[piano intro] - Next on "North Carolina Weekend," join us in studio from our brand new video wall as we highlight how local businesses are bringing more to the menu.

We'll sip tasty drinks at Cultivated Cocktails in Asheville, sample the cuisine at Cheeni, Durham, and see what the Charlotte Beer Garden has to offer, coming up next.

- [Announcer] Funding for "North Carolina Weekend" is provided in part by VisitNC, dedicated to highlighting our state's natural scenic beauty, unique history, and diverse cultural attractions.

From the Blue Ridge and the Great Smoky Mountains, across the Piedmont, to 300 miles of barrier island beaches, you're invited to experience all the adventure and charm our state has to offer.

[upbeat music] [upbeat music continues] [upbeat music continues] - Welcome to "North Carolina Weekend."

I'm Deborah Holt Noel, and this is our brand new video wall that you'll see featured in many of PBS North Carolina's studio shows.

We're using it tonight as we explore a range of menu options from family dinners to beer and cocktails.

Our first stop takes us to Cheeni, Durham, which has made a name for itself since opening in 2023, earning three James Beard nominations.

But for Chef Preeti Waas, success isn't measured in awards.

Born and raised in South India, she believes in making the world better one homemade meal at a time.

- My story of cooking is more the memory of cooking than it is somebody actually teaching me how to cook.

[pan sizzling] I learned, absorbed, from my aunts, from my older sister.

I was so interested in cooking I took classes from a neighborhood auntie.

She didn't even have a stove, like we know of.

Everything was on the floor.

We sat on the floor, we chopped on the floor, you know, we did all of that at ground level, really, and gosh, when I think about some of those recipes, it makes me laugh.

I still have the book in which I hand-wrote recipes from that class.

Cheeni, Durham came out of the blue for me.

It is not something that I was looking for.

It was a scary leap to go from a smaller space into a prominent space in downtown Durham, and now here I get to play, [pan sizzling] I get to run a full service restaurant, where I've never even worked in one of those before.

I didn't know how this worked, but I figured it out.

So mine's not your typical story.

[upbeat music] I grew up in Madras, India, it's now known as Chennai, but my family is Punjabi, which is northwest Indian.

India is such a vast region, and especially back then, you would think you're in different countries, north, south, east, west, they're that different, but we lived like Punjabis at home, our everyday food was very Punjabi, but still very integrated in with South India, which was our home.

Punjab is definitely represented on the menu in our Raja platter, in our Rani platters, and even on the Raja platter, we have got Amritsari Fish, and Amritsar is a city in Punjab, and it has a very distinctive marinade.

Can you tell I'm salivating as I'm talking about the fish?

I really love it [laughs].

Indian ingredients and vegetables are so specific, and I'm so thankful we have a wealth of options in Durham, Raleigh, and in Morrisville.

I go to the newly opened Bombay Central Market, so the things that I get at the market are baby brinjals, okra, bitter gourd, curry leaves sometimes.

So bitter gourd is very, very bitter, so we remove the seeds and we make little disks out of this, and we make a chaat out of it, which is unusual.

[customers chattering] - So warm.

- So warm.

- Oh, my God.

Typically, this is like, really bitter, like the actual vegetable, but you can't taste the bitterness at all.

My god, this is brilliant.

- She never eats this, karela.

- I never eat karela because I'm not a fan, but this tastes like bhindi, kurkuri bhindi.

Oh, my god, - Thank you.

- it's so good!

- It's so good, - Thank you.

- yes.

- The Bar Beej is an undertaking that happened by an accident.

We inherited this really beautiful space, and the space came with a really beautiful bar, and initially, we just did not have the bandwidth to have a bar, but we knew that it was something that we would love to kind of incorporate into Cheeni and Cheeni's imagery.

Beej is now our bar, and it has been a conscious effort to create a bar program featuring regional Indian ingredients.

It is a bar that is sourced from our kitchen.

We make almost everything in-house, give or take the alcohol, and it's also an effort to really include local spirits and community in every glass.

- How are you?

- Good.

What can I do for y'all?

- What I hope for when people walk in the door is that it feels familiar, right, it feels like home, it feels like a space that they don't have to be fussy in.

