Raleigh: One of the South's Tastiest Towns?

The voters speak, and let's hope they eat: Raleigh got the 10th spot in Southern Living's poll to name the South's 10 Tastiest Towns.

Which town was No. 1? That would be the small but mighty Lafayette, La. Having been there twice, I can vouch for that one, cher. Several of the best meals of my life were spent in Lafayette one day. That's the kind of place Lafayette is: You eat lunch at 10, 11, 12, 1, 2, and 3, before taking a quick nap before dinner. Which happens at 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 . . .

So, the rest of the list, in order of votes received:
2. Louisville, Ky.
3. New Orleans.
4. Charleston. (C'mon, voters -- it deserves to be much higher on the list.)
5. Charlottesville, Va.
6. Houston.
7. Birmingham, Ala.
8. Decatur, Ga.
9. Baltimore.
10. Raleigh.

Raleigh, I mean no disrespect. I have many friends in Raleigh. But . . . Raleigh over Durham? Over Asheville? Over Carrboro?

Get the full story, including the criteria, here. Or look for the April issue, on newsstands March 23.

Food fans, can you spare some love for Raleigh?

It pains us to acknowledge that Charlotte isn't on Southern Living's list of the 10 Tastiest Towns in the South. Although we are in good company, because the magazine from Birmingham managed to put their own town on the list while dissing a lot of candidates. (No Asheville? No Durham? No Oxford, Miss., for heavens sake?)

But Raleigh, our own state capitol, is on the list. And as much as it pains us to direct gustatory fame toward the only city in Eastern N.C. without a legitimate claim to great barbecue, we can help a sister city out. So . . .

On Friday, you can vote for Raleigh out of 10 candidates for tastiest city in the South. Far be it from us to suggest that Charleston, S.C., probably has a better claim on the title. The 10 cities in the running: Baltimore, Houston, Birmingham, Lafayette, La. (good candidate there), Charleston, Louisville, Charlottesville, Va., New Orleans (OK, they might have a good bite of food or two), Decatur, Ga., and Raleigh.

Go here to read the details and get ready to vote: Vote Raleigh. May the best home of the Roast Grill win.