Where to Eat?: Here’s where you can find a taste of Texas in the Triangle
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Carroll’s Kitchen in downtown Raleigh remains the Triangle’s reliable kolache source.
- Occasional kolaches appear at Tepuy, A Hungry Chef pop-ups, and select bakery commissions.
- Widespread availability should rise in 2027 when the Mebane Buc-ee’s opens.
Happy New Year, foodies. It’s Drew Jackson.
To kick off 2026, we’re starting a “where to eat” recommendation column so I can play restaurant matchmaker. Tell me what kind of dining experience you’re looking for, and I’ll offer a suggestion I think (hope) will be perfect.
Write in with a few details about what you’re looking for, style of food, ambiance, price point, whatever, and I’ll try to steer you in the right direction — at least a direction. Send to jdjackson@newsobserver.com, and regularly check back here (or in our food and dining newsletter, First Bite) to see if I, said matchmaker, made you a perfect match.
We’re kicking it off with a question from The News & Observer’s very own Texan transplant, Renee Umsted:
This one surely will be a great public service for all Texpats. I’m looking for a good klobasnek — a savory kolache, not filled with fruity things but with sausage and cheeses. In the Motherland, you can usually get these at doughnut shops. I will drive anywhere in the Triangle but would love the place to be open on Saturday mornings. I don’t need a huge menu, just one or two varieties. I’m not concerned about price, but if the shop is selling fancy $5 doughnuts, it’s a no from me.
Can you find a kolache?
There’s nothing like the taste of home, especially from afar, beating back homesickness with a bite of nostalgia. But when those flavors and traditions only come from one place, they’re hard to find elsewhere.
Only one place in the Triangle reliably makes kolaches: Carroll’s Kitchen in downtown Raleigh. The ones at Carroll’s Kitchen come sweet or savory, but even the savory ones are made with the filling on top, danish style, rather than the pig-in-a-blanket style of the klobasnek.
The only other spot for kolaches seems to be two hours away at the Saturdays only Texas-style barbecue spot Jon G’s BBQ in Peachland, just outside of Charlotte. Those kolaches are only the sweet style and sold as breakfast to the hungry masses lining up early for lunch.
The kolache vacuum here is not for lack of trying.
Check donut shops
In the early days of Early Bird Donuts in Durham, owner Sowadi Chea served authentic savory kolaches in the shop, but abandoned them when they weren’t selling.
“The only people who ordered them were from Texas,” said Chea, who learned how to make them while living and working in Arkansas. “And we didn’t have enough people from Texas.”
He isn’t aware of any other bakeries selling kolaches but said doughnut shops would be the best bet, because they use a similar kind of flour.
Tepuy Donuts, one of the newest doughnut shops in Raleigh, also served kolaches in the past, but now only offers them occasionally for commissioned orders — or if there happens to be leftover sausage or dough.
“It’s a shame because I feel like there is a market for them here,” Alejandro Contreras, owner of Tepuy said. “It’s for a more specific crowd, mainly people from Texas.”
Refresh Instagram (or put in a custom order)
So the best bet for kolaches for now is to watch the Tepuy Instagram for the occasional special, or rally a few dozen other Texan transplants and put in a group order.
Another occasional option is the mobile kitchen A Hungry Chef, which has served klobasneks wrapped in pretzel dough during a weekend morning pop up at Queeny’s in Durham. Owner Mike Murtha says he’s experimenting with a sourdough doughnut dough version and is taking commissions at hello@ahungrychef.com.
Of course, the giant kolache in the room is that pretty soon this question will answer itself. Next year, sweet and savory kolaches are sure to be in the cases of the new Mebane Buc-ee’s.
This story was originally published January 16, 2026 at 2:45 PM.
