Trappiste Rochefort

Local Eats: Spanky's / Fullsteam Pairing Dinner

I had the pleasure of attending Spanky's first ever beer/food pairing dinner. Spanky's has been a Chapel Hill institution since the '70s, always reinventing ways of keeping up with the ever so fickle Franklin Street economy. If there is one thing you should know about Franklin Street's turnover it's that the scenery is always changing. Restaurants find it extremely difficult to stay atop of high rent prices that plague the street while attempting appealing to college students' meager budgets.

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Shoya Izakaya - Doraville, GA

Atlanta, Georgia . . . The city seems like a huge metropolis to someone like the likes of me from Durham, NC. In fact I consider it to be one of the top 10 biggest cities in the US. Maybe I'm just naive. Atlanta is currently only the 33rd largest city in the US by population but packs more quality restaurants than some of the big boys. Shoya belongs in the big city, it produces super fresh seafood and yakitori while seemingly at full capacity at all times.

This is a long post so bear with me, I promise that some of these foods, as bizarre as they may seem, are truely delicious and deserve your attention if you stop by this strip mall eatery.

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Päffgen - Köln, Germany

We arrived in Köln at what seemed like 5am. In fact it was already 10am and there was so much that needed to be done. I needed to find a place to eat that was authentically German. I don't know if there is a certain way that finds you sitting in a Hausbrauerei (brew house) where you're surrounded by old wooden tables and old men serving you beer without you even asking for it, but I've done it.

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