Friday Fun Food Facts - September 10, 2010

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

• Listen Up Wolfpack Fans! Looking to do a little tailgating before next Thursday's home game against Cincinnati at 7:30 pm but pressed for time? No worries! Order your tailgating package from The Q Shack and pick it up at the VIP East entrance to the RBC Center anytime from 3 hours up until 1 hour before kick-off (i.e. between 4:30 and 6:30). How easy is that? View the menu here. All you need to do is add a new location to your profile (RBC Center - 1400 Edwards Mill Road, Raleigh, 27607) and you are ready to order...and enjoy a little Wolfpack football and The Q Shack barbecue!
  
  
• Here's a little different "dining" experience for you this Saturday (that your kids will absolutely love!). The NC Museum of Natural Sciences in downtown Raleigh is hosting its annual BugFest, the largest single-day bug-centered event, from 9 am - 7 pm. Featured at the event is Café Insecta where you get your own taste for entomophagy (the practice of eating bugs!). Seriously. Café Insecta opens at 10:30 am and closes when the food runs out! So come early to enjoy buggy dishes prepared by Acro Café, PoshNosh Catering, Spize Café, Locopops, Market Restaurant and Tijuana Flats Burrito Co. Get more information here and here.
  

• The Carrboro's Farmer's Market is hosting one of its most popular events of the year this Saturday - the 8th Annual Chef Event - when local chefs will show you how to spice up the buffet table. This year, seven culinary stars will be sharing their secrets. Adam Cobb of Glass Half Full, Adam Rose of Il Palio, Amy Tornquist of Watts Grocery, Bret Jennings of Elaine's, Kevin Callahan of ACME, and Sheila and Matt Neal from Neal's Deli will participate. The event begins at 9 am tomorrow and will last until the food runs out. Get there early!
  
  
• Not to be outdone, this Saturday evening at 7 pm the Eno River Farmers Market in downtown Hillsborough will host a sit-down dinner at the Market House prepared by market chefs featuring all local ingredients, wine and music. The $40 tickets must be purchased in advance and are available at Saturday's market which is open from 8 am to noon.
  

• In downtown Raleigh, Tookie's Grill closed its doors in Seaboard Station. Owner Marshall "Tookie" Gullie hopes to relocate the Raleigh store to a new location.
  
  
• According to the Durham blog Bull City Rising, the former AnotherThyme space in Durham will become a new restaurant concept called Off Main. The current one-story structure will add a second-story rooftop deck. Plans call for Off Main to be a restaurant, bar and event space. Stay tuned as they move through the approval process. Roof-top concepts have done very well in Raleigh and Chapel Hill. This will be Durham's first roof-top concept.
  

• Rumor has is that when you return to the RBC Center for NC State basketball or Carolina Hurricanes hockey, you'll no longer be able to order up a 100% Black Angus Beef Thickburger from Hardees. Apparently an in "in-house" burger is now available. A quick perusal of the RBC Center website didn't boast the familiar Hardees logo.
  
  
• Chapel Hill is about to get a new barbecue restaurant. Located in the former home of The Barbecue Joint on Weaver Dairy Road, The Pig is opening this week. They are self-described as "bringing regional flavors and local ingredients to the party in your tummy, featuring whole-hog barbecue, cola-braised pork belly sandwiches and Mee-Ma's low-country, house-smoked, chicken-fried tofu."
  
  
• Herons at the Umstead Hotel in Cary reopened this week after a nearly $1 million makeover. I wasn't sure it could get any better! They are now back up and serving breakfast, lunch and dinner.
  
  
• In Raleigh, Mami-Nora's opened in the old Papa Lou's location at 2401 Wake Forest Road, serving rotisserie chicken and items like plantains and yucca fries. The company also has a store at 302 Davidson Ave. in Durham.
  
  
• Frozen yogurt chain FreshBerry will open a second Raleigh store at 2526 Hillsborough St., just four months after opening its first. Unlike the first store on Six Forks Road, this FreshBerry will offer self-service, where customers serve-up their own treats and toppings, paying by the ounce. It will open in late September or early October.
  
  
• A couple of new Asian options hit the Triangle over the past few weeks. If you are looking for a little Japanese influence, head on over to the intersection of 54 and 540 (10970 Chapel Hill Rd.) where Teriyakin' just opened. Teriyakin' is a Japanese BBQ restaurant serving char-grilled beef and chicken and whose concept comes from the yatai style cooking usually found in festivals or "Matsuri" across Japan.
  
  
• And over in Cary, Yuri Japanese Restaurant opened in the Shoppes of Kildaire (near Trader Joe's at 1361 Kildaire Farm Rd.). Billed as the place for Sushi enthusiasts and beginners of Japanese cuisine, here are a couple of coupons to encourage you to stop by.
  
