Heads Up, Port City Foodies!

Heads up, Port City Foodies! Did you miss any of these feature stories?

Port City Foodie is out and about, compiling the best lists of restaurants and foods, checking in at our favorite specialty food markets, and letting Wilmingtonians and visitors to the Cape Fear region know what’s going on. We’ve got a great foodie community, with the hottest restaurants and superbly talented chefs, and access to the very best local produce, seafood, and food products. We’re thinking pickles, microgreens, honey, and giant squares of cheese biscuits from a local artisanal bakery.

Here’s what we are writing:

Five with a Foodie

Short interviews with Port City foodies, from food bloggers and restaurateurs, to bartenders, chefs and specialty food retailers. We love taking five (or thereabouts) minutes with these busy people and talking about food. What motivates them? What do they love to eat? What do they love to cook? What’s coming out of their kitchens or stores?

Restaurant Reviews

We go, we eat, and write… if we love it, that is. Restaurant reviews on Port City Foodie are all about food love, when means that if we don’t think it’s worth telling other foodies to eat there, we don’t write about it. No bitching about servers, complaining about portion sizes, or debating the noise level in the dining room. It’s about food love at Port City Foodie. Food. We love it.

Recipes for Your Port City Kitchen

We’re working on building an archive of tried and tested recipes as a quick resource. We’re posting appetizers, entrees, and a sizeable number of totally tempting desserts. Lots of of our favorite recipes have been contributed by Port City foodies, including Chuck Pennington at The Verandas, and Sarah Koob, who counts a smoker-savvy husband and a fondness for local oysters among her assets.

 

If you have a story idea for us, or would like to get a press release in front of our writers, send a note to Port City Foodie.

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Slice an Avocado the Easy Way

Cut an avocado the easy way, without making a mess removing the avocado pit and peeling the fruit. Chuck Pennington, former owner of Historic Wilmington North Carolina’s 4-Diamond bed and breakfast inn, The Verandas, demonstrates a more efficient way to slice a ripe avocado.

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Dowless Casserole: Recipes from The Verandas Bed & Breakfast

This breakfast casserole from Wilmington’s one of the oldest bed and breakfast inns, The Verandas, is deceptively simple. With its elegant presentation, Dowless Casserole will delete your breakfast guests. It is perfect for Easter brunch, or a special Mothers Day breakfast.

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Cast Iron Kitchen Pork Belly Is Living High on the Hog

Cast Iron Kitchen and Chef Josh Petty have changed the way the Port City thinks of breakfast and brunch but when they team up with Master Blend Family Farms for a “High and Low on the Hog” dinner, you KNOW it’s gonna be spectacular!

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tacobaby has Arrived: Tastebud Nirvana

When I heard tacobaby was having their Grand Opening, I immediately scrapped the family’s dinner plans, scooped everyone up and set sail for the unveiling of what will undoubtedly become one of downtown’s coolest places.

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Osteria Cicchetti Maintaining “O.C.” Status

Osteria Cicchetti is, and always has been predictably and consistently delicious. This awesome meal was no exception and yet another reminder why “The O.C.” is so popular.

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Bento Box: Food as Glorious Art

I dropped into the Bento Box in the Forum and so glad I did! When the food came out I honestly felt guilty for eating it because it looked so good.

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CHINGŌN! Taqueria: Awesome in Any Language

Tell ya what… CHINGON is worth the drive (and a story). I’ve stepped away from stories because it seems like people really just want a quick couple blurbs and a couple photos. But today’s lunch was yummy fo’ sho’, and merits some extra foodie props!

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Hungry Sparrow: Relief for Quarantined Taste Buds

Stuck in the house in full-on pandemic stay-your-butt-at-home mode, I felt my beloved taste buds dulling and dying with every day. Long gone were my romantic walks to the taco trucks and I felt that I’d do just about anything to enter the hallowed halls 

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Christmas Gifts for the (Port City) Foodie in Your Life

SANTA IS A FOODIE… Last minute gift ideas for the foodie in your life. So if you’re anything like me, you’ve been so busy trying out all the amazing restaurants in the Port City that Christmas has snuck up on you. And if you’re anything 

verandas ghoulishly delicious pumpkin spice eggnog

Verandas Ghoulishly Delicious Pumpkin Spice Eggnog

If you are an eggnog lover, the day those cartons hit the shelves at the supermarket is bliss. It signals the winter holidays, family gatherings, and feet up in front of the fireplace. This pumpkin spice eggnog pushes the calendar up just a month or 

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Foxes Boxes: Mission Marries Menu

As I make my way around Wilmington and the surrounding areas looking for new places to strap on the feed bag and get my “grub on,” I come across a wide variety of foods and eateries. In the ever-growing restaurant landscape that the Port City 

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Foodie Adventure: Edison Food+Drink Lab, Tampa

Port City Foodie restaurant reviewer and food lover, Ed Walsh, is on the road, and all of us foodies back home in Wilmington NC are lucky enough to have him check in, with tempting food pics and mouth-watering descriptions. Eat, enjoy, and share, Ed.