The food is not fussy, they don't have to be, quote, unquote, "on their best behavior."

It's not fine dining, but it's refined dining according to me.

[lively rhythmic music] - You'll find Cheeni at 202 Corcoran Street, Suite 100, in Durham.

To find out how they're bringing more to the menu and plan your meal, check out their website, cheenidurham.com, or call 919-908-0220.

They're open every day for dinner.

With the largest selection of draft beer in the world, the Charlotte Beer Garden is truly a treat for brew enthusiasts.

Let's find out why this place is hopping from the brews to the bites and everything in between.

[upbeat music] - Charlotte Beer Garden's a fun place.

It's a three-story beer haven of the 436 beers we got, which is the most in the world under one roof right now.

Anything you got a taste for, we got it here.

We have the local bar, which houses only North and South Carolina beers, that's on the first floor.

The international bar on the second floor houses everything but the North and South Carolina beers.

My personal favorite, which is the crowd favorite, is the local bar downstairs.

We take a lot of pride in making sure we take as many local brews as we can and put them on tap for everybody.

We do have 24 taps on the rooftop, which are the top sellers within all the floors.

- There are 436, 190 of 'em are local breweries from here, Asheville, and all over North Carolina.

Upstairs, we got 222 beers from outside, and rooftop, we got 28 that are just everything, some of the more popular things here.

Right now, we're going through a lot of October fests, getting in winter stouts, pumpkin spice, everybody loves pumpkin spice right now.

There's a full cocktail bar over here, and then we can do mocktails and pretty much anything that anybody wants.

[upbeat music] - We've got hefeweizens from Germany on our second floor, we've got lagers, we've got fruity wheat beers that are fun, like, one of my favorites is a Blueberry Wheat by Pisgah Brewing.

You can ask for something and we'll find you something in the style that you like.

I always say the top three are Lightning Drops by Resident Culture, it's a hazy, juicy IPA that's really good, the Blueberry Wheat by Pisgah, and then for just the classic beer, the Hummin' Bird Lager that's really good, by Red Oak.

So we are one of the only places in the area that serves food till 2:00 AM.

We serve food all day long, every day.

We've got good bar food, there's pretzels on there, pizzas that are great for sharing.

And we have lots of fun apps, like we have tuna, wontons as appetizers, they're really good.

- I got a Oktoberfest from Sierra Nevada.

It's only out for a limited time, so I really like drinking seasonal things, and then I got the Beer Garden burger here.

I've been here a couple of times, and every time I eat that, it fills me up, two patties, all the fixings, some fries, can't go wrong with a classic, I feel like, so it pairs real well with the beer [laughs].

- It's just a really fun, cool place.

You know, we try to do everything as green as possible.

Just the whole setup is one thing I really, really love about it.

The fresh air is coming through, we got the tree over here, making the tree house, so it just makes working more fun, 'cause it feels like you're actually outside when you working, and it's just really, really cool.

- One of the things I love most about Charlotte Beer Garden is the fact that everything constantly changes.

There's always new beers coming through, there's always new people coming through, and it's always a different experience for you.

So we have a lot of Happy Hour groups that come in, a lot of business people as well as just people who are just, you know, out and about, a lot of travelers, people coming into town, wanna see something, experience something that they haven't experienced before.

- There's something for everybody.

436 beers is crazy, that's insane.

There's liquor too, food is really good.

I mean, it's just always good vibes here.

- We have all sorts of events.

Like over summer, there was yoga on Monday nights, held up on our roof, which was really cool.

We do trivia, work parties happen all the time here, you can rent out the space for a wedding party, stuff like that.

- It's a large city, but it's not, but it's got a very small-town feel, so a lot of different people come through and just experience everything, and it's just right in the perfect spot for, you know, any kind of traveler or any kind of local people.

- I love going to the breweries and drinking there, but when I can come here and they essentially come to me so I have 'em all right in front of me, and I can pick, and I can drink one from down the road in NoDa, and then down the road in South End, and they're on the same wall, that helps.

There's probably not a whole lot of people in Charlotte that would come here and can't find what they wanna drink, right?

- This is the neighborhood where everyone goes out on the weekends.

