TRIANGLE FOOD BLOG

Triangle Restaurant News
Triangle restaurant news…that not everyone knows. Impress your co-workers at the water cooler. 

Featured Restaurant News

• After a very successful soft opening, Yatai Market is now officially open at Transfer Co Food Hall in downtown Raleigh. Yatai is a global-inspired fish market, restaurant and speakeasy led by renowned sushi chef Magno Tapia (of M Sushi fame). They are located at 500 E Davie St. and looks like they open daily at 11 and go until 9 p.m. (11 p.m on Friday and Saturday). And a quick check, the first 6 reviews on Yelp are all 5 stars! Check them out here.

Wake County Restaurant News

• Got word this week that chef Lon Bounsanga, the longtime executive chef at Bida Manda and Brewery Bhavana, both located in downtown Raleigh, is aiming to open his own Laotian restaurant, SAAP in Cary on Nov. 15. SAAP, which means delicious in Laotian, will offer the classic dishes that Bounsanga introduced to a generation of North Carolina diners. Eater named SAAP as one of the 10 most anticipated restaurants opening in the Carolinas this fall. SAAP will be located on the ground floor of The Walker at 370 S. Walker Street adjacent to Cary’s newest park, Downtown Cary Park. Start getting familiar with SAAP here.

• Just a quick note over in Cary thanks to a heads up from my buddy Jill Donovan at Donovan’s Dish (which, by the way, you should check out, with the holidays approaching). Jill sent me a note letting me know that their neighbor, Wasabi in MacGregor Village, suffered a small kitchen fire about five months ago and they have just reopened. Just to give you an idea of the kind of people they are, they kept their employees on the entire time! Let’s show them how awesome they are and support them by going by soon (107 Edinburgh South Drive, Suite 135, Cary)! And Jill confirms that their sushi is some of the best in the area! They serve Japanese and Thai fare, including sushi and sashimi, plus sake, wine and spirits. Show them your support. Check them out here.

• Over in Garner, Hugh Autry shared with us that Mi Peru Peruvian Cuisine has opened their second location (the original location is in Durham at 4015 University Drive) at 1549 US 70 serving up authentic, homemade-style Peruvian food. Visit them here.

• Heading up into Northeast Raleigh, one of Raleigh’s gems is expanding their hours. Lunch Box Deli owner Ria Dodworth reached out to me this week to let me know they have extended their hours until 3 p.m. and have ramped up for soup season – specialties like Chicken Spinach and Artichoke, Tuscan Turkey Sausage and Potato, Moroccan Tomato and Peanut, just to name a few. And if your office hasn’t used them for catering, you are missing out on that as well. Check them out here.

• Heritage Grille & Wine Barrel will open later this month at 1228 Heritage Links Drive, Wake Forest in the former Wine & Beer 101 Gastropub spot. It is the newest concept from the team behind Real McCoy’s. Visit Real McCoy’s here.

• Also in Wake Forest, we saw on Facebook (multiple postings) that Torchy’s Tacos is now open at 505 Dr Calvin Jones Hwy., almost directly across the street from the new Wegman’s (near intersection with US Hwy. 1). Their other Triangle location is in Raleigh’s Midtown East. Get to know them here.

• And a correction to our posting last week about Beow’s Books & Brews. Owner Jim Ranieri clarified that their first location is set to open later this month at 8111 Creedmoor Rd. Suite 153 in Brennan Station (in the old BottleMixx spot). And their second location will be opening in February in Falls River Towne Center at the site of the old 24/7 Fitness. Get to know them here.

Durham, Orange & Chatham Restaurant News

• In Chapel Hill, Chapelboro shared that long-anticipated news that Snooze, A.M. Eatery will open their doors in Eastgate Crossing on Wednesday, November 8th. The Chapel Hill location is now Snooze’s fourth in North Carolina, but the first in the Triangle (the other three are in the Charlotte). Including on its first day, Snooze will be open from 6:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. on weekdays and from 6:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekends. Snooze is going to use several soft openings to help benefit two nonprofits — PORCH and Best Buddies North Carolina will be fundraising partners with Snooze leading up to the November 8 grand opening. Get to know Snooze here.

• AN UPDATE: The West End Kitchen grand opening originally scheduled for Thursday, October 12 was POSTPONED. We don’t have a new date just yet, so stay tuned. They are moving into the former Angelina’s Kitchen space on Rectory Street in Pittsboro and are describing their eatery as a chef-driven gastropub where they plan to offer breakfast and lunch. Get to know them here.

Closings

• Reader Jan Delory shared a couple of closings this week that we haven’t reported yet up in Wake Forest. She shared with us that both Leli’s Italian Eatery and Las Margaritas Mexican Restaurant have both closed.

