Popular dining spots in Raleigh and Durham to be on ‘America’s Best Restaurants’
Within North Carolina’s flavorful food scene, several local restaurants are taking center stage along with the country’s top dining spots.
This week, foodie film crews were in the Triangle area to feature four popular dining spots for America’s Best Restaurants, a media company known for telling the stories of popular locally-owned independent restaurants.
Nearly 100 North Carolina restaurants have been highlighted on the social media “road show” — now including The Flame Prime Steakhouse, Fonda Lupita, The Pickled Onion and Ruckus Pizza.
The Flame Prime Steakhouse
Location: 109 Carbonton Road, Sanford, NC 27330
The Flame Prime Steakhouse is a family-owned steakhouse about 40 miles outside of the state capital in Lee County. The decades-old restaurant, which opened in 1973, serves hand-cut steaks, seafood, soups, salads and more, including dressings and sauces made in-house.
“It [The ABR feature] gives you a lot of social media weight, it gives you a lot of validation, and you can reach customers normally you would have a hard time reaching,” Steve Brewer, the restaurant owner, said in a release. “Any way that you can share with people that this is our restaurant, see it, feel it; with [this] show you can feel the restaurant; it’s just a great honor.”
Fonda Lupita
Location: 905 W. Main St., Suite 21A, Durham, NC 27701
Location: 1952 S. Horner Blvd., Sanford, NC 27332
Fonda Lupita, which previously got national recognition as one of the best new restaurants, specializes in homemade family recipes capturing the flavors of Queretaro, Mexico. The local restaurant, which opened in 2020, expanded to Durham last year to serve up its fresh hand-made corn tortillas and gorditas, salsas, burritos, tacos and more.
“Talk about true home style Mexican cooking,” Ashley Dawn, host of “America’s Best Restaurants,” said. “I loved the atmosphere of the vibrant colors and exposed brick. I’m looking forward for their episode to air so everyone can hear their story. It’s so heartwarming.”
The Pickled Onion
Location: 10750 Wakefield Commons Drive, Suite 109, Raleigh, NC 27614
Location: 8511 Cantilever Way, Raleigh, NC 27613
Location: 8440 Louisburg Road, Raleigh, NC 27616
The Pickled Onion is a family-friendly sports bar with multiple locations around the Triangle and two more opening soon. All locations have a long list of popular bar bites including wings, nachos and burgers along with beer, wine and cocktails. The Louisburg Road location, where the “America’s Best Restaurant” team filmed, also has more than 50 big screen TVs so diners can cheer on their favorite college and professional teams.
“This place is awesome. Open 365 days a year is unheard of, how cool?” Dawn said. “Their food is delicious and the staff was so friendly. I am going to have to come back once the Container Bar is open.”
Ruckus Pizza, Pasta & Spirits
Location: 1055 Pine Plaza Drive, Apex, NC 27523
Location: 2233 Avent Ferry Road, Raleigh, NC 27606
Location: 1101 Market Center Drive, Morrisville, NC 27560
Location: 8111 Tryon Woods Drive, Cary, NC 27511
Ruckus Pizza, Pasta & Spirits, a popular pizza place with locations across the Triangle, originally opened its doors in 1999. Designed to be a family-friendly restaurant, but with “the vibes of your favorite college bar — just with better food, better beer, good wine and bigger TVs” — its menu has a lot of sweet and savory offerings including starters, salads, sandwiches, wraps and burgers, pastas, sushi and more.
“I’ve never been to a pizza place where you can get sushi. Such a cool concept and it was delicious. We also tried the chopped salad, nachos and the double pepperoni hot honey pizza. Yum,” Dawn said. “We loved this place and the owners. Their story truly reflects that hard work pays off.”
How to watch ‘America’s Best Restaurants’
According to the team behind “America’s Best Restaurants,” dining spots are found through customer nominations, internal vetting or by restaurant applications and selected by customer reviews, menu items, social media presence, and level of community involvement.
Each of the local restaurants’ episode premiere dates will be announced and later featured on Facebook and America’s Best Restaurants’ website (americasbestrestaurants.com).
This story was originally published March 26, 2025 at 11:56 AM with the headline "Popular dining spots in Raleigh and Durham to be on ‘America’s Best Restaurants’."
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