[mellow music] - Next on "North Carolina Weekend," join us from Namu in Durham as we explore international charms in our state.

We'll visit La Caseta in Charlotte, French Connections in Pittsboro, and Chai Pani in Asheville, coming up next.

[mellow music] - [Announcer] Funding for "North Carolina Weekend" is provided, in part, by Visit NC, dedicated to highlighting our state's natural scenic beauty, unique history, and diverse cultural attractions.

From the Blue Ridge and the Great Smoky Mountains across the Piedmont to 300 miles of barrier Island beaches, you're invited to experience all the adventure and charm our state has to offer.

[upbeat acoustic music] - Welcome to "North Carolina Weekend," everyone.

I'm Deborah Holt Noel, and this week, we highlight international charms and flavors around our state.

Right now, I am tucked away in the bamboo garden at Namu in Durham, a Korean fusion restaurant, coffee shop, and bar, with a sprawling, secluded patio.

Here, you can wander a maze of unique and serene spaces.

We'll explore the space and menu a little bit later throughout the show.

But first, let's head to Charlotte, and La Caseta, where the menu is so authentic the owners call it "mother-made Latin food."

[upbeat drumming] ♪ Hey ♪ ♪ Ya ♪ [upbeat music] - We opened, oh, during the pandemic, so everything's a blur!

[chuckles] Oh, I'm trying to think.

I think it was sometime in June that we opened up.

So it's been interesting, but it's been also great just seeing how the space allows for the social distancing.

It's, you know, so it was good timing to open a place like that.

[upbeat music] - [Narrator] Among the many vendors at Camp North End in Charlotte is La Caseta, an open-air food stall that serves mother-made Latin American street food, using recipes passed down from generation to generation.

- So, La Caseta is part of our restaurant groups.

The parent company is Raydal Hospitality, so from there, you know, we have 17 Sabor locations that we manage, and we have Three Amigos, which is the original restaurant that we opened in 2010.

With La Caseta, we wanted it to take it back to our own roots.

The recipes are inspired from different countries, and from our employees.

- [Narrator] Inspired by the diverse immigrant families of Raydal Hospitality, La Caseta's menu does more than list items that customers have long requested.

It tells stories.

[upbeat music] - You know, we have employees from Mexico, and they're the ones who really perfected the carne asada, and for the al pastor that we have.

[meat sizzles] One of our employees, he's from Venezuela, and he was part of the team to put the recipes together, so he inspired the arepas that we have.

My husband is from Dominican Republic, but he's always liked Argentinian empanadas, so, you know, it was kind of something that he just enjoyed eating.

This one is baked, as opposed to fried.

The pupusa was inspired by my mom.

[woman speaks Spanish] - My shirt, if you see the logo, it's a picture of my mom, and she's been running her own store in Queens, New York, for 23 years, so we've used some of her recipes in our foods, as well.

That's, you know, the main thing we brought into La Caseta, this whole thing of mother-made.

You know, just thinking of what makes you feel like home?

What is something your mom cooks that you enjoyed and you like sharing with friends, and you kind of brag about?

Like, "No, my mom makes the best pupusa."

You know, "Like, you have to try it."

[women speak Spanish] [mellow music] - Thinking, you know, of back home, or back, Latin American countries, on street food, people just opened up, like, their house on the weekend, and that's where you get your fix, you know, for some of the foods we have.

And La Caseta, literally, that's what it means.

Stall.

[chuckles] - [Narrator] Aside from creating multiple culinary destinations in Charlotte, co-owners Miriam and Dalton are bringing social work to the hospitality industry.

Miriam is also a licensed clinical social worker, and is constantly working on innovative ways to support employees.

At La Caseta, the work environment that uplifts employees motivates and inspires them, which is reflected in the love and time they put into their food.

- Food is always important for us.

Biting into something and feeling, oh my gosh, this is just how my mom makes it, or this is what I had when I visited this country.

That's very important for us, to kind of bring that experience to other people in Charlotte, and, you know, hopefully people that are immigrants in the community feel comfortable coming here, too, and have that same experience, so it allows people to come together.

- [Narrator] Food stalls definitely have the upper hand right now, and La Caseta's open-air design naturally lends itself to current public health safety measures.

