Friday Fun Food Facts - September 30, 2011

Triangle Restaurant News

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

• The shiny, silver, Airstream "food truck" known as DaisyCakes has confirmed that their "brick and mortar" location will be open by the end of October. The new location will be at 401-A Foster Street in downtown Durham (next to the Durham Farmers' Market). DaisyCakes specializes in breakfast pastries, coffee, drinks and some of the best cupcakes you've ever had.  Keep up with them here.  

• The Barking Cow Pub & Eatery in the Lake Boone Shopping Center in Raleigh is now open. Barking Cow takes over the space formerly occupied by Second City. Barking Cow is the newest member of the family that includes Sawmill Tap Room, Macgregor Draft House and Leesville Tap Room.  

• Pharaoh's is back in downtown Raleigh, now off the Jones Street entrance to the NC Museum of History (think General Assembly side). This marks Pharaoh's second attempt at a downtown location after closing a location last year on Davie Street in the Progress Energy building.  

• Chapel Hill has a new Italian restaurant and pizzeria - Tedesco's. It is located at 1404 E. Franklin Street, former home to Los Potrillos, and prior to that, El Rodeo. And while the Tedesco name is familiar to this area, this restaurant is owned by a husband and wife team that just located here from southern Florida. Get more information on their website here.  

• It is official. After a grand opening yesterday, the Triangle is now home to The Chef's Academy, a culinary arts school. The facility is absolutely amazing and is located at 2001 Carrington Mill Blvd. in Morrisville. Get more information here. This is truly a feather in the Triangle's cap! 

• And speaking of grand openings, the re-opening of the expanded Moe's Southwest Grill at the corner of Harrison Avenue and Westin Parkway has been put on hold, pending inspection from the city of Cary. Come on Cary, let's get with it! A grand opening will be announced once that inspection is complete. Maybe the mayor will join them to say, "Welcome (back) to Moe's!!!"

• Talk about the transformation of one parlor to the next. We got word this week that Mitch's Bar & Grille has opened on Ninth Street over in Durham in the former Dogstar Tattoo location.  

• In an interesting bit of news this week, the N&O's Andrea Weigl reported that Chef Shane Ingram, who gained local fame with the extremely popular Four Square Restaurant in Durham, has amicably parted ways with the anonymous investor he partnered with to bring ONE to Chapel Hill and G2B to Durham. That can't be good news for those two establishments.  

• Also, Cary's downtown dining scene took a bit of a blow last week with the closing of Gayla Bonke's Chatham Street Café & Catering. This falls on the heels of the closing of The Food Factory which moved to Duke's campus over in Durham. Still no word yet on the opening of Dory's Downtown which is to fill the space vacated by The Food Factory. 

• This is a little outside of my "Triangle" area coverage, but I just learned that one of my favorite little restaurants has closed - Yancey House in Yanceyville. I went once with my wife, and am even more grateful now that we went. They don't make restaurants like that anymore...My best to Chef Lucindy who is now offering cooking classes at Terrapin Cove Farm.     

• Congrats goes out to Daniel Whittaker, owner of Green Planet Catering, for winning the 2011 Green Award presented by the Triangle Business Journal. Read more on his award here. Congrats to Daniel and his team! 

• Looking for something fun to do this weekend. Look no further than the 4th Annual Pittsboro Pepper Festival taking place at the Briar Chapel community park in Chapel Hill / Pittsboro. In addition to the great food (from 25 local chefs), good brew (5 local breweries represented) and good music, there will also be lots of kid activities. The event is from 4-7 pm on Sunday, Oct. 2. Tickets are $25 until tomorrow, and $30 at the door. Get all the details here.   

• Over in Durham, Piedmont Restaurant is now hosting Family Style Sunday Suppers every Sunday night. Choices include fried chicken, vegetarian dumplings, roasted pork loin, and whole fish filet. Main items are $20 and sides are $6, with each easily serving two people. Check them out this, and every, Sunday night. More information here.   

• The first ever RTP Food Truck Rodeo was a huge hit and will now become a monthly event. In fact, the next one is already scheduled for Thursday, October 20th from 11:30-1:30. This week's event featured three food trucks and attracted over 250 people! They are hoping to increase the number of trucks for October's event.

• And speaking of food trucks, it didn't take Raleigh long to plan a huge food truck rodeo - Food Truck King - also scheduled for October 20th (but in the evening from 5-9:30 pm). It will be held in City Plaza along with music, circus performers (not sure if that includes some of our Raleigh city councilors that fought the food trucks) and beer. The event is sponsored by The Raleigh Downtowner magazine. The event benefits Meals on Wheels and will conclude with the tapping of "Food Truck King" as voted upon by attendees. Food Truck King is free to attend, but tickets are available for sale to 250 attendees to sample tasty treats from all food trucks plus two free beers and a chance to win $200 worth of gift certificates to local restaurants. Get more information here.   

• And finally, Acme restaurant over in Carrboro is holding another one of their wildly successful wine dinners on Monday, October 3rd, this time featuring well-known Argentinean winemaker José Balbo. It's an opportunity to sample some of the hottest wines sold in America with some downright delicious Acme food. And talk to the man whose family is at the very heart of the great Argentine wine renaissance. The dinner will start at 6:30. Price is $60 per person for 5 courses and 5 wines (1 white wine and 4 red). Reservations are required by calling 919-929-2263. What else do you have planned? Dancing with the Stars? Really?