I Can’t Stop Thinking About This Fried Rice

Is there anything better than travel memories in food?

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I Can't Stop Thinking About This Fried Rice READ MORE Kysha Harris Here we are, mid-September. and while it still feels like summer, we are fast approaching the beginning of pumpkin spice season … also known as fall. I could not let the season end without a wicked good long weekend. Thankfully I have some solid partners in food who felt the same.   This past Labor Day Weekend, I, along with fellow editors Lauryn Bodden and Kristin Stengl, went to visit our colleague Victoria Heydt in Raleigh, North Carolina. It would be our first trip together. It will most certainly not be the last. The mission: Eat our way through the city with reckless abandon. We accepted the challenge.   Now, we had many delicious bites and sips that weekend, like the hog dip (sausage gravy) and blistered shishitos from Natty Greene's in Greensboro; the briniest North Carolina oysters, dynamic small plates and buttery churros at Cortez in downtown Raleigh; and the best shrimp and grits I ever had with andouille sausage gravy at Academy Street Bistro in Cary. I won't mention the breakfast burgers, fries and thick custard shakes from Cook Out at 10am… #sorrynotsorry.   All said, it was our first night's dinner at Brewery Bhavana that was the most transformative. The demure brick exterior gave no indication of the experience behind the doors. As we were shown our table, I took in the monastic interior of white painted brick walls, white marble, wood and diaphanous curtains separating the bar and dining space.   We began our meal with cocktails, of course. The menu featured traditional cocktails with an Asian twist, like my five-spice-infused gin negroni and Lauryn's black sesame old-fashioned topped with a sweet sesame cracker. With our meal we each tried one of Brewery Bhavana's house brews, each with plenty of character like my citrusy Double IPA.   Kysha! Get to the food!   We started our meal with a full table of dim sum. Kristin had to have crab rangoon of crispy wontons filled with crab cream cheese mixture. Then xiao long bao (soup dumplings), char siu bao (BBQ pork buns), pork and chive shumai, scallion pancakes with (brace yourself) bone marrow and coconut oxtail jam, Sichuan cucumber salad and more.   If the dim sum at Brewery Bhavana didn't send us over the moon, the entrees did. The combination of nasi goreng crab fried rice (Indonesian), gai lan (Chinese broccoli in oyster sauce), and pork mapo tofu made us swoon. SWOON! I even fashioned a small plate with the leftovers for a midday snack later in the weekend.   Victoria, thank you for being the hostess with the mostess. North Carolina, we can't wait to eat with you again. What to Make This Week Sichuan Mapo Tofu The name roughly translates to "pockmarked grandmother beancurd." Read More Creamy Shrimp and Grits This comforting recipe is a time-honored dish for a reason. Read More Steamed BBQ Pork Buns These warming little buns are surprisingly easy to make at home. Read More Crab Rangoons Can anyone actually resist deep-fried dumplings filled with creamy goodness? Read More The Spruce Eats on YouTube 7 Scrumptious, Easy Summer Dessert Recipes Watch & Learn Did somebody forward you this email? Sign Up for The Spruce Eats Newsletter! Have feedback? Send us an email at contact@thespruceeats.com, subject line: Newsletter Feedback. Follow us:   You are receiving this newsletter because you subscribed to The Spruce Eats newsletter. Unsubscribe © 2021 Dotdash.com — All rights reserved. Privacy Policy. A DOTDASH BRAND 28 Liberty Street, 7th Floor, New York, NY, 10005