Digging into Durham: Parker and Otis

Jan 28 2012, Written by Minshu Deng in Backpages,Digging into Durham, 1 Comments

Special to The Chronicle

Southern Living describes Parker and Otis as “a gourmet grocery store, restaurant, wine store and all-round cool place to hang and be seen.” All these descriptions are true; I would also add “hipster hotspot where Durhamites bring their to-be hipster babies for brunch.”

Located in Peabody Place, your typical, historic Durham, renovated brick building, Parker and Otis is quite literally a hidden gem. The interior is a visual wonder in and of itself; if you’ve ever shopped at Forever 21, imagine being in there, but now everything is either edible, scented or just more interesting than a piece of clothing. Not unlike an Urban Outfitters, but still less clothing and more food. Simply put, from the gift shop aspect of the place, I will be coming here to explore and buy gifts for friends a lot more.

With Durham being America’s Foodiest Small Town as declared by Bon Appétit Magazine, however, the original point of my visit was to get Sunday brunch. At the coming together of some of my unconventionally favorite things—brunch, old warehouses, hipster atmospheres, and friends—I was inordinately excited to try some of the restaurant offerings.

At our table of four persons, we had pastries, coffee, sandwiches, grits and salad to go around. The large selection available, including several options for vegetarians, greatly tempted me to try everything. Something about places that are meticulously decorated for a homey, yet warehouse feel (see Urban Outfitters), often puts me at the mercy of poor financial decisions. Luckily I was feeling a bit more rational that day and settled for one of their many fantastic birthday cards for my brother-in-law.

This outing into Durham was incredibly fulfilling and all on a Sunday morning when Duke’s campus is still quiet from the partying of the night before. A perfect way to start my week, there’s no question that I’ll be back soon.