Triangle Restaurant News
Triangle restaurant news…that not everyone knows. Impress your co-workers at the water cooler.
Featured Restaurant News
- It is rare that a restaurant gets to celebrate 85 years in business. It is equally rare for it to remain in the same family for those same 85 years. Such is the case today, May 1, as downtown Raleigh’s Mecca Restaurant celebrates that milestone – an establishment the Dombalis family has owned since 1930. Here is a great write-up in the News & Observer. Congratulations!
Wake County Restaurant News
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Today at 11 a.m. Kamado Grille will officially swing open their doors. There is little doubt this is one of the most anticipated, and sure to be one of the most unique, dining experiences in Raleigh. Your meals are prepared on highly efficient lump charcoal-burning ceramic grills – 15 in all – and they’ll take your order via iPads while serving lunch and dinner every day except Sunday. Take a peek at their operation here.
- Our friends over at New Raleigh tipped us off to the fact that Treat, a new ice cream shop in downtown Raleigh’s City Market, is opening today (May 1st). The ice cream shop, which serves Orange County’s Maple View Ice Cream, is located at 305 S. Blount Street next to Woody’s. Today they will have 50% off all regular cones and cups all day, as well as free mini-cones from 6-9pm during First Friday! Check them out here.
- Got word yesterday that The Egg & I Restaurant is set to open their second Triangle area location later this summer. This location will be near Crossroads Shopping Center in Cary across from REI. Like their sister location in Chapel Hill, they will serve breakfast and lunch. Congratulations to Teresa Pace and Cole Harris! Get more information on The Egg & I on their Facebook page here.
- Not sure how I missed this, but I saw on The Raleigh Connoisseur blog (put out by Leo Suarez) that a restaurant called Provenance is planned for inside the Skyhouse Apartment building at 308 S. Blount Street in downtown Raleigh. Teddy Klopf is the executive chef. No word yet on an open date. Keep up with their progress on their Facebook page here.
- A big congratulations to Hibernian Irish Pub & Restaurant as they celebrate 15 years of their downtown Raleigh location at 311 Glenwood Avenue. They are shutting down the street and holding a block party on Saturday, May 2nd (that’s tomorrow!) from noon until 11 p.m. Stop by and join in on the festivities. Get more details here.
- Joseph Wells told us that it looks like a second location of Tropical PIcken Chicken, a Caribbean restaurant, is opening at the corner of Six Forks and Wake Forest Road in Raleigh in the former Pronto Pasta location. Check them out on Facebook here.
- And new neighborhood communities don’t normally make my blog. But when the community includes a new coffee shop they do! And that is the case with Wendell Falls in Wendell that will have its very own coffee shop – called Grounds Cafe – as of May 16th. As part of the café (and neighborhood) grand opening, they’ll also have a “barn raising” celebration feature southern dishes by Farmers Table, Big Boss craft beer and new gourmet coffees from Grounds Café. Stop by on May 16th from 12 – 6 p.m. Get all the details here.
Durham, Orange & Chatham County Restaurant News
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My friends over at Cranky Diners turned me onto the fact that a new shop called Purple Monkey Boba Tea and Ice Cream is opening over in Durham on University Drive (4015 University Drive to be exact). Check out their Facebook page here.
- The Triangle Business Journal reported this week that Carolina Glazed Doughnuts is coming to the Imperial Center Business Park off Page Road in south Durham at 5400 S. Miami Blvd. It is owned by Kresna Huon and they are targeting a June opening. You can keep up with them on Facebook here.
- The Triangle Business Journal is also reporting that The Heritage Grill, located in northeastern Durham County near Falls Lake, has reopened under new management. You can learn more about them and their daily specials on their Facebook page here.
Closings
- No closings to report! Keeping eating local, folks!
Food Trucks
- Thanks to a reminder from John Huisman (aka The Triangle Explorer), – the 35th Annual Meet in the Street festival will take place tomorrow (Saturday, May 2), beginning at 10 am in historic downtown Wake Forest. Meet in the Street offers a day filled with food, fun and entertainment, including live music and children’s activities. Admission is free. Also be on the look out for the debut of a new Lobster Food Truck – Cousins Maine Lobster. All the details are here.
- The Downtown Raleigh Food Truck Rodeo Series (4 total for 2015) kicks off this weekend (Sunday, May 3rd from 1-6 p.m.). It makes my mouth water to envision the entire length of Fayetteville Street lined with food trucks! Get the full schedule and truck list here.
- With a little divine intervention, it looks like Chapel Hill is going to have a food truck rodeo of its own – and to benefit a great cause. On Saturday, May 16th from 3 to 7 p.m. Orange United Methodist Church on MLK Blvd (at the intersection with Homestead Road) is going to have at least 10 food trucks and tons of other events all to benefit TABLE, which provides healthy, emergency food to hungry children in Chapel Hill and Carrboro. Get all the details here.
- The next Wake Forest Food Truck Rodeo is coming up on May 17th. It is located at 419 Brooks Street at the Over The Falls Shopping Center and runs from 12 to 4 p.m. Check out their Facebook page here.
- Food Trucks and Flowers – sounds like a great, and fun, combination. The third annual Fairview Garden Center Flora and Food Trucks series will feature the Triangle’s most popular and delicious food trucks. These events will take place on spring Saturdays, March 28 through May 23, 11:30 a.m. until 2:30 p.m. at 8224 Holly Springs Rd. in Raleigh, North Carolina. Get all the details here.
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For a listing of ALL food truck events, head over to Art’s page, The Wandering Sheppard, to get all things food truck related – rodeos, truck lists, features, etc. Check it out here.
Events
- Thanks to a tip from James Barnett, I got word that the inaugural Read Local Book Festival (with the tag line: Shop Local. Eat Local. Read Local) is coming up May 15-17, and features several food-related activities. The Friday night event (6-8 p.m.) features James Beard Award Semi-Finalist Chef Lionel Vatinet. And the Saturday night event features 4-5 course dinners at The Pit, Little Dipper and Basan. Get all the details and tickets here.
- The good folks over at Ninth Street Bakery are bringing back their extremely popular Vegan Brunch. It kicks off again on Saturday, May 24th from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at their downtown Durham location. Get all the details and menu here.
- Tickets went on sale recently for one of my favorite events of the year (a weekend of events really) – Farm to Fork – which will take place this year Friday, June 5th through Sunday, June 7th. Get tickets and all the details here.
- The dates are set for one of my other favorite food events of the year – the TerraVita Food & Drink Festival held in Chapel Hill every year. It simply can’t be missed. Go ahead and start setting aside your money for the tickets – they go on sale the middle of this month. Take a look at all the initial details here.
Food Bank Corner
- Did you know that the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina plans to distribute between 50 and 52 million pounds of food this year? That’s more than 140,000 meals a day! They expect their fleet of 19 trucks to travel over 500,000 miles to serve their 800 partner agencies and maximize their food donor partnerships. To do that, they are aiming to raise over $8 million in revenue and work with over 15,000 volunteers to keep the Food Bank running and expand service where possible. Want to see a list of upcoming “foodie” events that you can attend AND help the Food Bank? Check it out here.
