TRIANGLE FOOD BLOG

• Daniel Benjamin’s much-anticipated contemporary patisserie/bakery Lucettegrace has opened at 235 S. Salisbury Street in downtown Raleigh. Their tag line probably says it best – a starting point for your day, an escape in the middle, and a reward at the end. Make the effort to stop by sometime soon. Get your mouth watering by checking them out here.

Wake County Restaurant News

•  In the event that you were under a rock somewhere, Asheville’s Tupelo Honey Café opened this past Monday in the 401 Oberlin Apartments complex adjacent to Cameron Village. This place is amazing. Everything from the decor and artwork to the drinks and entrees are simply amazing. These first two weeks, they will only be open for dinner. Lunch hours begin on December 15th. Check them out here.

• Night Kitchen Bakehouse & Café, which recently opened in downtown Raleigh’s Seaboard Station, will launch an expanded menu on December 16th which will include sandwiches on house-baked breads, quiche by the slice, salads and a soup of the day. Check them out here.

• Got word this week that Smashburger is gearing up to open its second Triangle location, this one in Raleigh, on Wednesday, Dec. 17 in the Shops at Falls Village – 6679 Falls of Neuse Rd. Get all the details here.

• In Cary, the News & Observer has reported that locals have two more Indian restaurants to enjoy. Biryani Maxx has opened at 590-102 E. Chatham St. in Cary. Check them out here. And less than a block away, Sri Meneekshi Bhavan has opened at 740 E. Chatham St. Check them out here.

Durham, Orange & Chatham County Restaurant News 

• Andy Magowan, owner of Durham’s Geer Street Garden, has teamed up again with Andy Perno and opened an Italian restaurant called The Boot. It is located on University Drive in the former Local Yogurt space, across from Nana’s. They are open for dinner now, but beginning on December 10th, they will open for lunch. Check them out here.

• Over near Chapel Hill, I saw this week that Figs and Honey has opened in the Chatham Downs Shopping Center (Harris Teeter) on 15-501 just across the county line in Chatham County. It is owned by the husband and wife team of Heba Salama and Ed Brantley. Check out their menu here.

• The News & Observer reported that Charlie Deal, who owns Dos Perros in Durham and Jujube in Chapel Hill, will be opening a new “Asian tapas restaurant” called Juju on Durham’s Ninth Street by mid-December. It will be in the former location of George’s Garage at 737 Ninth Street. Check them out here.

• According to the Herald Sun, Latin American restaurant Gonza Tacos y Tequila, which has locations in Raleigh and Wake Forest, will be opening a Durham location next month at 604 Fernway Ave. The location previously housed the restaurant 604 West Village. Check them out here.

• The Triangle Business Journal confirmed this week that City Barbecue, which opened its first North Carolina location in Cary earlier this year, will be expanding into Durham. They have purchased an out-parcel on Highway 54 in front of the Kroger-anchored shopping center, between McDonald’s and Ruby Tuesday. No word yet on an open date.

• And over in Chapel Hill at East 54, The Egg & I breakfast andlLunch restaurant is swinging open their doors next Monday, December 8th. They open at 6 a.m., so get there early if you like! Get all the details here.

• Also in Chapel Hill, on a recent drive down Franklin Street I noticed that Jasmin Bistro, a Mediterranean restaurant with four locations in the Triangle (all in Wake County), is opening at the corner of Columbia and Franklin Streets in the former location of Qdoba. Look for an opening sometime this Spring. Check them out here.

Closings 

• Reader Mark Ginsberg informed me that Maximillian’s Pizza Kitchen on Chapel Hill Road in Cary has closed. He did note that Maximillian Bar & Grill (next door) is still open.

Food Trucks 

Food Bank Corner   

• The Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina is in the middle of their Holiday Meals Drive and they need your help to reach their goal of raising $435,000 online before December 31, which would be enough to provide 2.17 million meals! Folks can donate, make a gift in honor of a friend or family member or host a holiday fundraiser. Perhaps your company can join in on this extremely worthy cause. Get all the details here.

