Friday Fun Food Facts – July 24, 2015

Triangle Restaurant News

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

It was announced this week that tickets have gone on sale for one of the biggest foodie events around – the TerraVita Food & Drink Festival, which will be held in Chapel Hill October 8-10. It simply can’t be missed. Get details on all the events around this festival here.

Rise Biscuits & Donuts is on the move again according to WRAL. With full attention focused on opening franchise locations, they announced this week that another deal has been secured for north Raleigh’s Sutton Square at 6325 Falls of the Neuse Road. This will be the 4th Triangle location following the original location in Durham, the Morrisville location in Park West Village (scheduled to open any day now) and the location in Raleigh’s Cameron Village. Each location will have “pop-up” tastings (visit their Facebook pages to find out times on these). Get more information on Rise here.

Get ready north Raleigh to loosen the old belt a few notches. The Triangle Business Journal gave us an update this week noting that the second location of Big Ed’s is a matter of days away from opening. They noted that the location in the Quail Corners shopping center is finishing up “minor details” inside the space and is targeted to open at “the end of the month or right around the first of August,” according to Sam Hobgood. They also noted that this location would also be open for dinner. Check them out here.

Also in north Raleigh, the News & Observer reported this week that Farina opened over the weekend in the former Paparazzi space in Lafayette Village. The new restaurant, like its predecessor in the space, is Italian. They are open nightly and serve brunch on Sunday. Get all the details here.

The News & Observer reported this week that Cary is about to get another Indian restaurant – Kababish Café. It is located at 201 W. Chatham Street in the former UnVine’d wine bar space in Olde Cary Commons. They are scheduled to open today, but check in with them first before going. Get all the details here.

Got an update on the area’s first MOD Pizza. They are now scheduled to open the first week of August at 2071 W. Millbrook Road (corner of Millbrook and Creedmoor) in north Raleigh. Get all the details and a sneak peek here.

In other pizza news, Marco’s Pizza in Clayton has just opened and will hold their Grand Opening celebration on Sunday, July 26th from 4-7 p.m. with free pizza trials, refreshments, pizza giveaways, a DJ, martial arts demonstrations, the fire department and more. Check them out there.

And in this week’s “Wouldn’t That Be Great” column we made note that the folks over at Larry’s Beans put up a photo of the old Helios building on Glenwood South and wrote, “Wouldn’t this be a great spot for a coffee bar?” Not sure if they are giving us a hint there, or hoping someone will move into that spot soon. Needless to say, we will keep an eye on this one. Here was their actual post on Facebook.

The News & Observer reported this week that Matt Fox, Jeremy Blankenship and Dean James (the folks behind The Wooden Nickel Pub, Hillsborough BBQ Co., and La Place) will be opening a new sandwich shop called Bona Fide Sandwich Co., which they plan to open in the fall in downtown Hillsborough at 104 N. Churton Street. You can check them out on Facebook here.

Got great news this week that Hernan Moyano, his brother Santiago and Ricky Yofre will be opening a brick & mortar location of Makus Empanadas in the Hope Valley shopping center in Durham. Up until this point they have been doing catering around the Triangle. Look for the location to open this fall. Get more information on Makus here.

WRAL reported this week that Northgate Mall announced the opening of Randy’s Pizza Express in their food court. Next month will mark the 20th anniversary of Randy’s Pizza, which now has eight locations throughout the Triangle. Get more information on Randy’s here.

Got word from David McCreary that Mt. Fuji Hibachi & Sushi restaurant at 1311 E. Broad St. in Fuquay-Varina has closed its doors.

The expanded Chatham Street Chowdown food truck rally in downtown Cary is tomorrow (July 26th)! The town announced there will be 27 food trucks at the next event, that’s up from the 15 trucks that spread out along West Chatham Street in April. Get all the details here.

And go ahead and mark your calendar for the next two big food truck rodeo’s in downtown Raleigh and downtown Durham. Raleigh’s next rally will be in the evening (4-9 p.m.) on Sunday, August 9th and Durham’s will be Labor Day weekend (September 6th).

For a listing of ALL food truck events, head over to Art’s page, The Wandering Sheppard on all things food truck related here.

Got word from my friend John Huisman (aka Triangle Explorer) that tickets are on sale now for Beericana, a craft beer & music festival in Holly Springs on September 12. Beericana is in its second year and all signs point to it being even better than last year. The festival will feature over 60 breweries from across the state and beyond, more food trucks than last year with at least 20 trucks. General admission tickets are $45 and VIP tickets are $75. Get all the details and information on tickets here.

I often find myself in a pickle, but I’ve never been to a “pickle” event. You? Now’s your chance as The Rickhouse on Foster Street in Durham will host PickleFest Durham this Saturday (July 25th) from noon until 3 p.m. The event is free and will bring together the areas pickle makers and enthusiasts along with restaurants, food trucks, food bloggers, farmers and canners and the N&O’s Andrea Weigl (author of Pickles & Preserves). Get all the details on their Facebook event page here.

The Beer, Bourbon and BBQ Festival is back again this year at Cary’s Koka Booth Amphitheatre July 31 through August 1. I think the title of this event gives you a pretty good idea of what it is all about, but if you need more details, check them out here.

Kimbap’s Kim Hunter is hosting a three-course dinner with beer and wine pairings on Monday, August 3rd at 4:30 p.m. to benefit In Good Heart Farm in Clayton. Get all the details and purchase tickets here.

Go ahead and mark your calendar for Downtown Raleigh Restaurant Week, which will be held August 17th – Sunday, August 23rd. It has expanded this year to include lunch menus and a Do-It-Yourself Progressive Dinner option. This option will encourage patrons to visit a different restaurant for each course on a tantalizing tour of downtown dining. Participating dining establishments will offer three-course prix fixe dinners for either $20 or $30 per person, $5 or $10 lunch menus, and/or a special appetizer, entrée, or dessert for the Progressive Dinner option, depending on the venue. Get all the details here.

We have less than two weeks of our summer campaign to provide 3.2 million meals to children and their families during the summer. For 300,000 kids in our region, no school means no meals. Let’s #StopSummerHunger together! Get more information or donate now.