Friday Fun Food Facts - August 12, 2011

Triangle Restaurant News

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

• Well, there is finally some great news coming out of Chapel Hill...Hector's is making a return to the hill! This rendition will be located on Rosemary Street in the same building as Bub O'Malley's (aka Bub's). We'll keep you posted once we get a firm opening date.

• I know I talk a lot about food trucks, but this is THE EVENT not to miss if you are a food truck junkie, or if you've been meaning to try out a food truck. They will ALL be at Durham's Central Park (adjacent to Durham's Farmer's Market on Foster Street) this Sunday from 5:30 to 8 p.m. This will mark the largest gathering of food trucks in the Triangle's history. Here is who is signed up to date (more to come, I'm certain): Only Burger, Pie Pushers, The Parlour, KoKyu BBQ, The Grilled Cheese Bus, Parlez-Vous Crepe, Farmhand Foods, Slippin' Sliders, Klausie's Pizza, Don's Classic Ices, Sweet n Savory, Kona Ice and Locopops. 

• Speaking of food trucks, there's a new food truck in town! Hitting the streets is Chirba Chirba Dumpling which will be focused on selling Asian street fare with an emphasis on dumplings. "Chirba Chirba" literally means "Eat eat!" in Mandarin Chinese. Keep up with their locale by visiting their website here. 

• MinGa, a Korean/Japanese restaurant in Chapel Hill, is now open at 116 Old Durham Road. That's the road that runs behind Hardees as you head out of Chapel Hill into Durham. You can get more information on their Facebook page here.   

• Over in Durham, Happy China Sushi & Bar on 15-501 Business (just down from Foster's at 2505 Durham-Chapel Hill Blvd.) is having their grand opening on Tuesday, August 16th.  Happy China Sushi & Bar is an American Chinese bistro that serves both Chinese and Japanese dishes. Check them out on Facebook here.

• Also, according to the N&O's Andrea Weigl, L'Uva Enoteca over in Durham's American Tobacco Campus (former Café Zen spot across from Tyler's), will open next week. To keep up with the latest, keep checking their Facebook page here.  

• Qdoba is now open in Brier Creek at 8521 Brier Creek Parkway. For those that remember, that is the former Salsarita's Fresh Cantina location.  

• With just over three years having past since the chain's last Triangle opening, Starbucks is set to open a new store at Six Forks Station in North Raleigh this October. It will be in the former Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant location.  

• Jet's Pizza, which opened its first two Triangle locations earlier this year, is getting ready to open another location. Jet's has begun the interior construction of its newest location at 6114 Falls of Neuse Road in the North Ridge shopping center in Raleigh.

• Brookside Market & Deli, near Raleigh's Oakwood neighborhood, opened last month at 1000 Brookside Drive near downtown Raleigh. Brookside Deli offers a variety of Mediterranean food, including hummus, falafel, baba ghanouj, and beef, chicken and lamb shawarma. Check out their Facebook page here.

• If you live in Knightdale and are looking for a new place to get barbecue, check out the new Dickey's Barbecue Pit which opened this week at 2001 Widewaters Parkway.

• Rick's Diner & Catering Co. in Durham is growing. Rick's, which recently relocated just down Shannon Road to the Hope Valley Square shopping center, is planning to add another 2,000 square feet to its footprint by expanding into unoccupied space next door.  

• And over in Garner, The Fuji Japanese Steakhouse at 1571 U.S. 70 next to the Lowe's Home Improvement store is now open for business.

• The Italian-style Casalinga restaurant that has been operating in Raleigh's Mini City shopping center since 1995 is turning back the clock. Casalinga founders Manny LoGuidice and his sister-in-law Josephine Cappiello are returning to the restaurant's management after several years' absence with most of the old recipes and a few new ones.

• As noted in the Triangle Business Journal, Foster's in Cameron Village has closed their doors. And rumors on the street indicate that the prime location will soon be occupied by Charlotte's Cowfish Sushi Burger Bar. Nope, that's not a typo - sushi and burgers. As soon as that is confirmed, we'll be sure to let you know. This would mark Cowfish's second location.

• It appears as if Grayson's over in Durham has consolidated all of their operations into their location at the Museum of Life & Science. While I was only able to visually confirm the closing of the Shannon Road location, their website seems to confirm that the museum location is the only remaining operation.

• We mentioned this several week's ago, but we've got some firm dates now. The Moe's in Cary at the corner of Weston Parkway and Harrison Avenue will close this Monday, (August 15) as they begin their expansion project to more than double their seating space. They plan to re-open the store on Monday, September 5th.

• The Fullsteam Brewery in Durham, a brewery and tavern, is celebrating their one-year anniversary this Saturday. The celebration runs (officially) from 4 to 8 pm, and will involve the closing of Rigsbee Avenue to allow for the following food trucks (to date): Farmhand Foods' Sausage Wagon; Backyard BBQ Pit; Chirba Chirba Dumplings; Klausie's Pizza; The Parlour; and Cocoa Cinnamon/bike coffee. More information here.  

• Downtown Raleigh Restaurant week is just a little more than a week away. Over 30 downtown Raleigh restaurants will be offering special prix fixe menus from Aug. 22-28 offering three-course meals for either $20 or $30. And this year, for the first time, many restaurants will offer beer or wine pairings for an additional $10. To see menus and the complete list of restaurants, go here.

• Tickets for the 2011 World Beer Festival in Durham (October 8, 2011) are now on sale to ther general public. If you want to go, better buy them now. They tend to go fast! 

• Tribeca Tavern is launching their new brunch menu this weekend at their Raleigh and Cary locations. The new menu is designed with an even greater influence on North Carolina farmer partners. The new menu can be seen here (pdf).    

• For a limited time, all Triangle locations of Moe's are now offering a new menu item - Taco Stacks. They are packed with your choice of steak, beef or chicken and stacked between two crunchy corn shells and wrapped in a crisped flour tortilla. Did we mention Moe's famous queso is also involved?