Food: Triangulator, Indy Week

Chapel Hill food truckin’, What a long strange trip it’s been

Joe Schwartz — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 12:52:48 -0400

Chapel Hill inched closer to allowing food trucks within town limits Monday night at a Town Council public hearing.

Council members received a proposed ordinance, already approved unanimously by the town Planning Board, which would:
-allow food trucks to be located downtown in private lots, at least 100 feet away from a restaurant entrance, as long as the trucks and the lot owner each have a permit;
-allow one food truck per 30 parking spaces in other commercial districts, with permits;
-require food truck vendors to comply with local, county and state tax regulations and to display health permits at all times;
-require food truck vendors to dispose of all trash and grease, and forbid them to offer seating;
-restrict food truck signs to those permanently attached to the vehicles and a portable menu sign smaller than 6 square feet.…

Raleigh decides food trucks aren't the boogeyman after all, passes new rules to allow vendors in city

Joe Schwartz — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 16:09:27 -0400

Updated with additional reporting from Bob Geary

After a year of wrangling, the Raleigh City Council finally approved new food truck regulations today that will allow mobile vendors to operate on private property.

The vote was 6-2 with Councilmen John Odom and Thomas Crowder opposed.…

A year on, Chapel Hill still doing prep work on food trucks decision

Joe Schwartz — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 15:47:00 -0400

If Chapel Hill were a restaurant, it would be dawdling in the kitchen while diners impatiently waited for their meals.

After 11 months of deliberation, town officials still may not decide on legalization of food trucks until an Oct. 17 public hearing, at the earliest.…

Stop Wining! Pt. 6: Resume Wining

Adam Sobsey — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 14:00:00 -0400

Is it really true what all those people say, that life is too short to drink bad wine? The more I think about it, the less I believe it.…

Stop Wining! Pt. 5: In Which It Gets Boring

Adam Sobsey — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 10:07:41 -0400

Well, maybe this series already has gotten boring. But what I mean is that, having discovered that not drinking for an extended period really isn't that big of a deal, I have now reached the stage where I'm merely twiddling my thumbs, waiting for the experiment to lope to its appointed end; which is to say, in turn, that it is perhaps a bigger deal than I am able to recognize, since, if it wasn't, I wouldn't have much awareness at all of anticipating my next opportunity to drink.…

Stop Wining! Pt. 4: Not Drinking for Lent Continues

Adam Sobsey — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 23:45:26 -0400

I was writing last time about how it's been rather pleasant to think, fantasize, etc. about wine during this time of Lenten abstinence, as a surrogate for drinking it. (Practical note: two weeks to go!)…

Stop Wining! Pt. 3

Adam Sobsey — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 10:51:36 -0400

The abstinence marches on...

A Brief History

What is Lent, anyway, and why abstain?…

Stop Wining! Pt. 2

Adam Sobsey — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 19:16:10 -0400

I wrote at the end of my first post that, for the first Lenten week of not drinking, I was very, very hungry. No real surprise there: I was using alcohol less as an intoxicant than as fuel.…

Stop Wining!

Adam Sobsey — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 10:31:18 -0400

I love wine. I love to drink wine, think about wine, read about wine, talk about wine.…

NCSSM vies for Guinness record with massive food drive

Samiha Khanna — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 16:20:48 -0500

Students at the N.C. School of Science & Mathematics are hoping to break a world record on March 20 by gathering the most donations during a charitable food drive that lasts just 24 hours.

To break the record, donations must top 509,147 pounds of food.…

Few food expenses for Chapel Hill advisory boards

Joe Schwartz — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 18:24:06 -0500

Almost half of the Chapel Hill's standing committees and advisory boards served taxpayer-funded food at events from November 2008 to November 2009, receipts show.

We wrote about the Town Council's meeting munchies expenditures in this week's Indy. Unlike the council, most of the town's other food-eating groups only order grub a few times a year.

The Library Board of Trustees spent the most with $345.67 purchased.

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Durham Central Market receives $25K loan

Lisa Sorg — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 11:41:37 -0500

Even before the demise of the Durham Co-op grocery earlier this year (the space on West Chapel Hill Street slated to become an acupuncture clinic) there were rumblings about a new market to either supplement or replace it.

Durham Central Market announced today it receive a $25,000 Sprout Fund loan from Food Co-op 500. The loan program, financed by National Cooperative Bank (NCB), is designed to provide capital during the middle and late stages of co-op development. According to a press release, over the last three years, only seven co-ops nationwide have been awarded a Sprout Loan. The award was based on a review of the market's business plan and pro forma financial statements.…

Durham's George's Garage closes

Jennifer Strom — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 12:17:03 -0400

After 15 years of feeding big lunchtime crowds at its popular hot and cold buffet bar and offering sit-down fine dining featuring seafood and sushi, Ninth Street institution George's Garage closed its doors last week.

