With its recent successful Kickstarter complete, Carroll’s Kitchen is preparing to open for all you downtown Raleigh people! And for those of you who haven’t heard about Carroll’s Kitchen, let’s just say that it’s a restaurant that’s on a mission. A two-fold mission for good: preparing homeless women to re-start their lives AND preparing great sandwiches, soups, salads and eats to feed you all. And I had a chance to visit Carroll’s Kitchen and get a look at their upcoming menu and progress…
With a September 22 date for their soft opening, Jim Freeze (Executive Director), co-Founder Vicky Ismail and Chef Liz have been working hard getting the Carroll’s Kitchen ready for your eating pleasure. This small to-go restaurant sits in the old Square Rabbit space and is going through a rapid transformation for its new launch as Carroll’s Kitchen. When it’s running, Carroll’s Kitchen will employ 4 to 6 women re-entering the work-force, learning life-skills along with running the restaurant. Their saying is “Help us be more than a meal” which is exactly what you’ll be doing if you support and eat here when it opens up. And I can promise you that the food is pretty durn good!
Chef Liz showed us off a sampling of her quirky menu focused on locally sourced ingredients and creatively prepared classics. Carroll’s Kitchen will be pickling a lot of their own veggies which she presented to us in a sampling of charcuterie and made in-house crackers. A lovely and fresh kale salad sits to one side along with some beautifully grilled ham and cheese sammiches. With Carroll’s Kitchen focus on fresh and ToGo meals, they’ll also be offering up a nosh box, described as being an adult version of Lunchables.
I also got to try out some of their pastries and sweets. Chef Liz did a wonderful caprese pop tart in a flaky crust that bursts with tomato flavor and hints of basil. The brown sugar pop tarts were also a big hit for me, a gourmet take on what you’d usually eat out of a silver, shiny cellophane bag! I can tell you that she has a playful take on healthy food while still leaving all the flavor and deliciousness right in there. And the menu will be vegetarian and vegan friendly providing you all with some options in those areas.
We got to take a tour of Carroll’s Kitchen’s kitchen and preparation space which is quite large. They anticipate doing a lot of catering business so if you’re organizing a meeting for your office downtown, certainly give them a call if you’re looking for a healthy lunch alternative (see example menu above). Carroll’s Kitchen’s official grand opening in is on September 28 at 11 a.m. And yes, I will make sure to stop in and see how they’re doing. Gotta get me some more of those pop-tarts, I’m hooked…
19 E Martin Street
Raleigh, NC 27601
919.670.3622
Carroll’s Kitchen Menu at Launch
First Take: The New Parkside Restaurant in Raleigh