You can enter the pedestrian entrance at Keswick Avenue and order at the counter, or place your order online.

Their simple menu makes it easy to decide.

[women speak Spanish] [women laugh] [upbeat music] - You can find La Caseta at Camp North End in Charlotte.

That's at 1801 North Graham Street.

La Caseta is open Tuesday through Saturday for lunch and dinner.

Visit them online at lacasetaclt.com.

You should see the huge tall bamboo in this area.

I mean, there's like a surprise around every corner here at Namu.

It just makes you want to explore.

Now, before I get lost, let's head to Pittsboro, and French Connections, where they have an eclectic collection of art and textiles from Mexico, from France, even 20 African countries.

Let's take a look.

[rhythmic drumming] - [Narrator] French Connections is unexpected and different.

From the moment you arrive, you are greeted by genuine, colorful objects with a global flair.

This is an eclectic selection of ethically-sourced goods.

For owners Wendy and Jacques, theirs is a very personal collection.

- Jacques and I met in South Africa.

He's French.

I'm from Salisbury, North Carolina.

After we were married, we lived in France for a couple years, and then we moved to Senegal, in West Africa, where we lived for 10 years, and we met all these wonderful people, and Pittsboro allowed us the opportunity to bring all of our loves here, and display it here in a town full of antique stores and galleries.

- When we moved to Pittsboro and opened the store, it was mostly just antiques, and we were selling a lot of African fabric, and people were asking us, "Well, why don't you do the furniture?"

I said, "Well, I definitely know where I can find that."

I used to work in the textile industry in France.

My family has five generations behind them of textiles in France, and so, we said, "Well, let's have some here in Pittsboro."

Okay, so here we're gonna measure three yards of this French twill.

- [Wendy] We sell to lots of quilters.

We also sell to lots of people who are doing, you know, outfits.

- We cut these fabrics down to two-and-a-half-inch squares to five-inch squares.

Those are a good, popular item, also.

We do the work for the quilters, and they can buy a variety of 42 fabrics in one little pack.

- We do direct trade, so we buy 99% of what we have directly from the people who make it.

So we don't go through middle men or dealers.

We have folks in the countries that we've lived in and where we know, where we have them collect things from folks directly.

We import fabrics from different parts of Africa, and also Dutch wax from Ghana and from Holland, and fabrics from Senegal and Mali, and we also have fabrics from South Africa, and it's really what we love the best.

[mellow acoustic music] - [Jacques] One imported item in our store is also African baskets.

[traffic hums] We import from about 20 African countries.

Each basket tells a story.

Each group of people in Africa have a different type of weave.

Here, you can see some of the Zulu baskets.

On this particular wall, you have five or six different countries that are represented there.

They're just gorgeous pieces.

- For our clients, they know that we know the people they, that these came from, and they enjoy that, and it's different.

It's not something that you find everywhere, and so, people who like to be a little bit different, or have something that's unique, they can find it here.

[mellow acoustic music] - [Deborah] French Connections is at 178 Hillsboro Street in Pittsboro.

For more information, give them a call at 919-545-9296, or visit them online at french-nc.com.

While many immigrant stories are shared through food, one family in Statesville shares their story through their traditional hand-rolling of Dominican and Nicaraguan blend cigars.

Let's visit the Honduran owners of Flor de America.

[mellow acoustic music] ♪ - Oh, it's an exciting addition to our downtown.

We never had anything like this, where you can observe the rolling and manufacturing of cigars right here in Downtown Statesville.

- So Flor de America comes from my grandmother.

My grandmother's name is Flor.

She came to the United States and decided to name it Flor de America.

So my grandmother started in a really big cigar factory in Honduras called Padron, and she started rolling and quickly developed all her skills, and, yeah, she became a master blender, master torcedor.

- [Narrator] With the help of her family.

Flor immigrated to the United States to pursue her dream of opening a business.

Today, the Flor de America cigar brand is based out of Statesville, and with the proprietary blend Flor created, the next generations of the Giron family are taking on the cigar industry.

- Well, anybody that walks into our store is actually gonna get a little feel from back home.

