Current Cafeteria (3002 N. Roxboro Rd) is a great place to get classic, delicious, cheap soul food for breakfast or lunch.  We went for breakfast and were so enamored we went back for lunch the next day.

For breakfast, we got a plate (two eggs, hash browns, biscuit and bacon), and an egg muffin with red hots, each for around $3.50.  Everything was good and greasy, and the biscuits were soft and fluffy (pillowy, even, at the risk of completely overusing that word).  The bacon was extremely flavorful, even for bacon, probably from being fried with lots of other meat products.  The hash browns were not my favorite kind (the crispy shredded ones), but were great anyway, with bits of crispy skin and, I’m pretty sure, more bacon.

This was my first red hot-it’s basically a hot dog that’s bright red, cut in half and grilled.

At breakfast we were excited to come back for some chicken & dumplings, which was on the lunch specials board.  Sadly, it was no longer there when we went back the next day (though I am definitely not unhappy about the prospect of going back yet another time or few), so instead we got fried chicken and baked pork ribs.  Each meat comes with two vegetables and a roll or hushpuppies for $4.35.

The fried chicken was pretty perfect, and we watched it come out of the fryer.  The pork ribs were also great-very tender and savory.  I was a bit disappointed by the collards, which is always my go-to side at soul food places, but they were still not bad with some hot sauce.  Every other side was better, and I was especially impressed by the black eyed peas, which were slightly sweet, and the butter beans with corn (above), which I have to say looked kind of unappetizing but were delicious.

For dessert we had a lovely coconut pie, which was light, custardy, and perfectly sweet.  We also got a banana pudding, which was set apart from some of the others I’ve had by a great merengue topping.

I definitely recommend Current’s when you want to eat well, for cheap, in a friendly and sunny place.  It’s open 6am-3pm Mon-Thurs, and 7am-noon on Saturday.

Carpe Durham does not issue ratings, but registered users can agree or disagree with our opinion. If there is significant user disagreement, we highly recommend that you review all of this post's comments, because, sometimes, we just don't know what we are talking about.

No members have expressed a view on this post.
I generally agree.I generally disagree.