Dining

Well, yeah, pretty much. You say that like it’s a bad thing.

“Chains essentially are successful businesses that started small,” says Becca Gomez Farrell, a Woodcroft resident and frequent contributor to the seminal food blog Carpe Durham. “At what point do we decide we hate them? And strip malls. That just means it’s hard to know ahead of time what’s there, so you have to, you know, read up before you go.”

She sees the bias all the time among the commentariat at Carpe Durham, Yelp and Chowhound. To get “real” Durham food, you have to go somewhere in the vicinity of downtown, according to the conventional wisdom among some foodies.

True, when most people think South Durham, they think Southpoint, which means lots of chains. Not that there’s anything wrong with them, which we’ll address in a bit. But did you know that within a few short miles of the mall are two authentic Korean joints, four sushi restaurants, the first LEED-certified restaurant in the state, an authentic carnicería, and Jamaican, Cajun, Chinese, Thai, Italian, Mexican and Indian food galore?

Downtown and thereabouts rightfully get attention for their groundbreaking contributions to our food scene. But, if you think about it, South Durham offers the best of both worlds: authentic locally owned restaurants and a variety of top-shelf brand-name restaurants. As Becca says, you just need to know where to look.

The revolution was not televised

Tony Sustaita saw the transformation first-hand.

“I’ve been in Woodcroft Shopping Center for 15 years,” says the owner of Bandido’s and Chubby’s Tacos.

“When we opened Bandido’s here, there weren’t even any chains except for fast food. You didn’t come to the Woodcroft area unless you lived here.”

What a difference a decade and a half makes. The success of Bandido’s led Tony and a partner to open five Chubby’s restaurants three years ago, including one in Woodcroft and another in RTP.

Tony says Southpoint helped the area go from a bedroom community to a destination. Though his restaurants are a mile down the road, he still draws plenty of folks stopping for a bite after a day of shopping or a trip to the movies. But before Southpoint opened in 2002, it was RTP workers that drove the culinary scene. There was a premium not only on speedy service, but on quality and variety. The array of world cuisines found within a few miles of the park reflect the diversity of the workforce there.