In 2012 there will be some surprising big box store closings. There has been a concerted effort in previous years to buy local and shun the big boxes. However in 2012, larger market forces instead of grassroots organizations will probably be what shuts the doors for some of these outlets.

Here is a look ahead at the list of retail and restaurant businesses that have an aura of danger according to this one man’s senses (in no particular order, and no wishes associated):

• Best Buy
• Kmart
• Salsarita’s
• Taco Bell
• Dillard’s
• A.C. Moore
• Jibarra or Cantina South
• OfficeMax and Office Depot
• Cinelli’s (North Hills)
• QShack (North Hills)
• Fresh Market (Cameron Village)
• Charlotte’s (North Hills)
• Fiesta Mexicana
• Applebee’s (A few locations)
• Nowell’s
• Sam Ash or Guitar Center
• McCormick and Schmick’s
• Barnes & Noble (not all locations)
• The news staff at NBC17

Any thoughts or additions?

1/5/12 – Here are some more for the list:

• Radio Shack
• Pronto Pasta
• Bear Rock (Lake Boone)

1/16/12 – I completely forgot to add this one, but the last time I was in there the store was about 70% empty:

• Blockbuster Video – Townridge Square

I don’t mean to pick on these merchants, but if I had a gift certificate or significant savings coupon for any of these, I would probably go ahead and use them sooner than later.

Looking for a way to get rid of all that cooking oil and grease left over from your Thanksgiving dinner? You can take advantage of the City of Raleigh’s curbside grease collection program.
For the third consecutive year, the City of Raleigh is collecting used grease and oils from residences and places of worship in the Capital City during the holiday season. To arrange for curbside collection of these materials, call the City’s Solid Waste Services Department at 996-6890. The department is closed on Thursday for the Thanksgiving holiday but is open the rest of this week including Friday.

The City of Raleigh is collecting the unwanted grease or cooking oil at no charge. The collected grease is converted to biofuels by Triangle Biofuels Industries.

The goal of the curbside grease collection program is to protect the environment by keeping cooking grease out of the City’s sewer system and preventing sewer overflows. In order to be collected, the oil must be placed in a sealable and preferably clear plastic container marked as “used cooking oil.” The curbside grease collection program ends on Jan. 13.

Mia Francesca

I’ve been looking forward to the opening of Mia Francesca, and am ecstatic that the price point is as low as it is. Located adjacent to the lobby of the Renaissance Hotel in North Hills, the restaurant is situated in a prime spot for travelers, especially.

What is curious is that this is North Hills’ fourth Italian offering. While Piola is more of an informal dining experience, it seems that Mia Francesca’s location (in view of Cinelli’s) and extremely similar menu to Vivace are sure to ruffle many feathers in the North Hills dining market; especially when Moe’s stands as the only representative (and a bad one at that) of the Mexican craze that currently is sweeping through America.

• Roast Chicken and Herb-and-Garlic Pan Drippings
• Fig and Thyme Jam
• Creamy Rice Grits with Tomato Relish
• Late-Summer-Greens Sauté
• Pots de Crème with Reisling-Poached Grapes

At this point I still don’t know if the restaurant will be in the old Audio Buys building or if it will go into the old Johnson’s Pharmacy spot (at Oberlin and Fairview). Word has been that the people who overhauled the old Audio Buys were hoping the space would be retail, but would upfit the space for a restaurant if that is the only potential suitor they could find.

It is hard to imagine that the Fosters space will be kept in its same configuration. Whatever is next is likely to be quite different, and an end to many memories. Along with the Brewery (which has already been torn down), the ITB crowd lost a a pair of fun spots this week.

map it

DURHAM’S NEWEST CULINARY INCUBATOR IS NOW OPEN

The Cookery, a commercial kitchen for rent by the hour, is open for business

May 16, 2011 — The Cookery, a professional food production facility located on West Chapel Hill Street, passed it’s final inspections on Thursday and is now opening it’s doors to members.

In order to use the facility, a membership to The Cookery is required.  Food entrepreneurs seeking membership can apply online at www.durhamcookery.com.  Once accepted as an official member, The Cookery staff assists in the processes required by the Durham County Health Department, and members can begin cooking.

“We are very excited to welcome our new members,” said Nick Hawthorne-Johnson, owner of The Cookery.  “Since we began accepting membership applications on April 19th, we have had a broad range of applicants with innovative ideas for the food industry.  I am eager to see what they create for the Durham food scene.”

The kitchen, which will be open to it’s members 24 hours a day, seven days a week, is equipped with a full professional catering kitchen, four full size commercial convection ovens, 40 and 80 qt. floor mixers, secure storage space in the walk-in cooler and reach-in freezers, food truck cleaning and stocking terminals, and a variety of other food production equipment, as well as personal lockers.  Pricing, which includes monthly and hourly rates with discounts for regular users and nighttime hours, is listed on The Cookery’s website.

For more information about The Cookery, visit www.DurhamCookery.com.

This is a fantastic idea that can help centralize and standardize the production of food truck food. It still doesn’t completely quell concerns about food truck sanitation. Even if a food truck owner uses the facility, how does the Department of Health evaluate the cooks’ grooming, holding temperatures, storage procedures, etc. 

The incubator’s About page does nothing to alleviate the problem, either. Why is a guy standing there blowing cigar smoke on a raw piece of salmon? Doesn’t he know this isn’t the proper method for preparing smoked salmon? Is he going to wash that left hand before handling the cigar within it and putting the cigar back into his mouth? (Don’t forget that “24-hour bugs”, almost exclusively, are actually varying degrees of food poisoning.) I am pulling for the creative food truck vendors, but they still need to present more answers about their role with the public health.

