Triangle Food Scene

[miamiblue]

If you are in for a quick lunch and it's a nice day (i.e. not 90 degrees plus) sure, it's a pleasant enough outdoor seating area. But to hang out at night with friends? Why not just go to Home Depot and hang out on the outdoor furniture for sale out in the parking lot...same concrete bordering on a sea of asphalt...

I am not sure who goes to fast food Chinese restaurants to hang out at night with friends, but if that is their forte, then I really don't think they will be complaining about Peace China's outdoor seating, because I have never really seen a place like it that even had outdoor seating.

I got takeout there on Friday night with a friend who is a very picky eater. She was happy that they had a dish that she likes that not all Chinese takeout places offer. I had such low expectations after reading all the reviews so far, that I was pleasantly surprised instead of completely turned off when I actually saw the place. I thought the food was good and am glad that I now have this type of Chinese restaurant close to where I live. It's not as easily walkable for me as I would like, but definitely a quick bike ride.

[JeffC]

I am not sure who goes to fast food Chinese restaurants to hang out at night with friends, but if that is their forte, then I really don't think they will be complaining about Peace China's outdoor seating, because I have never really seen a place like it that even had outdoor seating.

This was a response to the previous poster who stated he liked this outdoor seating more than Lily's or Moonlight--not a suggestion that anyone would want to hang out there, which is sort of my point, and one of the reasons many restaurants have outdoor seating...

[ChiefJoJo]

Interesting. Daniel Taylor, who used to be head chef at Underground (Charlie Goodnight's building) is now head chef and partner at Martin St Pizza. Greg Cox has a brief review.

[RaleighRob]

Looks like Yancy's has indeed closed shop now: http://www.newraleigh.com/articles/archive...ys-locks-doors/

Kinda sad to see it happen. Service wasn't the best, and the food was pricey, but it had a unique style and atmosphere that made it a good addition to the downtown Raleigh dining choices.

[Cecil]

I don't understand it. When I came home last night, the lights were on, music was playing, and there were a decent number of folks in there. Maybe they're just selling out the booze before calling it quits??

[castong]

Looks like Yancy's has indeed closed shop now: http://www.newraleigh.com/articles/archive...ys-locks-doors/

Kinda sad to see it happen. Service wasn't the best, and the food was pricey, but it had a unique style and atmosphere that made it a good addition to the downtown Raleigh dining choices.

They are still open, for now. http://www.newsobserver.com/business/story/1129465.html

[Durhamite]

They are still open, for now. http://www.newsobserver.com/business/story/1129465.html

Not surprised! The first Yancys (City Market) restaurant bit the bullet...I really liked this venue the most. He opened a Yancys in downtown Durham near Brightleaf Square, everyone was excited but the food was sub-par and the service, well was bad to say the least.

After this fiasco I doubt he'll be able to pull off another venture....who knows, this guy seems to have a rabbit in his hat.

Didn't make it to the Fayetteville St. location (recently move to Greensboro but still working in Raleigh), but I didn't have a lot of confidence in this place based on previous experience.

Slowly but surely, Raleigh/Durham is seeing these type of venues (jazz lounge/restaurants) open around the Triangle.

Finding a tenant to replace Yancys shouldn't be difficult given the location.

[dmccall]

Finding a tenant to replace Yancys shouldn't be difficult given the location.

THEY ARE STILL OPEN. I'm glad some of you don't work in the E.R.

[Gard]

Mexican restaurant Jibarra's is moving from North Raleigh to the Depot off of Davie St:

http://www.newsobserver.com/business/story/1131442.html

[dkst0426]

If you like Dim Sum, be sure to swing by Hong Kong in Durham, off Guess Road. If you take the Guess Road exit off 85 (northbound), turn left, go back under the interstate, and it's a couple of intersections up on your left. Standalone building, looks like a house. You can order dim sum off the menu during the week, and on the weekends, it'll be on carts with a couple of extra weekend-only items. We've ordered off their menu a couple of times as well. Very good noodles. Probably the best dim sum I've had in this part of the country, to be honest. Definitely better than Neo-China in Cary.

Oh, and if you go on weekends, get there early! They start serving dim sum at 11:00, and parking is very limited. Price-wise, it's not cheap (wife and I average a check of between $25-$35 each time, but we always have a good-sized doggy bag whenever we leave), but it's very reasonable.

Edited July 5, 2008 by dkst0426

[RaleighRob]

Mexican restaurant Jibarra's is moving from North Raleigh to the Depot off of Davie St:

http://www.newsobserver.com/business/story/1131442.html

This is probably some of the best news the Warehouse District has had in a while. Very happy about this. Haven't tried Jibarra yet, but from what everyone's said about it, I always pictured it as more of a downtown-type place than North Raleigh.

[ChiefJoJo]

Yeah, I have heard lots of good things about Jibarra, but never been there. Anyone who has have any thoughts? Having an established restaurant move to the Depot--which has seen plenty of trouble finding reliable tenants--seems like the best move they could have made. The fact that the owners are moving and not opening a new location speaks to the tremendous long term growth opportunities that DTR has to offer I think.

[JeffC]

Apparently, the piece at NewRaleigh on Yancy's was at least partially a fabrication/smear by a disgruntled ex-employee (read the N&O article linked above). Who knows what the truth is (yet) but I'm a little disappointed in New Raleigh, and hope they will have better quality control on what they run in the future...I certainly will take stuff (particularly the editorial stuff) with a grain of salt in the future...

