Cantina South Featured on Today’s Twongo
at Twongo is a good one: a $30 voucher for just $15 to the new Cantina South. If you haven’t been to Cantina South, you are missing out!
Weinbergs Bringing Deli Back to North Ridge
Back in the 80’s or so, Horowitz Deli was a great find in North Raleigh’s North Ridge Shopping Center. It was good enough that even the transplants liked it. If you miss Horowitz’s then you are in luck. Brothers Rick and Gary Weinberg are teaming to resurrect the concept the fall with . Rick was the original manager of the North Ridge Horwitz’s location (the other location was at MacGregor Village) and Neil Horwitz will be a consultant for the project. Construction on the space begins this week.
Chipotle Opening August 30
The location of Chipotle will open August 30, 13 days after classes begin. Currently the chain is working on opening their first Fayetteville store, which opens on July 12.
Chick-Fil-A Crossroads Closing for Remodel
One of the area’s most popular Chick-Fil-A locations, the Crossroads Plaza store, will close temporarily “from July 9 thru early August” for remodeling. Alternative sites are: Cary Town Center, Waverly Place, North Hills, Crabtree Valley Mall, and Glenwood Avenue (Townridge Square). Check for updates on the opening date.
Needed: An Enchiladaria
If I ever found myself in a position of saying “It ain’t my money. I seriously do not care”, I would open something that would be a hit in Raleigh; an enchiladaria. I recently saw an episode of where Rick Bayless featured in Mexico City. The restaurant is based on four pillars upon which customers can build their masterpiece. They pick from one of five types of tortillas, pick a filling, pick a sauce, select garnishes. If the tortillas are made in-house (area restaurants sorely need improvement with their tortillas), this could be an outstanding concept.
Food Incubator Grows
I recently received a press release regarding a new wave of businesses in the culinary world: food incubators. The incubators offer rentable commercial food production facilities for all if their members, predominately food truck vendors. Here is the release:
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. 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.
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 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.
Today’s Market Features GrazeFest
Today’s downtown Farmers’ Market event features GrazeFest, a celebration of grass-fed and pasture-raised farm foods. Indulge in farm animal themed cupcakes from Sweet T, a cakery, learn barbeque secrets from expert pitmasters, and participate in the many other fun-filled activities.
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.
Machu Picchu Now Open
The long wait for Machu Picchu’s is now over! The restaurant, located at 4500 Falls of Neuse Road () behind Pei Wei (with Jo-Ann and Pulcinellas), is now open and serves Peruvian food such as Ceviche, Jalea, and Lomo Saltado.
Food Truck Rodeos On The Chopping Block?
Today’s agenda for the City Council deals with issue (PDF), which would severely restrict food truck activity throughout the city, not just in downtown. The first two sections state:
• 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.
Today’s Twongo Deal Features Pretty Picture
Today’s deal at Twongo for Cary/Apex is for $20 at , a lunch spot in Morrisville. I have never heard of this place, but have to give kudos to them for actually carrying an appetizing photo of their food!
Brewmasters is Today’s Twongo Deal
Daily deal site is offering up to 50% off at Brewmasters. The restaurant is located at Martin and Dawson (formerly Joe’s Place)
Capri’s Tasting Dinner Menu
A friend went to the tasting menu night at last night and raved. That veal course looks very compelling, for sure! Hopefully they’ll do this again this summer.
Capri is in Sutton Square, next to the Fresh Market.
Hectors Is Today’s Twongo Deal
Yesterday we featured a deal from the fine folks at Momydaddydeals.com. Today there is another head-turning local deal on the net, . Located in the food court at Crabtree, Hector’s has some of the best Mediterranean food you’ll find. Their hummus and tabouli are the best in the Triangle (and it isn’t even close), and their chicken marinade is among the best. Also excellent is the Greek Salad which is generously covered in feta cheese.
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.
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