Friday Fun Food Facts - December 7, 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 fifth week and 5 more folks just won $20 Target gift cards to Target! Those will be delivered today (& Monday). Congratulations to: Stacy at Teradata; Pat at CBH; Drew at Merrill Lynch; Val at Teleflex; and Jo at Deloitte. 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. 

• Fellow Tweeter Eric Watchous informed us this week that Bleu Olive, a Mediterranean bistro and café, has opened over in Durham on Hillandale Road in the former location of Papas Grille, which closed earlier this year. It is owned and operated by the same folks. Check them out on Facebook here. 

• We got word this week from Raleigh blog New Raleigh that the much-anticipated Dos Taquitos Xoco will be opening in the next two weeks, with December 16th as the target date. Xoco is the creation of the owners of Dos Taquitos and Hibernian and will be located in the Glenwood South District in the space that was most recently The Diner and before that, Hard Times Cafe. Keep up with them on Facebook here. 

• Also in our "pending" file, we still don't have a firm date for Tobacco Road Sports Cafe over in Chapel Hill. They continue to post that they are "about a week away." And Page Road Grill updated their best estimate at the third week in December. Bad Daddy's Burger Bar is still looking at a December 17th opening. 

• PDQ will open its newest location in Raleigh this Sunday (December 9) at 10 a.m. It is located at the intersection of Falls of the Neuse and Spring Forest roads. PDQ is a fast casual restaurant specializing in chicken tenders, salads, sandwiches, fresh cut fries and hand spun milkshakes and malts. Check them out here.

• The downtown Raleigh location of Chick-fil-A is currently closed for renovations, but they posted on their Facebook page this week that they are anticipating re-opening at the end of next week. We'll keep up with Amy and her team and keep you posted. Keep up with them here. 

• And speaking of Chick-fil-A, it looks like they are bringing back their extremely popular Chicken Tortilla Soup. Look for it in your favorite location again in January.

• Thanks to several postings this week on Yelp's message boards, we learned this that
  Chili's has opened their newest location in the Park West Village complex in Morrisville. That mark's the chain's 10th Triangle area location. Check them out here.  

• The news of the Morrisville location of Chili's opening followed closely on the heels of the news that the Chili's location over in Cary, near the intersection of Kildaire Farm Road and Cary Parkway, had closed.

• And speaking of closing, we learned of two upcoming closings in the Chapel Hill and Carrboro area. The first is the news that the current owners of the popular community gathering spot, Johnny's Gone Fishing, recently had an offer to buy the building rejected, so they are closing up "this version" (commonly known as Version 3.0) as of December 15th. But stay tuned to see what/where they end up next. Visit Johnny's current Facebook page here and keep up with "what's next" on their new Facebook page here. 

• And just down the road at the very western end of Chapel Hill's Franklin Street, we learned this week that The Chocolate Door will close for the final time on December 29th. The owners have made the decision to spend more time with their young family. So all you chocoholics (you know who you are) be sure to stop by between now and then. Get all the details here.

• And we close with a couple of fun dinners at Durham's Piedmont Restaurant - with both ends of the dining spectrum covered. The first is a Winter Vegetarian Dinner this Sunday (December 9) at 6:30 p.m. And that will be followed by their Captain John S. Pope Farm Lamb Dinner on December 16th at 6:30. Both dinners are priced at $30 and include 4 courses. Get all the details and make reservations here.