New Belgium Brewery Tour de Fat Returns to Durham June 23rd!!

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New Belgium’s “Tour De Fat”

On Saturday June 23, 2012 the New Belgium Brewery’s “Tour de Fat” returns to the Diamond View Park at the American Tobacco Campus in downtown Durham.  This is a family friendly event that includes a costumed bike parade, live music, and sideshow entertainment acts. Of cpurse, there will be plenty of beer for sale too! The New Belgium’s website describes the Tour de Fat as a“thrilling rite of passage that includes an unparalleled costumed bicycle parade, New Belgium beer, eccentric entertainment, local food, unusual bike contests and much more.”

Event Schedule:

9:00 AM – Parade Registration
9:45 AM – Rhymanese Twins
10:00 AM – Parade Launch
11:00 AM – Devil Dan Show
11:30 AM – Yo Yo People
12:15 PM – Slow Ride
12:30 PM – Sean Hayes
1:20 PM – Stunt Pepper Game Show
1:40 PM – SsssnakenStein
2:30 PM – Car for Bike Trade
3:00 PM – Sister Sparrow & the Dirty Birds

The event is free to enter, but bring cash for beer and food. Proceeds benefit Triangle-area charities that promote bicycling.

For more information visit the event website or visit them on Facebook.

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Picture of the Week – The Morning Times in Raleigh

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Upstairs at Morning Times enjoying a latte

This week’s picture was snapped during a visit to the upstairs seating area at Morning Times in downtown Raleigh.  This is one of my favorite places to relax downtown. I love the lighting and exposed brick walls with large windows overlooking the action on Hargett Street below. They also serve Counter Culture Coffee and have some great baristas making for excellent signature coffee drinks!

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The Triangle’s Top Chefs Go Head to Head in “Fire in the Triangle”

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Fire In the Triangle Chefs: L to R Adam Rose; Matthew Hannon; Ryan Payne; Adam Jones; Chris Harris; Reto von Weissenfluh; Josh DeCarolis; John Childers; Serge Falcoz-Vigne; Michael Lee; Christopher Hill; Dean Wendel; Scott James. Note pictured: Shane Ingram

Want to try food prepared by some of the best Chefs in the Triangle? The Got To Be NC Competition Dining Series event, Fire In the Triangle, dining events kick off June 11 and conclude on July 31. The 15 dining events will be hosted at 1705 Prime, the area’s premier private event space owned by Rocky Top Catering at 1705 East Millbrook Road, Raleigh, NC 27609 (Map).

HOW IT WORKS
Paying guests will sample each course in a blind tasting alongside a panel of culinary and celebrity judges in a series of 15 dinner competitions. Each evening, two restaurants “battle” it out side-by-side in a single elimination, “Iron Chef”-style format. Guests savor a six-course menu (three dishes from each chef without knowing whose food they’re tasting) created around a “secret” or “featured” ingredient. For almost all dinners, the ingredient will come from a North Carolina source. The secret ingredient is revealed to the chefs only an hour before they start cooking, and it must be used in each of their three courses.

Diners, alongside culinary and guest judges, will rate each dish and determine who moves on to the next round and who goes home. At stake in each series is a grand prize of $2,000, a coveted “Red Chef Jacket,” and a hand-forged trophy by Gaines Kiker Silversmith in Blowing Rock, NC. The runner-up receives $500. Tickets for dinners cost $49 excluding beverage, tax and tip. The semi-final and final ticket prices are $59. Diners can attend as many dinners as they like. Tickets are on sale now at http://www.competitiondining.com Hurry. Seats go fast.

The final 16 contenders were recently announced at a press conference at 1705 Prime. The single-elimination competition brackets are below with the chef leading a team of three into the competition:

June 11
Four Square, Durham (Shane Ingram)
vs.
The Twisted Fork, Raleigh (Adam Jones)

June 12
Il Palio Ristorante at the Siena Hotel, Chapel Hill (Adam Rose)
vs.
Jujube Restaurant, Chapel Hill (Josh DeCarolis)

June 13
Weathervane Restaurant at A Southern Season, Chapel Hill (Ryan Payne)
vs.
Fork and Barrel, Raleigh (Chris Harris)

June 18
The Midtown Grille, Raleigh (Scott James)
vs.
Ashten’s Restaurant & Pub, Southern Pines (Matthew Hannon)

June 19
Herons at the Umstead Hotel & Spa, Cary (John Childers)
vs.
Market Restaurant, Raleigh (Chad McIntyre)

June 20
Mia Francesca Trattoria, Raleigh (Reto von Weissenfluh)
vs.
518 West Italian Café, Raleigh (Serge Falcoz-Vigne)