- There's times I come in here and you can smell, like a, different cinnamons.

Almost like a cocoa, cappuccino smells.

It just depends on the blends he's working on.

- To see a shop that is welcoming, with no pretense, everybody that walks in here is welcome.

There's no age differences, very little politics, religion, or anything like that.

It's just people talking and having a good time.

- You go in there.

You watch these rollers that you can't find anywhere in North Carolina.

You're gonna find 'em here in the heart of Downtown Statesville.

You walk in.

You see my father rolling, and also bunching, which is a torcedor part.

The blend that my grandmother came up with was a Dominican and Nicaraguan blend.

She put that together and it created a really nice cigar, so that's what we currently, we still, since she created it, we're still using that blend for ourselves.

- [Narrator] Flor's son, Carlos, carries on that tradition as a master blender and torcedor at the Statesville Cigar Factory.

[man speaks Spanish] - [Selvin] Right now, what I am creating is a, the bunch, which is a, inside of the cigar, and it is a toro-sized cigar.

What my dad does is, he grabs different type of leaves.

He puts 'em together.

He bunches 'em.

Then what he does is he puts 'em in a mold.

He tines the mold down in a press, then he comes back 45 minutes later.

He pulls out the cigar itself, which is the binder, filler, everything together, before the wrapper.

He pulls it out, gives it to the roller, which is Myra, and then Myra starts rolling the wrapper on it.

- [Narrator] On any given day, the main topic of conversation is Dominoes [Selvin slaps board] and cigars.

- I like to come here and come play Dominoes with Carlos and Selvin.

[domino slaps board] It's just a nice way for me to relax.

I'm a veteran, so, something that helps me relax is a good thing, and coming here helps me.

- I pass people on the street every day.

"Where you going?"

"We're going to Flor de America," because they want to see the cigar that they're gonna smoke rolled right there in front of their eyes, and it's just a neat thing for a cigar smoker.

- [Narrator] Flor de America offers a variety of cigar sizes.

Everything from a lancero, also known as a panetela, to a much thicker cigar called a Magnum.

- A cigar is not something that you're gonna sit here and puff and puff.

A cigar like this'll take me an hour and a half to smoke.

I'm not doing anything else.

[man coughs] Talking with my friends.

My wife comes with me.

It doesn't get any better than this.

[birds chirp] - [exhales] As my grandmother says, [speaks Spanish] life is good, do what you enjoy, and I enjoy a really good cigar.

[mellow acoustic music] - Flor de America Cigars is at 236 West Broad Street in Statesville, and they're open Monday through Saturday.

For more information, you can call them at 980-223-8465, or visit them online at facigars.com.

I'm sitting here with Joe Choi, co-owner of Namu.

It is so special to be here.

I just love the vibe that you have created.

I want you to tell us about some of these dishes that you've got.

- [Joe] Okay, so this is bibimbap.

It's, literally translated, mixed rice.

In the old days, when Koreans used to farm, they would bring, like, a little side dishes, each, from each of their families, and during the middle of the their work, for lunch, they would just kinda put it all together, and they'll mix it up, and they'll eat it.

So how you would eat that is with some of the sauce, and you'll mix it up and eat it.

- [Deborah] One for all and all for one.

I love it.

- [Joe] Yeah, yeah, and this is a mandoo, which is a Korean dumpling.

- [Deborah] Ooh!

- Normally how Koreans eat it, which is a little bit crispy on the outside, and then the inside fillings are seasoned.

- [Deborah] Yum.

- These two are more nontraditional dishes.

This is Korean barbecue tacos.

I grew up in Chicago with a lot of my Mexican friends.

I kind of took the flavors of what I grew up with, as well as what my mom used to cook with, and it's a, it's got some Asian slaw in it.

It's got some Korean barbecue, onions, tomatoes, and cilantro, and so it's a kind of fusion of dish.

- [Deborah] That sounds amazing.

- [Joe] Yeah.

- [Deborah] Truly American.

- [Joe] Yeah.

[chuckles] [Deborah giggles] This is a Korean barbecue, what we call Kimchi Bul-Fries.

- [Deborah] Wow, and then you've got this main dish.

