Friday Fun Food Facts - November 9, 2012

Triangle Restaurant News

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

• Triangle Food Guy’s Holiday Promotion just completed its first week and 5 folks just won $20 gift cards to Target! Those will be delivered today. Congratulations to: Stacey at Teradata; Ursula at UNC; Lauren at Wyrick Robbins; Joanne at CDM Smith; and Cindy at Square 1 Bank. But don’t fret, we’re doing the same thing every week until December 21st and all you have to do is order! It will conclude with a drawing for a $250 gift card to Target on December 21st! Get all the details here. 

• Thanks to a tip from Dana McCall, he pointed out that the Triangle Business Journal is reporting that Brixx Wood Fired Pizza will be opening a second location in Raleigh. They will turn up at Cameron Village in the new Gallery at Cameron Village. For you old-schoolers, that is the new building going in where Ballantine’s Cafeteria used to be. This will be the Triangle’s third Brixx location.

• Thanks to the Herald-Sun we learned this week that Rise, a biscuit and doughnut place over in Durham, will be opening on November 19th. Tom Ferguson, who also owns Durham Catering Company and was a pioneer in the food truck craze here in the Triangle, owns Rise. Rise will be located in the Renaissance Village near the Super Target at the Streets at Southpoint. Check them out on Facebook here and their regular website here.   

• We also learned this week, thanks to a job posting noted in Chapel Hill Magazine, that Page Road Grill is now hiring. More importantly, that gave credence to a December opening of that much-anticipated restaurant. PRG will be the newest member of the Chapel Hill Restaurant Group. Get more information here.

• You may remember us noting that Asuka in Morrisville had closed temporarily for renovations. Well, thanks to a tip from fellow tweeter Lee Langston, we learned that it re-opened a few weeks ago under the new name of Haru. Lee noticed the new signs going up this week. There is a Haru Sushi in Raleigh, but we haven’t confirmed if the two are related. We will keep you posted.

• One of the many blogs that I follow each week is a “rumor” feed on Yelp. The board was hopping this week with rumors. Here is a quick summary: Oakwood Cafe is opening up a sister restaurant called La Pampas in Lafayette Village...Torii Noodle Bar is coming to Crabtree Valley Mall...and Cowfish is projected to start construction in February in North Hill’s East Tower. We’ll keep an eye on all these rumors and get you more details as we get them. 

• No one really wants to cook on Thanksgiving day...but you have to...right? Not so much. Check out this HUGE list of restaurants that will be glad to do the cooking (and clean up!) for you on Thanksgiving Day. Thanks to Greg Cox over at the News & Observer. 

• But what if you still want to do something at your house, but don’t want to do the cooking? The Q Shack has you covered on that front as well - their annual Farm To Table turkeys and dinners for Thanksgiving. Through The Q Shack you can order locally raised, all natural fresh turkeys that feed up to 20 people, or you can order entire meals with sides and desserts. Get all the details here.

• Or if you’re on the other extreme and you’ve got the food and cooking under control but looking for the right wine to pair with your meal, the folks over at The Wine Feed have got you covered. On Nov. 14th from 7 ‘til 8:30 p.m. they will be hosting a Thanksgiving Wine Class to help you out. The Wine Feed is located on Glenwood Avenue over in Raleigh. Get all the details here. 

• Thanks to a tip on one of the Yelp rumor boards, we learned that Route 1 Capital BBQ up in Wake Forest has closed. Their Facebook page states that, "Tomorrow is the last day that we will be open as a full service restaurant." But they also note that they are still doing catering and turkeys for Thanksgiving. Check out their Facebook page here.

• Thanks to a tip from my buddy John Huisman, aka Triangle Explorer, we learned that Fullsteam Brewery is hosting “Sweet Relief” - a bake sale to raise funds for the victims of Hurricane Sandy in the Northeast. Stop by Fullsteam this Sunday, November 11th between 12:30 and 4:30 to enjoy some sweets (and a beer) to help out with disaster relief. Fullsteam is located at 726 Rigsbee Avenue in Durham. Get all the details on their Facebook events page here.

• If you are looking for a reason to eat out three times in one day, consider doing it next Tuesday (Nov. 13th) as part of the RSVVP InterFaith Council event at over 50 restaurants in Orange County. On that day, 10% of your bill will be donated to fighting hunger. Get the full list of participating restaurants here.

• Urban Ministries of Wake County is holding their annual Stone Soup event on Wednesday, November 14th at two different locations (a lunch location and a dinner location). There is no charge to attend (but donations are accepted) and you’ll enjoy homemade soup, bread and desserts from celebrity chefs. Get all the details here.

• The next big food truck round-up will get a little physical. The folks over at Rebus Works in Raleigh will be combining a food truck rodeo with GOUGE Wrestling on Saturday, November 17th from noon until 4 (following the Raleigh Christmas Parade). Sound interesting? Look for American Meltdown, Triangle Raw Foods, Captain Poncho's Tacos, Big City Sandwiches, Big Mikes BBQ, Gussy's Greek Street Food, Chirba Chirba Dumpling, and Chick-N-Que. Oh yeah, and wrestling. Get all the crazy details here.

• And speaking of food trucks, the N&O reported this morning that there is a new site called Roaming Hunger, which enables people to find food trucks all over the Triangle. The company has launched a website, and an iPhone app for the region. Check them out here.

• And finally, if you've been in any retail store lately, you know it is not too early to start getting in the "holiday" mood. An event that will certainly do that is the 10th annual Gingerbread Benefit that will be held on Thursday, November 29th at The Umstead Hotel in Cary. Get your tickets and all the details here.