TRIANGLE FOOD BLOG

Triangle Restaurant News

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

Featured Restaurant News

• Such great news! Al and Melody Bowers of Al’s Burger Shack and Mel’s Commissary & Catering announced this week that they are opening a neighborhood pub in Chatham County’s Governors Village this summer. Al’s Pub Shack will feature its own spin on traditional pub fare with beer, wine and a full bar in a comfortable, family-friendly space. Al’s Pub Shack will open this summer at 50050 Governors Village in Chapel Hill. Keep up with their progress on Facebook here.

Wake County Restaurant News

• In downtown Raleigh, it appears as if the Wahlburger’s, located in the former Oxford space, is finally open. According to the N&O they were holding a soft opening for a better part of this past week, with plans for a full opening by week’s end (i.e. now). Now that they are finally open, you can get familiar with them here.

• We now have a date for the opening of Hi-Poke in Morrisville thanks to a note we received from Yuling Wang. It will be the first Poke restaurant in Morrisville and they are committed to serving healthy, fresh, comfort foods. Hi-Poke will offer both poke-bowls and salads, along with fruit smoothies and milk tea. The restaurant is located in Park Place Shopping Center in Morrisville. Get to know them here.

• Also in Morrisville, this Saturday, May 5th is the grand opening of the second location of ZenFish (original location is in Durham). They are located at 9924 Chapel Hill Road in Morrisville near the intersection with Weston Parkway. Get the details on their Facebook events page here.

• The latest Buffalo Brothers Pizza & Wing Co., located in Cary’s Salt Box Village, is opening soon. But it is a moving target. It looks like (on their Facebook page) May 9^th is the date. But could be a soft opening over the weekend. Best bet is to check into their Facebook page. Do so here.

• Also in Cary, thanks to the keen eyes of reader Chris Creighton, we learned that Cary Towne Kitchen and Bar on Kildaire Farm Rd. and Tryon Rd. has opened. They are located where TGI Fridays once was. See their menu and get all the details on their website here.

• Down in Fuquay-Varina, got word from David McCreary that a new BBQ restaurant is coming soon to 1526 Broad Street called Daddy D’s BBQ. It will serve slow-cooked beef, pork and chicken. They are looking at an opening sometime in June. For more information, visit them on Facebook here.

• And if that is not enough yummy goodness coming to Fuquay-Varina, how about a place that serves ice cream and beer? Yep, looks like someone else has been reading my diary. David McCreary was the first to mention Pints Ice Cream & Beer, and we confirmed it via their Facebook page. It is 100% true! They are located in the former Blanchard’s Plumbing building. Dreams do come true. Keep up with their progress here.

• In Garner, reader Sam Ruby notified us that the Grill 57 that closed now has a sign saying that it will be the new home of Steak ‘n Shake. Get familiar with them here.

• And over in Knightdale, this coming Monday (May 7^th) ground will be broken in a ceremony beginning at 10:30 a.m. for Prime Barbecue at 403 Knightdale Station Run. Champion pitmaster Christopher Prieto will be on hand. You can get all the details and start getting familiar with them on their website here.

Durham, Orange & Chatham Restaurant News

• Saw on the Chapelboro website that we now know what is replacing Franklin Street’s legendary Spanky’s – Lula’s. It’s going to be a Southern restaurant – really good fried chicken and porkchops and short ribs and farm-to-table vegetables, freshly squeezed lemonade, homemade biscuits and mint juleps according to Greg Overbeck, one of the owners of Chapel Hill Restaurant Group. No word yet on a timeline. Check out the Chapel Hill Restaurant Group here.

• Don’t forget – this weekend is the grand opening of Vecino Brewing Company in Carrboro. Today is $4 Vecino pints and $1 off guest taps all day. Saturday brings us half-priced selected appetizers and small plates. And Sunday enjoy $5 sandwich specials. Get all the details on their Facebook event page here.

 

Closings

• None to report. Keep eating local, folks!

