Time-Out: Best Meal After Midnight

Close your eyes and picture a scene. You’re walking out of a party late at night with all your friends – post-pandemic, of course – or leaving Davis Library after a marathon study grind. Maybe you’re just out walking the dog, it doesn’t really matter. Your stomach rumbles and you look down at your phone: 12:17 a.m. You haven’t eaten in hours. It suddenly feels like you lose control of your body and, next thing you know, you’re standing outside the one place you knew you’d end up.

Open your eyes. If that place was Time-Out, then congratulations, you guessed Carolina’s Finest’s 2021 Best Meal After Midnight! Deemed a Chapel Hill rite of passage by Adam Richman of the Travel Channel’s “Man vs. Food,” it’s a place every Tar Heel needs to experience – after midnight, of course.

The only restaurant in town running 24/7, seven days a week, Time-Out and its owner, Eddie Williams, have been serving up their famous chicken ‘n cheddar biscuit since 1978. There are other menu options, but this is their bread and butter – literally. Other offerings include bone-in chicken, pulled-pork BBQ, mac and cheese, home-cooked southern vegetables and a wide array of sweets.

“I was driving around Chapel Hill late one night, after visiting the UNC Medical Center,” Williams said. “And I noticed how few late night food options there were for those visiting the hospital. I immediately thought about all of the medical staff and first responders serving our community, the growing families and their late-night cravings, and the students up late studying for finals. With the support of my wife and family, Time-Out became the first 24-hour restaurant in Chapel Hill.” 

Featured in just about every list of the best Chapel Hill spots, fried chicken, late night joints, cheap eats, you name it – Time-Out has the credentials. The classic spot also has its fair share of well-known connections. Star Houston chef and UNC grad Ryan Pera added a Time-Out inspired chicken biscuit to his menu when the Tar Heels played in Houston for the 2016 Final Four. Hip-hop figure Action Bronson made a video there when in town for a concert at Cat’s Cradle.

All in all, Time-Out is a place to spend time with good friends and good food. With its doors always open and a warm southern meal always at the ready, it’s no surprise the Chapel Hill staple was voted the Best Meal After Midnight.