- [Joe] Yeah, so this is called kalbi, which is kinda the, probably the most primary Korean barbecue.

It's got some pears in it, but it's a soy-sauce-based marinade.

- [Deborah] Oh, I love the idea of the pear with the sweet, and the spicy, and the umami.

I think we need to dig in.

- [Joe] Let's do it.

[Deborah giggles] Let's do it.

[mellow music] - That is so delicious, I love the, just the chewy, meaty part on the inside, which is just so delicious.

Is it pork and beef?

- [Joe] Yes.

- [Deborah] Bless your mama, and everybody else who helped you learn how to do this cuisine!

- [Joe] [laughs] Awesome.

- [Deborah] Namu is truly a culinary destination.

There's just so much to try and explore.

[mellow music] - Bo and I have been friends for about four years.

We met through being food truck owners.

One day, we decided that, you know what?

Like, we're pretty successful with what we're doing, with the food truck.

I think we're at a place where we could start to think about what the next steps would be for Bulkogi Truck.

We met, and Bo had the same idea about Bo's Kitchen truck, and we started talking about what it would look like to do a restaurant.

- Its concept was great.

It was the best item from, like, Bulkogi Truck, and best item from, like, Bo's Kitchen, and then, we merged at the menu, and Namu is, you know, helping the, you know, the two trucks and, you know, two trucks help the Namu, and we can move together for one goal.

- I remember just looking at Bo and going, "Bo, this place is incredible."

And then he said, "You know what?

"We feel like we're in a tree house."

And I was like, "Yeah, that's where, "that's literally what it feels like.

"We're, like, in a tree house.

"We're, like, little kids running around," and we said, "Okay, let's do this."

We wanted our customer base to be able to come to this place and feel like they're still experiencing part of Bulkogi Truck, still experiencing part of Bo's Kitchen.

Just, in a kinda surreal space.

When we started coming up with the menu for Namu, I sat down with Bo and said, "Hey, listen, Bo, "I want this to be, "you know, not just Bulkogi Truck food, "and I don't want this to be just Bo's Kitchen food, "but I want this to be Joe and Bo's food."

What makes Namu really unique is that we're not only a restaurant, but we're a coffee bar.

When we first started Namu, we said, "Hey, let's not just create food, "but let's create part of who we are."

Which is, we love coffee, and we wanted to do something that was related to coffee.

When I first met Clayton, who's the coffee bar manager, he had this kind of vision for having a local, high-end coffee bar in the midst of all these change-ups around, and I said, "Let's do it."

Not only do we love local beer, but a lot of our food truck stops actually are at local breweries.

Every brewery that we go to, we built a really strong relationship with all the people that are brewing those beer.

We know not only the process that they use to make this beer, but we know the people who brew this beer.

We asked them to give us the best, whatever you feel like would be the best beers, and they select the beer for us.

To say, "Hey, these are what's good for this season, "and this is what's good for you guys, "I think will taste best with your food."

We always invite them to give us a good feedback on beer, because they know their beer better than anybody else.

We do have a beautiful garden out there, and it's mainly used right now for customers to sit out there, to study and enjoy beautiful weather.

There's actually two areas that is actually covered, so even when it rains, you could still stay out there.

You know, I personally love going out there on the rainy day, just to sit out there.

It's got a metal roof, and that sound of rain hitting the metal roof, and drinking coffee, it just brings some type of magic into that place.

[chuckles] We've traveled and we've had Korean food from basically all over the world, including Korea.

As a Korean American, I grew up eating that a lot of the Korean kids wouldn't eat.

Things like tacos and burritos, and all those experiences kinda combined allowed me to kind of formulate a different idea of what Korean food would look like.

We wanted to show that Korean food could be something different.

[mellow music] - You can find Namu at 5420 Durham-Chapel Hill Boulevard in Durham, and they're open Monday through Saturday, from 11:00 am to 9:00 pm.

For more information, check them out online at namudurham.com.

In the northern part of India, the expression "chai pani" means going out for a cup of coffee, or a tasty bite, or a little something.

So, if you're in the Asheville area, and you want a little something, head to Chai Pani.

