Friday Fun Food Facts - July 20, 2012

Triangle Restaurant News

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

• Thanks to a tweet from Triangle Explorer, we learned this week that The Fig Café & Wine Bar in downtown Wake Forest is now open. It is located at 1248 S. Main Street. Get more information on their Facebook page here.  

• The Clayton Chamber of Commerce will hold a ribbon cutting and grand opening ceremony on August 7th at 10 a.m. for the newest dining option in Clayton - Hailey's Country Kitchen. The restaurant serves breakfast, lunch and dinner and is located at 11649 U.S. 70 Business. Get more information on their Facebook page here.

• Thanks to a tip from Tim Moore, we now know that Anna's Pizzaria is coming to downtown Fuquay Varina and is aiming for an August 15th opening. Anna's currently has a location in Apex. Get more details here.  

• Thanks to an observant reader (thanks Bruce!), it appears as if the Triangle is in line to get another location of Dickey's BBQ. According to the Dickey's site, the newest location will be at 6552 Glenwood Avenue, which is near the intersection of Glenwood and Duraleigh/Milbrook. We'll keep an eye on it. This will mark the 5th Triangle area location.  

• The Streets at Southpoint in Durham just got a whole lot sweeter with the recent opening of two new stores. Frozia, a new frozen yogurt shop, located in the mall near Sears, will hold a grand opening this weekend with lots of freebies. Then next week they will hold the grand opening of the Nestle Toll House Café, located near the food court. Thanks to the N&O for this information.

• And it's true, there are still more yogurt places opening up and thanks to the Triangle Explorer, John turned me onto a new frozen yogurt place up in North Raleigh in the Falls Point Shopping Center (near Falls of Neuse Road and Durant Road) called Yopop Yogurt. Check them out here.  

• And if that is not enough yogurt for you, reader Amber Landis let me know last week of yet another frozen yogurt place that opened last month in Raleigh. It is called Yoi Yogurt and it located near the intersection Glenwood and Oberlin in the Glenwood Village Shopping Center. This is the first Yoi location in the U.S. Check out their Facebook page here.  

• Over in Durham, according to the Herald-Sun, El Coyote Bar & Grill will be opening a second location at the Erwin Terrace development off Erwin Road (2816 Erwin Road). The eatery is slated to go into the space previously home to Sandella's Flatbread Café and is expected to open in about two months. Get more information here.

• And just down the street from the Streets at Southpoint, in the same shopping center as the new Aldi, we got word this week from the Herald-Sun that the Westpoint at 751 development off N.C. 751 will include two restaurants. Apparently a lease has been signed for a local restaurant to locate in a 2,000-square-foot space in the development as well as a national chain in a 5,000-square-foot space. Both restaurant buildings are under construction and will be open before the end of the year. We'll keep an eye on it for you.

• Also in Durham, the Straw Valley Café Wine and Beer Bar (intersection of 15-501 and Interstate 40) is hosting a grand opening celebration this Saturday (July 21) from 5 pm until 12:30 and will feature live music as well as catering by Mark Day Company. Get more details on their Facebook page here.

• Thanks to a tip from my good friend Wendy Ransbury, I learned of a new coffee shop that is in the works for downtown Durham and is geared as much towards children as it is their moms and dads. Called Stay & Play Snack Café, the idea is to create an environment where you can relax and the kids can play. They are in the middle of a Kickstarter Campaign. Get all the details here.

• It appears as if we are seeing some progress over in Carrboro with the pending opening of the Carrboro Pizza Oven. A sign in the window now confirms what we reported back in May with Craig Samuels, former owner of Franklin Street Pizza & Pasta, slated to open the new concept this fall. And on a related note, we noticed this week that the signage on Franklin Street Pizza & Pasta has been converted to Tomato Jake's on Franklin, thus completing that transition.

• You can't keep a good man down. That is the case with the former executive chef at Frazier's in Raleigh, Jeffrey Satterly. Satterly has been hired as the new chef de cuisine at Durham's Piedmont Restaurant. Piedmont's current chef, Marco Shaw, is moving on to spend more time with his family and begin work on new projects. In addition to Frazier's, Satterly has had previous stints at Carolina Crossroads and Cary's Herons.

• If you are looking for a new place for Sunday brunch, you might want to check out Rockwell's American Grill in Cary. They will begin offering Sunday Brunch this Sunday (July 22nd ) and it will be served from 12 to 2 every Sunday. Get more details here.

• We learned this week from Andrea Weigl at the N&O that Raleigh's Fortune Palace, a huge Chinese restaurant with a loyal following, closed abruptly in May. Apparently the original owners sold the restaurant, but there is no word at this point what the new owners plan to do. Weigl also reported that the previous owners have hinted at opening a smaller restaurant. We'll keep an eye on both for you. 

• Don't miss out on the Carolina RailHawks Inaugural Pregame Pig Pickin' Festival tomorrow, Saturday, July 21st. The event will start at 4:45 pm in Parking Lot D before the RailHawks game and will feature live music, beer and BBQ for only $10. Fans will be able to submit their vote for the best BBQ around as local chefs and fan contest winners compete against each other for the RailHawks Master Chef Crown. Click here to find out more details about the contest.

• Mark your calendars now for Downtown Raleigh Restaurant Week which will be the week of August 20-26. The annual event features restaurants offering three-course prix fixe meals for $20 or $30. You can add a beer or wine pairing at some restaurants for an additional $10. For more information, click here. 

• The end of the month is fast approaching and that means one thing - we are that much closer to the day tickets go on sale for one of the Triangle's most sought-after foodie events - TerraVITA's Grand Tasting on the Green in Chapel Hill's Southern Village. The event itself will be held on November 3rd, but tickets go on sale next week (July 30th to be exact). Check out all the details here.

• Mark your calendars for the Beer, Bourbon and BBQ Festival featuring over 60 beers, 40 bourbon and tons of barbecue. The event will be held August 3rd and 4th at the Koka Booth Amphitheatre in Cary. Get all the details here.

• According to Andrea Weigl over at the N&O, North Carolina native and Top Chef Texas finalist Lindsay Autry is coming to Cary to cook a special dinner on Sept. 7. Autry will cook with her former co-worker, Steven Devereaux Greene, the executive chef at An New World Cuisine in Cary. The dinner starts at 6:30 p.m. Reservations are required. Call 919-677-9229.

• We close with a pretty cool event you should put on your calendar. Neomonde Mediterranean Cafe & Market will be having a live music night featuring Greek music by musical ensemble, Parea, at their Strickland Road location on Saturday, August 4 from 6:30 to 9:30 pm. There will be lots of dinner and drink specials including $2 Almaza Lebanese Beer. Get more information on Neomonde here or by emailing them here.