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Foodie News: The Daily Fare opening in Cameron Village, vegan bakery in Wake Forest

The Daily Fare is opening in Cameron Village and a vegan bakery is opening in Wake Forest and Sean Lennard, the Triangle Food Guy, is there.

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By
Sean Lennard
, Triangle Food Guy
RALEIGH, N.C. — Listen up. I’m begging you to step up now more than ever and support our local restaurants! These next few months, with the surge in Covid cases combined with cold weather, will be the most difficult our restaurants have faced amidst this Covid-19 Pandemic. They need your support NOW, if you expect/want them to be there when we get to the other side of this. So, here’s what you can do. They have done a phenomenal job with spacing inside the restaurants along with extra safety and cleaning protocols. If you are not comfortable with that, many have invested in space heaters and other creative solutions to allow you to still enjoy outdoor dining! Check in with their websites and social media (and watch for warm breaks in the weather). Third, all restaurants have curbside and to-go options that are easy, contact-less, and allow you to enjoy those amazing meals in the comfort of your home! And finally, consider gift cards to your favorite restaurants as gifts this holiday season. With vaccines and warmer months not too far in the distance, the influx in cash from gift cards would help bridge that gap. However you choose to do it, please, please find a way (multiple ways!) to support our local restaurants! And don’t forget to generously tip the staff!!

Wake County Restaurant News

Raleigh Magazine recently had a story highlighting the news that The Rockford’s co-owner, Tony Coulter, will open a new concept called Gravity (might change the name to Gibby’s) in two locations in downtown Raleigh early next year. One will be in the former Apero space in City Market. The second Gravity location will be on the ground level of The Devon Four25 Apartments building on Boylan Avenue. Might be best to follow The Rockford for any updates/announcements.
Back in July, we shared that Plant Cakes Bake Shop owners Mark Deskus and Jess Reilly would be opening their first brick-and-mortar location in downtown Wake Forest. This week, Raleigh Convergence shared that they are now open. They are making desserts like cakes, donuts, cookies and even cinnamon rolls a reality for vegans and people with food allergies. The bakery is in the new PowerHouse Row building at 410 South White Street.
And back in May, we told you that the former Brixx location at Cameron Village would become The Daily Fare, a family owned restaurant (Greco family) with roots in New York’s Hudson Valley. This week the folks over at RalToday shared the news that they will open next Monday, Dec. 7. They will be serving up everything from fluffy pancakes and hot sandwiches to beef steaks and burgers!
Richard DeMartino with sister concepts Cafe Tiramisu and North Ridge Pub, both located a couple of doors down from each other in North Ridge shopping center, have the perfect holiday gift idea for you. They have begun their annual tradition of selling gift cards for their restaurants at 20% off! At Cafe Tiramisu you can get a $100 gift card for $80, and at North Ridge Pub you can get a $50 gift card for $40. All purchases must be made at each location.
Down in Fuquay-Varina, David McCreary shared with me that Tacos Oaxaca Taqueria will open soon at 1324 N. Main Street. He noted that the sign is already affixed on the building and that their original location is in Lillington. No word on an open date, yet.
Looking for all the outdoor dining options in downtown Raleigh? The Downtown Raleigh Alliance has put together a great list of those options, and they even divided it up by district. Check out that list here.

Durham, Orange & Chatham Restaurant News

The folks over at Bites of Bull City just did a nice write-up on a concept called J. Lights Market & Cafe that just opened in downtown Durham’s Golden Belt. Jared Burton (JB) based the concept after the Common Market in Plaza Midwood in Charlotte – a place where community comes together while shopping for groceries, enjoying beer, wine or cocktails, or a bite to eat in the cafe. The name is a combination of his daughters’ names, Janie and Lightsey.
Following the news that Chapel Hill’s Ye Old Waffle Shoppe had closed, my heart skipped a beat when I heard that Sutton’s Drug Store was closed. But glad to learn it is just temporary – Dec. 1-6, reopening on Dec. 7 after some much-needed work is completed on the building. In the meantime, you can visit their other location in Chapel Hill (Europa Center) or their location in Graham.
Monterrey Mexican Grill, with locations in Chapel Hill and Carrboro, can now add Durham to their location list as they announced this week that they have taken over the operations of the former Fiesta Ole Mexican Restaurant in Durham at 4600 Chapel Hill-Durham Blvd. in the Oak Creek Village shopping center.
And over in Hillsborough, thanks to a tip from Carrie Brogren of the Chapel Hill Carrboro Foodies Facebook group, we were directed to the News of Orange County that informed us that Jesus Sanchez would be bringing his The Colorado Burrito Mexican Grill concept back to Hillsborough, opening in the space formerly occupied by the Bandido Mexican Café & Cantina at the corner of Churton and Margaret Lane. He is hoping to open any day now. Sanchez originally opened his concept in Hillsborough’s Daniel Boone Village before development forced him to move it to Mebane. The Mebane location will remain open.
And here are a couple of wonderful resources for those looking to dine in downtown Durham or downtown Chapel Hill.

Closings and cancellations

Ye Old Waffle Shoppe on Chapel Hill’s Franklin Street closed. 48 years. Hurts too much to write anything more.
Saint James Seafood, which had been operating a to-go concept they had dubbed Jimmy’s Dockside, announced this week that they had suspended that operation indefinitely. Owner Matthew Kelly said that his focus will shift to taking time to strategize what fully reopening Saint James after the pandemic.

Food Trucks

Triangle on the Cheap shared the news that Food Truck Flix just announced their schedule for the upcoming weekends (Friday and Saturday nights). The events will be taking place at Frontier RTP, 800 Park Offices, Durham, and at Focus Church, 7000 Destiny Drive, Raleigh. You can purchase tickets in advance for any of the drive-in movies. The price is $25 per car. Of course, you’ll also want to bring money for the food trucks. Get the movie schedule, purchase your pass and get all the details here.
Here are a couple of sites to find and stalk your favorite food trucks here and here.

Events

This isn’t an event, but a great way to find local gifts for the foodie in your life. WRAL has put together a list of North Carolina made foodie giftscheck it out here.
Chapel Hill Magazine encouraged it’s readers to head over to the Maple View Farm porch area with your letters to Santa, and his friends from the North Pole will place them in his mailbox. A percentage of ice cream sales will be donated to Sam’s Wish Fund Holiday Cheer to provide gifts to children facing life-threatening illnesses. The event takes place Dec. 7, Dec. 14 and Dec. 21 from 2 to 5:30 p.m.

Food Bank corner

More people than ever before are turning the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina for assistance, and they need your reliable support to meet the growing need. Your monthly pledge in November and December can be doubled, so just $10 a month would help provide 100 meals.
Sean Lennard owns Triangle Food Guy, the only locally owned and operated corporate catering website, TriangleFoodGuy.com. As a native of Raleigh, Sean has been around the Triangle food scene for...well, a long time, but professionally since 2002 with the the Triangle Food Blog, formerly known as Friday Fun Food Facts, in 2008. You can find his blog here. And you don't have to wait until Friday for updates as you can follow Sean throughout the week on Facebook and Twitter.

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