Lantern was opened in January 2002 by brother-sister team Andrea and Brendan Reusing, along with help from many friends including Silvia Pahola, Ric Palao and David Doernberg, who is responsible for our striking design and warm glow.

The menu at Lantern is a marriage of Asian flavors and North Carolina ingredients sourced mainly from local farms and fisheries. It has been named one of "America's Top 50 Restaurants" and "best farm-to-table restaurants" by Gourmet Magazine, as one of "America's 50 Most Amazing Wine Experiences" by Food & Wine and as "Restaurant of the Year" in 2009 by The News & Observer.

Chef-owner Andrea Reusing was named one of "15 Green Chefs" on Grist's international list, has written for Saveur, Domino, Fine Cooking, Gourmet.com and the News and Observer. She serves on the boards of the Center of Environmental Farming Systems and Chefs Collaborative. Reusing is the 2011 winner of the James Beard award for Best Chef: Southeast and the author of Cooking in the Moment: A Year of Seasonal Recipes (Clarkson Potter, 2011).

Many Lantern alum have delicious restaurants and food businesses: At Scratch in downtown Durham, Phoebe Lawless bakes empanadas and sugar pie. At J. Betski's in Raleigh, John Korzekwinski and Jeremy Jennings serve homemade pierogies and kielbasa along with their Pichlers and Prüms. In Carrboro at Neal's Deli, Sheila and Matt Neal make their own pastrami and farmers market sides. In NYC, David Doernberg blogs at eatdavelove. At the Carrboro Farmers market, April McGreger can be found with her Farmers Daughter brand scuppernong preserves and Russian dills. In downtown Durham at Toast, Billy and Kelli Cotter serve bruschetta, panini, tramezzini and don't forget crostini. In Cedar Grove, Dave Ramirez and Susan Wiles grow shishito peppers and lots of other things at Geodesic Gardens. In Chapel Hill at The Pig, Sam Suchoff cooks whole hog pasture-raised BBQ and fries homemade bologna. Photos by Natalie Ross, Jeremy Lange and John Kernick