  
• Also in Cary, Cafe Caturra opened its second Triangle location in Stone Creek Village (600 Ledge Stone Way). The other Triangle location is in Cameron Village. The concept behind Café Caturra is a place you want to be all day - fresh roasted coffee in the morning, high quality food all day long and unique wines in the evening. Café Caturra also has three other locations in the Richmond area.
  
  
• Looking for a great place to eat this Sunday? Well, downtown Cary's The Food Factory is now open on Sundays from 8:30 'til 3. Stop by and tell Jimmy and Lisa "Hi!" The Food Factory is located at 211 E. Chatham Street.
  
  
• Raleigh's very own Goodberry's turned 22 this week! It was 1988 when Goodberry's opened at the intersection of Atlantic Avenue and Spring Forest in Raleigh. Now there are nine Goodberry's locations in the Triangle!
  
  
• Raleigh's only location of Hungry Howie's on Oberlin Road is about to get some company. The area's second location just opened on Glenwood Avenue near Haverty's and Blinco's, across from Townridge Shopping Center. Plans are also in the works for a third location to open in 2011.
  
  
• Bob Evans has launched a line of 10 family-sized takeout meals, each priced at less than $20. The family-dining chain is marketing its Bob Evans Family Meals To Go with a "Think Outside the Pizza Box" promotion that gives a $2 discount to guests who bring a pizza coupon into the restaurant. Each dinner, which the chain says serves three to four people, comes with bread and a choice of side dish. More info here.
  
  
• The casual-dining Mimi's Café chain has introduced new fall menu offerings with two- and three-course fixed-price options and new all-inclusive meals for kids. In addition, coupons are available online offering a buy one breakfast entrée, get another one free. In the Triangle, Mimi's has two locations - 6320 Plantation Center Drive in Raleigh, and 1115 Walnut Street in Cary.
  
  
• Mark your calendars for the 20th Annual A Tasteful Affair to benefit the Ronald McDonald House of Chapel Hill. It will be held on Sunday, November 7, 2010 from 5:30-7:30 pm at The Carolina Club on the campus of UNC-Chapel Hill.
  
  
• As you can tell, I'm very excited about this upcoming event (as this is the third week I have mentioned this). The Museum of Life and Science in Durham is hosting the "Science of Beer" on September 16th from 7-9 pm. Enjoy live music, beer tasting and light snacks. Got kids and no babysitter? No problem, for an additional $10 you can enroll your little ones in "The Science of Root Beer." Members $12 per person / Non-members $15 per person. Pre-registration requested, please call 919-220-5429x313 to order tickets.
  
  
• The Mint Restaurant in downtown Raleigh is offering a four-course wine dinner for $75 at 6:30 pm on Wednesday, Sept. 15. The dinner will feature wines from Beaucanon Winery. For a reservation, call 821-0011.
  

• Cary's An restaurant will mark its 4th anniversary with a special evening on September 18th at 7 pm with special stations, music, dancing and more. The cost is $40. Call 919.677.9229 to make reservations.
  
  
• In Fearrington Village, the Old Granary will host an "Evening Out Dinner Series" on Wednesday, September 29th! These popular three-course dinners are $30 per person, $45 with wine pairings. Reservations can be made online or at (919) 542-2121.
  
  
• Irregardless Café wants to wish you a happy birthday and/or anniversary! If you make a reservation online at Irregardless Café three weeks before your birthday or anniversary, they will send you a certificate for a free bottle of wine! Email reservations@irregardless.com or make your reservation online here.
  

• Wake Forest Coffee Company and Cannon Catering are teaming up to offer cupcakes for sale at the coffee shop until Sept. 18 with all of the proceeds benefiting The Stephen Siller Foundation. The Foundation is named after firefighter Stephen Siller, a Brooklyn firefighter who died while responding to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. The foundation's mission is to help children who have lost one or both of their parents.
  
  
• Uncle Fatty's in Raleigh's Cameron Village has a new coupon ($3 off any entrée). Get it here. It is good through the end of this month.
  
  
• Ted's Montana Grill is offering a coupon for $5 off any $15 or more purchase coupon. Get your coupon here. It expires September 19th. There are two Triangle locations - Triangle Town Center in Raleigh and in the Renaissance Center across from the Streets at Southpoint in Durham.
  
  
• On a personal note, but something you could derive a lot of benefit from, my daughter's gymnastics facility is selling Citipass Coupon books as a fundraiser. If you haven't been hit-up yet to buy one of these, just drop me an e-mail and I'll get you one for the low, low price of $25. These books truly are amazing and will save you a gazillion dollars in discounts from over 285 Raleigh, Cary, Wake Forest, Garner & Apex-area merchants. Check out their website here.