Exploring Burke Street

Last Saturday, it was a chilly but sunny day so a friend and I decided to meander around the West End. We started out at Fourth Street Filling Station. It’s a cool building with a fantastic patio in the warmer months.

Their food is good. Not incredible but good. It was in walking distance of our outing so we decided to go there (instead of my usual Mozelle’s since I’d just been there earlier in the week and the night before…although I ended up there for dinner too. 3x in one week. With the same waiter every time. Ha!)

They had two local beers on tap, include Foothills Hoppyum IPA (Foothills is just down the street) and Shotgun Betty, which is out of Raleigh. The waiter recommended Shotgun Betty since I told him I was a Blue Moon fan. I looooved Shotgun Betty! Highly recommended, if you can find it. Add a slice of orange. You won’t regret it.

After lunch, we wandered over to Burke Street. I started at Gusto Clothing, my favorite store in all of Winston Salem.

Gusto has been around for a few years and I think they’ve been a big draw for other businesses to come to the area. There have been a number of stores that opened on Burke Street in the past year [actually maybe they have been there longer and I just never noticed]. But Burke Street has just seemed to really come alive with new (and some older) shops lately, including a gourmet chocolate truffle shop, Haute Chocolate.

There are also a few home decorating boutiques, including Re-Tale and Ideas.

I especially loved Ideas! Lots of great candles, lotions, artwork and other home knick-knacks.

There is also a men’s consignment stop, a Winston Salem tourist shop (or so it seems – it was closed), a bookshop, and a couple other women’s clothing boutiques on Burke Street.

One place that isn’t new – it’s been around since 1946 – is City Beverage.

I much prefer City Beverage’s ambiance over the big box stores in town, like Total Wine. Plus, I just like supporting local businesses. It’s a great place for your beer and wine needs.

They regularly do tastings in their cozy back room. The wood ceilings, brick walls and couches make it a perfect place to grab a drink and hang with friends. (This is where Meg and I went to a cupcake & wine pairing event. To this day, that’s my favorite foodie/wine event I’ve attended.)

We stopped in for a Foothills Brewing tasting. I’m not a huge beer fan but I really enjoyed all of these, especially the People’s Porter.

I don’t usually like dark beers, but this one was good. It was rich and chocolately with hints of coffee and vanilla. Or so the guy pouring the beers told me. I definitely picked up on the coffee notes.

I am so excited to see Winston-Salem come alive more and more. There are so many gems in the city, and the town is finally starting to feel more walkable with shops, restaurants and bars closer together.

If you’re local, what’s your favorite gem in town? You can see more of mine on the Winston-Salem Favorites page.

If you’re not local, what’s your favorite gem in your town? I love hearing about the quaintness of other towns. And hopefully I can use your suggestions if I ever get to travel to your town!

Tagged as: winston salem, winston salem restaurants