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THE EATER: A Guide to Eating


by Kirk Ross

Mid-week markets
We are plunging headlong into tomato season, which is peak season as well for all kinds of summer crops. It’s prime time for local gardeners and farmers alike and the best time of year to get the kids hooked on veggies.
If you love the fresh produce and other offerings at local farmers’ markets but find the Saturday crowds a bit much or always manage to get there too late for those special tomatoes, remember that there are a number of mid-week markets that are much calmer and later in the day.
Mid-week markets are Wednesday afternoons at the Carrboro and Chapel Hill farmers’ markets and both Hillsborough farmers’ markets, Tuesday at Fearrington and Thursday at Southern Village.

Shrimp season
The Eater was recently on the coast researching various things. One important finding: Go ahead and use the whole package of crab boil.
The other key bit of news to relay is that North Carolina’s shrimp fleet is finally hard at work. The season started slow this year but has begun to pick up.
Right now, the larger count shrimp are coming in from south of the state, while our coastal waters are mainly yielding smaller count. That should change soon as the season matures.
Hint: A lot of places are still selling frozen shrimp. The easiest way to tell if what you’re buying is fresh-caught is if it still has the head on it. Shrimp going into long-term storage are usually frozen head off.

WaPo in Saxapahaw
Well, dang it, Washington Post readers have found out about Saxapahaw, with the Post recently publishing a lovely piece penned by Durhamite Diane Daniel. Nice props to Heather and Tommy LaGarde, The Eddy and the Saxaco station’s Jeff Barney and Cameron Ratliff, among others. Visit wapo.st/lXSkk4

Clearly noodling
A recent sale at Southern Season spurred some experimentation with swapping cellophane noodles for regular pasta in a summertime pasta salad. The noodles, made from mung beans, proved much easier to work with and a lot less starchy. They also held their integrity over the course of a day or two in the fridge much better than conventional noodles. A package worth four or five servings ran $1.69.

BLT challenge
Given that The Eater’s cholesterol levels are much improved these days, thank-you-very-much (eat fish), it would be a serious act of backsliding to conduct a rigorous examination of all the new challengers to the BLT crown long held in this community by Merritt’s Grill (which is hopping these days, btw).
If any of you dear readers with a little headroom in your LDL care to weigh in on whether Neal’s Deli or any other spot is producing a consistent product capable of besting Merritt’s, please feel free to do so and pass along the information.