[piano intro] -[Deborah] Next on North Carolina Weekend, join us from Boxyard RTP as we sample taste of the state.

We'll highlight M Restaurants, visit a Black farmer's market and check out a popular diner in Mount Airy.

Coming up next.

- Funding for North Carolina Weekend is provided in part by Visit NC, dedicated to highlighting our state's natural scenic beauty, unique history, and diverse cultural attractions from the Blue Ridge and the Great Smoky Mountains across the Piedmont to 300 miles of barrier island beaches.

You're invited to experience all the adventure and charm our state has to offer.

[happy music] ♪ - Hi everyone.

Welcome to North Carolina Weekend.

I'm Deborah Holt Noel and this week we are exploring tastes across our state, highlighting some new restaurants plus visiting some old favorites.

Right now I'm at Boxyard RTP, a 15,000 square foot dining and retail space made from repurposed shipping containers.

This is a really cool gathering spot open to everyone, offering local music, pop up yoga, fitness classes, comedy nights, and of course, great food and drinks.

We'll explore it more throughout the show, but first let's head right up the road to downtown Durham, where chef Michael Lee has created a signature brand of Asian fusion eateries.

Let's join Rebecca Ward at M Restaurants.

[drum music] ♪ - My name is Michael Lee.

I'm the chef owner of M Restaurants in Durham, North Carolina.

M Sushi, M Kokko, M Tempura and M Pocha.

There's a lot of foodie vibe, energy coming from Durham, and we like to contribute to it.

We want to concentrate in Durham and bring cuisine that is not here.

- Durham really punches above its weight on dining experiences.

And Michael has been a huge part of that.

Michael's restaurants have gotten a lot of accolades from a lot of different places.

They have hit the top 100, top 50 new restaurants in the US.

These are places that are real destinations people plan to come to.

[drum music] - M does stand for my name, Michael, but it wasn't my idea.

[laughs] My wife and I were drinking a couple glasses of wine at home six, seven years ago, trying to think of the name of the restaurant we wanted to do.

We couldn't come up with one good name you know, it was all being used.

And after a couple of glasses of wine, you know, she had a brush and just a paper laying around because she likes to draw.

She's a design and also arts student back in the day.

So she just kind of drew the M with a brush, just, just out of the moment.

And that is actually the M logo that we have.

In the beginning I didn't like it.

I didn't want to name a restaurant of name, you know, after my name or initials, but after my wife and I kept discussing it, it, it sounded like the right idea so that it kind of ties it in, letting people know that it is ours, but at the same time, it's not straight out there like Michael sushi or anything.

So, but my wife was the one who came up with that.

- Michael's four restaurants are all within three, four blocks of each other.

[fast drum music] ♪ They're all in very unique kinds of locations in the middle of downtown.

Two of them are down the little cobble alleyway.

M Sushi is just this very warm, cozy kind of atmosphere.

M Kokko is right behind it, kind of have to know that it's there.

Then you feel like you're in this little secret spot.

M Pocha by comparison is on one of the more famous corners in downtown Durham.

And the M Tempura Restaurant is in a historic part of town.

You might think that, oh, well, he started a chain and that's not it at all.

What he started is four completely different concepts.

And you have different experiences in each one.

- Your next course, this is a wagyu beef, very thin slice.

And as the broth heats up, you more, you continue to cook so you can cook it as well as you like to eat it.

So we opened M Sushi first to focus on seafood, kind of set the ground as a foundation.

Obviously sushi is Japanese cuisine.

I am not, I'm from Korea.

So I get asked a lot.

You know, what, what made Japanese cuisine my passion?

I think part of the reason was that was my first professional food job.

Second, back then Korean food was not considered a fine dining dish, but in reality, Korean cuisine has always been, you know, part of me being able to make kimchi and my parents approve of it.

You know, that was kind of like my life goal, you know, in the beginning stages.

So after we successfully opened M Sushi and it was running well, we opened Me Kokko and kokko is a slang.

Kokko is kind of like sometimes in Korea, we, the sound of chicken, kokko.

