Triangle Foodie News: Hillsborough getting a new sandwich shop

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

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

Rise Biscuits & Donuts is on the move again. With full attention focused on opening franchise locations, they announced this week that another deal has been secured for north Raleigh's Sutton Square, 6325 Falls of the Neuse Road. This will be the fourth Triangle location following the original location in Durham, the Morrisville location in Park West Village (scheduled to open any day now) and the location in Raleigh's Cameron Village. Each location will have "pop-up" tastings (visit their individual store Facebook pages to find out times on these.)

Get ready north Raleigh to loosen the old belt a few notches. The Triangle Business Journal gave us an update this week noting that the second location of Big Ed's is a matter of days away from opening. They noted that the location in the Quail Corners shopping center is finishing up "minor details" inside the space and is targeted to open at "the end of the month or right around the first of August," according to Sam Hobgood. They also noted that this location would also be open for dinner.

Also in north Raleigh, Farina opened over the weekend in the former Paparazzi space in Lafayette Village. The new restaurant, like its predecessor in the space, is Italian. They are open nightly and serve brunch on Sunday.

The News & Observer reported this week that Cary is about to get another Indian restaurant - Kababish Café. It is located at 201 W. Chatham Street in the former UnVine'd wine bar space in Olde Cary Commons. They are scheduled to open today (Friday), but check in with them first before going.

Got an update on the area's first MOD Pizza. They are now scheduled to open the first week of August at 2071 W. Millbrook Road (corner of Millbrook and Creedmoor) in north Raleigh.

In other pizza news, Marco's Pizza in Clayton has just opened and will hold their Grand Opening celebration on Sunday, July 26 from 4-7 p.m. with free pizza trials, refreshments, pizza giveaways, a DJ, martial arts demonstrations, the fire department and more. Check them out there.

And in this week's "Wouldn't That Be Great" column we made note that the folks over at Larry's Beans put up a photo of the old Helios building on Glenwood South and wrote, "Wouldn't this be a great spot for a coffee bar?" Not sure if they are giving us a hint there, or hoping someone will move into that spot soon. Needless to say, we will keep an eye on this one.

The News & Observer reported this week that Matt Fox, Jeremy Blankenship and Dean James (the folks behind The Wooden Nickel Pub, Hillsborough BBQ Co. and La Place) will be opening a new sandwich shop called Bona Fide Sandwich Co., which they plan to open in the fall in downtown Hillsborough at 104 N. Churton St.

Got great news this week that Hernan Moyano, his brother Santiago and Ricky Yofre will be opening a brick & mortar location of Makus Empanadas in the Hope Valley shopping center in Durham. Up until this point they have been doing catering around the Triangle. Look for the location to open this fall.

Northgate Mall announced this week the opening of Randy's Pizza Express in their food court. Next month will mark the 20th anniversary of Randy's Pizza, which now has eight locations throughout the Triangle.

Got word from David McCreary that Mt. Fuji Hibachi & Sushi restaurant at 1311 E. Broad St. in Fuquay-Varina has closed its doors.

Blackjack Brewing Company will hold its grand opening Saturday, July 25. There will be food trucks, live music and Gouge Wrestling. The event starts at 2 p.m.

The Chatham Street Chowdown food truck rally is Sunday in downtown Cary. There will be 24 food trucks at the event from 5 to 9:30 p.m.

And go ahead and mark your calendar for the next two big food truck rodeos in downtown Raleigh and downtown Durham. Raleigh's next rally will be in the evening (4-9 p.m.) on Sunday, Aug. 9 and Durham's will be Labor Day weekend (Sept. 6).

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.

I often find myself in a pickle, but I've never been to a "pickle" event. You? Now's your chance as The Rickhouse on Foster Street in Durham will host PickleFest Durham on Saturday, July 25, from noon until 3 p.m. The event is free and will bring together the areas pickle makers and enthusiasts along with restaurants, food trucks, food bloggers, farmers and canners and the N&O's Andrea Weigl (author of Pickles & Preserves).

The Beer, Bourbon and BBQ Festival is back again this year at Cary's Koka Booth Amphitheatre July 31 through Aug. 1. I think the title of this event gives you a pretty good idea of what it is all about, but if you need more details, check them out here.

Kimbap's Kim Hunter is hosting a three-course dinner with beer and wine pairings on Monday, Aug. 3rd at 4:30 p.m. to benefit In Good Heart Farm in Clayton.

Go ahead and mark your calendar for 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.

We have less than two weeks of our summer campaign to provide 3.2 million meals to children and their families during the summer. For 300,000 kids in our region, no school means no meals. Let's #StopSummerHunger together! Get more information or donate now.