It's the place to be, kind of in the middle of where everyone's hanging out, so if you're visiting, the Charlotte Beer Garden's great, 'cause there's tons of breweries in Charlotte, but here, you can get something from one place, and then your second beer, get something from another place.

You can try everything.

[upbeat music] - Charlotte Beer Garden pours their brews at 1300 South Tryon Street in Charlotte.

They're open every day of the week from 11:00 to 2:00 AM.

To find out more, head to charlottebeergarden.com, or give them a call at 704-375-1776.

Of course, Asheville is famous for its beer scene, but we found a local distillery called Cultivated Cocktails with a new casual tasting room, offering food, games, and their own handcrafted spirits.

Let's check it out.

[upbeat music] - Cultivated Cocktails is first and foremost a small family business, the reality of something, a dream that we wanted, coming true.

So the bigger picture here is that we, as a family, are successful, family-friendly, but also a sustainable icon within the community, for a long time, and so that's the goal.

- We started Cultivated Cocktails as H&H Distillery back in 2012.

I'd went to a craft distillery and looked at it, and I was like, "Oh, I can do that, I know how to automate that."

And then I called up my cousin, and we, "Hey, let's open this distillery, start a distillery."

Our first product wasn't available until 2016, and then in 2019, we knew the laws were changing, so we secured a spot downtown where we could sell more than one bottle per person per year and opened up a bigger space in '21, and then we saw this opportunity here where we could have our own food, a bigger venue, more entertainment, more production space, so January '23, we secured this place, and now that's kinda where you see it.

It feels like more home here where we've got everything that we need.

- So what we try to do is create luxury, quality spirits that are affordable everyday prices for people, so you can have a really good quality vodka that is your go-to, it's unique, it's special, it's got a story behind it, it's not produced by some mass-market brand, it's locally produced by a person, like me or my team, that you can actually meet and interact with.

Our main products that we'll have out at all times are rum, we have two gins, a vodka, and a line containing four liqueurs.

We also have rotating seasonal and rare batch spirits we produce as well, like a lot of our whiskeys, those are kind of one-off programs where we'll do 300 or 400 bottles at a time.

We make a variety of different seasonal liqueurs for Christmas, and things like that.

So at any given time, we have between 9 and about 15 products on the market.

- I am drinking the fall, y'all [laughs].

It's like a apple cider-based drink, it's really refreshing and light.

We love hanging out here.

For the longest time, here, we didn't have anything like this.

The food is always on point, and drinks are always super good and enjoyable as well.

- We're trying to create an atmosphere to where a wide range of people will come in, and everybody will be able to find something that they enjoy on the menu.

We'll have a mussels dish, we'll have some nice scallop appetizers, upscale smash burgers.

The distillery, it's top notch, and I want to try and blend some of the spirits that they are distilling with the food, and kind of make a perfect marriage there.

- I'm super excited about the new menu coming out.

So I think it'll be more of a bar style type of food, which I appreciate.

I feel like this place is very welcoming, it's lively, everyone here is super friendly.

It's always just a good time just to hang out with friends and family.

Everything just seems very chill here.

That's what I like about it.

- Not only is it my dad and myself, so my wife, Leah, is involved, she's been involved since 2016, she kinda runs the show here, and then I've got my son, he runs around, he talks to more customers than I do, and he gets involved and interacts with all of them.

So yeah, we keep it at all in the family, as much a family affair as possible.

- The guests should really be able to walk in here and feel completely relaxed.

Come as you are, and just come hang out.

It should be something that people can easily do after work, or before a baseball game, or before a Christmas party, or what have you, so we really just want everybody to feel welcome.

[energetic music] - Cultivated Cocktails is at 161 Charlotte Hwy, Unit A, in East Asheville.

And they're open daily.

Plan your visit with a call to 828-338-9739 or go online to, cultivatedcocktails.com, You don't have to go to Germany to get a taste of its beer and the warmth and comradery of a German beer garden.

Producer Clay Johnson and his videographer, Erik Olsen, found it right in Hendersonville at a place that honors not only that spirit but the spirit of military service, too.

[drums beating] - A guidon is a type of military flag.