And so Kokko was focused on poultry and chicken.

Tempura came about because my wife and I love to visit Japan and we miss eating tempura dishes every time we wait for the trip.

It's not available in America a lot.

And we thought maybe, you know, try this concept out.

Year after that, we open Me Pocha and Pocha is a short term for pojangmacha.

Pojangmatcha direct translation is a tented cart that you push around.

So it's like street food, kind of like an Asian sports bar.

We like to play around with food that is good to share, to be had with some drinks.

It's a fun project that we were able to kind of like play around with a lot of different things that we aren't able to do at Sushi, Kokka, or Tempura.

- You can't go to one of his restaurants and say you've experienced the empire.

You've really got to go to each one of them.

- Thank you.

You know, our vision for the future has not changed much from the beginning.

Do something that adds to the value of the space in the neighborhood.

That's our focus.

So, you know, there's a lot of different concepts that we have drawn up and we actually have menus for, but which one will go first?

We don't know.

- You can find four of the M restaurants in downtown Durham, all within a several block radius.

All restaurants are open for lunch and dinner hours and are closed on Sundays and Mondays.

To learn more and view their menus, visit m-restaurants.com.

Let's visit a restaurant by another award-winning chef, Scott Crawford.

Known for his higher end fare in Raleigh, Crawford has opened up what he calls an American eatery in downtown Clayton.

And Rick Sullivan discovered the simpler fare is equally delicious.

- I grew up in a town that feels a lot like this in that it had a charming Main Street that was very active and a community that was very engaged in the energy of that Main Street.

- Scott Crawford has brought his award-winning food and restaurant talents to this building in Clayton.

Crawford Cook Shop is a departure from Chef Crawford's many other successful restaurants in the Raleigh area.

This one is 30 minutes southeast of Raleigh.

It's a smaller town, Clayton, and the food names aren't as fancy as you'll find at his other restaurants like Jolie and Crawford and Son.

During the pandemic, Crawford discovered some ideas from carry out foods that people were ordering.

- The idea to come to Clayton evolved from proper curbside.

We had a lot of fun cooking it.

People enjoyed it.

We did more comfort food.

We did a little bit more exploring the, the, the Southern element.

So we said, hey, we, we're kind of onto something here.

This, this should become a, a thing.

This should be a, a brick and mortar someday.

- And now it is.

The kitchen at Crawford Cook Shop serves up a lot of typical sounding North Carolina foods.

Wings, pork chops, chicken fried steak, and oysters.

But the manner of preparation is surely not typical.

- You know, the food is casual enough that when you look at the menu, you can recognize everything on the menu, but it's slightly elevated.

So certainly we give some chef's treatment to these items.

For example, maybe, you know, when we get our chicken wings in, we brine 'em and then we slow cook them in, in duck fat, and then we smoke them and then we grill 'em and finish 'em and you know, so there's certainly some technique behind why they're so good and why they're so juicy, but it's just a humble chicken wing, right?

So the, these, these humble ingredients are fun for us to work with, but we still want to do our work.

We still wanna put our treatment to these ingredients.

And that's exciting for us.

And, and people recognize the difference between maybe this chicken wing and other wings that they've had.

They don't need to know what all we did or why we did it.

They just need to know that they like 'em.

They love it.

- So this is our grilled pork chop.

They have a nice bacon and onion glaze style type of sauce on top.

- One key ingredient of all Crawford restaurants is teamwork.

- And we pass it to Chef Connor and he finishes it.

- Chef Crawford claims to have no secret formula for success.

His best recipe is an old fashioned one.

- There you are.

Cheers.

- I challenge the people who work for me to think about ways that we can be better, more efficient, more profitable, better experience for the guests.

We're, we're constantly pushing.

My only job is to make sure that I'm putting the right people together, giving them the tools and the training that they need and the vision, the overall vision.

And then they do what they do.

And when it all starts to hit on all cylinders, it's, it's a pretty magical thing.

- This is the first time Crawford has brought that magic to a smaller town.

