Triangle Restaurant News
Triangle restaurant news…that not everyone knows. Impress your co-workers at the water cooler.
Featured Restaurant News
- Mark your calendar for next week’s Downtown Raleigh Restaurant Week (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.
Wake County Restaurant News
- I am proud to announce that my friend Vaughn Williams, owner of Urbana Catering Concepts, has bought out Holly’s on Hargett. It will continue to operate as Holly’s for the next three weeks, before Williams converts it to Notte | Urbana in September. Williams describes the concept as urban inspired Italian. Yumm!!! Congrats to Chef Vaughn! More details to follow.
- The Triangle Business Journal reported this week is that the Hibernian Irish Pub & Restaurant in Cary will close its doors after business tomorrow (August 15th) after receiving an offer on the building they couldn’t refuse. Moving in will be the Triangle’s first location of Newk’s Eatery. Look for Newk’s to open in late November. But don’t fret too much Cary, Hibernian is exploring multiple location options for a new location in downtown Cary. In the meantime, check out Newk’s here.
- Want to be one of the first ones to dine at Scott Crawford’s Standard Foods? Sign up to be there on August 30th as he welcomes author and James Beard Award winning chef Hugh Acheson for a special evening. Get all the details here.
- Thanks to a tip from WRAL, we learned that SmallCakes this week opened their second Triangle-area location in the Parkside Town Commons in Cary (1132 Parkside Main Street to be exact). Check them out here.
- The café in the ground floor of The Atrium building across from Rex Hospital will have a new tenant on Monday. Food truck KocinA Grill will begin operating their brick-and-mortar location there beginning this Monday according to the News & Observer. That location was most recently occupied by The Atrium Grille. Check out KocinA Grill here.
- Over in Cary, the Triangle’s newest location of The Egg & I announced their grand opening date of August 31st. They will have a “training” day on August 30th (reservations are required and donations to The Carying Place are appreciated). Get all the details here.
- And we have the official open date for the first franchise location of Rise Donuts and Biscuits. It will open on August 22nd in the Park West Village in Morrisville. Check them out of Facebook here.
- Saw in a tweet from Diane Pisano that Cary will get the first location of Ledo Pizza in Preston Corners. Ledo is known in the Northern Virginia and Maryland areas for their square pizzas. Check them out here.
- Got a tweet from Kathleen Donnelly that the space formerly occupied by Ciago’s (522 St. Mary’s Street in downtown Raleigh) will be replaced by a place called My Way Tavern. I can only assume it is linked to the My Way Tavern in Holly Springs. We will keep an eye on it.
- Belgian-Filippo’s, a Belgian eatery and beer bar, is scheduled to open tomorrow, August 15th in the former Quality Grocery space at 701 E. Lane Street in downtown Raleigh. Check them out on Facebook here.
- Also opening tomorrow is JoCo’s Gourmet Dawgs & Shakes in North Raleigh’s Lafayette Village at 4 p.m. Check out Lafayette Village here.
- Got word through WRAL this week that Kababish Café is currently having a soft opening (open with a full menu), but their grand opening hasn’t been announced yet. It is located at 201 W. Chatham Street in the former UnVine’d Wine Bar space in Olde Cary Commons. Check them out here.
- Another slight change in the official opening date for MOD Pizza in Raleigh – Monday, August 17th (a day earlier than previously reported). And the coolest thing? 100% of sales on that day will be donated to the Food Bank of Central & Eastern North Carolina. Check out their Facebook page here.
- Thanks to reader Deborah Copeland who tipped us off to the fact that Gooey’s American Grille is opening soon in Wake Forest (950 Gateway Commons Circle). They are going in the location formerly occupied by Fire Pit. As the name implies, they are a gourmet grilled cheese restaurant featuring soups, salads and the soon to be famous s’mores grilled donut. Check them out on Twitter here.
Durham, Orange & Chatham County Restaurant News
- The big news in Durham this week is bitter sweet (pun intended). We got word from Carpe Durham that DaisyCakes will be closing their doors on August 21st, but will be replaced by Durham’s next location of Rise Biscuits and Donuts (401A Foster Street). Our best to Tanya Matta as she looks to open a dessert tasting room somewhere in downtown Durham.
- And the other news out of Rise is that they announced a 6th Triangle area location this week. This location will be in Carrboro at 300 E. Main Street. That is the building anchored by the Hampton Inn & Suites.
- Over in Chapel Hill, WRAL reported this week that food truck Captain Ponchos has announced the opening date of August 27th for their brick-and-mortar location in Chapel Hill’s Southern Village. Visit their site here.
Closings
- None to report. Keep eating local, folks!
Food Trucks
- Learned this week that the folks over at Panther Creek High School will host a movie night and food truck rodeo (6 trucks) on Friday, August 21st from 6-10 p.m. Get all the details on their Facebook event page here.
- Mark your calendar to be in Durham for Labor Day Weekend (September 6th) for their huge food truck rodeo at Durham Central Park. This one will be from noon until 4 p.m. Get all the details here.
- For a listing of ALL food truck events, head over to Art’s page, The Wandering Sheppard on all things food truck related here.
Events
- In my “great articles to read” pile, Andrea Weigl has put together a fantastic summary of the many “food celebrities” that are making their way to the Triangle over the next few weeks. If you are a “foodie” you will want to set aside some time to read this article. Great job Andrea!
- 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.
- Carrboro Coffee Roasters reminded me of their next Barista Bash coming up on August 20th, with the competition beginning at 7:30 p.m. at their Pop-up Coffee Bar at Golden Belt (807 E. Main Street) in downtown Durham. The event is free and open to the public and limited to 24 baristas. Get more details 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.
- Speaking of beer, join the brewers of Wake County at the NC Museum of Natural Sciences in downtown Raleigh on August 21st at 7 p.m. ($30; $25 for members) for a one-of-a-kind evening of beer and science. At the sampling session, a dozen brewers will offer unique creations fitting the Museum’s natural science focus. Sit in on discussions about fermentation, flavors and the engineering of beer. Get all the details here. Thanks to Deborah Copeland for the tip on this event.
- Midtown Grille executive chef Benjamin Harris came to Raleigh from Charleston, South Carolina. So the recent events there hit pretty close to home. So on Sunday, August 23rd he will host a chef collaboration event called North Cooks South to raise money for the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston. Joining Harris will be Charleston’s Daniel Doyle (Poogan’s Porch), Charlotte’s Chris Coleman (The Asbury/Dunhill Hotel) and Raleigh’s Scott James (executive sous chef at The Angus Barn). The $150 dinner is limited to 100 people. Get more information and tickets here.
- You’ll want to go ahead and mark your calendar for the 2nd Annual Triangle Oktoberfest coming to Cary’s Koka Booth Amphitheatre on October 3rd and 4th. There will be some great authentic German fare as well as some amazing breweries. Get all the details here.
- And if you are into eating healthier, you might want to go ahead and get this event on your calendar – the 2015 Triangle Vegfest which will be held at Moore Square and City Market in downtown Raleigh on Saturday, October 17th from noon until 5 p.m. Get all the details here.
Food Bank Corner
- The Food Bank of Eastern & Central North Carolina is thrilled to share that the long-awaited virtual food drive platform is now live! By following a few simple steps, anyone with a computer and an internet connection can create a personal page. Friends and family can browse through virtual grocery aisles, add items to a shopping cart, and check out by making a monetary donation. You can even add some competition and set up a team! You can browse the platform now.
