- Folks in Greensboro have told us
the city feels more like a bunch of small neighborhoods,
with parks and green ways, and lots of cultural diversity.
So in part two of our "Weekend in Greensboro",
we're gonna play and eat our way around the city.
[happy music]
- The nice thing is you don't really have to be
in the mood for anything, or for anything in particular,
'cause they've got a lot of options.
So you grab a drink, hit up some of the local restaurants.
Even having been here for a year,
we're still discovering new places.
We've never been at a loss,
so we've been very pleasantly surprised
by our transition to Greensboro.
- I own a bail bond company,
decided to start getting out of that.
[playful music]
Childhood dream to own a candy store.
My dad used to travel the country with us,
and we'd hit candy stores everywhere.
And one day he basically said you can have one thing,
and I said I'm gonna own my own candy store,
and get whatever I want.
Well here I am 39 years old, and own my own candy store.
We carry fudge, gourmet chocolates, including truffles,
all kinds of chocolate dipped pretzels,
over 100 different types of penny candies, or bulk candy.
Most people, as soon as they walk through the door,
they just stop and take in a deep breath,
and they're like it smells amazing in here.
To me it smells like a giant Tootsie Roll.
- You have to do something that you enjoy, that you love.
[ethnic music]
I was born in Lydda, in 1940,
Lydda at the time was still Palestine.
My family came from the old city of Jerusalem.
My grandfather was a wholesale merchant, in the old city,
that store, the back wall of the store
was the old city wall.
- And we always wanted to open in Greensboro,
and expand in Greensboro,
'cause we're born and raised in the city,
and so downtown was kind of, it really fell in our lap,
but it was something that we thought
was a natural fit as well, because downtown was growing,
and we like to see downtown
becoming a real blossoming, thriving place.
- Whatever you do, the food you do has to represent you,
and your culture, so you do the best.
And we make the best hummos,
the best baba, the best tabouleh.
- Our shawerma, we butcher the lamb legs,
and the top sirloin, we do it ourself,
my brother's own style, it think it stands
head and shoulders above all the rest,
so definitely recommend 'em.
- It all depends on the customer, really.
If the customer said, well can you get me this,
I try my best.
[gentle music]
- Embur is a Peruvian Italian fusion restaurant.
We serve the traditional Peruvian dishes
like ceviche and lomo saltato with our beef tenderloin.
We have our pollo a la braza which is rotisserie chicken,
done in a wood fire oven.
We get a lot of returning customers.
[gentle country music]
- We're the only distillery,
the only legal distillery in Guilford county.
And certainly in Greensboro.
Fainting goat is sort of a family mascot for us,
the idea that the goat gets very excited,
and just falls to the ground, feet up in the air,
all the other goats are freaked out,
but the the fainting goat jumps up, and is okay.
As a family, we've kinda been there, more than once.
So it's just sort of a fun family mascot for us.
Our vodka and gin have just taken off.
Our vodka, Tiny Cat vodka, in 2018,
the American Spirits Association judged it
as the top crafted vodka made in the country,
came in best in class of any American made vodka.
So we get about a third of our folks that come
from out of town, that come to see us.
Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays we do tours and tastings,
so you can come in, we walk you through the process,
show you how we do it.
We use all North Carolina grain in our product.
Everything's grown on one farm, down in Marshville,
just outside of Charlotte.
We start with a product that's that clean and that good,
then it's gonna make a fantastic product in the end.
[happy piano music]
- We ar at Chez Genese, which is a French inspired bistro
in downtown Greensboro.
The name Chez Genese means
place of new beginnings in French,
and we have a mission of employing individuals
with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
Our owner Kathryn has three cousins
who are on the autism spectrum,
and they were really the inspiration
and heartbeat behind the restaurant concept here.
She also studied culinary arts in France for a year,
and she fell in love with the way that the French
take time to prepare their food, to consume their food.
Greensboro is a wonderful city for a restaurant like this.
We pride ourselves on community in Greensboro,
how the people care for one another,
and spend time to connect with one another.
It's a place where a restaurant like this
I think is really welcomed and supported.
[happy music]
- [Man] There's just so much natural beauty here.
The not only natural beauty but some of the gardens,
and parks and that kinda stuff,
you know, just love being outdoors here.
- They are at the Science Center, and the Children's Museum,
there's plenty of great stuff happening.
- The Greensboro Science Center
is a three in one destination.
We are a zoo, an aquarium, and a museum, science museum.
We also have a treetop adventure,
where we want to spark curiosity about the world around you.
You are looking at SKYWILD,
which is our treetop aerial adventure.
It is not your typical zipline adventure,
that a lotta people think it's going to be.
It is really a workout.
We are currently in the Wiseman Aquarium,
at the touch tank here, where children can interact
and get to know some of our cownose rays.
We have over 440,000 people come annually,
and they come from North Carolina,
all the way to California, so all 50 states.
- [Instructor] There ya go.
- This Aquatic Center is the largest indoor in the country.
[happy music]
So if you're into swimming, watching it,
diving, water polo, this is the place to come.
It's in Greensboro.
[happy electronic music]
- I wanted to do something that brought
the video game culture, specifically the arcade culture
of the 80s and 90s, to the town of Greensboro,
which I've called my home.
You pay one flat admission,
and then the games are free to play for the entire day,
you can come and go as you please, play whatever you like.
So when you see some weird Japanese games
you never tried, give it a shot.
[video game beeping]
[mellow music]
- Elsewhere is a living museum
and artist residency program,
housed in a three story building in downtown Greensboro,
in what was a business ran by a woman named Sylvia Gray.
So between 1955 and 1997, she amassed a collection of goods.
She didn't sell everything.
And artists are challenged with using the collection
to create new work.
I think what Elsewhere helps to remind us of
is the importance of people's hands,
and in collecting, but also the importance
of what objects actually bring us and show us,
particularly in a day and age
where we spend so much time on screens
and not actually engaging with the physical world.