TRIANGLE FOOD BLOG

Support Our Local Restaurants – Here’s How

All –

As you can imagine, this is going to be a bumpy road for our local restaurants.   You are probably reading this because like so many others, you LOVE our local dining scene. Now is not the time to forget how incredibly lucky we are. This is also not the time to forget those people that work in the restaurant industry that are the life and soul of our community.

There is nothing that warms the soul like a great meal and a tasty libation. 

So now more than EVER, they need your help and support.   Here are some ideas:

1) If you are not comfortable dining in, consider ordering takeout. You love their food – just swing by and pick it up! Most restaurants allow you to order and pay online as well, but even if they don’t, I bet you can pay over the phone with a CC and be in and out in a jiffy. I have also seen many restaurants offering curbside delivery – call when you arrive and they will bring it out to you so you don’t even have to get out of your car!

2) Follow your favorite restaurant’s social media. I’m seeing lots of creative options like 1/2 price bottles of wine and prepared/frozen dishes becoming available. Additionally, a lot of restaurants are spreading their tables out (more distance between tables) and even moving some of their tables outside if they don’t already offer outside dining. Additionally, think about your restaurants that already have outside patios – warm weather is arriving! Great ideas! Check in on your favorite social media sites. Or just call!  

3) Buy gift cards that you can use later. I love this idea! (Thanks Carrie Brogren and Chapel Hill Carrboro Foodies) Help them over the short-term hump. Buy the gift cards now, they get to enjoy the “cash advance” during this difficult time, and then after we get beyond this, you get to enjoy a fabulous meal (or two, or three)! A win, win!   Even better, go ahead and get ALL your holiday shopping done NOW! Who doesn’t love a restaurant gift card as a gift? That’s a win, win, win! For many restaurants, you can do this online – even better!

4) Perhaps most importantly, while carrying out any of these ideas, please consider larger than normal tips!! For many, many people this is their livelihood. Don’t forget our servers, bartenders, dishwashers, and other front and back of the house support staff. They are working harder than ever now to take precautions to the extreme to keep you safe. They need us in an unprecedented moment like this.

5) And finally, if you are a restaurant owner and are doing something creative during this time, please share it with me at [email protected] and I will share it with those that follow me – via Twitter and Facebook. Don’t worry about what format, just get it to me and I will sort it out and share it! If you are a reader, be sure you are following me on social media @TriangleFoodGuy.

Thanks so much to all. Together – being smart, vigilant, compassionate and calm – we will get through this. Together.

My best,  Sean Lennard, aka Triangle Food Guy

Food Bank Corner

• Also, don’t forget the great work of the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina and the people they serve during this time. The Food Bank is assessing what their agencies and the people they support will need, and working to keep their partner agencies (the pantries, soup kitchens, and shelters who serve people) stocked with food and supplies. We are also taking extra precautions around food safety and hygiene. Consider an online donation today! 

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

Featured Restaurant News

• Twitter pal @Burgeoningbaker pointed me to the One Raleigh website that shared the news that Caroline Morrison of Fiction Kitchen and Kim Hammer of Bittersweet are joining forces to introduce a gourmet, plant-based dining experience called the Askew House at 110 Glenwood Ave., in a house formerly best known to N.C. State Design School students and art lovers as Askew-Taylor Paints (don’t freak out, Fiction Kitchen and Bittersweet aren’t going anywhere, both will continue to operate). This will be a 100% vegetarian kitchen with considerable vegan offerings. Askew House is slated to open summer 2020 and will provide two floors of dining with a variety of spaces available for rental. Read more on the One Raleigh website here.

Wake County Restaurant News

• In downtown Raleigh we are just days away from the opening of the hotel Origin Raleigh at 603 W. Morgan Street (March 16th to be exact). And this week they announced that Stephen Alsop has been appointed as executive chef of the onsite restaurant Good Day Good Night. Get familiar with the restaurant here.

• Also in downtown Raleigh, reader Sarah Armstrong shared the news that signage is now in the windows of the former Brew location indicating that Hunky Dory out of Durham, featuring records, beer and dankness will soon occupy that space. Visit their store in Durham here.

• Over in Cary, Michael DePersia of National Restaurant Properties, shared with us that Ashlyn Smith of Spicy Green Gourmet Cafe and Catering has purchased Green Planet Catering and plans to operate business as usual, continuing on with Daniel Whitaker’s vision of offering a sustainable catering platform to businesses, venues, schools, wedding’s etc. around the triangle. Visit Green Planet here and Spicy Green here.

• David McCreary shared with us that FuQuay Brus, a new coffee shop/bakery/wine and spirits joint is scheduled to open for business this Saturday at 400 Broad Street in Fuquay-Varina. Check out their Facebook page here.

• And finally, if you are not familiar with 321 Coffee, you should be. They are a nonprofit coffee shop that provides meaningful work experience to individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Currently 321 operates out of the North Carolina Farmers’ Market (Thursday through Sunday at 1202 Agriculture Street), and they are just $50k short of their fundraising goal of moving into permanent space. They have raised $200k of their $250k goal in just four months! It is heart-warming to see the outpouring of support from not only the coffee community, but the community as a whole. Consider making a donation to this great cause or getting your company behind their efforts. Get all the details here.

Durham, Orange & Chatham Restaurant News

• You heard it here first — we are excited to share the news that Makus Empanadas will be opening another location in Durham, this one at Duke North Hospital at The Atrium Cafeteria and is scheduled to open next Monday, March 9th. Visit Makus here.

