Today Eater returns to North Carolina’s Research Triangle — Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill — to focus on eight of the area’s buzziest new restaurants. Once again, food writer Andrea Weigl has kindly offered up her picks of the hottest openings of the past 12 months or so. “Restaurants are opening here that are offering something not only new to the area, but also new to the country,” says Weigl. “In the last year, we’ve seen the opening of what’s believed to be America’s only Zimbabwean restaurant (Zweli’s Kitchen), another serving a handful of pre-revolutionary Cuban dishes (Copa), and one of just a handful of dedicated tempura eateries on the East Coast (M Tempura).”

Without further ado, and in geographic order, the Eater Heatmap to the Research Triangle.