Wild Wing Café Coming to Crossroads Area
Good news for wing lovers in West Raleigh and Cary.
Wild Wing Café
, the 34-store wing chain out of Atlanta, will open “late spring” in the former Jack Astor’s location on Walnut Street (in the BJ’s shopping center). This will be the restaurant’s second area location, as the first is at Brier Creek.
Personally, this is my favorite of the wing outlets. The 35-sauce menu has much variety, but “Island Jerk” still stands as my favorite (even if it does make me think of van-der-sloot).
2012: The Endangered List
Now that we are done looking in the rearview mirror, it’s time to focus on the year ahead. Each year new ideas and businesses bloom while other find themselves caught in inescapable traps. Some fall prey to bad locations, others to market redundancy, poor product, or poor service. Others are just obsolete.
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.
Tilted Kilt Coming to North Raleigh
Arizona-based chain Tilted Kilt is coming to the former Cooker and Taste of Thai location in North Raleigh. After a careful review of the Celtic-themed restaurant and pub, they are obviously obsessed about two things…and maybe the food. Classy.
Vesuvio’s Coming to Peachtree Market
Vesuvio’s
a casual Italian restaurant based in Roxboro, is set to open the newest restaurant in North Raleigh’s Peachtree Market. The restaurant will take the space formerly occupied by Bear Rock Café, Atlanta Bread Co., and CD Superstore. It difficult to tell if
the menu
(.pdf) will feature low-cost items such as pizza, stromboli, hot subs, etc or if the focus will be on
nice dinner entrees
. We’ll see in the spring!
City of Raleigh Collecting Used Cooking Oil, Grease
From the City of Raleigh website :
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 Now Open
Mia Francesca
, a Chicagoland chain of nice Northern Italian restaurants, today opened their third location outside of the Windy City. The restaurant’s
menu
(.pdf) features a small selection of pastas and entrees that land in the middle-teen price range. Items like Costoletta di Maiale della casa and the Linguine al Sugo di Gambori look particularly interesting.
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.
Twongo Deal Features Raleigh best Mexican
Today’s Twongo deal
features Raleigh’s best Mexican restaurant with the worst name,
Fonda y Birrieria Jalisco
. The deal is a $20 gift certificate for $11 (currently). This is a great deal as FBJ has the areas best birria as well as the best al pastor items. Located in the Wal-Mart parking lot off of Rock & Roll Blvd (New Hope Church Rd.), FBJ is not to be missed!
Oktoberfest Coming Saturday
This Saturday marks the first ever
Downtown Raleigh Oktoberfest
. The event runs from 4pm to 9pm and takes place at the corner of North Person and Pace Streets (near Pie Bird and Krispy Kreme) and features beer as well as German sausages and sides (from PieBird), Swabian style pretzels (Café Prost), and Klausie’s Pizza Truck. There will also be a bounce room for children and a “side area for them to run around”. The $5 wrist band for entry includes one beer ticket.
Solas Named to Top 50 Late Night Finds
OpenTable Diners have spoken, and they have named Raleigh’s
Solas
among their list of
best late night eats in the country
. No other restaurants in North Carolina won the award.
Ashley Christensen’s Sunday Supper Featured in Bon Appetit
The September issue of
Bon Appetit
magazine features their latest favorite restaurants. On page 67 Raleighites will be happy to find a 3-page feature of Ashley Christensen’s “Down-Home Sunday Supper”. The spread contains recipes for these dishes:
- 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
Allen & Son BBQ Variant Coming to Five Points
It appears that Jimmy Stubbs from the Pittsboro Allen & Son Barbecue will be opening a store called “Five Points BBQ” in Raleigh. You can follow them on Twitter @5PointsBBQ .
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.
Jack Astor’s, Foster’s/Nelson’s/Felson’s/Noster’s Close
Restaurant closings are hitting the mid-priced restaurants at these times. Jack Astor’s was simply an easy meal in Cary. Foster’s on the other hand, was an important ITB social spot over the last couple of decades. The brick arches inside were reminiscent of the old Darryl’s on Hillsborough St. Wood from barns out in Wake County was used to fabricate the large doors inside. There were Clarence Foster’s locations in Atlanta, Charlotte, and Wrightsville Beach, but the Raleigh store was bought by the local owners when the chain went down. Later on Ralph Nelson converted the space into an upscale oyster bar and restaurant. The space underwent a massively expensive, and poorly designed renovation. Nelson’s didn’t make it and the space was converted back to Foster’s. Foster’s…man….Faaaahhster’s.
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.
Cantina South Featured on Today’s Twongo
Today’s deal
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!
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