Triangle Foodie News: Be among the first to dine at Standard Foods

RALEIGH, N.C. — Triangle restaurant news...that not everyone knows. Impress your co-workers at the water cooler.

Go ahead and mark your calendar for next week's Downtown Raleigh Restaurant Week, which will be held Aug. 17-23. It has expanded this year to include lunch menus and a Do-It-Yourself Progressive Dinner option. This option will encourage patrons to visit a different restaurant for each course on a tantalizing tour of downtown dining. Participating dining establishments will offer three-course prix fixe dinners for either $20 or $30 per person, $5 or $10 lunch menus, and/or a special appetizer, entrée, or dessert for the Progressive Dinner option, depending on the venue.

I am proud to announce that my friend Vaughn Williams, owner of Urbana Catering Concepts, has bought out Holly's on Hargett It will continue to operate as Holly's for the next three weeks, before Williams converts it to Notte | Urbana in September. Williams describes the concept as urban inspired Italian. Yumm!!! Congrats to Chef Vaughn! More details to follow.

Hibernian Irish Pub & Restaurant in Cary announced this week that it will close its doors after business tomorrow (Aug. 15) after receiving an offer on the building they couldn't refuse. Moving in will be the Triangle's first location of Newk's Eatery. Look for Newk's to open in late November. But don't fret too much Cary, Hibernian is exploring multiple location options for a new location in downtown Cary.

Want to be one of the first ones to dine at Scott Crawford's Standard Foods? Sign up to be there on Aug. 30 as he welcomes author and James Beard Award winning chef Hugh Acheson for a special evening.

SmallCakes this week opened their second Triangle-area location in the Parkside Town Commons in Cary (1132 Parkside Main Street to be exact).

The café in the ground floor of The Atrium building across from Rex Hospital will have a new tenant on Monday. Food truck KocinA Grill will begin operating their brick-and-mortar location there beginning this Monday according to the News & Observer. That location was most recently occupied by The Atrium Grille.

Over in Cary, the Triangle's newest location of The Egg & I announced their grand opening date of Aug. 31. They will have a "training" day on Aug. 30 (reservations are required and donations to The Carying Place are appreciated).

And we have the official open date for the first franchise location of Rise Donuts and Biscuits. It will open on Aug. 22 in the Park West Village in Morrisville.

Saw in a tweet from Diane Pisano that Cary will get the first location of Ledo Pizza in Preston Corners. Ledo is known in the Northern Virginia and Maryland areas for their square pizzas. Check them out here.

Got a tweet from Kathleen Donnelly that the space formerly occupied by Ciago's (522 St. Mary's Street in downtown Raleigh) will be replaced by a place called My Way Tavern. I can only assume it is linked to the My Way Tavern in Holly Springs. We will keep an eye on it.

Belgian-Filippo's, a Belgian eatery and beer bar, is now open in the former Quality Grocery space at 701 E. Lane Street in downtown Raleigh.

JoCo's Gourmet Dawgs & Shakes opens tomorrow (Saturday, Aug. 15) in North Raleigh's Lafayette Village at 4 p.m.

Kababish Café is currently having a soft opening (open with a full menu), but their grand opening hasn't been announced yet. It is located at 201 W. Chatham St. in the former UnVine'd Wine Bar space in Olde Cary Commons.

Another slight change in the official opening date for MOD Pizza in Raleigh - Monday, Aug. 17 (a day earlier than previously reported). And the coolest thing? 100 percent of sales on that day will be donated to the Food Bank of Central & Eastern North Carolina.

Thanks to reader Deborah Copeland who tipped us off to the fact that Gooey's American Grille is opening soon in Wake Forest (950 Gateway Commons Circle). They are going in the location formerly occupied by Fire Pit. As the name implies, they are a gourmet grilled cheese restaurant featuring soups, salads and the soon to be famous s'mores grilled donut.

The big news in Durham this week is bitter sweet (pun intended). We got word from Carpe Durham that DaisyCakes will be closing their doors on Aug. 21, but will be replaced by Durham's next location of Rise Biscuits and Donuts (401A Foster Street). Our best to Tanya Matta as she looks to open a dessert tasting room somewhere in downtown Durham.

And the other news out of Rise is that they announced a 6th Triangle area location this week. This location will be in Carrboro at 300 E. Main Street. That is the building anchored by the Hampton Inn & Suites.

Over in Chapel Hill, food truck Captain Ponchos has announced the opening date of Aug. 27 for their brick-and-mortar location in Chapel Hill's Southern Village.

Learned this week that the folks over at Panther Creek High School will host a movie night and food truck rodeo (six trucks) on Friday, August 21st from 6-10 p.m.

Mark your calendars to be in Durham on Sept. 6 for the Labor Day Weekend food truck rodeo at Durham Central Park. This one will be from noon until 4 p.m.

Tickets are on sale now for one of the biggest foodie events around - the TerraVita Food & Drink Festival, which will be held in Chapel Hill Oct. 8-10. It simply can't be missed.

Carrboro Coffee Roasters reminded me of their next Barista Bash coming up on Aug. 20, with the competition beginning at 7:30 p.m. at their Pop-up Coffee Bar at Golden Belt (807 E. Main Street) in downtown Durham. The event is free and open to the public and limited to 24 baristas.

Tickets are on sale now for Beericana, a craft beer and music festival in Holly Springs on Sept.12. Beericana is in its second year and all signs point to it being even better than last year. The festival will feature over 60 breweries from across the state and beyond, more food trucks than last year with at least 20 trucks. General admission tickets are $45 and VIP tickets are $75.

Speaking of beer, join the brewers of Wake County at the NC Museum of Natural Sciences in downtown Raleigh on Aug. 21 at 7 p.m. ($30; $25 for members) for a one-of-a-kind evening of beer and science. At the sampling session, a dozen brewers will offer unique creations fitting the museum's natural science focus. Sit in on discussions about fermentation, flavors and the engineering of beer. Get all the details here. Thanks to Deborah Copeland for the tip on this event.

Midtown Grille executive chef Benjamin Harris came to Raleigh from Charleston, South Carolina. So the recent events there hit pretty close to home. So on Sunday, Aug. 23 he will host a chef collaboration event called North Cooks South to raise money for the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston. Joining Harris will be Charleston’s Daniel Doyle (Poogan’s Porch), Charlotte’s Chris Coleman (The Asbury/Dunhill Hotel) and Raleigh’s Scott James (executive sous chef at The Angus Barn). The $150 dinner is limited to 100 people.

You'll want to go ahead and mark your calendar for the 2nd Annual Triangle Oktoberfest coming to Cary's Koka Booth Amphitheatre on Oct. 3-4. There will be some great authentic German fare as well as some amazing breweries.

And if you are into eating healthier, you might want to go ahead and get this event on your calendar - the 2015 Triangle Vegfest which will be held at Moore Square and City Market in downtown Raleigh on Saturday, Oct. 17 from noon until 5 p.m.

The Food Bank of Eastern & Central North Carolina is thrilled to share that the long-awaited virtual food drive platform is now live! By following a few simple steps, anyone with a computer and an internet connection can create a personal page. Friends and family can browse through virtual grocery aisles, add items to a shopping cart, and check out by making a monetary donation. You can even add some competition and set up a team!