unusual slaw, fennel included, with a chili aioli. The brined pork chop was large, moist and tender, and sauced in a cauliflower reduction. Wines by the glass plentiful at around $8 per full pour. Service more informal than Magnolia Grill, but Pittsboro friendly. I sure hope OakLeaf catches on -- if tonight was "normal",
pretty full, and reservations were helpful, and people dressed in all manner from older folks with jackets to younger with jeans and whatever, this place seems happy. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they can keep it up, since it's the food that is the real draw for our group. The chef is serious and talented, in our non-professional tasters' experience, in that the dishes we had all "worked". And surprised. Go and comment -- am I wrong?

Since you wrote "Durham, CH", Raleigh is a bit far off. For Korean soups, Min Ga in CH is superb. Durham's Pho 9N9 is exceptionally good for pho. Saigon Grill in Durham is good as well, but has a bit more cinnamon in the broth than does 9N9, and they sometimes use too many noodles per bowl. A bit south of CH town, in Southern Village, Merlion does a nice array of Singapore soups.

Since I praised it here (based on past meals), I thought it responsible to go back for a mid-week dinner. It was really special. The apps, like sashimi, like oysters, were fascinating. The mains included a half grilled lobster which it seems half the diners were ordering. I had the grilled fish with grilled octopus and various. The surprise though was the "Tasting Menu" at $30 for three courses, two choices per course of app, main, and dessert. That's $30, and it is not necessary that the whole table order it! One choice for the main was a lamb shank with papparadelle!

Service was fine, with well-intentioned glitches (missing bread and butter) made right with good heart quickly. A moderate number of diners, about 1/3 of the tables filled at 7PM.
One don't thus withdraw my praise, though One is, as Tom from Raleigh said, "daring". It's not MG. It could not be. But I'll keep going back as long as the food is this good, and imaginative. $110 total for 2 apps, two mains, one dessert, and four glasses of wine seems in order. Easily.

Just to add another to the mix. One Restaurant in Meadowmont has Sean McCarthy as exec chef, who worked with Ben Barker for a year and a half. We've eaten there a few times, including a very fine wine dinner. Personally, and of course this is a matter of taste, I've found Shane Ingram's Four Square often serving misconceived dishes, especially main courses. To me, the saucing is too forward and in conflict with the ingredients, as if proclaiming "look at all I am doing here!" MG's "not afraid of flavor" was the antithesis of this kind of effusion. I'm very pleased that at ONE, McCarthy has managed to do something very special. And the room is wonderful. The website is
http://www.one-restaurant.com

And Fearrington is too distant in conception to merit comparison to MG.

I've been very pleased with Kitchenworks, whom I've used twice.

Don't forget the BBQ Jew
http://bbqjew.com/
He's local and funny.

If Granny is adventurous,Tonali's Saturday brunch/lunch is casual and remarkably good.

The other issue was that when they moved to Raleigh Road, they changed their entire menu concept. With their new kitchen they became a grill, and their menu became what is known in the business as "grill and garnish". Very quickly they shifted their plating too so that every grilled plate, from fish to lamb to chicken to beef, had the same three-sides-of-the-day. They had a very good pasta chef, who did all housemade pastas, but the menu stopped being a coherent "Northern Italian" with appetizers, primi (mostly pastas including half portions) and secundi. Instead it seemed to become an upmarket Applebee's plus a lively pickup bar. And so it goes ...

Their tamales are excellent -- the plate with salad, beans, and rice is a bargain. When I am not ordering that at lunch, I often get the huaraches con pastor. Their enchiladas with salsa verde are also good, and the sit down restaurant does a nice pupusa, though not as good as El Custaleco.

It was their "Mountain Salad". I miss it so ...

It was built way earlier than 20 years ago. At some point in the 1970s it was owned by one of the Barefoot brothers who started A Southern Season. It was a really good jazz place -- restaurant, stage, bar -- called "Stephen's After All" (sp?) I used to hear lots of first rate jazz there, among very few customers. I guess it had to be late 1970s since liquor by the drink was not around in the early 1970s. I have a vague memory of its being a glitzy restaurant before it was a jazz place, but someone who has better recall than I do needs to chime in ...

My experience is exactly the opposite. We dine there at least once a month, often for brunch on the weekend. The waitstaff, particularly the young woman from the Black Sea coast of Turkey, are professional and adept. In the evening, often crowded during student-y weekends with music, it can get hectic, but if one goes to Franklin Street restaurants on Saturday nights one needs to expect strange. A couple of Yelps do not a serious opinion make.

We go to Tallulah's about once a month, and have for the past year or so. LuLusMom is dead on -- after a bad period it's very good these days.

I thought the OP was skittish about it so that's what produced Papa's as a rec. Papa's is much "finer" dining, but I'll take Tallulah's grilled fish (sea bass or sea bream) flown in from their Mediterranean purveyor each Thursday for the weekend over lamb any day.

Papa's Grill is the right place. It's a bit pricey for dinner (compared to say Spartacus (ugh)), but for "seniors" it really dominates the other places -- good food and nice ambiance.

Don't forget (small) country ham biscuits.

And don't forget 9N9 for quite good Vietnamese food off Alexander Drive and Miami Blvd in the airport-RTP area. Their website http://pho9n9.com/en/index.php will give you good information.

A Southern Season sometimes carries (expensive) sheep's milk yogurt. Have chowhounds seen this anywhere else in the Durham/Chapel Hill area? Thanks.

We've been buying fresh turkeys from Whole Foods in Chapel Hill for many years. For Thanksgiving, you place your order weeks ahead of time, then pick it up on the Tuesday or Wednesday. They have a very good organic etc. producer in Pennsylvania and get the truck delivery in late Monday. Since Asheville is now a real foodie town, I'd be shocked if this was not the practice there too.

Living very close by, this is our "regular" and has been since it opened. Their specials are always good (soft shell in season for instance). I especially like their take on chicken with ginger sauce. And their Pad Thai is non-gummy, unlike places like Achira and Twisted Noodle. They're nice folks too. Since Thai Palace has long since stopped adding interesting daily specials, and just "cruises along", we have said goodbye to them.

No -- I've had all their egg dishes: huevos mexicanos, huevos divorciados, and huevos rancheros. It's the sauces that are stunning. Beyond those dishes, I simply can't recall.
It seems Andreas visits the farmer's market on Saturday early morning, and in prepping for the Saturday dinner meal, and advance prepping for some of the week's meals, his crew and he'll be there on Saturday morning anyway, so we get the benefit of eating the freshest local stuff.

Tonali is our go to place for brunch on Saturdays. Andreas has a wonderful menu of things not available elsewhere for brunch. And very elegant presentations, too. (Not open on Sunday, though.)

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Tonali Restaurant
3642 Shannon Rd Ste 1, Durham, NC 27707

Four Square in Durham is both very good, and non-noisy. I've also found Il Palio, and The Fairview at the Washington Duke work very well for dining out with two sets of friends with one in each couple getting more hearing impaired as they age.

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Four Square Restaurant
2701 Chapel Hill Rd., Durham, NC 27707

Cliff's in Carrboro has been around longest, and to me is the best butcher around.

In the past Cliff's Meat Market, in Carrboro, has had them.

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Cliff's Meat Market
100 W Main St, Carrboro, NC