Community Profile

From Mama Dip's to Mulligatawany Soup

There is much you can tell about a culture by sampling its cuisine. But in Orange County, it’s hard to know what to choose for a first course.

Along Chapel Hill’s Franklin Street (right), perhaps the state’s most vibrant thoroughfare, there is a range of eateries that stretches from burritos to bagels, to authentic Indian to Greek — and more. Afterward, you’ll have difficulty deciding whether it will be a spicy Gewürztraminer from a posh wine bar, a pint of pale ale from a crowded micro-brewery or a frothy latte at one of the numerous Seattle-style coffeehouses. Nightlife thrives along here, even for the few not clad in black turtlenecks.

Much the same is true in adjacent Carrboro, though bean burgers are considered a staple. The town was recently cited by Vegetarian Times as one of the nation’s most vegetarian friendly.

Then there’s the traditional Southern comfort food one finds at Mama Dip’s Kitchen on Rosemary Street. A Chapel Hill institution, the menu there features downhome favorites like barbecued ribs, fried chicken, chitlins and collard greens. None of this will help you live longer — only better. But the real attraction is the place’s venerable owner and host, Mildred “Mama Dip” Council, who opened Mama Dip’s in 1976 for a mere $64. Through the years, she has grown the establishment into a business that turns an enviable profit, employing 42 full- and part-time workers in the process. “The kitchen staff has been with me the longest — some from the very beginning,” Council says.

Earlier this year, Council’s entrepreneurial skills won recognition by the U.S. Small Business Administration, which named her restaurant “North Carolina Small Business of the Year” for 2002. Better still, she placed third runner-up nationally, enough to merit a trip to the White House. Today, a framed photograph of Council standing with President Bush hangs behind the register.

But it is Council’s prowess behind the stove that brings her the most pride. She has been featured on ABC’s “Good Morning America” and on The Food Network’s “Cooking Live,” and sales of her cookbook and food products are brisk. Publications ranging from Southern Living to The New York Times travel page have written glowingly of Council and the fare at Mama Dip’s.  

Nor is Hillsborough anything to sneeze at when it comes to dining.   There are a number of memorable eateries along Churton Street. LU-E-G’s Sandwich Shop, a small establishment housed in a century-old building that once was a pharmacy, serves up a winning cup of Mulligatawny soup, and its chicken salad may well be the county’s finest.    — Lawrence Bivins

Return to magazine index