Group entertainment around The Triangle region can range from a night with the Durham Bulls in their 10,000-seat stadium to discovering the area’s foodie culture. From down-home Southern goodness to gourmet tidbits, groups can enjoy a variety of appetizing adventures in the area.
Taste Carolina (www.tastecarolina.net) tours take place around Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill, Carrboro, Hillsborough, Greensboro and Winston-Salem, and include experiences with chefs through several restaurants and shops featuring innovative, locally sourced foods. In Durham, participants will partake in everything from crostini made with local produce and house-smoked meats to gourmet popsicles, pimento cheese and organic wines and beers. Farm-to-table cuisine comes to life at restaurants in the Chapel Hill/Carrboro area. Known for being at the forefront of the slow food movement and for authentic Southern cooking, these dining stops offer house-made chocolates, local meats and cheeses and pies made from scratch. As the capital of North Carolina, Raleigh serves up some of the best fine dining on the East Coast, ranging from Southern to ethnic. Taste Carolina’s professional guides incorporate some historical and cultural ingredients to spice up the tours.
Southern Season Professional Cooking School (www.southernseason.com) offers team building for groups and individuals. Participants learn to prepare meals and pair the correct wines for each course, savoring the experience of working together in a fun environment that’s sure to improve collaboration at all levels. Southern Season is a 60,000-square-foot Chapel Hill institution that has been around since 1975. It’s one of the largest gourmet specialty stores in the nation, and offers such palatable sensations as its infamous “Wall of Chocolate.” There are departments for coffee, tea, wine and groceries. Kitchen gadgets are also in the inventory, with aisle after aisle of cookware, glasses, china and whatever else the serious cook would love.
Top of the Hill Distillery (www.topofthehillrestaurant.com/distillery) is one of the Triangle’s newest taste sensations. Located in the former Chapel Hill News Building in downtown, the micro distillery is a venture of Scott Maitland, whose Top of the Hill brewpub was among the first in the region. His new label is Topo Spirits, featuring handcrafted vodka, white whiskey and other spirits from local, organic wheat. In the future, Maitland hopes to produce gin, bourbon and sorghum rum using sorghum molasses, a Southern sweetener alternative to sugarcane.