[upbeat acoustic music] ♪ Come home ♪ ♪ Come home ♪ [upbeat music] - Often out here, the argument made, America's a melting pot, [upbeat music] and it's obligation, or duty, to accept people from elsewhere, and integrate into this melting pot, and not to beat a culinary metaphor to death, but I'm saying, Yeah, but, if we're ingredients, then we also have to play an active role in that.

We can't expect to show up and just be accepted.

[upbeat music] It's two-way street.

You have to play your role, too.

You have to be active in that process of incorporating into the melting pot, and I think especially in the South, it's easy to say, "Well, this place has got its own history, "and I'm not a part of it."

Maybe not of the past, but we can certainly be a part of the story moving forward.

My name is Meherwan Irani.

I'm a chef and restaurateur.

I'm the owner of the Chai Pani Restaurant Group, and my home is Asheville, North Carolina.

[upbeat music] [man chanting] My wife and I, Molly and I, had moved here from the San Francisco Bay Area back in 2005, and we'd moved here because we were looking for a place to raise a family.

It sounds as cliched as can be, but we had just had our little baby girl, and we wanted to find a, just a small town that was just fun and liberal, and in the mountains.

[upbeat music] And for a few years, I wasn't quite sure what to do when I got here.

I was staying in sales, which is what my background was in, but I'd always had this idea, this sort of passion for, what if somebody decided to introduce Indian street food in a way that people had never experienced it before?

[upbeat music] And when the recession hit, in 2009, and I had a choice to either keep doing what I was doing, or go ahead and try this idea that I'd been percolating in my head forever.

So that's how Chai Pani was born.

[upbeat music] Chai means tea.

Actually, a very particular style of tea, and I'm drinking some right now.

It's a street tea that's made in India.

[mellow music] But the very word chai for tea in India comes from the fact that all the tea came from China originally, and pani means water.

[birds chirp] So it was a cute play on words, and that's what I decided to call the restaurant.

Calling Indian food "Indian" is like calling any food from Europe "European" food.

If you're telling somebody, "Oh, I love European food," they would start laughing and saying, "Well, what are you talking about?

"There is no such thing," right?

There's Italian, Spanish, Greek, Romanian.

But, like, I mean, there's cuisine from, you know, all over Europe, and similarly, there is no real Indian food.

I mean, living in India, I didn't call it Indian food, and India is like Europe.

We are over 50 distinct regions, princely states, ethnicities, religions, that happen to be all brought together by the British only about 150 years ago.

So we still have 6,000-plus years of distinct cuisines and cultures, so what I hope to see happen, slowly, is a recognition that Indian food isn't a monolith.

In fact, maybe we should just stop saying "Indian food," and we should start being really particular about what region of India's cuisine we enjoy.

[mellow electronic music] The best part about being here during the pandemic is Asheville returning to its old self.

You know, just seeing your neighbors, your friends, locals.

I always say that I don't think I could have done this in anywhere but Asheville, North Carolina.

When I first arrived here 10 years ago, it was people like me, that were looking for a new beginning.

We live in a very inspiring place.

All you have to do is get out and look around.

These are the oldest mountains on the planet.

It was here before the Himalayas, so my words of inspiration would be, you know, be inspired by what attracted us to live here in the first place, and just give it some attention, and I think if you do, you will reconnect with it.

[mellow electronic music] - [Deborah] Chai Pani is at 22 Battery Park Avenue in Asheville, and they're open for delivery and takeout.

Give them a call at 828-254-4003, or visit them online at chaipaniasheville.com.

Well, that's it for tonight's show.

We have had a great time visiting and sampling the cuisine here at Namu in Durham, and if you're ever in the area, please, check it out.

And if you've missed anything on the show today, just remember, you can always find us again online at pbsnc.org/ncweekend.

Have a great weekend, everybody!

[mellow acoustic music] ♪ - [Announcer] Funding for "North Carolina Weekend" is provided, in part, by Visit NC, dedicated to highlighting our state's natural scenic beauty, unique history, and diverse cultural attractions.

From the Blue Ridge and the Great Smoky Mountains across the Piedmont to 300 miles of barrier island beaches, you're invited to experience all the adventure and charm our state has to offer.