Scratch Baking got a nice shout-out in the October issue of Bon Appetit (page 38) as being among the nationwide “Hot 10 Best Places for Pie.” The text mistakenly calls baker Phoebe Lawless a Durham Farmers’ Market “alum.” Luckily for us, Scratch remains a popular presence at the market, though Phoebe is not there too often anymore. (Bon Appetite’s “Foodiest Small Town” this year is Boulder, CO, btw. We here in Durham/Chapel Hill had our 15 minutes in 2008.)
If you haven’t been to Scratch’s storefront yet, get going! I had lunch there last week with my cookbook writer pal Elizabeth Wiegand, and we both had the plate of three sides for $10. Our favorite of the trio of beet salad, spaghetti squash and hoppin’ John was the latter, which included okra and maybe sweet potatoes. Oops, shoulda taken notes. Anyway, it was heavenly. Beth left with a piece of chocolate sea-salt pie, which is way up on the list of my favorite Scratch sweet pies. All in all I prefer the savory options, but there are plenty for all tastes.
I also learned, from Andrea Weigl’s always on-the-ball Mouthful blog that “in Cooking Light, April McGreger of Farmer’s Daughter’s tomato chutney got rave reviews, as well as The Bamboo Ladies’ bamboo pickles and the Salem Baking Company’s Moravian ginger spice cookies.” Also in Cooking Light is a Triangle themed Hungry Traveler feature by N&O restaurant critic Greg Cox. Good going, Greg!
Don’t forget the coffee!
The baristas at Scratch are as passionate about their coffee and espresso drinks as the bakers are about their pies.
Enjoy a Puerto Rican cortado with your doughnut-muffin and be grateful for the energy and creativity of our fellow Durhamites.
Bravo, Scratch!