The much anticipated Kaiju Bowl and Bao on Davie Street is set to open on Friday, July 6. Another big opening event coming in downtown Raleigh - Morgan Street Food Hall will opening on July 23.
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Wake County Restaurant News
The Stag's Head bar on Glenwood Avenue in Raleigh closed its doors this week. It is reportedly being sold and will open under new ownership. Regular customer Jai Kumar broke the news on Twitter.
Durham, Orange & Chatham Restaurant News
Thanks to a tweet from John Huisman, aka Triangle Explorer, we learned that Foster Street Coffee opened this week in the Liberty Warehouse Apartments.
You will have a chance to check out Teddy Diggs' new Roman-style pizzeria concept, Coronato, before it opens early next year. Diggs, who recently left Il Palio in Chapel Hill, will hold a pop-up event on Saturday, July 14 from 5:30 to 8:30 pm. Diggs will collaborate with Deric McGuffey, former pastry chef of Il Palio and current partner in Botanist and Barrel. It will be at Botanist and Barrel's farm at 105 Persimmon Hill Lane in Cedar Grove. Expect innovative Roman pizzas along with blueberry tarts.
Over in Hillsborough, the Wooden Nickel Public House closed its doors at 105 N. Churton Street over the weekend. It has been there for more than 14 years. They will be moving just 4 doors down to 113 N. Churton St. They have been working on the new space for a while, so the transition should happen fairly quickly.
Closings
The sushi and modern Japanese restaurant Basan (part of the Eschelon Experiences restaurant group) closed its doors over the weekend.
Food Trucks
The dates have been set for the Durham Central Park Food Truck Rodeo and Downtown Raleigh Food Truck Rodeos.
Events
The 2018 version of Chefs for Change, a fundraising dinner series that pairs the burgeoning Durham food scene with the needs of families experiencing homelessness, is well underway. The first two events (featuring Charlie Deal on March 12 and Scott Howell on May 14) sold out. And if last year is any indication, the next two dinners will sell out quickly. The July 9th event features Phoebe Lawless (The Lakewood and Scratch) and the Sept. 10 event features Gocciolina's Aaron Benjamin. Each night the chef will serve three or more courses at a ticketed dinner with the proceeds benefiting Families Moving Forward. The dinners are held at the Rickhouse and limited to 125 people.
The Rickhouse will host Durham's 4th Annual PickleFest on Sunday, July 15th - a pickle-packed tasting event and market place! The event will showcase North Carolina made products from pickle vendors near and far including locally crafted kombucha and kimchi! Triangle area restaurants sample their unique pickle dishes as well as pickle flavored beers and a Bloody Mary bar to quench your thirst and pucker your lips! VIP tickets are $20 and include a gift and early bird entry from noon - 1pm, plus Home Pickler's Contest Tasting and (1) free drink ticket. General Admission tickets are $10 and include either Session 1 from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. or Session 2 from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Kids under 10 years old are free.
And finally, listen up chefs! The NCRLA Chef Showdown is an annual statewide culinary competition sponsored by the NC Department of Ag. It's a culinary competition open to chefs (savory and pastry) across the state. There are two regional semi-finalist rounds remaining (Hickory June 4 and Raleigh, June 25) that will result in a final competition on Monday, Aug 27 in Charlotte. The final event is in conjunction with the first night of the industry's Restaurant & Hotel Expo.
Food Bank Corner
As a part of the Stop Summer Hunger initiative, generous friends of the Food Bank of Central & Eastern North Carolina will match every gift - dollar for dollar. Please help them reach their matching goal of $135,000. For every $20 you give, the Food Bank can provide 200 meals!
Sean Lennard covers the Triangle food scene on his siteTriangle Food Blog.