Eating in... Raleigh: Beasley's Chicken + Honey

OMG, this post is soooo delayed!  It's been sitting in my drafts for-ever and I finally realized I never published it.  Oops!  Enjoy!

After the half in Raleigh, Michelle and I did brunch in the downtown area.  We had walked past this restaurant (Beasley's Chicken + Honey) the day before and it had been packed.  After checking out the menu online, we decided to see if we could get in for brunch.

There was wait (about 30 minutes), but fortunately for us, two seats opened up at the bar and we decided to eat there.  You could order the full menu at the bar, so that worked for us!

They had a lunch/dinner menu and a brunch menu.  To keep things simple, the menu is on a giant chalkboard on the wall.  The menu was extensive, but everything on it looked delicious.  And the prices were reasonable as well.

I started brunch with a Bloody Mary.  This one was pretty good.  It was nice and spicy, which I like. And it was pretty strong, which I also like.

Picture with medal is a must!

For my meal, I went with fried chicken.  I mean, chicken is in the name of the restaurant, so I had to try it!  I did the fried chicken breakfast sandwich, which came on a biscuit with cheese and an egg on top.  The whole thing was topped with hot sauce. I also ordered a side of coleslaw, because, I love coleslaw.

The fried chicken was amazing.  It was perfectly crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside.  The batter was seasoned perfectly and was the right level of thickness.  The biscuit was also delicious.  I love a good southern biscuit and this one did not disappoint.  It didn't fall apart, but it also wasn't so hard you couldn't bite into it.  The egg and cheese paired nicely with everything and rounded out the sandwich.

The coleslaw was also unbelievably good.  It was not mayo based which was nice (I don't mind a mayo based slaw but sometimes it's too much mayo).  It also had a hint of sriracha in it, which was a nice complement to the crispness of the veggies.

Overall, I really enjoyed my meal at Beasley's.  If you are in the Raleigh area, I recommend trying it out!

Beasley's Chicken + Honey
237 Wilmington St
Raleigh, NC 27601
http://ac-restaurants.com/beasleys/

Crank Arm Brewing

On our walk to The Pit for lunch, we passed by a brewery with outside seating.  A quick stop (and closer investigating) informed us that this was Crank Arm Brewing - one of the breweries downtown that we had found online pre-arrival.

Michelle and I both enjoy a good beer, but what I think sold us on this particular brewery was that it was cycling themed!  Both Michelle and I ride, so a visit was a must!  So after stuffing ourselves as The Pit, we headed over to Crank Arm.

When we arrived, it was still pretty empty.  The outside tables were full, but inside the brewery it was almost empty.  We grabbed a seat at the bar to enjoy our beers.

The entire brewery was cycling themed.  There were bikes handing on the walls, bike artwork and chains on the wall.  All of the beers were also named after cycling terms (Unicycle, Rickshaw, Whitewall, Peloton, etc).

 
The bartender was very friendly (and helpful!) and I started with the Whitewall Wit, which was a wheat beer.  Similar to a Hoegaarden or Blue Moon.  I love wheat beers and this one was no exception.  It definitely was one of my favorites.

While we were drinking our first beers, we realized they did samplers of some of their beers.  Both Michelle and I decided to get that next as it was a good way to taste a bunch of their beers.

The sampler wheels got you 5 of their most popular beers - Whitewall, Unicycle, Rickshaw, Flying Scotsman, Dunkelbiken.  I am not a beer connoisseur (I just really like to drink it), so I can't give you full descriptions of everything.  Personally, my favorites were the Whitewall and Rickshaw.  I am not a huge fan of dark beers, but I didn't hate this one.

By the time we were ready to leave, the brewery had gotten packed!  And a lot of other runners had the same idea, as we saw many of the Rock'n'Roll backpacks there.

If you liked craft beer and are ever in Raleigh, a visit to Crank Arm Brewing should be on your to do list!