March 3, 2011 · 6:00 pm

PieBird to Hold Open House Friday March 4th (6:30-8pm)

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PieBird ~ Located at 618 N. Person Street in Downtown Raleigh

The new and highly anticipated downtown Raleigh pie shop PieBird is holding an informal open house on Friday March 4th from 6:30-8pm. This is a great opportunity to taste some of their special creations and check out the results of all the hard work that went into transforming the old Conti’s Italian Market location on Person street into a pie lover’s dream featuring homemade sweet and savory pies, local coffee, beer, wine and a full cocktail bar.

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Outdoor seating at PieBird

I plan to take some interior photos during the open house, but in the meantime you can view some great pictures of the shop’s transformation and cool layout on the piebird facebook fanpage. Check back here for a full review of the open house and an update on the details of their official grand opening in the very near future!

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February 27, 2011 · 9:20 am

Urban Chickens at Ace Hardware Hen-side the Beltline!

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I stopped in the Seaboard Station Ace Hardware located in downtown Raleigh this week and was surprised to see they had a big table set up with aluminum washtubs filled with different baby chicks.   According to the people at Ace, they get a lot of requests for chicks given the growing popularity of urban chickens in downtown Raleigh.  These particular birds come from the Mt. Healthy Hatchery out of Ohio and are destined to become residents of backyard chicken coops in older Raleigh neighborhoods inside the beltline.

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Urban chickens provide their owner a source of fresh organic eggs, but some also view them as pets and or as an educational exercise for their children to learn about the responsibility of caring for a live animal.  Either way, the popularity of urban chickens has grown so much in Raleigh in recent years that there is now an annual event called ” Hen-side the Beltline Tour-d Coup” each summer.  The event features tours of dozen of coops located in the backyards of homes inside the beltline to give the public an opportunity to learn about raising chickens in a healthy neighbor friendly environment, and see how families integrate chickens into their gardening practices.  The Sixth Annual Tour d’Coop will be held on Saturday May 21, 2011.  For more information about the coops featured on past tours and info on how you can get tickets this year, please check out the Hen-side the Beltline website!

 

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February 23, 2011 · 10:30 pm

Steve Smith Performs at Electric Beanz Saturday February 26th!

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Steve Smith, a very talented singer and songwriter based out of Raleigh is performing at Electric Beanz Coffee Bar this Saturday from  7-9pm. 

As the former frontman for Raleigh-based band “the Jackhonks” and Washington, DC-based acoustic act “Stephen Fell Asunder” Steve has experience touring across North Carolina, Virginia, DC & Maryland. He recently recorded a solo album titled “Steveing the Story” and is currently performing solo-acoustic original music shows throughout North Carolina.  For samples of his music and info on future tour dates check out his website and facebook fanpage.

Don’t miss your chance to catch Steve and  hear some great live music this weekend at Electric Beanz.  In addition to their excellent locally roasted organic coffee they also feature draft beer from Fuquay’s own Aviator Brewing Company.  Music starts at 7pm (no cover).

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February 23, 2011 · 12:05 am

Food Truck Round Up at Johnny’s in Carrboro!

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This past Saturday I ventured over to Carrboro to check out the latest Food Truck Round Up.  This one was hosted at Johnny’s in Carrboro.   It was the perfect day for an outdoor event like this given the warm temperatures we have been having recently.  There were seven food trucks featured at this round up set up in a ring in the parking lot surrounding Johnny’s.  A good sized but manageable crowd was on hand to enjoy the beautiful weather, great food and jazzy music.

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The seven trucks at the event included Only Burger, Will & Pops, Slippin Sliders, Parlez-Vous Crepes, Valentinos, Joey-D’s Hotdogs, and a Taco Truck.  All of the trucks looked fairly busy, but unlike some of the other food truck rodeos I’ve been too, having such a large number of trucks there made for more manageable lines with the waits only on the order of 5-10 minutes to place your order and get your food.

Music

Johnny’s is the perfect venue for this kind of an event because their setup provides ample room for the trucks with lots of open space left for people to mingle.  They also have a nice patio out back of the store that makes for an excellent band stage.  The musical group there on Saturday included a steel guitar, organ, and drums that made for some cool jazz tunes.

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There was a good amount of room for seating and several large park benches located along the side of the building.  I really liked that you can buy beer and wine inside the store to enjoy with your food.   Johnny’s features a wide variety of beers including several local brews like LoneRider bottles and growlers from Fullsteam and Aviator.

The Round Up!

This is the first food truck round up at Johnny’s that I know of, but they are big supporters of the movement and I understand that the Parlez-Vous Crepe and Taco Truck are regualrs there on weekends.  Given the overwhelming success of this event, I bet they will host similar events in the future and I will be sure to post about them here.  For more of my pictures you can view my flickr photo album of the food truck round up.

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February 9, 2011 · 12:50 pm

Benelux Cafe ~ Great Coffee in Downtown Raleigh

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Last week I saw a “tweet” on twitter announcing Robert Plant (of Led Zeppelin fame) had just stopped in at Benelux Cafe for a cup of Joe.  It was only then that I realized there was another great coffee bar in downtown Raleigh I needed to check out.  Benelux Cafe is located along the cobblestone streets of the City Market area adjacent to Moore Square Park in Downtown Raleigh. Their name is derived the names of three Western European nations:  Belgium, Netherlands, and Luxembourg.  The cafe opened up about five months ago and features coffee from local roaster Joe Van Gogh and select Belgian beers. 

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On my first visit I enjoyed a cafe’ mocha and  impressed with the Joe Van Gogh coffee and how the drink was prepared.  It had a nice chocolate flavor but it didn’t overpower the coffee with too much sweetness.  Benelux also serves wine in addition to their coffee and beer offerings so there is something on the menu for everybody. On the food side of things they sell breakfast and lunch sandwiches and wraps along with a few salad offerings and pastries that I look forward to trying in the future.

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It just so happened that my first visit to Benelux coincided with the “First Friday” gallery walk downtown so there were two featured artists in the cafe displaying and discussing their work.  The cafe is just around the corner from Artspace making it the perfect spot to visit for a break from taking in art from all the nearby galleries.  The cafe’ is spacious and has comfortable seating with good lighting.  They have flat screen tv up on the wall which I thought was nice because it isn’t distracting with the volume off and it provides an opportunity to go out and watch sporting events without going to a loud bar. 

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I’ll definitely be a regular at this excellent new addition to downtown Raleigh and look forward to seeing if they host any music acts or open mics down the road. For more info about Benelux and any upcoming events at the cafe’ you can check out their facebook fanpage or follow then on twitter @BeneluxCafeUSA.

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