WORLD CLASS DINING IS CLOSER THAN YOU THINK
We serve authentic Carolina cuisine, handcrafted cocktails and exemplary service in a luxurious yet relaxed restaurant atmosphere. This is what you’ll experience at the newly renovated Crossroads Chapel Hill, located inside The Carolina Inn.
With regionally sourced ingredients, our chef has crafted a cuisine as diverse as North Carolina’s landscape, instilling Southern soul and Carolina spirit in seasonal menus.
Crossroads Chapel Hill offers breakfast, lunch, dinner and with free parking it all adds up to the perfect place for any occasion. Enjoy creative cocktails at the bar during happy hour or with your meal. Located on the University of North Carolina Campus, our restaurant is just a short walk from popular nightspots on the historic Franklin Street.
Come dine with us today for an experience that you’ll tell your friends about tomorrow.
MEET JEREMY BLANKENSHIP, OUR EXECUTIVE CHEF
The Carolina Inn, A Destination Hotel is delighted to welcome Hillsborough native, Jeremy Blankenship, as its new Executive Chef of their signature restaurant, Crossroads Chapel Hill. Blankenship, a lifelong UNC Fan, was promoted to command the kitchen operations for the restaurant, banquet, and in-room dining programs. Beginning today, Blankenship invites diners to experience new weekly dishes that preserve the restaurant’s sophisticated southern style while fusing international flavor combinations.
Blankenship started working in restaurants during his time as a student at UNC Greensboro and found the bustle of a busy restaurant and the teamwork that it required was something that really set him on fire. That love of the food game lead him to the culinary program at Johnson and Wales in Charleston, SC and his internship with that program allowed him the opportunity to join The Carolina Inn team in 2000 (he loved it so much he ended up staying until 2003) under former Executive Chef, Brian Stapleton.
Chef Blankenship returned to The Carolina Inn in 2005 to serve first as Sous Chef and then as Chef de Cuisine after his tenure with the southern icon, Magnolia Grill, located in Durham NC. It was at the Magnolia Grill, under the mentorship of Ben and Karen Barker, that he really developed his food philosophy. It is a philosophy that encourages the use of local product and embraces seasonality and regionalism. "It’s not just about farm-to-table, it’s an exchange of ideas, it’s a relationship, it’s about integrity in the entire process of food preparation from finding and sourcing ingredients to educating the team that works with you every day about how to be creative with what is set before you," states Blankenship. Chef Blankenship has also held lead chef positions at Tyler’s Taproom (Carrboro, Durham, Apex, and Raleigh, NC) and Laplace Louisiana Cookery (Hillsborough, NC) and served as a culinary instructor for the Northern Durham High Culinary Program.
In 2016, Blankenship once again returned to The Carolina Inn as Executive Sous Chef. Chef Blankenship says that "returning to the Inn was like coming home." Blankenship took every moment under Executive Chef Brandon Sharp to learn and assist in the creative culinary energy so when the opportunity became available to lead the culinary team at the Inn, the progression to Executive Chef was an obvious choice. "We could not have found a chef better suited to continue the growth of our culinary program than Jeremy Blankenship. He offers his outstanding talent, innovative ideas, a deep connection and love of the community, and the incredible ability to serve not only our guests but the team around him," said Mark Sherburne, General Manager of The Carolina Inn.
Under his new role, Chef Blankenship is committed to making Crossroads Chapel Hill the preferred culinary destination both in the Triangle and in the state of North Carolina. "It is an honor to take our culinary team on this adventure with me. My mind can’t stop thinking about all of the possibilities I’d like to bring to our menus. I want to inspire the people around me to explore food like my mother and grandmother in the same way their love for food inspired me," said Blankenship.
When Jeremy Blankenship isn’t helming the kitchen at The Carolina Inn, he enjoys time with his wife, Jessica, and their three children. A foodie himself, Jeremy enjoys immersing himself in the NC restaurant scene and can often be found trying out the newest culinary hot spots.