A spokesman for owner Giorgios Bakatsias says the lease has expired on the building, and that Bakatsias is pursuing "new ventures."…

Illness at Evoo explained

Jennifer Strom — Thu, 28 May 2009 15:30:57 -0400

Food safety inspectors have pinpointed the problem that sickened patrons at Raleigh's Evoo restaurant last month: Anchovies used in a Caesar salad dressing. At least 17 diners fell ill at the restaurant and in a nearby home, summoning multiple emergency medical teams to the scene.…

Break out the jiggers in Chatham

Jennifer Strom — Wed, 06 May 2009 14:51:35 -0400

Chatham County voters just said yes to mixed drinks this week.

With 19 percent turnout, a referendum that was the only issue in a special countywide election passed 65 percent to 35 percent, according to complete but unofficial results from the Chatham County Board of Election.…

Raleigh restaurant Evoo possibly tied to food-borne illness

Jennifer Strom — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 16:48:00 -0400

The 911 calls

The names and phone numbers of the callers have been redacted.

Call #1 (.wav, 3.7 MB)

Friday, April 17, 9:48 p.m. from Evoo restaurant.

Call #2 (.wav, 6.1 MB)

Friday, April 17, 10:11 p.m. from an address in the 1000 block of Vance Street, where two people who had eaten at Evoo earlier in the evening were severely ill.

Wake County health officials are trying to trace the source of more than eight possible cases of food-borne illness reported April 17, which may be connected to Evoo, a Mediterranean restaurant in Raleigh’s Five Points.

“We are currently investigating some reports of sickness,” said André Pierce, director of the environmental health and safety division of the county’s environmental services department.…

Sign of the times: Hereghty's locked out

Jennifer Strom — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 08:22:54 -0500

Handcrafted pastries sit moldering in the display case as disappointed would-be customers stop at the door to Hereghty's patisserie and cafe in Raleigh's Glenwood Village Shopping Center. The owners defaulted on their rent, and the landlord changed the locks, according to a letter posted on the glass door, dated Feb. 25.…

More on The Mint: Chef's out

Bob Geary — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 12:19:37 -0500

From VarmintBites, a restaurant industry blog, we learn that the chef's gone at The Mint, Raleigh's city-subsidized restaurant in the city-owned office building on Fayetteville Street; so, too, the operations manager and the pastry chef. NewRaleigh.com picked up on it -- that's where we saw it.…

Capital City Grocery closes in Raleigh

David Fellerath — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 09:45:29 -0500

The latest attempt to establish a locally-owned, downtown grocery has failed.

New Raleigh has the story, and a passionate discussion thread.…

New farmers' markets for 2009

Jennifer Strom — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 14:04:40 -0500

The Triangle’s growing farm-to-table movement may sprout two new local markets next spring. Organizers for two new potential sites in Cary and Pittsboro will hold public discussions about the possibilities over the next two weeks.…

Raleigh's The Mint restaurant: We're not closing, either

Jennifer Strom — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 19:04:36 -0500

While speculation and snarkage about Raleigh's downtown restaurant scene continues unabated over at NewRaleigh.com, Indy food writer Jane Hobson Snyder caught up with Ryan Reavis, the manager of The Mint today, and here's what he had to say about Internet-born rumors that his place is closing: "We were really surprised and taken aback. I don't understand why someone would want to do that.…

Raleigh's Fins restaurant: We're not closing

Jennifer Strom — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 17:40:41 -0500

Contrary to Internet rumors over at the NewRaleigh blog, the principals of the beloved seafood restaurant Fins are happy to be in business on East Davie Street downtown and have no plans to close. Lisa D'Auvray, who runs the front of the house and is married to the chef, was shocked to hear of online speculation today that her restaurant was going the way of Riviera, which closed last week.…

Durham People's Alliance endorses meals tax

Fiona Morgan — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 10:37:29 -0400

The Durham People's Alliance, a progressive grassroots citizens' group, announced last week that its political action committee voted to support a ballot referendum to impose a 1 percent sales-tax surcharge on restaurant meals in the city order to fund a minor league baseball museum and other cultural amenities.

"[M]embers of the organization engaged in a spirited discussion over the wisdom and desirability of the proposed one percent prepared meals tax," the release said.…

A pub into Yancy's

Bob Geary — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 10:41:27 -0400

Jedidiah dishes the news over at New Raleigh.

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What a difference a lede makes

Matt Saldaña — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 11:26:33 -0400

First, from the Herald-Sun story (reg. required) on the opening gala for A Taste FOR Durham's Future, the quasi-governmental committee lobbying for a 1-percent meals tax to fund a minor-league baseball museum, and other civil projects:

If the movers and shakers who gathered Tuesday afternoon accurately reflected the voice of the people, then the proposed meals tax will win November's referendum easily.

Bull City Rising, meanwhile, goes with a more skeptical approach:

If comments at the Herald-Sun and blogs like BCR were scientific polling -- which naturally they ain't -- the prepared foods tax would seem destined for a bleak future at the polls.

It's fair to say that neither group--members of a pro-tax committee, or anonymous bloggers commenters--accurately represents the voice of the people.…