The Fiction Kitchen

The Fiction Kitchen has been one of Raleigh's most-loved restaurants for over a decade, cooking entirely vegetarian and vegan, and it moved out of its downtown home to a larger space in Gateway Plaza on Crabtree Boulevard. The kitchen gets the attention, but the bar programme is the reason it belongs on this list: the menu carries a standing "Zero Proof Cocktails" heading with six named, priced builds, which is more than most dedicated cocktail bars in the Triangle offer.

The list is built the way a good zero-proof list should be — around acid, bitterness and texture rather than sugar. Sorta Sangria uses verjus, the pressed juice of unripe grapes, which gives the tartness wine would normally bring; it is thinned with mango, pineapple, orange and lime. Let the Beet Build is the sharpest thing on the menu, pairing a beet juice syrup with tonic, lime and lemon-thyme bitters. Seasonal Shrub is straightforwardly a drinking vinegar — apple cider vinegar with carrot, thyme and ginger — and it is the one to order if sweetness is the thing you dislike about non-alcoholic drinks.

The other three lean richer. Wake 'n Shake is a coffee build with cold brew, pineapple, hickory syrup and chocolate bitters. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice runs lemongrass and matcha over ginger beer with an ube soy foam on top, which is as much a texture exercise as a flavour one. Spring Fling uses a falernum made in house — the spiced almond-and-lime syrup from Caribbean drinking — with coconut water, lemon and pineapple; it contains almonds, which the menu flags.

Hours are worth checking before setting out, because the restaurant is closed Monday and Tuesday entirely and runs a split lunch and dinner service only on Friday and Saturday. Sunday is lunch only.