• Reader Paige Perry shared with us that the Applebee’s at the corner of Wake Forest and Six Forks roads has closed. There only remains one Applebee’s in Raleigh (Triangle Towne Center).

Food Trucks

• The final Durham Central Park Food Truck Rodeo of the year is October 29th from 12-4 p.m. All the rodeos are from 12-4 p.m. Giddyup! Here is the link.

• Looking to find your favorite food truck (or stalking them and simply don’t want to have to admit it)? We understand. Find them on Street Food Finder here.

Events

• The ninth-annual WRAL Voters’ Choice Awards is open for voting! Celebrate the Triangle’s local businesses by voting for your favorites across over 140 categories. You can vote once per category through Nov. 19. Cast your votes here!

• The 7th Annual Oak & Smoke BBQ, Bluegrass and Beer Festival returns to Knightdale this year on Saturday, October 21 from 12 to 8 p.m. It is held at Oak City Brewing at 616 North First Avenue in Knightdale. Get tickets and all the details here.

• Raleigh’s International Wine Festival is this Saturday, October 21 from noon until 8 p.m. at City Plaza in the 400 block of Fayetteville Street. Enjoy wine, beer, food, desserts, vendors and performers. The event will feature 25 wine suppliers and admission is free. Early bird tickets are available for $45 (plus convenience fee and tax) which gives you 10 samples and early access (i.e. avoid the lines). Get all the details here.

• Now Serving, a nonprofit group distributing healthy meals from restaurants, caterers, and commercial kitchens to the local community, will host Now Serving Food + Wine this Saturday, Oct. 21 from 2 to 6 p.m. in Smoky Hollow. The non-profit has successfully donated 72,000 meals since its inception in February 2022. Vendors will include Madre, Midwood Smokehouse, Cheeni Indian Food Emporium, Hummingbird, Stanbury, Mandolin, St. Roch, and more. It is free to attend, but a $75 ticket will get participants a sample from each of the 12 food stalls as well as wine, spirits, and beer. In addition to delicious bites, attendees will enjoy local music and cooking demonstrations. Get all the details here.

• City Market in downtown Raleigh is hosting its Annual Fall Festival this Sunday, October 22nd from 1 to 5 p.m. The event features fall carriage rides (extra charge) shopping with local craft artisans in Market Hall, local food trucks and a Pop-Up Pumpkin Patch at The Grove at City Market. Admission to the festival is free! Get all the details here.

• Kitty Kinnin reminded me that the NC Wine Festival will take place this year on Saturday, October 28th at the beautiful Koka Booth Amphitheatre in Cary. For over 20 years the North Carolina Wine Festival has been bringing you local North Carolina wineries, artisans, music, food and fun! Buy tickets and get all the details here.

• The folks over at Acme are bringing back Salt & Smoke on Saturday, October 28th. This year’s event will be held at The Barn at Sonark Media (located just off of Old 86 in Hillsborough). If you are not familiar with the event, it is a full afternoon and evening of live music, whole hog barbecue, raw oysters, roasted clams and plenty of the right beverages to wash it all down – local beer, wine and cocktails. And if you get your tickets now, through the end of this month there is a $25 discount for all tickets purchased (just use the code FINALLY when checking out). Get all the details and tickets here.

• This is really cool. Raleigh’s Brookside Bodega is hosting a family-friendly campout on Nov. 4 at Haven Farm, a wedding and special event venue in Knightdale. Tickets are now on sale for the campout, which includes activities for the whole family. The family-friendly campout is BYO-tent but includes catered dinner and breakfast, s’mores, live music and more. Get tickets and all the details here.

• All three Triangle-area locations of Cape Fear Seafood Company are hosting True Bayou, a French Quarter Seafood & Wine Experience on Tuesday, November 7th from 6 ’til 8 p.m. Tickets are $65 and each location is limited to 24 reservations. To reserve your spot, you must call your specific location (Village District – 984-200-5455; Spring Forest – 984-242-4600; Wake Forest – 919-295-2455). See the evening’s full menu and pairings on their Facebook page here. Pro tip: these will sell out quickly, so act quickly. Pro tip 2: they will do more of these.

Food Bank Corner

• Think you can’t make a difference in someone’s life? Think you don’t have enough money to make a difference? Would you believe me if I told you that as little as $1 equates to 5 meals through the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina!?! It is true. Nearly 510,000 people face hunger across our 34-county service area. And thanks to your generosity, the Food Bank provided over 81 million meals to families and individuals last year! Make a donation today!

Triangle Restaurant News
Triangle restaurant news…that not everyone knows. Impress your co-workers at the water cooler. 

