The creators of ‘A Chef’s Life’ turn their lens to Durham’s food scene

The day isn’t sun-up to sundown for most restaurants. It’s not that simple.

“Food Town: Durham, N.C.,” a new half-hour documentary from the makers of Vivian Howard’s “A Chef’s Life,” explores a typical day in some of Durham’s most popular restaurants.

The documentary — subtitled “24 Hours in one of America’s Tastiest Food Towns” — is streaming on the PBS Food website as seven short episodes and will premiere in full Thursday, Sept. 27 at 9:30 p.m on UNC-TV.

In “Food Town,” Durham-based Markay Media follows some of the restaurants that have put the city on the national dining map as one of the South’s great dining destinations. There are the middle-of-the-night bakers at Phoebe Lawless’ recently closed Scratch Baking; the early morning fish deliveries at Saltbox Seafood and M Sushi; and the lunch rush at Toast, a grind stretching well into the night.

“It’s never pleasant, I don’t think, for anyone to set an alarm for 1:30 a.m.,” Lawless says in the episode in her florescent-lit kitchen while most of Durham is tucked away in pre-dawn darkness. She says she gets about three hours of sleep a night.

“Food Town” is more in the spirit of Netflix’s high-profile food porn show “Chef’s Table” than its own blockbuster “A Chef’s Life,” which has chronicled Howard’s Kinston restaurant Chef & The Farmer alongside the Southern food traditions she seeks to keep alive.

“Food Town” shows the essential prep, the planning, the pleasure for diners and chefs within the day-to-day of a restaurant. It’s about the the all-day choreography of a server delivering a pizza, a chef unboxing fresh fish, the chef tasting dishes, the chaos and harmony of a kitchen shown in elegant, often in-motion shots.

Markay owner and Emmy-winning director Cynthia Hill created the show, and documentarian David Mayer served as director.

“There is beauty in the restaurant world, how this frenetic environment has elements of choreography,” Hill said in a release. “As director and cinematographer, David’s long, fluid shots slow down the experience for the audience, so they can really experience the beauty of it all.”

“Food Town” was shot over the the last year and happens to capture Durham’s famed dining scene in a crucial moment of transition. The episodes end up showing the last months of Scratch, a flaky-crust invitation to downtown Durham, and Scott Howell’s Nana’s, a 26-year-old dining landmark in the city. Howell closed Nana’s in June, and Lawless closed Scratch in July.

But there’s a cycle at work. Viewers will see Gray and Cara Brooks of Pizzeria Toro and Littler plan their next venture, the now-open Jack Tar and the Colonel’s Daughter. And we know Michael Lee of M Sushi is opening fry-bar M Tempura in the original Scratch space on Orange Street.

“Restaurants, and food, generally, are a great way to get to know a place,” Hill said in a release. “They are a window into a community’s character. And Durham proves, you don’t need to be a huge city to have a vibrant restaurant scene.”

Markay alludes to more episodes of “Food Town” in the future, exploring the restaurant communities within other cities.

How to see it

The documentary is streaming on the PBS Food website at pbs.org/show/food-town/ as seven short episodes and will premiere in full Thursday, Sept. 27 at 9:30 p.m on UNC-TV.

More on the featured restaurants

This story was originally published September 26, 2018 at 6:54 PM.