Everyone likes breakfast. We eat breakfast for dinner when we're too lazy to go to the grocery store. We eat it in the middle of the night to keep down the J%u49E5rmeister shots struggling to escape. We even eat breakfast for breakfast.

Qhen you enter the upscale, slightly trendy interior of NOMA Urban Bar Grill in downtown Winston-Salem, you're impressed with the modern d%u98EFr, the smells emanating from the kitchen and the friendliness of the wait staff.

My wife is convinced that the staff of Krispy Kreme knows when she is getting close to a store and cuts on the "Hot Donuts Now" sign as she approaches. The neon glow, like a magnet, pulls the helpless car and driver into the lot, usually for a single that turns into a dozen.

124 Hanes Mall Circle Winston-Salem 336.882.2653 3875 John Gorden Lane High Point 336.992.2525 960 South Main Street Kernersville 336.294.9242 4203-B West Wendover Avenue Greensboro coldstonecreamery.com $.

The basement of the Millennium Center in Winston-Salem was transformed into a primordial cave den of chocolate ecstasy during the Raw Food Party on Sept. 25. No primordial cave den would be complete without a shaman and Daniel Vitalis, a raw food nutrition expert, shared important information about the enormous health benefits of consuming the cacao bean which is traditionally delivered in the form of chocolate.

712 Brookstown Avenue Winston-Salem christophersngc.com Fleming's Prime Steakhouse.

Ireally want to write about football right now, how the New Orleans Saints are poised to win the NFC South, what the New York Giants need to do in order to make the playoffs, why Randy Moss is better than Terrell Owens and why I hate - hate - Tom Brady.

2201 S. Main Street High Point 336.884.8038 621 Greensboro Road High Point henryjamesbbq.com $ Hills Lexington Barbeque.

The strip of State Street off Elm in Greensboro is slowly becoming the citys alternative healing district, with the State Street Center for Renewal swallowing most of State Street Station and satellite businesses opening up to accommodate the non-traditional tastes of those who frequent the sidewalks.

The Dairi-O stands at the crossroads of Old Highway 52 and E. Dalton Road in King. It's small and unassuming, flashing back to the days of curb-service diners before chains like Sonic. Even though the restaurant now has a bigger, prettier sister store in Stanleyville, the original still stands proud as the largest tourist attraction in King.

I've decided that the most overused word in the Triad culinary scene is "bistro." Oh sure, there are plenty of joints around here calling themselves bistros, but it's important to remember what, exactly, a bistro is: a small, inexpensive but tasteful...

My stepdad has a hunting lodge that he and his closest friends call home for about three and a half months out of the year. It's minimal by my standards: plain walls with the occasional deer head or horns for encouragement and decoration.

Larry Christopher snips the tip off the end of the cigar and torches the other with the type of turbo-butane torch favored by crackheads and firebug teenagers. It's an Arturo Fuente A'ejo from the Dominican Republic, one of the world's most rare cigars, with a maduro wrapper that has been aged for five years in an old cognac barrel.

It's not very often that I get to sit down and enjoy a lunch in a restaurant that doesn't specialize in cheeseburgers and chicken nuggets. Most of my midday meals are quick and usually involve something heated up in the microwave while I sit at my desk and try to get some work finished.

It happened because of okra. And it wasnt even my okra my sister in-law had bought some fresh okra and she wasnt sure what to do with it. You gotta fry it, I said. She reminded me that she had given us her deep fryer years ago, and I reminded her that I wasnt giving it back. But you could saut I offered.

It happened because of okra. And it wasn't even my okra - my sister in-law had bought some fresh okra and she wasn't sure what to do with it. "You gotta fry it," I said. She reminded me that she had given us her deep fryer years ago, and I reminded her that I wasn't giving it back. "But you could saut%u9B14 I offered.

So here I am, walking down Elm Street arm in arm with a very attractive date to regale her with a romantic dinner. We're having sushi - she loves sushi - and right now, in downtown Greensboro proper, there is only one place to get what we need: Rocco Scarfone's newest venture, Zen Sushi Sake Bar.

5402 sapp Road Greensboro 336.272.5503 1420 Westover Terrace Greensboro 336.245.2522 128 Hanes mall circle Winston-salem chipotle.com Š $ The Green Burro.

Ew, said the 6-year-old. What is that? Its dinner, I said. Ew, he said again. I dont like those. It looks like a little green pineapple. Actually, I said, I think it looks like a dinosaur flower. After harvesting our radishes and lustfully clipping our fresh herbs, weve found our garden in a bit of a production lull.

Heres a sign of how things have changed over the years: I no longer balk at restaurants located in strip malls. There exists in this country about 20 square feet of retail space for every man, woman and child within our borders, and much of it sits unoccupied in strip mall after strip mall.