Featured Restaurant News

• La Farm Bakery announced this week that they will return with their pop-up bakery to Fuquay-Varina on October 26th. They had opened in 2021, but for less than a year. They now make their return with a renovated space, additional parking and long-term goal to open a full-scale store in the distant future. This location will offer both indoor and outdoor seating, and an expanded menu offering – both hot and cold sandwiches, cakes and a larger assortment of signature European artisan breads and pastries, including the signature La Farm sourdough bread and addictive White Chocolate Baguettes. Once again, La Farm will offer a full Counter Culture Coffee program.It will be located at 1900 Broad Street and will mark their fifth location in the Triangle area. Visit them here.

Wake County Restaurant News

• The NC State Fair is here! And while there is a ton to do, this is a food blog, so we must stay focused on the food. I’m happy to share that the Weekday Lunch Pass is available again this year. Here is how it works. Visit Gate 9 off Trinity Road, or Gate 1 off Hillsborough Street ONLY after 11:30 a.m. on weekdays. Purchase a lunch card at the gate for $10 with cash (cash sales only). Buy your lunch from the many fair food vendors on site. Fair food vendors take cash. ATMS are available inside the fairgrounds. Return the lunch card by 1:30 p.m. to the same gate you entered on the same day purchased the card for a full $10 cash refund. If you leave later than 1:30 p.m., then you forfeit your $10. The card is good only on the day purchased. This program is only for adult admission, no food is included.

• And hockey season is back! Again, we are a food blog, so staying focused on the food. New this year to folks attending events are the PNC Arena will be: The BBQ Lab, Gonza Tacos Y Tequila, and The Optimist coffee house. Returning you will find: Blue Bell ice cream, Buena Papa Fry Bar, Buffalo Brothers Pizza & Wing Co., Chick-fil-A (with an expanded footprint and new menu offerings), Happy + Hale, Nutty Bavarian, PDQ, Primo Hoagies and Shake Shack. And coming soon will be Sweet Carolina, offering assorted candies and sweet treats. Get all the details here.

• On Hillsborough Street in Raleigh, RalToday shared that Winston-Salem-based Incendiary Brewing Company is now open (612 W. Morgan Street) at Bloc (83). The 2,300-sqft downtown taproom had its soft opening over the weekend and offers specialty IPAs along with other craft brews. The new spot is open Monday through Sunday. Visit them here.

• RalToday also shared that the couple behind the popular foodie Instagram account RaleighFoodTrap will open NC’s first The Yard Milkshake Bar in the new Seaboard Station development. With a grand opening projected for 2024, sweet tooth enthusiasts can expect over-the-top specialty milkshakes with over 32 flavor choices. The concept has 27 locations across the United States. Go ahead and get familiar with them here.

• Up in North Raleigh reader Alex Kroft let us know that a new coffee spot called Beow’s Books & Brews will be opening in the spot of the old 24/7 Fitness (8111-153 Creedmoor Road) across from 13 Tacos and Taps in Falls River Town Center. No word yet on a timeline. Get to know them here.

• Over in Holly Springs reader Eric Brenner tipped us off to the news that the folks behind Osteria G (Joe Reinis and Ashley Startek) have purchased the land next to Homegrown Pizza (Linksland Drive) and are planning for a steakhouse with a private event space upstairs and a cigar bar lounge too. It is early in the process, but we will keep you posted as it progresses. For now, visit Osteria G here.

• If you are in the Lake Boone area and looking for a “fast food” option you might come up short, at least for now. Reader Chris Creighton let us know that the McDonald’s has been leveled and is being rebuilt. Additionally, the Chick-fil-A there is temporarily closed while undergoing renovations. You’ll also remember we reported earlier that there are two new dining options coming to the Lake Boone Trail shopping center – Chicken Salad Chick, Duck Donuts and The Butcher’s Market.

Durham, Orange & Chatham Restaurant News

• Chapelboro was the first to share the news this week the date that Chapel Hill residents and visitors will be able to get Raising Cane’s chicken on Franklin Street. The Chapel Hill location of the popular chain restaurant, which is known for its chicken fingers, is set to open its doors on Tuesday, November 7 according to its business listing on Google and a post from one of its managers. This will be the Triangle’s first location of Cane’s. Get to know them here.

• Yung Nay’s much anticipated La Montaña located next to his Iza Whiskey & Eats at 370 E Main Street in Carroboro is in soft open mode. The concept was created by Yung Nay, Chuan Tsay and Samantha Garcia as a dedication to each of their fathers who died within a year of one another. “La Montaña,” which translates to “the mountain,” is a nod to the mountains their fathers climbed to give them better lives. With a range of breakfast, lunch and dinner options, their menu will feature a pho rice porridge, seafood diablo and an extensive selection of curated cocktails. Call first to make sure they can accommodate you. Might be best to keep up with their grand opening announcement on Facebook here.