Food Trucks

• The Knightdale Food Truck Thursdays went back into full swing this month. Trucks will be on hand for lunch and dinner each Thursday at the Knightdale Station Park. Get a full schedule and truck listing on their website here. Thanks to Mark Ginsberg for the heads up.

• The dates have been set for the Durham Central Park Food Truck Rodeo and Downtown Raleigh Food Truck Rodeos. Check out Durham here and Raleigh here. The first Raleigh rodeo is THIS weekend on Sunday, May 6th from 12-6 p.m.

• Two great sites to keep up with your favorite food trucks. Street Food Finder is one – find it here. And another, aptly named, is Roaming Hunger – find it here.

Events

• May 5^th is the date for West Cary’s very own Fest in the West, a festival featuring food, beer, crafts, music and a kids’ zone. It will take place from 11 a.m. until 5 p.m. at the USA Baseball Training Complex at 7445 Green Hope School Road. Get all the details here.

• Get your tickets now for Thrive NC, set to take place at downtown Raleigh’s City Market on May 10-11. All ticket sale proceeds will be donated to North Carolina nonprofits that address issues related to food insecurity. Attendees will help determine which nonprofits receive funding from ticket sales. The two-day event will highlight the fact that 1.5 million people in the state struggle to buy affordable and fresh foods. A highlight of the event will be a two-day food festival featuring top chefs from 50 North Carolina restaurants serving food and drink samples against a backdrop of live music each night. Keep up with the details as they unfold here.

• Beer and Bacon Fest. May 19^th. Cary. Not much else needs to be said. Check it out here.

• Also on May 19^th is the Durham Blues & Brews Festival. What started as a rockin’ good time has become a Durham tradition, filled with music, food, and outstanding craft beer! This isn’t a Beer Fest with music, or a Blues Fest with beer. It’s a new type of event offering great Blues music and only North Carolina craft beers. The brewers will be on site to tell you about their breweries and beers. Serving full 12 oz. pours for you to enjoy while learning about their beers, and listening to great blues bands. Proceeds from the festival benefit local Durham charities and programs, including the Exchange Family Center, a Durham-based non-profit agency dedicated to preventing child abuse. Get all the details and tickets here. Use code “TFB5” to get $5 off!

• And the 2018 version of Farm to Fork expanded to three events over several seasons and tickets to all three just went on sale. The fun begins with the first event on June 3, the perennial favorite Farm to Fork Picnic, where the area’s best farmers and chefs are paired. Then on September 16 they’ll host a pop-up dinner featuring Jacob Boehm of Snap Pea Underground & Catering. And the series will conclude on December 6th with John T. Edge and a celebration of Southern food on Chapel Hill’s Lavender Oak Farm. You can buy ticket to each individual event, or all three. Get tickets and all the details on their site here.

• The 2018 version of Chefs for Change, a fundraising dinner series that pairs the burgeoning Durham food scene with the needs of families experiencing homelessness, is well underway. The first two events (featuring Charlie Deal on March 12 and Scott Howell on May 14) have sold out. And if last year is any indication, the next two dinners will sell out quickly. The July 9th event features Phoebe Lawless (The Lakewood and Scratch) and the September 10^th event features Gocciolina’s Aaron Benjamin. Each night the chef will serve three or more courses at a ticketed dinner with the proceeds benefiting Families Moving Forward. The dinners are held at the Rickhouse and limited to 125 people. Get all the details and tickets here.

• And finally, listen up chefs! The NCRLA Chef Showdown is an annual statewide culinary competition sponsored by the NC Department of Ag. It’s a culinary competition open to chefs (savory and pastry) across the state. There are three regional semi-finalist rounds (New Bern May 22, Hickory June 4 and Raleigh, June 25) that will result in a final competition on Monday, Aug 27 in Charlotte. The final event is in conjunction with the first night of the industry’s Restaurant & Hotel Expo. Chefs can apply to compete now – May 9. Get all the information you need here.

