The Durham
Andrea Reusing’s touch is everywhere at this new Durham hotel. The retro mod setting (the work of Commune, the design firm behind the Ace Hotels in L.A. and Palm Springs) makes a fun backdrop for the farm-to-table cooking that Reusing fans have come to know and love. Unlike the Asian-leaning menu at Reusing's The Lantern in Chapel Hill, the Durham is all Americana, all the time. The main restaurant—a graphic, 60s-ish room with two-story windows just off the lobby—serves a pickled-vegetable "relish tray," crab cakes with crab mayonnaise, and a rich dry-aged burger on a buttered potato bun. And yet for what is essentially a hotel restaurant, Reusing manages to push the envelope. Those who venture away from the crowd-pleasers will be rewarded with plates of crispy barbecue pig tail (tastes like chicken wings) or country rib chops with plums and cucumbers. Reusing's influence extends all the way from the ground-floor restaurant to the chic roof deck. If it’s a nice night, head upstairs for sweeping views of the city and a hickory-smoked "carrot dog."
PRO TIP: The hotel's mini bars are stocked with the best peanuts on the planet, from the First United Methodist Church in Mount Olive, North Carolina. THE DETAILS: Breakfast served 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. daily; Sunday brunch from 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.; and dinner Monday to Saturday, from 5:30 p.m. to 10 p.m.