The event features a pig pickin’, the second annual ice-cream eating contest with Lumpy’s Ice Cream, and bluegrass music by Old Habits. Aspiring pitmasters will have the opportunity to learn from the best—expert Bob Garner and chefs from The Pit will share seasoning secrets, barbecue history, and chopping techniques during their 11 am demonstration. Festival goers should come hungry for The Pit’s NC style barbecue sandwiches, prepared from pork raised on Animal Welfare Approved farms, which will be available for $5.  Health conscious customers can stop by the WakeMed Center City Physicians booth for a free blood pressure screening.  At 11:30 am, kids are invited to a special EGGstravaganza with egg relays and a special kids ice cream eating contest.  Ongoing kids activities throughout the day include a market scavenger hunt and a farm themed version of Jeopardy—“farmpardy.”  

The event runs from 10am to 2pm in City Plaza.

•   Located on a lot containing a principal building(s) or use zoned SC, NB, BUS, TD, I-1 or I-2; and the maximum number of food trucks per lot shall be limited as follows:

o maximum of one (1) food truck on lots of one-half (1/2) acre or less;
o maximum of two (2) food trucks on lots between one-half (1/2) acre and
one (1) acre;
o maximum of three (3) food trucks on lots greater than one acre and less than two (2) acres; and
o no maximum on lots two (2) acres or greater.

•   Located a minimum of 150 feet from the main entrance or outdoor dining area of any business selling food and 50 feet from any permitted food vending cart location unless the owner of the subject business gives written permission; location unless the owner of the subject business gives written permission;

There are some good arguments against food trucks, but the maximum of a truck per half acre doesn’t make sense, especially on private property. Hopefully the City Council will not allow this to pass. We can come up with a better solution that helps both food truck owners and brick-and-mortar restaurants alike.

Capri is in Sutton Square, next to the Fresh Market.

Those who went to UNC might have had experience with Hector’s, but this is different. Hector’s began at the corner of Franklin and Henderson Streets in Chapel Hill by Zach Galifianakis’ uncle. One of his employees from the early days was a Lebanese student who worked his way through college at Hector’s. At that point Mr. Galifinakis had already expanded the concept to Georgetown, and was eager to grow the concept. So, for graduation, he gave Walid the rights to a Hector’s franchise in Raleigh. The first location for the store was in the lower level front entrance of Crabtree, just to the right of where the Kanki’s mall entrance is. In the early 1980’s Crabtree converted some meeting space and a few stores into the mall’s first food court. At that point Sadak moved the restaurant from its large, isolated space to the new court. This also was the time where Sadak sought a more formal Mediterranean dining experience, and opened Sadak’s on Hillsborough Street (in the location where the Q Shack was). This was a delicious restaurant where Sadak was able to expand his menu beyond the Hero, skewers, and burgers. After a year or so Sadak’s closed, and some of the menu items were incorporated into the Raleigh Hector’s experience. By that time the Chapel Hill Hector’s had really become a greasy dive, frequently getting sub-90 sanitation scores. Ever since that era the two experiences have been vastly different, with the Chapel Hill Hector’s being more of a late-night grub spot and the Raleigh restaurant being one of the best fast-casual dining experiences around.

Don’t be confused! This is one of the best dining bargains the Triangle has ever seen. Currently the deal offers a $14 gift certificate for $8. The deal doesn’t expire until Halloween, so load up. The deal is only offered today (6/15).

Here’s the list of participating restaurants:

• 42nd Street Oyster Bar
• Aladdin’s Eatery – N. Raleigh
• Aladdin’s Eatery – B. Creek
• Azitra
• Bella Monica
• Blu Seafood
• Buku
• Caffe Luna
• Capital Club 16
• Captain Stanley’s – N. Raleigh
• Carolina Brewery – Chapel Hill
• Carolina Brewery – Pittsboro
• Carolina Crossroads
• Chamas Churrascaria
• Coquette Brasserie
• Daniel’s – Apex
• Daniel’s – Fuquay
• Dos Perros Draft
• Fai Thai
• Five Star
• Fleming’s
• Flights
• Four Square
• Frazier’s
• Gravy
• Guglhupf
• Hibernian – Cary
• Hibernian – Raleigh
• Il Palio
• Irregardless Cafe
• Jibarra
• J. Betski’s
• JuJube
• La Volta
• Lucky 32
• McCormick & Schmick’s
• Metro 8 Steakhouse
• Midtown Grille
• Mo’s Diner
• Mount
• Fuji
• Mura
• Napper Tandy’s
• One Restaurant
• Parizade
• Piazza Italia
• Piedmont
• Porter’s Tavern
• Posta Tuscan Grille
• Red Room
• Revolution
• Ruth’s Chris – Cary
• Ruth’s Chris – Durham
• Ruth’s Chris – Raleigh
• Shula’s 347 Grill
• Sitti
• Solas
• Sono
• Sushi O
• Tarantini
• The Big Easy
• The Bistro at Sparians
• Six Plates
• The Corner Tavern & Grill
• The Diner
• The Melting Pot
• The Mint
• The Oxford
• The Remedy Diner Rey’s Restaurant
• The Twisted Fork
• Tribeca Tavern
• Tribeca Tavern Falls
• Tyler’s Taproom – Apex
• Tyler’s Taproom – Carrboro
• Vin Rouge
• Vivace
• Watts Grocery
• Weathervane
• Zely & Ritz