• Twitter pal @Burgeoningbaker and WRAL shared the news that Press, a coffee and crepe concept that catalyzed downtown Graham, will open its second restaurant in American Tobacco’s Diamond View III this summer. With a promise of “European Inspired, Carolina made,” the casual eatery will serve a menu of scratchmade, local breakfast, brunch, lunch, and dinner items seven days a week. Press is completely renovating and remodeling the space formerly occupied by The Bullpen in Diamond View III. Get to know them here.

• In Chapel Hill, Carrie Brogren shared with her Chapel Hill Carrboro Foodies Facebook group that March 11-14 will be the soft opening for Hawkers at University Place. The concept gets its name from the Asian Street vendors where you’ll find dumplings with bounce, spicy curries, crisp pork belly, and the list goes on. Get familiar with them here.

Closings

• Reader Thom Shurtleff shared the news that the Subway Restaurant on Kildaire at Cary Parkway, next to the Trader Joes, has closed.

Food Trucks 

• The April Wake Forest Food Truck Rodeo will take place on Sunday, April 5th from 12 to 4 p.m. at the Wake Forest Renaissance Centre at 405 S. Brooks Street. Check out their Facebook events page here.

• If you are enjoying the warmer-than-normal winter as much as I am, you will also sense that the food trucks are warming up as well. And that means food truck rodeos! Durham rolled out their first one already and their next one is next month. Check it out here. And Raleigh rolled out their schedule for the year with the first one in May. Check out Raleigh’s schedule here.

• Here are a  couple of sites to find and stalk your favorite food trucks here and here.

Events

•  On March 14th and 15th the Lebanese Festival returns, but in a new location. This year it will be held at the NC State Fairgrounds in the Kerr Scott Building and will feature Lebanese food, music, dancing, beer, wine, and lots of fun!! This event is free and open to all!! Get all the details on their Facebook events page here.

• Katsuji Tanabe’s Top Chef Dinner Series at High Horse continues! Next up, chef Katsuji Tanabe welcomes celebrity Chef Brother Luck of Four by Brother Luck in Colorado Springs, CO for dinner at High Horse Monday, March 23rd. Reserve for 7pm on RESY. Chef Brother Luck appeared on Food Network as a Chopped finalist and won his episode of Beat Bobby Flay, before starring on the Emmy award winning Bravo’s Top Chef Season 15 and 16 and cooking his way to the Last Chance Kitchen. Visit their Facebook event page here.

• Durham-based Markay Media and UNC-TV will present a special screening of an episode of Somewhere South, a new series featuring award-winning chef Vivian Howard. The premier will take place at the Carolina Theater in Durham on Sunday, March 15 at 4:30 p.m. This celebration will also feature a Q&A with Howard and series director Cynthia Hill and tickets are $15.50. The show premiers at 9 p.m. March 27 on PBS stations nationwide. Get tickets and all the details here.

• This sounds like a lot of fun – the Sisters vs. Sisters Battle on April 2nd that will pit the Sassool Sisters facing off against the Soul-Full Sisters in a family recipe battle like you’ve never tasted before! Noelle and Simone are the sisters that run the three Sassool restaurants in Raleigh and Cary. And Paten and Quinn are sister food bloggers and storytellers who just really love food. The battle pits Lebanese family recipes against Southern home cooking. The event will be held at 1705 East venue (1705 East Millbrook Road in Raleigh) at 6 pm on Thursday, April 2. The battle will benefit the Lucy Daniels Center, which supports programs in children’s mental health. You decide who wins! Get tickets and all the details here.

• The North Carolina ‘Cuegrass Festival is slated this year for Saturday, April 18 and will again be held at and around The Pit at 328 W. Davie St. Visit their website for all the details.

• Lindsey Chester notified us that Fest in the West is back for its fifth year on Saturday, May 2 from 11 am- 5 pm at the USA Baseball National Training Complex in Cary. The event features food & beer, music, arts & crafts, a KidZone, contests and a petting zoo. A great way to spend time with 7,000 of your closest friends. Admission is free! Get all the details here.

• The 5th Annual Raleigh International Food Festival will be held on Saturday, June 6 from noon until 10 p.m. in the 100-200 block of Fayetteville Street in downtown Raleigh. While there you will be able to try authentic international food, desserts as well as  imported beer and wine! There will also be lots of music and entertainment at this child and pet friendly event. Admission is free and parking on the street is as well. Get all the details on their Facebook event page here.

• Certain events have already sold out!!! (Told you!) The Thrive NC Food Festival will return to downtown Raleigh this spring on May 7 and 8. Thrive NC, which held its inaugural festival in 2018, was developed to help raise awareness about food insecurity in the Triangle, where more than 1.5 million North Carolinians struggle with hunger on a daily basis. The first day will include a food summit that delves into ways to address hunger in the state. A service project will be held on the second day involving members of the community in partnership with a local non-profit. Each night includes a food festival with more than 65 local restaurants and beverage purveyors, live entertainment, chef demonstrations and music. Tickets for Thrive NC’s food festivals are $30 each are on sale now!! Get all the details here.

• The 5th Annual International Food Festival will be held on Saturday, June 6 from noon until 10 p.m. in the 100-200 block of Fayetteville Street in downtown Raleigh. While there you will be able to try authentic international food, desserts as well as  imported beer and wine! There will also be lots of music and entertainment at this child and pet friendly event. Admission is free and parking on the street is as well. Get all the details on their Facebook event page here.

Food Bank Corner

• Want to do something for the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina at your office? Forget the hassle of a trip to the grocery store for your next food drive… create a food drive without the heavy lifting using our Virtual Food Drive, and maximize your donation times five! For every $1 donated, the Food Bank can provide FIVE meals! You can make a difference in your community by hosting a Virtual Food Drive for your friends, family members, or coworkers.  Starting a Virtual Food Drive is easy! See how easy here!