It's about an 18-inch flag that has a notch cut in it, and it represents the unit and the unit commander.

Every branch of the army has a unique guidon to its branch, and then the numbers and letters on it would designate the specific unit within that branch.

- [Clay] Mike Baer knows all about guidons from more than 20 years in the Army.

After retiring, he and his wife Connie settled in Hendersonville, and he turned his brewing hobby into a career.

The two opened a brewery in this old public works building near downtown Hendersonville that blends her German heritage with his military background.

They named it Guidon, and created one for the brewery.

- We decided to go with black and gold as our colors, 'cause those are the army colors, and that's the branch that I served in.

The hops and barley for the insignia represent the beer that we brew.

- [Clay] The letters and numbers represent their family.

- The only downside to it is the spelling of it.

People mispronounce it almost 100% of the time.

They say- - How so?

What do they say?

- They say giddion.

- [Clay] Regardless of the name, the mission is the same, to brew authentic beer.

- Our beers are primarily European style, with a strong emphasis on German lagers.

The only thing not German about those beers is the soil they're made on.

- [Clay] The German pilsner is Guidon's flagship beer.

- We even have a lot of Germans that come in here and drink it, and when I say Germans, I mean German passport-holding German citizens that come in and drink our German beers, and I think that says a lot for the authenticity and the quality of those beers.

- [Clay] The schwarzbier is a German black lager.

- Schwarzbier is the style, and they actually originated in the region of Germany where my wife is from.

- [Clay] There are other European beers, too, including an Irish stout called the Paddy Mayne.

- Paddy Mayne is one of the original founding members of the British SAS in World War II, and he was kind of a character in his own right, so we named that beer after him.

[upbeat music] - [Clay] The food menu leans more American.

- We're a brewery, people come here, they want, they want bar food, they want chicken wings, and they want burgers, and flatbreads, and things like that, so that's what works for us, that's what our customers want, and that's what we give them.

- [Clay] There is German bratwurst, of course.

Just down the road, Guidon opened a tap room inside Elijah Mountain Gem Mine, a place where families can pan for gems, browse the gem and rock shop, and pet the goats in a little park out back.

It's located on what will soon be the Ecusta Trail, a rails to trails project being built between Hendersonville and Brevard.

- When that was finally approved, I kinda saw the writing on the wall, and I thought, "We need to get on that trail somehow."

- [Clay] Construction of the trail was delayed by tropical storm Helene, which also put a dent in Guidon's business.

- We were down probably around 40%.

It's gonna take a while to recover from that, - [Clay] But Guidon seems well on its way, thanks to its customers.

- It's very laid back and no stress, it's come and have a beer, a couple of bratswursts.

It's good stuff.

- It's comparable to the German beers that I grew up with in Germany.

It's true to style here, which is what I like, true-to-style beers, [guests singing in German] - There's a German word that we use to describe the vibe here, and that word is gemutlichkeit.

There's no translation for it in the English, it's just a, it's a good time vibe, it's a welcome feeling.

Think of a German beer garden with everyone sitting at the big tables, you know, just having a good time, that's gemutlichkeit, so we try to create that here.

[guests singing in German] - To grab a beer at Guidon Brewing, head to 415 8th Avenue East in Hendersonville.

They're open every day of the week, but they're temporarily closed on Mondays.

Check them out at guidonbrewing.com, or call 828-595-7976.

Fratelli's Delicatessen brings delicious New York- and Chicago-style flavors right here to North Carolina.

Rick Sullivan takes us to Apex, where you'll experience the charm of a family meal alongside a fresh take on classic deli traditions.

[lively music] - [Rick] Fratelli's Delicatessen is one of the first businesses to open in a brand new Apex neighborhood called Sweetwater.

- [Server] A provolone and cheese?

- [Rick] The deli is owned and operated by an extended family with origins in New York, Chicago, and Apex.

In recent years, these husbands, wives, and cousins have all discovered, one after another, that Apex is the place they'd like to take their leap of faith for food.

- Well, it all kinda started when Covid hit and we just started getting together as a family more often, decided, hey, why don't we just make our own restaurant?

- I grew up in an Italian family, my father's here, right, and so when we all decided that we were gonna go for it, I went and told my dad, "Hey, I think we're gonna open up a deli," and he told us we were crazy.