•   Thanksgiving is a wonderful holiday – one of my favorites. A time to be thankful for all that we have in this great country of ours. Unless you are the one stuck in the kitchen at 4 a.m. Ok, I’m just kidding, but don’t feel bad about not wanting to cook all day. You should enjoy it too! And Greg Cox from the News & Observer is your hero again this year with his compilation of restaurants open on Thanksgiving day. Check it out here.

Wake County Restaurant News

• And if you still want to celebrate Thanksgiving in your home, but don’t want to cook the turkey (or the sides), you’ll be glad to know that the Q Shack is firing up their annual tradition of providing you with turkeys, sides and desserts for your Thanksgiving Day feast. Folks, I don’t endorse many things, but I can speak from personal experience that this is a fantastic (and delicious) way to feed your guests. Seriously, who (besides Tom and his team) want to be in the kitchen cooking up a turkey? Get your orders in before tomorrow, November 22nd and get all the details here.

•  Night Kitchen Bakehouse and Café is officially open! They opened their doors, as we told you, last Tuesday. They feature breads, pastries and savory foods and are located in the Seaboard Station complex in downtown Raleigh. Check out their Facebook page for all the details.

• The Triangle Business Journal reported this week that Proof, a new neighborhood bar and lounge, is now open in Raleigh’s Five Points district. The bar calls itself a “classic American neighborho od bar” featuring “quintessential cocktails.” The address is 1620 1/2 Glenwood Avenue, next to the Rialto theater. Check them out on Facebook here.

• The Triangle Business Journal also reported this week that NARA Japanese Steak Seafood & Sushi has opened in Holly Springs at 7256 GB Alford Highway in the Shoppes at Holly Springs. Check out their Facebook page here.

• Got word from my friend Dana McCall and his blog GoGoRaleigh, that a new fresh-Mex concept restaurant called Wicked Taco is set to open on Western Boulevard in the former KFC location across from Amedeo’s and next to Cook-Out. Look for them to open this coming Spring.

• On WRAL last week, in a story about Taverna Agora moving to a renovated building at 326 Hillsborough Street, I happened to notice that they mentioned that a developer group representing Krispy Kreme is negotiating to buy Taverna’s old space, once they move into their new space in the first quarter of next year. That is what I call a win-win!

• Here is something nice. I got word this week that following Black Friday and Cyber Monday, the two biggest shopping days of the year, Bad Daddy’s Burger Bar in Raleigh and Morrisville will celebrate giving back on Dec. 2. by donating 10 percent of proceeds from all sales during the day, appropriately named Giving Tuesday, to the Boys & Girls Clubs of Wake County. Check them out here.

Durham, Orange & Chatham County Restaurant News 

• Saw in the Triangle Business Journal that Counter Culture Coffee is hosting a regional coffee competition in Durham that will feature top barista and brewer talent from the Southeast and Northeast. The three-day event will be at the Durham Convention Center on Nov. 21 and 22 from 8:15 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Nov. 23 from 8:15 a.m. to 3 p.m. The competition is part of the U.S. Coffee Championships that culminate with a final contest in February 2015. Get all the details here.

• This Sunday, November 23rd, will be the last day of Monuts at their Parrish Street location (their home for nearly 2 years). That is in preparation for the opening of their new location on Ninth Street. But don’t fret, they plan on re-opening the Parrish Street location by the Spring of next year. The Ninth Street location will open in early December at 1002 Ninth Street, the former Magnolia Grill spot. Get all the details here.

• The News and Observer reported this week that Veteran chef Gladwin Jarvis has opened La Tropicale Café, which touts itself as a Caribbean island bistro, in the former My Sister’s Kitchen building on Highway 55 near RTP. The exact location is 4716 Apex Highway. You can visit them here.

Closings 

• We got word that The Oakz restaurant, at 510 Glenwood Avenue, has closed. Open for less than a year, there is a rumbling that they might reopen under a new concept. We’ll keep an eye on it.

Food Trucks 

Food Bank Corner   

• The Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina just launched their Holiday Meals Drive and they need your help to reach their goal of raising $435,000 online before December 31, which would be enough to provide 2.17 million meals! Folks can donate, make a gift in honor of a friend or family member or host a holiday fundraiser. Perhaps your company can join in on this extremely worthy cause. Get all the details here.