Food Bank Corner

• Next Saturday, May 12th, is “Stamp Out Hunger” where you can place nonperishable food donations in a bag by your mailbox and your letter carrier will take care of the rest. Get all the details here. Don’t want to leave food out? You can still help the cause by donating via our Virtual Food Drive. Get details on that here.

Triangle Restaurant News

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

Featured Restaurant News

• A new deli snuck in under our radar over in Durham. Thanks to the folks over at Taste Carolina, we now know that Cure Delicatessen & Cafe has opened over off Highway 54 near the intersection with Fayetteville Road (245 Hwy. 54 to be exact). The chef and proprietor is Matt Butler who had stints at Ruth’s Chris, Watts Grocery and The Great Room at Top of the Hill. They specialize in house cured, roasted and smoked meats for breakfast and lunch. Check them out here.

Wake County Restaurant News

• Last week we told you about Bu.ku in Wake Forest opening last Friday. This week WRAL shared the news that the lease in the original downtown location (ground floor of the Red Hat building) was due to end this month, but has been extended through the beginning of next year. And, yes, they are actively seeking a downtown location to move into when this lease extension is up. So if you know of anything…Thanks to reader Elizabeth Allen who originally brought this to our attention. Stay in touch with Bu.ku here.

• Also in downtown Raleigh, saw on the ITB Insider that Cold Off The Press has opened at 416 W. South Street offering you optimum nutrition through nutritionally dense whole-foods products – like cold-pressed organic juices, coconut based bowls, smoothies, coffee, powersnacks and specialty beverages. Check them out here.

• Over off Wake Forest Road, in what is now being referred to as Midtown East (near Trader Joe’s), the developer of the Wegman’s site announced some of the other tenants on the way, including two restaurants. Maple Street Biscuit Company, a Florida restaurant chain, was one. And Cava, a Mediterranean restaurant from Washington, D.C. On a side note, Cava will also be going into Village Plaza shopping center in Chapel Hill. Get familiar with Maple Street Biscuit Company here and Cava here.

• Looks like the Buffalo Brothers Pizza & Wing Co. soft opening on April 27 over in Cary’s Salt Box Village has been delayed until May 5. Stay tuned and keep up with Buffalo Brothers here.

• Over in Morrisville, reader Prashant Pai notified us that he saw signage for Hi Poke going up next to Alpaca at 9575 Chapel Hill Road in the Park Place shopping center. We couldn’t find a definitive web presence, but we will keep an eye on it.

• And up in Wake Forest, saw on Twitter this week that the latest edition of Freddy’s Frozen Custard and Steakburgers is coming to 11708 Retail Drive, near the intersection of Hwy. 98 and Capital Blvd. No word yet on an exact open date. Get familiar with Freddy’s here.

Durham, Orange & Chatham Restaurant News

• Looks like Chapel Hill is not going to be outdone by food halls in surrounding cities. Chapel Hill is on board to open Blue Dogwood Public Market later this spring / early summer just off Franklin Street. The venue will host 12 permanent food vendors. Keep up with their latest and their pending opening by visiting their website here.

• Also in Chapel Hill, saw in the Daily Tar Heel that Frutta Bowls recently opened on April 14 at 140 W. Franklin Street, dishing out a variety of smoothies and bowls. Get familiar with them here.

Closings

• None to report. Keep eating local, folks!

Food Trucks

• The Knightdale Food Truck Thursdays went back into full swing this month. Trucks will be on hand for lunch and dinner each Thursday at the Knightdale Station Park. Get a full schedule and truck listing on their website here. Thanks to Mark Ginsberg for the heads up.

• The dates have been set for the Durham Central Park Food Truck Rodeo and Downtown Raleigh Food Truck Rodeos. Check out Durham here and Raleigh here. The first Raleigh rodeo is the first weekend in May (i.e. next weekend) on Sunday, May 6th.

• Two great sites to keep up with your favorite food trucks. Street Food Finder is one – find it here. And another, aptly named, is Roaming Hunger – find it here.

