Best New Restaurants in Raleigh, Durham & Chapel Hill Triangle, 2022 | Eater Carolinas

"Step through the front door of Chef Oscar Diaz’s Aaktun and into an unassuming coffee shop, but take a short walk down the hallway on the left to be suddenly transported into a lush, jungly dining room that looks as though it was transported straight from Tulum to Durham. Diaz’s new all-day eatery serves coffee, breakfast, lunch, dinner, and Mexican-accented tiki drinks in this new space right next door to Mezcalito. The impossibly fluffy dinner rolls come with a sweet chilli butter, there are mains like pork belly adobo and tempura fish tacos, and on the Mar Bar menu, the ceviche de coco (local North Carolina fish, tropical leche de tiger, choclo, onion, and corn nuts) is a stunner. Beware when ordering the Conch Out tiki cocktail (with two kinds of rum, tropical juices, and Aperol) — it comes in a giant ceramic conch shell big enough to serve two." - Matt Lardie