Varina historic district is packed with options for meals, drinks, sweets

Note: The previous post was largely devoted to the original Fuquay Springs district of Fuquay-Varina, N.C. Today's post focuses on the old Varina Historic District of the community. 

North of the railroad tracks in Fuquay-Varina, just west of Ennis Street, the original merchants' district begins in what was once just Varina. One of the first things you come upon if you access westbound Broad Street from Ennis is the Aviator Brewery complex.

There are three Aviator enterprises right there at the intersection of Broad and Stewart streets. Two of
them are on opposite sides of Stewart Street -- there's a bottle shop (pictured at right), where Aviator sells a variety of bottled and canned crafts beers from North Carolina and elsewhere, and then Aviator Smokehouse, the primary food service enterprise of the Aviator franchise. Here, barbecue dishes are the specialty, although when I stopped in for lunch on July 2, I chose the Reuben sandwich, and it was pretty good.

Across Broad Street from the bottle shop and smokehouse is Aviator's taproom, which is situated in Varina's former train depot.

The photo leading off the post is the Stewart Street side of Aviator Smokehouse; the photo below is the taproom in the former train depot across the street.

There are a couple other places in this small section of commerce where visitors can step in for a bite to each or a beverage. In the middle of the block there is Nil's Mediterranean Cuisine (shown below), across the street from that there is Pints Ice Cream and Beer, at the end of the block there is J and S New York Pizza and Tsuru Sweets and Coffee, and across Fayetteville Street from there is the Brick House Bar and Grill. And ... farther down Broad Street is the Mason Jar Lager Brewery Co. and its taproom as well as Sweet Creations Frozen Yogurt. Basically, there are a lot of options to satisfy the pangs of hunger and thirst.

As always, to view a larger and sharper version of an image, just click on the photo. This is particularly helpful when accessing the blog on a mobile device. To view a full gallery of photos from my July 2 shoot, click on the link in this sentence.

Photo geek stuff: I used my Canon 6D and Tamron 28-300mm f/3.5-6.3 Di VC PZD lens for all the photos in this post. The lens was equipped with a B+W polarizing filter. I bracketed all of my compositions for three exposures -- one normal, and one each in 2/3 stops above and below normal. I used the shutter speed as my primary exposure setting variable, with the f/stop usually at 8.0 and ISO mostly at 100 (I adjusted the ISO when decreased natural lighting required me to do so). I merged the three images into one using Photomatix high-dynamic range (HDR) software.

The facade of the old railroad station stands out among structures in the modest Varina Historic District. It is the focal point of the south side of Broad Street. The shop to the left of the main doors is Pints Ice Cream and Beer.

RC Hobby store (above) is a few doors down from Nil's, and this interesting sidewalk bench (below) sits outside the nearby Something You Boutique.

A modest flag plaza (above) at the junction of Durham and Fayetteville streets adds another focal point to the landscape. 

Places to dine, snack or drink include Tsuru Sweets and Coffee (above), J and S New York Pizza (first below), the Brick House Bar and Grill (second below) and Sweet Creations Frozen Yogurt (third below). 

The art work shown above by Dan Nelson won first place in the community's En Plein Air competition in 2013. 

Above: Next to Sweet Creations are the Vision Martial Arts school and the Lights Unlimited Inc. light fixture store.

Next up: A few churches in Fuquay-Varina

Aviator Smokehouse partners craft brews with food, including barbecue

Anytime I come across a partnering of beer and barbecue, my mind often drifts to the 1990s, when I attended several annual summer "Blues, Brew and Barbecue" festivals sponsored by the former Indiana Blues Society.

The IBS did a nice job, I thought, of finding local blues talent -- and a national act to fill the headliner bill -- to provide music entertainment throughout the day. There was also brew and barbecue to satisfy the pallet.

And so it happened that's where my mind transformed when I learned that Aviator Brewing Co. of Fuquay-Varina, N.C., owned a sister enterprise called Aviator Smokehouse, 525 E. Broad St., which is across Broad Street from the brewery's Taphouse, 600 E. Broad St., yet another sister enterprise (and not the last ... more about that a little below). OK, so maybe the live music aspect was lacking, but still ...  beer and barbecue!

Aviator Smokehouse is a pub specializing in barbecue, but as I fully expected, it is equipped with the full compliment of Aviator beers. I had just finished lunch elsewhere, so I went to Broad Street to sample the Aviator brews.

You might think I should have gone to the taphouse if I wasn't looking for food, and you probably would be right. But I didn't know at the time that the building across the street from the restaurant was the taphouse; I thought it was the brewery, and I knew from researching online that the brewery didn't open until 4 p.m. (Turns out the brewery is actually a mile or so away at 209 Technology Park Lane).

So ... I went to the smokehouse, which had almost two dozen Aviator brews on tap. I asked the server about sampling a flight. The server quoted me an $8 price to try six brews. She said to add $2 more for each additional pair I would like to sample.

I decided to limit my sampling to six, and I tried (above, left to right) Transatlantic IPA, MacBawBag Scotch Ale, 3Bones Kolsch Style Ale, Crackpot Pilsner, Wide Open Red Ale and another IPA, the Hog Wild. A closeup of the pilsner is at left; a closeup of the red ale is at the right.

My favorites in the batch were the first two I sampled -- the pilsner and red ale. I found a curious carbonated texture to the kolsch and scotch, and I found the two IPAs more hoppy than I ordinarily like. But ... I run hot and cold with IPAs; when I visited Carolina Brewery a few weeks ago, that beer-maker's Wiggo IPA hit the spot, and I bought a six-pack. Every Wiggo I consumed after that ... also hit the spot. I was happy again.

I did not leave Aviator with that sensation after tasting the Transatlantic or Hog Wild.

Among the handful of photos I took of the smokehouse interior, I liked the one above the best. Below is a look at almost the full bar area, where I sat. A closeup of the tap handles is shown in the second photo below.  

Above: A look at the full beer menu at the restaurant. 

Red brick is a popular facade of this section of the town's merchants' district. Above is the front of Aviator Beer Shop, yet another enterprise of the Aviator brand. The beer shop, across Stewart Street from the Smokehouse at 601 E. Broad St., sells not only Aviator products, but other brews from elsewhere in the state and across the country. Below is a long look at the building where the smokehouse is located, with the entrance being at the far end. I'm going to presume the shops in this section of Broad Street were part of the original Varina town between it merged with Fuquay. 

Above: The front of the taphouse, which I originally thought was the actual brewery. 

Above and below: Aviator has appealing art work with its brand -- both on the beers and its facility signage. Another example is the artwork shown in the photo leading off the post. 

Above: Inside Aviator Smokehouse, I'm looking through a tall, vertical window across Stewart Street to Aviator Beer Shop.