Events

• North Carolina’s largest craft beer festival, Brewgaloo Beer Festival, returns to downtown Raleigh THIS Friday and Saturday, April 27 and 28th. The weekend kicks off TONIGHT with the Friday Night Block Party from 6-10 p.m. Tickets to the block party are $45 (all you can sample!), but my readers can get them for $35 using the code “IKnowTheBrewer”. Get all the details and purchase tickets here.

• This Saturday, April 28^th from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. is the 25^th Annual Spring Daze Festival at Bond Park in Cary. It features over 170 North Carolina artists, entertainment on four stages, delicious festival food, and Cary’s annual Earth Day Celebration. But what’s most important to us is the food, so here is a link to the food portion of the day.

• May 5^th is the date for West Cary’s very own Fest in the West, a festival featuring food, beer, crafts, music and a kids’ zone. It will take place from 11 a.m. until 5 p.m. at the USA Baseball Training Complex at 7445 Green Hope School Road. Get all the details here.

• This will be a cool experience. Chef/owner Sean Fowler of Mandolin in Raleigh will host a dinner on his family’s farm (truly farm to table) on May 6 at 5:30pm. Guests will enjoy a farm-guided tour during cocktail hour, with hors d’oeuvres, followed by a wine-paired family-style meal featuring eggs and produce from his chicken coops and surrounding gardens at his childhood home at Mandolin Farm. Get familiar with the farm here.

• Want to enjoy food perfectly paired with some of the areas best brews amongst lions and tigers and bears…oh my? Well, maybe not bears, but lynxes and lemurs? Get tickets to the Conservators Center’s Lions, Tigers and Beer event to be held on May 4 from 6 to 8:30 p.m. The event will feature six food and beer pairings from local chefs and breweries, as well as a walking tour. All proceeds from the event go to the Animal Care Fund at the Conservators Center. But hurry, only 80 tickets will be sold – $100 each or two for $180. Get them here.

•  Tickets have gone on sale for Thrive NC set to take place at downtown Raleigh’s City Market on May 10-11. All ticket sale proceeds will be donated to North Carolina nonprofits that address issues related to food insecurity. Attendees will help determine which nonprofits receive funding from ticket sales. The two-day event will highlight the fact that 1.5 million people in the state struggle to buy affordable and fresh foods. A highlight of the event will be a two-day food festival featuring top chefs from 50 North Carolina restaurants serving food and drink samples against a backdrop of live music each night. Keep up with the details as they unfold here.

• Beer and Bacon Fest. May 19^th. Cary. Not much else needs to be said. Check it out here.

• And the 2018 version of Farm to Fork expanded to three events over several seasons and tickets to all three just went on sale. The fun begins with the first event on June 3, the perennial favorite Farm to Fork Picnic, where the area’s best farmers and chefs are paired. Then on September 16 they’ll host a pop-up dinner featuring Jacob Boehm of Snap Pea Underground & Catering. And the series will conclude on December 6th with John T. Edge and a celebration of Southern food on Chapel Hill’s Lavender Oak Farm. You can buy ticket to each individual event, or all three. Get tickets and all the details on their site here.

• The 2018 version of Chefs for Change, a fundraising dinner series that pairs the burgeoning Durham food scene with the needs of families experiencing homelessness, is well underway. The first two events (featuring Charlie Deal on March 12 and Scott Howell on May 14) have sold out. And if last year is any indication, the next two dinners will sell out quickly. The July 9th event features Phoebe Lawless (The Lakewood and Scratch) and the September 10^th event features Gocciolina’s Aaron Benjamin. Each night the chef will serve three or more courses at a ticketed dinner with the proceeds benefiting Families Moving Forward. The dinners are held at the Rickhouse and limited to 125 people. Get all the details and tickets here.

Food Bank Corner

• Double Your Impact! Right now, you can make twice the difference for children and families facing hunger. Friends of the Food Bank of Central & Eastern North Carolina will match every gift – up to $66,000 – until April 30.  For every $10 you give, the Food Bank can provide 100 meals! Donate now!