Since we are in the peak of the summer harvest season, this category (grown) is the easiest for us to fill.  Pictured here is our watermelon salad (served as a side) made with watermelon from Freshpik in Wilson, topped with fresh made feta cheese from Chapel Hill Creamery, drizzled with aged balsamic vinegar from the Olive Wagon in Raleigh, and then sprinkled with fresh basil grown right here on our patio.  Look further on our special menu and you will also find tri-color sweet potatoes from Scott Farms in Faison, peaches from McLamb Family Farms in Four Oaks and from Lyon Farms in Creedmoor, zucchini and yellow squash from Full House Farms in Clinton, peanuts from Bertie County Peanuts in Windsor, heirloom tomatoes from Windmill Farms in Mayoden, and blueberries from American Blueberry in Faison.   The short distance from farm to market means this produce is a fresh as you can get short of picking it and eating it right in the fields.

We are most excited about this category here at Relish and we're representing with cows, pigs, and chickens (eggs).  Pictured here is the Good Morning Burger made with dry aged ground beef from Mills Family Farm in Moorsville topped with our own pimento cheese, applewood smoked bacon, and a fried egg from Harvey Hills Farm in Creedmoor.  We've had the local eggs on our regular Saturday and Sunday brunch menu for a couple of months now and we absolutely love them!  They just have so much more flavor than what you can find in the grocery stores.  As for the local beef, we've been wanting to test it out for quite some time but need to figure out if our customers would be willing to pay the higher price (as much as $2.50 more per burger) for the higher quality product.  So for this week, we are using this delicious farm fresh ground beef not only on the two burgers on the special menu but also on all of the burgers on our regular menu--without changing the prices.  We invite your feedback to help us figure out if we should make the switch permanently.     

"North Carolina harvests some of the finest fish and shellfish available anywhere in the world.  From the highest peaks of the Blue Ridge and Great Smoky Mountains to the elegant shores of our Outer Banks, Freshness From North Carolina Waters is a Treasure to be shared." We copied and pasted that straight from the NC Department of Agriculture website, but we couldn't agree more.   Pictured here is our pick for the "caught" category, fresh farm raised NC catfish from Carolina Classics in Ayden.  We're frying these filets up in our favorite Atkinson seafood breader (a Johnston county treasure since 1757) and serving them with our own cilantro tartar sauce and slaw on perfect Neomonde bakery brioche buns. 

We didn't have to stray far at all from our normal menu to fill up this "made" in NC category, but you should know us well enough by now to realize that we couldn't resist adding a lot more artisanal/specialty food products to our already diverse mix, right?  So you're going to have to get to Relish ASAP (you have until this coming up Wednesday the 23rd or until we run out) to try the cinnamon ice cream (pictured here on our peach cobbler) made specially for us at Fresh. Local Ice Cream just around the corner on Glenwood Ave,  the tomato bruschetta from our favorite friends at Yah's Best Products in Huntersville, the Pheta cheese from Chapel Hill Creamery in Chapel Hill, the Give me a Switch Relish from Cottage Lane Kitchen also in Chapel Hill, the handmade marinara sauce from Nello's Sauces in Hillsborough, the white cheddar cheese from Cultured Cow Creamery in Durham, the Original Sin stone ground mustard from Lusty Monk in Asheville, the handmade Italian sausage and brats from Acre Station Meat Farm in Beaufort County, and the layers of baklava in our sampler from Angels Gourmet Desserts in Raleigh.   Also, don't think we've overlooked the wine/beer category because you won't want to miss the Biltmore Reserve Chardonnay (Asheville), the Childress Pinnacle Meritage (Lexington) or the Hibiscus Wit beer called Pinky and the Grain by Raleigh Brewing Company (yes, I said Hibiscus and yes, it is pink).