• In Durham, Triangle Business Journal reported this week that Skrimp Shack, a fast-casual chain out of Virginia, is reopening its Durham location at 3600 N. Duke St. with the grand opening set for October 18. Back in May, the location announced on social media it was closing “for some renovations and new developments.” The franchise location is under new ownership. Skrimp Shack has 24 locations across Virginia and North Carolina, with other Triangle-area locations in Cary and Holly Springs. Visit Skrimp Shack here.

• Down in Pittsboro, Vino Wine Shop is currently closed while they work on moving downstairs and renovating the space that was formerly Roy Underhill’s old Woodwright School. Stay tuned for their grand opening date! Follow along here.

• AN UPDATE: The West End Kitchen grand opening originally scheduled for Thursday, October 12 was POSTPONED. We don’t have a new date just yet, so stay tuned. They are moving into the former Angelina’s Kitchen space on Rectory Street in Pittsboro and are describing their eatery as a chef-driven gastropub where they plan to offer breakfast and lunch. Get to know them here.

Closings

• The good folks over at Harvest 18 in Durham shared yesterday that after a great 10 year run owner Jason Smith has decided to focus on his family and Cantina 18 (Raleigh’s Village District) for a while. Their last service will be brunch this Sunday.

• In Raleigh, RalToday shared the news that Fine Folk will close its doors at the end of October. Take a final visit or two before it closes off Capital Boulevard and keep your eyes peeled for an end-of-service hurrah before the end of the month.

• Learned from reader Ryan Harrison that Wine & Beer 101 Gastropub in Wake Forest has closed. Apparently the landlord is bringing in a new tenant, but that hasn’t been announced yet.

Food Trucks

• The final Durham Central Park Food Truck Rodeo of the year is October 29th from 12-4 p.m. All the rodeos are from 12-4 p.m. Giddyup! Here is the link.

• Looking to find your favorite food truck (or stalking them and simply don’t want to have to admit it)? We understand. Find them on Street Food Finder here.

Events

• The 2nd Annual Fall For Five Points Festival is happening this Saturday, Oct 14 from 11-7 in Raleigh’s popular Five Points neighborhood. They will close down Fairview Road between NOFO and Glenwood Avenue for a fun-filled neighborhood street party with good music, yummy food, and activities for the whole family. Get all the details here.

• Neighborhood bar and Southern kitchen, Whiskey Kitchen, will hold their second annual Ardbeg Wee Beastie Sauce Boss Competition on October 18th from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Whiskey Kitchen will partner with Ardbeg for this free, fun, and collaborative event on their patio in Downtown Raleigh. Each participant’s sauce must include Ardbeg Wee Beastie Single Malt Whisky as an ingredient. These BBQ sauces will be paired with Whiskey Kitchen’s smoked pulled pork served from Ardbeg’s smoker. Whiskey Kitchen is located at 201 West Martin Street in the heart of downtown Raleigh. Visit Whiskey for more details.

• The 7th Annual Oak & Smoke BBQ, Bluegrass and Beer Festival returns to Knightdale this year on Saturday, October 21 from 12 to 8 p.m. It is held at Oak City Brewing at 616 North First Avenue in Knightdale. Get tickets and all the details here.

• Kitty Kinnin reminded me that the NC Wine Festival will take place this year on Saturday, October 28th at the beautiful Koka Booth Amphitheatre in Cary. For over 20 years the North Carolina Wine Festival has been bringing you local North Carolina wineries, artisans, music, food and fun! Buy tickets and get all the details here.

• The folks over at Acme are bringing back Salt & Smoke on Saturday, October 28th. This year’s event will be held at The Barn at Sonark Media (located just off of Old 86 in Hillsborough). If you are not familiar with the event, it is a full afternoon and evening of live music, whole hog barbecue, raw oysters, roasted clams and plenty of the right beverages to wash it all down – local beer, wine and cocktails. And if you get your tickets now, through the end of this month there is a $25 discount for all tickets purchased (just use the code FINALLY when checking out). Get all the details and tickets here.

• This is really cool. Raleigh’s Brookside Bodega is hosting a family-friendly campout on Nov. 4 at Haven Farm, a wedding and special event venue in Knightdale. Tickets are now on sale for the campout, which includes activities for the whole family. The family-friendly campout is BYO-tent but includes catered dinner and breakfast, s’mores, live music and more. Get tickets and all the details here.

Food Bank Corner

• Think you can’t make a difference in someone’s life? Think you don’t have enough money to make a difference? Would you believe me if I told you that as little as $1 equates to 5 meals through the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina!?! It is true. Nearly 510,000 people face hunger across our 34-county service area. And thanks to your generosity, the Food Bank provided over 81 million meals to families and individuals last year! Make a donation today!