- [Rick] Crazy smart, perhaps.

- Got a Reuben for ya.

- Nifty.

- Check that out.

- [Customer] Thank you.

- [Rick] The food on the menu is fresh and made to order.

It has something inspired from all of the backgrounds of the folks here, but especially from New York.

- The rainbow cookies are a true Long Island- - Where Shannon Thomas and RJ Cancel - Right now, these are - grew up - our popular- - with delis all around them.

- This our mid-rare roast beef, that is house roasted.

- [Rick] But the delightfulness of a deli was something new to RJ's wife, an Apex native.

- Ooh, [indistinct] over here.

Hey, RJ.

They're all telling me, "No, no, no, you don't understand, there's this whole scene of delis in, you know, New York.

So we went up there, visited his hometown, and we went to a few, and I'm like, "Oh, I get it."

There's actually nothing like that here.

I've never been to something like this.

And there's one on every single corner.

You can't go 10 feet without there being a delicatessen.

- And they're all busy.

- Yeah, and they're all busy - [Rick] So, fast is an important part of preparing food for the Saturday morning breakfast rush, - Got a Reuben for you.

- Nifty.

- Check that out.

- Thank you.

- [Rick] or the daily lunch crowd, but never does fast come at the expense of fantastic, fresh, and friendly.

- [Dog Companion] What do you think?

Do you like Fratelli's?

- And the good thing is, I think people enjoy coming here and you can see it on the face the minute you walk in the door.

- And also, I feel like the family aspect, and how we're very personable, makes a big difference.

I hope, at least, when somebody walks in here, they can tell that we care, and we want them to be here, and their opinion matters to us.

- Well, the whole atmosphere, too.

I mean, you walk in and it just, it makes you happy.

- Yeah.

- It's great!

'cause that's what makes Apex - That's important to us.

- wonderful, in my opinion, Apex Holly Spring is just a small town, and this is it.

I mean this, this is it.

- This is what's important.

- This is what's important, absolutely!

- [Rick] Are you regulars?

- Yeah, we live right down the road.

- Oh, yeah?

- Yeah.

- When I was building our business plan, when we were building the restaurant, they were saying, on average, 67 people moved to Wake County in a day, so that just shows you the growth that we're seeing in this area.

- [Rick] That could open doors for more restaurants from this family.

RJ knows the business from the ground up, and he has some culinary chefs that can do more than just sandwiches.

But for now, Fratelli's Deli will do.

- For now, we got our hands full.

You know, we built this thing from the ground up, and it's our first baby, and we have a lot going on, and we're busy, so I think, you know, in the future, do we wanna do something different, a pizza place, a steakhouse, or something like that?

For sure.

- You know, it's funny, you say, "Well, is it as sexy?

Is it enough to like scratch that itch for this, like, fine dining cooking?"

The amount of effort that goes into every single recipe, every sauce, every meatball, every chicken cutlet, it's almost like you brought that massive culinary expertise into this delicatessen in each recipe.

- [Rick] You brought sexy back.

- You brought sexy back.

- I brought sexy back.

[both laugh] - You'll find Fratelli's Delicatessen at 1481 Richardson Road, suite 107, in Apex, and they're open daily.

To find out more, give them a call at 919-355-2059, or go online to fratellisdelicatessen.com.

Well, that's it for tonight's show.

We've had fun bringing these restaurant and drink stories to you from around the state, and remember, if you've missed anything in tonight's show, you can always watch us again online at pbsnc.org, and you can find all of our stories on our YouTube channel.

Have a great North Carolina weekend, everyone.

Goodnight.

[upbeat music] [upbeat music continues] [upbeat music continues] [upbeat music continues] [upbeat music continues] [upbeat music continues] [upbeat music continues] - [Announcer] Funding for "North Carolina Weekend" is provided in part by VisitNC, dedicated to highlighting our state's natural scenic beauty, unique history, and diverse cultural attractions.

From the Blue Ridge and the Great Smoky Mountains, across the Piedmont, to 300 miles of barrier island beaches, you're invited to experience all the adventure and charm our state has to offer [upbeat music]