June 25
Sono Japanese Restaurant, Raleigh (Michael Lee)
vs.
Flights at the Renaissance Raleigh North Hills Hotel, Raleigh (Dean Wendel)

June 26
The Oxford, Raleigh (Christopher Hill)
vs.
Chapel Hill Country Club, Chapel Hill (Jimmy Reale)

July 9
Battle between winner of June 11 and June 12

July 10
Battle between winner of June 13 and June 18

July 16
Battle between winner of June 19 and June 20

July 17
Battle between winner of June 25 and June 26

July 23
Battle between winner of July 9 and July 10 (semifinals)

July 24
Battle between winner of July 16 and July 17 (semifinals)

July 31
Battle between winners of July 23 and July 24 (finals)

The goal of the “Got To Be NC” North Carolina Competition Dining is to showcase North Carolina culinary talent and agricultural bounty. At each venue, a charitable donation will be made from a portion of the ticket sales to the Office of the State Fire Marshal in North Carolina to support local fire fighters, as cooking is the number one cause of house fires. Instructional tips about kitchen fire safety will be shared during the event.

Sponsors include The North Carolina Department of Agriculture (NCDA), Southern Foods/ Pate Dawson, OUR STATE Magazine, Crippen’s Country Inn & Restaurant in Blowing Rock and H.ITS Technology. Local sponsors include the Greater Raleigh Convention and Visitors Bureau and Independent Weekly.

For more information, contact Susan Dosier at 704.993.7871 mobile or susan@dkcommunicationsgroup.com

www.competitiondining.com offers event dates, ticket sales, and bios on participating chefs

www.facebook.com/competitiondining offers daily news and updates, photos of chef dishes and more

www.youtube.com/user/CompDiningNC shares videos of the winner after each competition, video bios on each chef and more

www.Twitter.com/compdiningnc use the hashtag #compdiningnc and join the fun

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Latte Art Competition & 10th Anniversary Celebration at Cafe Helios Thursday May 31st!

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The Triangle’s most talented baristas will put their skills to the test this Thursday, May 31st, at the Thursday Night Throwdown (TNT) latte art competition hosted by Counter Culture Coffee and Cafe Helios in downtown Raleigh.

Baristas from throughout the Triangle will go head to head crafting their best latte art which is then judged by the audience. The winner moves on to the next round to compete again until an ultiamte champion is crowned at the end of the evening.  The winner will receive eternal glory, bragging rights, and some cool prizes too!

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Latte Art

This throwdown is extra special because it also marks Cafe Helio’s 10th anniversary! To add to the festivities there will be food trucks on hand including Klausie’s Pizza, American Meltdown, and Bulkogi Truck, music, and an after party at C.Grace, the bar next door, featuring a special cocktail menu after the champion is crowned.

Event Details
Thursday May 31st at Cafe Helios ~ 413 Glenwood Avenue, Raleigh, NC
Food Trucks arrive at 6 pm
TNT Competition starts at 7pm
Free Admission
Open to the public (Vote for your favorite latte art!)
$5 entry fee for Baristas entering the competition
Music, Food, Drink specials, and coffee all throughout the evening.

Hope to see you there!

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Get on Board! Have you taken Raleigh’s Free R-Line Bus Yet?

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R-Line Pulling up to stop on Peace Street at Seaboard Station

I’ll admit it. Raleigh doens’t have the best public transportation, but the addition of the R-Line in early 2009  is baby step in the right direction. In case you don’t know about it, here is the deal.  The R-LINE, dubbed an eco-friendly approach to urban transportation, is a FREE circulator service that features hybrid electric buses that connects you to restaurants, retail, entertainment venues, museums, hotels, and parking facilities in downtown Raleigh.

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The R-Line stop in front of the new Raleigh Convention Center

The buses run every 10-15 minutes on a continuous loop around downtowns busiest spots. Including places like Seaboard Station, Glenwood Avenue, City Plaza, and Wilmington Street. Stops are conveniently spread out along the loop and you can use your smart phone to check out exactly where the bus is to gauge how long you have before heading to the stop closest to you.

One of my favorite things to do when I am going to an event downtown is to park my car up by Seaboard Station (near Peace Street) where parking is free and plentiful and take the R-Line to destinations along Glenwood Avenue and downtown City-Plaza. This allows me to take in the scenes of downtown and avoid paying for parking.  For people who get frazzled looking for parking the R-Line takes a lot of the stress out of visitng downtown.

If you are going to the first Oak City 7 Concert this Thursday night in City Plaza give the R-Line a try and let me know what you think!

R-Line Hours of Operation
Mon-Wed (7 am-11 pm)
Thurs-Sat (7 am-2:15 am)
Sun (1 pm-8 pm)

To view the R-Line route map or check out its real-time location visit the R-Line website: http://www.godowntownraleigh.com/get-around/r-line

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