An article recommending The Hill Room restaurant at Carolina Inn by Kristi Turnbaugh, 22 October, 1992, The Daily Tar Heel, Chapel Hill, NC.
This excerpt from the Restaurant Guide section of the Daily Tar Heel recommends The Hill Room at Carolina Inn, which is now called Crossroads Chapel Hill, as a semi-formal restaurant in Chapel Hill. The restaurant was only open for lunch Monday through Saturday and dinner Wednesday through Sunday [1]. The recommendation mentions the price range of the entrees as $14 to $17 for dinner, which would be $25.03 to $30.39 for dinner in 2018 [2]. As mentioned, reservations were recommended in 1992, implying how busy the restaurant usually was [2].
With mentioning the prices of entrees in the recommendation, and equating the inflation for its 2018 value, it can be seen that the restaurant was more elegant and expensive than most college students could afford, but it was still cheap enough for a special occasion once every two weeks or so. The pricing of the entrees shows how Chapel Hill is one of the better off towns economically in North Carolina. It has been 26 years since this publication and in those 26 years, the prices of meals at Crossroads Chapel Hill have not increased when the inflation rate is taken into consideration. Today’s menu lists entrees ranging from $24 to $29 which is pretty close to what $14 to $17 in 1992 equates to now [3]. As the prices are equivalent according to the year, the interior designs are equivalent according to years. In 1992, the interior design was elegant and classy for a semi-formal atmosphere, while today the interior design is modern, elegant, and classy for the same atmosphere [4,5].
Another way Chapel Hill has shown it has higher economic value is the fact that the stretch of Franklin Street closest to campus only has one fast-food chain restaurant, McDonald’s. This is important for the foodways in Chapel Hill because the local restaurants use fresher ingredients and have better nutrition than the processed foods at fast-food chains. Yes, there are plenty of people that eat at McDonald’s because they like it or they do not have a lot of money, but there is an older and richer crowd in Chapel Hill that enjoys Crossroads Chapel Hill often.
By Kacie Neal
Works Cited
[1] Turnbaugh, Kristi. “Dust off your top hat and tails for a culinary tryst.” The Daily Tarheel 22 Oct. 1992. Newspapers.com. Web. 2 Nov. 2018, https://www.newspapers.com/image/67869500/?terms=carolina%2Binn%2Bmenu.
[2] “Inflation Calculator: The Changing Value of a Dollar.” Dollar Times, H Brothers Inc, www.dollartimes.com/inflation/inflation.php.
[3] “Crossroads Menus.” The Carolina Inn – Crossroads Chapel Hill Restaurant Menu, Single Platform, 2018, www.carolinainn.com/dining/crossroads-menu.
[4] B., Laurence. “Carolina Crossroads Restaurant Main Dining Room.” Yelp, Chapel Hill, 24 Sept. 2009, www.yelp.com/biz_photos/crossroads-chapel-hill-chapel-hill-2?select=bS0gEU9YCRdUME4Ol33EwA.
[5] The Carolina Inn. “Crossroads Chapel Hill.” Crossroads Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, www.carolinainn.com/crossroadschapelhill/chapel-hill-nc-restaurant.