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7 Super Burgers: Port City’s Best Hamburgers

Looking for an incredible burger? We’ve got a list of the seven super burgers. These are the best hamburgers in Wilmington: the juiciest, most flavorful, most substantial burgers that promise to satisfy any meat eater. At least until we find a new favorite burger joint.

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Flavor that Wows for Chocolate Lovers from Yes CaCao

Words dear to every foodie’s heart: Here, taste this. They said it, and we complied. Our sample botanical chocolate bars from Yes CaCao arrived in the mail, carefully wrapped and insulated like the precious objects they are.

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Carolina Beach’s Joint for Tacos: Nollie’s

What do you get when a retired professional skateboarder with an affinity for tacos decides to bring his love for simple, fresh ingredients and a laid back, cool environment to the area? You get Nollie’s, one heck of a cool place in Carolina Beach serving 

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Kitchen Garden Heaven at Shelton Herb Farm

Home cooks, pro cooks, super star chefs all know the key to flavor is fresh herbs. This summer, why don’t you grow your own kitchen garden herbs? Whether you have plenty of sunny space in your yard, or a shady corner on a brick patio, 

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Indonesian Gem: Novi and Jeff Rickert’s Candle Nut Restaurant

If you are looking for a restaurant gem in Wilmington, make sure your next lunch or dinner stop is Candle Nut Restaurant. Owners Jeff and Novi Rickert have created an Indonesian restaurant that offers meals with Malaysia, Singapore and Dutch influences.

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Shrimp and Grits with a Twist

Ever had a good recipe and made a little change that created a great recipe? Follow the recipe for Sarah’s favorite Shrimp and Grits, and substitute smoked crawfish sausage for the Andouille sausage in the original recipe. Try making our shrimp and grits with a 

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Two Hot Appetizers for Cheese Lovers

We don’t think there is anything more universally enticing than cheese-laden appetizers, and these two hot appetizers for cheese lovers are our go-to recipes.

ChurkeyChonga at Flaming Amy's Burrito Barn

It’s here: ChurkeyChanga Season in Wilmington NC

It’s ChurkeyChanga time! As the rest of the nation waits for the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday to enjoy family get-togethers focused on the traditional picturesque turkey dinner, those of us lucky enough to live in Wilmington don’t have to.

Benny’s Big Time Pizzeria Wilmington NC | Kirk Pugh’s Tasty Tuesday

North Carolina meets Italy, and it’s all good at Vivian and Ben Howard’s Greenfield Street District restaurant Benny’s Big Time Pizzeria. Kirk Pugh – broker realtor foodie – takes us out to dinner for wood-fired pizza, southern fried chicken parmesan, and sweet potato gnocchi. What’s 

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The Return of a Favorite: Buffalo Tater Tots

Sometimes a foodie just has to nosh. Ditch the artisinal ingredients and molecular gastronomy, and order something that is just damn good. And so we celebrate the return of “Buffalo Tots.”

Circa 1922 Restaurant Wilmington NC | Kirk Pugh’s Tasty Tuesday

Tasty little bites from the tapas menu at Circa 1922 grace this week’s Tasty Tuesday restaurant review with Kirk Pugh stopping in at Circa 1922 before hitting the galleries and the Downtown Sundown concert. We love the bar vibe at Circa, too.

Big Thai Restaurant Wilmington NC | Kirk Pugh’s Tasty Tuesday

Fan of spicy? Lover of curry? Head over to Big Thai in Wilmington NC for a great dine-in or take-out meal of authentic favorite dishes from Thailand. Kirk stops at Big Thai, one of his favorite Thai restaurants, for a Tasty Tuesday video.

Art of the Kitchen: Verandas, Wilmington NC

 When the pink-orange walls in the kitchen need a refresh, and the kitchen faucet isn’t doing its job, it’s time for a kitchen update. If your home is a AAA 4-Diamond Award inn on the National Registry of Historic Places, the project is both 

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Calling all Entrepreneurs: Summer is Lemonade and Cookie Time

As I roam around Wilmington and the surrounding areas looking for new and flavorful ways to feed my face, I’ve come across the full spectrum of eateries. From fine dining to food trucks and pretty much everything in between, I’ve grown to love all the 

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