Mattie B's Public House

What it is: Matthew Beason of Six Plates follows the lead of places like Rise in bringing interesting, local, and delicious non-chain food to south Durham.  Mattie B's is an order-at-the-counter, burgers-and-beer joint tucked into the strip center at the corner of 54 and 751.  The burgers come with high-end toppings, like smoked goat cheese or roasted shallot sour cream.  They're paired with gourmet "loaded" potato chips (think nachos).  There are also some other sandwiches, fries and onion rings, and pizzas.  In fact, the "small" cheese pizza will easily feed several children (or adults).

The drinks menu is mostly beer, with about ten on draft and another ~100 in bottles and cans.  They also have about a dozen hard ciders from around the world, which we love.  Try the Trabanco cidra from northern Spain, which has a pleasantly sour twang and an assertive apple flavor.  It's $12 for a wine-bottle-sized portion (750 ml), perfect for sharing.  J.K.'s Scrumpy is also, well, scrumpy;  it's one of our favorite splurges when we're in World Market.  Wine lovers have less to choose from, but there's a house red and a house white by the glass, and another dozen bottles for purchase.

What we liked:
We love that south Durham is now getting the kind of restaurants once reserved for downtown and Brightleaf Square.  Mattie B's tries to source local ingredients, and almost everything is made in-house.  (Even the ketchup!)  The dishes we tried were quite tasty, as were the drinks.  It's great to have a place where you can easily take the kiddos and also enjoy a tasty, fun meal for grown ups.  Oh, and they also have lots of TV's around for easy sports watching.

What we would change:
The menu is a lot to take in while standing at the counter.  I'm betting that within a few months they'll either streamline the menu or move to taking orders tableside.  You can check it out ahead of time from their website, though.  While there's no kids' menu per se, the cheese pizza, burgers, and chips can all be pretty family-friendly.

Website and other important information:

http://mattiebs.com/

11am - midnight, 7 days a week

The address on their website is WRONG, at least according to Google.  They wrote "west" Hwy 54 instead of "north".  The correct address is 1125 N NC Hwy 54, Ste 301 Durham NC, 27713, at the intersection of 54 and 751, NOT near Barbee Rd.

Photos:

(Mmmm...gourmet potato chips)

(Yes, this is a "small" pizza!)

(Mattie B's unassuming strip center location)