Looking for a quick bite in Chapel Hill? There are many excellent restaurants in Chapel Hill, ranging from extravagant bistros to fast and inexpensive eateries. Below are some of my favorite cheap eats in the area.

Sutton's Drug Store

Sutton's is an old-fashioned drug store and soda fountain located on East Franklin Street, right next to UNC's campus. Sutton's has been in business since 1923, and has been owned by John Woodard since 1977. Although the restaurant also offers deli sandwiches, salads, and hotdogs, it is known for its mouth-watering burgers that are served to customers straight off the grill in the back of the store.

Woodard regularly takes photos of customers and hangs them on the restaurant's walls, a tradition that he began in

Although largely known for its great master-planned communities, Cary is also home to an abundance of restaurants offering up savory flavors from around the world. In part due to its diverse population, you can find everything from handmade Italian pasta and fresh sushi, to mouthwatering briskets and spicy samosas.

If you're eager to mix things up for date night or are eager to try something new, here are a few of my personal favorites:

Sushi-Thai

Every Friday and Saturday night, Sushi-Thai is packed with families and friends enjoying great food and company. Staffed by some of the most genuine and personable people I have ever met, dining at Sushi-Thai is always an excellent experience.

In addition to sushi, which is sometimes served in

The Triangle boasts a wide range of breweries and craft beer styles, and beer enthusiasts can sample many of them at the area's three best beer festivals.

A couple weeks ago, local beer blogger Kyle Rubeling offered some of the can't-miss breweries in the Triangle. But if you want to try them all at once (and you have a designated driver), a beer festival is the way to do it.

Here are the Triangle's three beer festivals, when and where they are, and what you can expect to see (and taste) at each.

World Beer Festival - Raleigh and Durham

This is actually two beer festivals, as the the World Beer Fest takes place in the spring in Raleigh and in the fall in Durham. Both festivals are a favorite among casual beer drinkers and beer enthusiasts

The Triangle is a beer-lover’s paradise. With dozens of breweries in the area, and new ones popping up all the time, the area is experiencing a craft-beer renaissance. But what are the can’t-miss breweries in the Triangle?

We asked Kyle Rubeling, an area beer enthusiast who blogs about North Carolina brews, to tell us the four breweries visitors and residents alike should be sure to visit. Here are his recommendations:

Fullsteam in Durham

Visitors to Durham will want to pay a visit to Fullsteam. The brewery’s mission is to put some South in your mouth, creating beer that “celebrates the culinary and agricultural heritage of the South.”

To do this, they buy ingredients from southern farmers when possible. The result is beers like their

When you are looking for a great place to eat in the Triangle, it may be difficult to decide where to go to first. For an area its size, the Triangle boasts a great variety of fine dining establishments, and the number is growing due to the many foodies in the area. Southern Living magazine has even called Durham the "South’s Tastiest Town".

Here are some restaurants you want to be sure to try:

The Fearrington House Restaurant

This restaurant should not be overlooked for its fine food and luxurious style. It is located south of Chapel Hill in the The Fearrington House Inn hotel, and is the only 5-star Green Certified restaurant in the U.S. It is also heralded as one of the top 100 restaurants in the country. They grow their own food on the

When you think of places to retire, Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill, also known as the The Research Triangle, might not come to mind first, but more and more seniors are calling it home.

One of the first concerns seniors have when choosing a place to retire is access to healthcare, and the “Triangle” has some of the best in the country. The University of North Carolina and Duke University both offer nationally renowned facilities, including programs for the aging. Find out more about medical facilities in the Triangle area.

While healthcare is important, the Triangle offers amenities and attractions that contribute to a high quality of life. Whether it’s food, culture, or outdoor living, the Triangle has something for everyone.

Food

While

Barbecue in the Triangle: There’s nothing better!

Just saying 'barbecue' in this part of the country will get your mouth watering. If you love barbecue, there are so many incredible places preparing it that it's easy to think you've died and gone to hog heaven.

The first choice you need to make is the kind of barbecue you want. You see, in North Carolina, there are two types of barbecue that compete for your love and attention: eastern style and western (also called Lexington or Piedmont style).

Chapel Hill is the dividing line between the two styles of barbecue in the Triangle area. East of Chapel Hill you will find Eastern-style barbecue. Western style barbecue is found west of Chapel Hill. Both styles are known for great, slow-cooked

If you've been living in a cave for the last 30 years, the phrase “food truck” might conjure up images of a sandwich truck at a construction site or a truck serving greasy fast food on a college campus. Once called roach coaches, food trucks have grown up. Today's food truck are nothing like their ancestors.

There are about 150 food trucks in the Triangle area, offering a huge variety of foods. Most trucks specialize in certain foods just like restaurants do. What do the food trucks offer? Several types of BBQ, hot dogs, hamburgers, gourmet grilled cheese, cheesesteaks, gourmet sliders, deli meats, pizza, Maine lobster, tacos, sandwiches, dumplings, meatballs, and more. There are also trucks specializing in sweets such as cupcakes and cookies,

We're in Chapel Hill, North Carolina this week while I do some research at UNC, and of course we've been dying for some good, official southern food. After going up and down the main drag of Chapel Hill and finding typical college town fare we could easily get in Philly, we heard about Allen and Son. I'd never heard of it, but it seemed pretty well thought of by the locals, and we decided to try it for lunch as we headed towards an antique mall in Hillsborough. We made a good decision.

The building itself is deceptively small, and the packed parking lot made me nervous. I envisioned a long wait for a tiny table and being packed in with impatient, hungry people. Not so! There was plenty of room inside, and we were able to walk right in and sit down

It's an absolutely stunning weekend and there's a lot of exciting things going on that have me excited.

First there's CenterFest in downtown Durham centered on Morris St centered around the newly renovated Carolina Theater and the Durham Convention Center. A showcase for local North Carolina artisits of all sorts, there will be numerous free live shows as well as street food and more. It starts today (9/15/12) at 10AM and will open up tomorrow (Sunday September 16th) at 11AM.

Also going on today is a benefit for the Durham Crises Response Center at the Grand opening of The Cookery's Front Room this will be between Noon - 3PM and will feature a food truck round up, lots of free music, wine and beer tastings and promises to be an absolute blast! Both