So far, he really likes the Crawford Cook Shop Clayton combo.

- We get a lot of people from Raleigh, from Durham , because they're our friends and they want to come check out our new place.

And then they end up telling us, you know, it was a nice little getaway from our little pocket where we live.

It was nice to just come discover a new area.

And so what I would like for people to do when they come here is just have a great time.

You know, we didn't come here to make you feel really, very serious about the food or serious about the beverage.

Let us do that.

We're serious about what we do.

We'll, we'll try to do the best job we can do so you can just have a good time.

Just have fun.

Relax.

- Crawford Cook Shop is at 401 East Main Street in Clayton, and they're open Tuesday through Saturday from five to 10:00 PM.

For more information, give them a call at [919] 585-6055 or go online to Crawfordcookshop.com.

This amazing dish is from Bukogi here at Boxyard in RTP.

You know, Black farmers have always been vital to bringing food to our tables.

And in the triangle, the Black Farmers' Market is making healthy food accessible and affordable for everyone.

Let's take a trip to this inclusive, fun community-centered marketplace.

[upbeat music] - If you want to know what a pocket of joy looks like, come to the Black Farmers' Market.

[upbeat music] - It's different from going to a grocery store.

Like, you know what I'm saying?

It's just the culture of it, I guess.

- It feels like I'm at a family cookout or something.

- It's not like walking into an outdoor store.

It is walking into a party.

Our farmers, our ranchers, our growers, they are like healing and reconciling our relationship to the food we eat and the ways in which we are planted on land, that doesn't harm us, but it's actually for our good.

[woman sings to herself] [plants rustling] [woman continues singing] [plants rustling] There's very little Black-owned land in the United States.

And so that's something that is a really big issue for Black farmers.

Being on this land means a lot because it allows me to carry on traditions of my family and the family that used to own this land and keeping it within a Black family allows it to generationally continue to pass down and stay within Black hands.

- Ooh, I hit the best part again.

- Oh yes, you did.

Beautiful.

Elijah's Farm is named after my son.

A lot of the kids in his age group do not get the same experiences as I had as a kid that kind of made me a hard worker and very diligent.

So I wanted to give him those opportunities.

And I wanted him to have something that was in his name.

Part of the benefit of the Black Farmers' Market is that it allows each of us to be able to sell within our community, which would not normally happen because we don't find Black farmers in the grocery store.

You don't find Black farmers' products at the, at the markets.

And so being able to have a market allows us to expose more people in our community to what we're doing.

- The mission of the Black Farmers' Market is to inspire a self-sufficient community that supports and protects Black farmers and entrepreneurs.

Eating is a human experience.

Everybody needs food to survive.

Because of that, the market is for everyone.

We intentionally prioritize people of color, Black people specifically because we want Black people to know that farmer's markets are for them too.

- When you come into this market, your perspective of agriculture changes here.

It's people who look like you who are supplying the, the, the goods and the services.

- OMG lemonade, we're all natural beverage company.

We specialize in flavorlicious, delicious, and nutritious lemonade from farm to family.

That's what makes us unique.

- We really just wanted to come experience the sense of community and kind of get to know some of the local farmers that are here in the area, especially some of the Black local farmers.

That's something that I kind of grew up with and around, and I haven't been able to find it since.

So it's been really amazing seeing this kind of pop up and being able to come from Greensboro.

- This is not just a space for commerce.

It's a place for community and education.

And so people can come and enjoy this market without needing to buy produce.

- The Black Farmers' Market has helped me to grow as a business because they gave me my start.

If it wasn't for the Black Farmers' Market, I wouldn't be prepared to go to the other markets that I now attend.

It has just opened up doors that would not have normally been open to me so that I could get to a point to be successful.

- Everyone should make it their responsibility to come to one of these events.

There's plenty throughout the summertime.

Find a date, come to Durham or come to Raleigh and make your way here for sure.

- The Black Farmers' Market is held monthly in Durham and Raleigh through November.

In Durham, the market is at Hillside High School and in Raleigh, you can find it at the Southeast Raleigh YMCA.