Edited July 7, 2008 by JeffC

[ERG]

Apparently, the piece at NewRaleigh on Yancy's was at least partially a fabrication/smear by a disgruntled ex-employee (read the N&O article linked above). Who knows what the truth is (yet) but I'm a little disappointed in New Raleigh, and hope they will have better quality control on what they run in the future...I certainly will take stuff (particularly the editorial stuff) with a grain of salt in the future...

i always take NR editorial stuff (read: everything) with a grain of salt.....

so glad jibarra is moving 10x close to me! ive always wanted to try it but its too far away. i can only drive across town for one mexican restaurant: dos taquitos.

[AndrewJS]

I've had dinner at Jibarra a few times. It's good stuff, and unique enough to make me drive to NoRal; it'll be a great addition to the downtown food scene.

Now we just need St Jacques to move downtown!

[RaleighRob]

Now we just need St Jacques to move downtown!

I'd be happy with that!

Since Bistro 607 closed and turned to Tasca Brava, there's no French food in downtown Ral anymore. Urban Food Group is opening one in North Hills later this year, but that's "midtown", not downtown.

(If not Saint Jacques, then I'd be happy if Cary's Coffee & Crepes moved downtown too. )

Similarly, I've lamented for ages that there's no Indian in downtown either. However, sorta close by, is a new place called Laziz Biryani Corner on Hillsborough Street across from NCSU. It's not fancy...it's inside a convenience store -- but MAN it's dang GOOD! Six bucks gives you a big plate of really yummy food. The bhindi (okra) masala was some of the best I've had in ages. I highly recommend it!

Edited July 8, 2008 by RaleighRob

[DPK]

Gumby's to make reappearance on Hillsborough Street in the old Papa John's location:

http://www.newraleigh.com/articles/archive...borough-street/

I can taste the Pokey Stix already.

[RaleighRob]

If you've ever been interested but haven't gone, WRAL has put up video of the downtown Raleigh Food Tour: http://www.wral.com/lifestyles/food/video/3148582/

[ERG]

http://www.newsobserver.com/business/story/1142271.html

so......yancy's is? closed???

i am so confused.

[ChiefJoJo]

http://www.newsobserver.com/business/story/1142271.html

so......yancy's is? closed???

i am so confused.

I was just down there earlier and there is a small sheet of white paper confirming Yancy's is indeed closed. Bankrupcy was never a good sign, so the writing was on the wall. I only ate there once, and it was just OK. It was a bright spot of street activity on a street that needs more of it, and Yancy's seemed outwardly to be doing a nice business, appealing to the lunch crowd and jazz lovers in the evenings... it's going to really suck to have street activity in that area absent yet again (all but Sono).

[dmccall]

Yes. It is official. I think the Hudson owner wanted to get on with the next phase of this space and have it in place for the convention center's opening. Too bad that Yancy couldn't make it work for another 6 months (going back to avoiding bankruptcy altogether).

We hardly have any good, quality black-owned restaurants in Raleigh. I enjoyed it as part of the diverse fabric of downtown's unique eateries. With convention traffic, the restaurant would have done much better.

To tell you the truth, though, downtown proper is still kind of dead when some event isn't going on. We were in Martin St. Pizza two Thursday's ago and they had 4 whopping tables full over a 1.5 hour period. Going back tonight, though. Good food, and I've always liked Chris Bender. It seems he's trying to move forward with his life, and I'll be cheering him on.

[Jones_]

^Definitely still alot of gaps between the hubs of activity. Some of those gaps will never go away in our lifetimes, but along places like Wilmington Street there is still ample opportunity to construct a stretch of continuous life. What goes in places like the Edison parking deck retail spaces, the rehabbed Hallmark and RBC will be telling.

[ncwebguy]

I ended up grabbing lunch at Martin St. Pizza they day before the 4th (and my vacation) and I liked it a lot. I got two slices -- one with sausage (made in-house) and a peperoni. To me, it was slightly better than Moonlight, and the crust was really good but in a different way than Mellow Mushroom's. Next time I'll try a sandwich, since they didn't seem to have any.

Four tables on a Thursday is not great, but it would have been hard to put four tables together from all restaurants downtown east of 42nd Street Oyster bar a few short years ago. Hopefully word of mouth (and Mr. Bender's expanded menu) will kick in sooner vs. later. Downtown has had a decent amount of "off night" traffic without a convention center or the residents in RBC and Hue. Palladium Plaza and Hudson have helped, but won't be enough to support a fair amout of downtown nightlife on their own.

Hopefully street activity will return soon to the 300 block of F Street, in the Hudson space and RBC Plaza's retail. At first, Yancey's had big plans, including making what is now Sono a banquet room (like what 1705 Prime morphed into), but that fell, and eventually the main bar/restaurant. Hopefully Antwan Harris' Zydego in City Market can carry the jazz bar/restaurant torch going forward. I don't know if the Ethiopian place in Mission Valley is black-owend, but just assumed it was. Not sure if it counts as quailty, though.

[ERG]

oh yeah, we went to martin st pizza on saturday for lunch. first time there. there were maybe 5-7 tables over the entire 2 hours we were there (our food took forever to come out. verrry long time. the server was nice and brought some chips. im glad he did bc those chips were delicious)

we got a 14" sausage pizza. very good. however, we noticed some inconsistencies in prices on the menu which is a sort of pet peeve of mine. also, i dont like that the topping prices increase a lot and not proportionally with the size of the pizza. its a small thing, but its something i notice and really dont like.

all in all, very good pizza, but the price point is a little too high for us. however, i see this business being very successful when the convention center opens. its exactly what id look for if i was on a business trip with a daily food expense.

[Jones_]

What are the hours? With Alibi and Slims on the same axis, some late night slice business might be order, but I am not sure what Bender is aiming for. It looks cool through the window.