The afternoon led us just around the corner from our hotel The Longleaf to the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences. This massive museum is housed in two buildings, four stories each! So many interesting and amazing things to see: dinosaur models and skeletons, whale skeletons, plus numerous live animal exhibits including some really cool turtles and a butterfly room! Plan on spending at least two or three hours here if you want to see everything.
Just a few blocks from the Museum is Beasley’s Chicken + Honey. Offering a wide array of southern delicacies, this place packs in the flavor … and the people. Brunch goes until 3 on the weekends and the wait can be up to an hour. We got there just before brunch service ended and there was still a 20 minute wait. Well worth it though…even without the brunch menu available there was still plenty of mouth watering dishes to choose from. We each ordered a chicken breast, Toby got the waffle with his. The chicken was delicious, everything I want in southern style fried chicken. Crispy on the outside and juicy inside. The waffle was one of the best I’ve ever had. Truly. Crispy yet fluffy, you could eat it without the syrup. For sides we shared the Pimento Mac & Cheese Custard. As the name implies, this is good old-fashioned baked mac & Cheese with an egg and cheddar base. The use of Pimento cheese really made it scrumptious. Our other side was Cheese Grits Fries: they take congealed cheesy grits, slice it up then roll it in cornmeal and deep fry them. So amazing. Served with malt aioli and chow-chow.