For more information on dates and times, visit blackfarmersmkt.com or follow their Facebook page by searching for The Black Market NC.

In the restaurant business, farm to table has become a trendy term to emphasize locally sourced ingredients.

Well in Columbus there's a restaurant that really walks the talk.

And as producer Clay Johnson discovered The Rural Seed not only buys its food from local farmers, they grow it for freshness you can truly taste.

- John Wilson and his wife Adrian have a passion for cooking.

- But it's just been a lot of fun.

- Carl Pleasant has a passion for growing on his three and a half acre family field.

- We try not to waste anything around here.

So I, I use what I've been given.

- The Wilsons met Pleasant while working at a restaurant together.

When the restaurant closed down, they lost their jobs.

We started talking about farming and he said, wouldn't it be fun to have a restaurant one day?

And I said, no.

[laughs] - But in March, 2018, the three opened one up anyway.

In Columbus, it's called The Rural Seed.

- I'd like to say, it's upscale comfort food sometimes.

And it just depends on what we're feeling.

We depends on what's at the farmer's market or what we have coming out of our field.

- The field, just three miles away where Pleasant grows fruits and vegetables for the restaurant.

- It also gives us a little bit more leeway to grow the things that we we use and grow the things that we want to, to serve and enjoy.

It's nice because you actually get to see an end product straight from, from the beginning to the end.

- The radishes you saw Pleasant picking are part of the black bean hummus appetizer.

- It's utilizing a lot of the vegetables that come from our garden, and we do a nice pickling after we've grilled it.

So it gives it a nice, refreshing tart taste to it.

- The shrimp and grits uses local and regional ingredients along with New Orleans Tasso ham.

- And then we saute that off with onions, spinach, shallots, garlic, white wine, and of course, fresh North Carolina shrimp.

- The Caitlin burger is a six ounce ground chuck patty.

- Along with a caramelized onion and Monterey Jack cheese, bacon, fried onions, all nestled between an Annie's bakery, sesame crusted bun.

- The Caitlin burger is named for nearby Caitlin Farms, where Rural Seed gets all of its beef.

[tractor revs] - Hey, everybody.

We're an animal welfare approved farm.

So we have a pretty high standard for animal health and care.

And people can just ride by our farm and see that our cows are happy and that we're not ruining our land that we keep our cattle on.

That's like one of our biggest priorities is to be good stewards of the land.

- And stewards of consumers, too.

Caitlin cows are hormone and antibiotic free and grass fed.

- And we want local businesses and consumers to be the ones that are supporting us and buying our products.

- And Caitlin farms returns the favor.

- So we really like going to restaurants like the Rural Seed, where they're sourcing stuff from local businesses all over the county and other counties.

- So when you go to Rural Seed to eat, do you eat, you know?

- I I've had the Caitlin burger, yeah.

[laughs] - Rural Seed partners with nearly 20 local suppliers to stay true to its farm to table commitment.

- That relationship with the farmers is really cool because we've met a lot of young farmers here in the community that are, are making differences or trying to make a difference in their community by raising sustainable beef, sustainable pork, chickens.

And it, it's really neat to see the movement and, and to be a part of it.

- Those relationships bring peace of mind too.

- I know where the food's coming from.

And that's important to us to know where the food is coming from.

- Wilson wants his customers to taste the difference.

- I want them to experience freshness.

I want them to experience that difference between what a fresh vegetable tastes like and what a frozen vegetable tastes like.

- We know the food's real and that it's fresh, and that it comes from local farms.

And it's really delicious.

[jazzy music] ♪ - The Rural Seed also goes local with musical performances every Saturday night, This Western North Carolina band is called Zendetta.

[jazzy music] ♪ - They are supporting local musicians the same way they support local farmers.

And they're good.

- Yeah, really good.

- It's all part of the takeaway for Rural Seed customers.

- I want the customer to feel like they, they experience something different in a small town.

- The Rural Seed Restaurant is at 322 East Mill Street in Columbus, and they're open Wednesday through Saturday and they also have a Sunday brunch.

For more information, give them a call at [828] 802-1097. or visit them online at theruralseed.com.

Burgers are almost synonymous with American culture.

There's a burger joint around almost every corner.

Let's follow John and Theresa Litschke around one of those corners in Mount Airy at Leon's Burger Express.

[jazz music] - Well, Leon's on Main Street, Mount Airy.

- Food is always great.

Never had a bad meal.

- It's like coming for home cooking.

You're at home.

- Leon's is a comfortable diner complete with your choice of booth or a seat at the counter.

- The ones in a hurry, always go to the counter.

If they're not in a hurry then they love the booth.

- That's Leon Newman, Mount Airy native, who moved to New Jersey, started a family there and worked as an electrician.

He also enjoyed cooking on the side, but coming from a small town, Leon became weary of big city life.

- Traffic got so heavy.

I went home one day and I told her, we're moving to North Carolina.

She said, no, we're not.

I said, yes, we are.

- She is his wife, Eileen.

- I was from a big city, New York.

Remember when I came down here to visit, there was nothing to do.

- But now she loves it.

She wouldn't leave.

- The Newmans moved to Mount Airy in the mid 1980s and opened the first Leon's Burger Express on highway 601.

- They were really killing themselves.

They were working like 16 hour days and I missed my mom terribly.

- Leon quickly asked his daughter and son-in-law Vicky and Paul Riekehof, both New Jersey natives, to move to North Carolina and become partners.

- If you would've told me 10 years before that I would be down here and I'd tell you you're crazy.

- You see Vicky had worked for her parents in a restaurant in Jersey, but for Paul, formerly in graphic arts, it was a whole new ballgame.

- It was a little more difficult, [laughs] 'cause he had never done this before.

I can tell you one time he made a hamburger steak and my father said it was no good and threw it away [laughs] and made him start over.

- Paul got the hang of it.

And after three years at the 601 location, they moved to downtown Mount Airy.

- And we've been here ever since 30, 33 years.

- As their name implies, it's the burger or rather cheeseburger, that's made them famous in these parts.

And it's a recipe Leon borrowed from his days up north.

- In New Jersey, they had the California burger.

When I come here, I just called the California cheeseburger.

It's it's basically not California.

It's just lettuce, tomato and fried onion.

[laughs] - But it's Leon's attention to detail that sets the California cheeseburger apart from the rest.

- We patty it out ourselves.

- Fresh meat, the grilled onions we use, we always slice fresh onions and put 'em on top.

- You can also get breakfast at Leon's.

- Yes, all day.

- And everyone has their favorite dish.

- Usually a egg plate with home fries.

Home fries are real popular.

- And also their waffles and also their pancakes and bacon.

- I come for the gravy.

- There's lunch specials too, like homemade meat loaf with your choice of side.

- Fresh vegetables.

You bring in vegetables out of the garden, stuff like that.

- Potatoes, pintos, collard greens, okra, squash slaw.

- Leon is now retired and Vicky and Paul are running the show.

They may have ventured south to avoid New Jersey traffic, but it's the Southern hospitality they felt from folks in Mount Airy that persuaded them to stay.

- It's nice here.

- Leon's Burger Express is at 407 North Main Street in Mount Airy and they're open Tuesday through Saturday from 6:00 AM to 2:00 PM.

Give them a call at [336]789-0849 or find them on Facebook.

Well, that's it for tonight's show everyone.

We've had a great time out here at Boxyard RTP.

It's a really cool space to explore and sample some tastes from around the state.

And if you've missed anything in tonight's show, just remember you could always watch us again online at pbsnc.org.

Have a great North Carolina weekend, everyone.

[happy music] ♪ - Funding for North Carolina Weekend is provided in part by Visit NC, dedicated to highlighting our state's natural scenic beauty, unique history and diverse cultural attractions from the Blue Ridge and the Great Smoky Mountains across the Piedmont to 300 miles of barrier island beaches.

You're invited to experience all the adventure and charm our state has to offer.

[piano outro]