Activity on Wilmington / Martin

Took a stroll this morning to get some coffee and noticed that there was some demolition / cleaning up going on over at 237 S Wilmington St. I wandered over and asked one of the workers what was going on. They already had a truckload of debris and were sweeping up the sidewalk. The inside was just a giant empty space, but he said that they were prepping it for a restaurant/night club. Two levels.

The tax records show Carpenter Jensen Ventures as the owners, but I expect that it has been leased to someone. I've always thought that the building would make a great restaurant, what with all the windows in the front. Hopefully they'll clean up the facade a bit as well.

The Mint is Open

For months now, those of us at YSU downtown have watched the progress across Fayetteville St. The alley beside One Exchange Plaza was turned into a lovely outdoor seating/patio area. And finally, The Mint opened.

We knew it was going to "upscale southern cuisine." And from a few peeks in the window, the interior looked to be quite plush. So we couldn't wait to go. Last night at 5:30 the office shut down and the whole gang walked across the street for a drink.

As mentioned in several articles, the building used to be a bank. And at the main entrance is the vault door. But once inside, and maybe I was just too overwhelmed to notice, the interior didn't feel anything like a bank. My favorite were the huge, high-back, tufted booths. It seemed the perfect place to hang out with friends and enjoy a fabulous dinner.

We were just there for a drink, so we headed up the spiral staircase to the bar. I would hate to have too many drinks and have to go down those stairs. The pattern on the carpet combined with the spiral stairs could make for a nasty accident.

Anyway, the bar is spectacular, with several high tables and a lounge area. The whole place is very impressive and once you see the menu you'll know that you're in a unique place. The wine seemed a little pricey. I'm a chardonnay drinker and used to paying $7-9/glass, but the "good" chardonnay was priced at $14/glass. So I opted for the $5 Amstel Light. They don't really have appetizers that you can share at the bar. We did try the crab cakes, and while they were tasty, they were the size of a 50 cent piece and you only got 2 to an order. So, what I'm trying to say is that this place is fancy.

I love a good restaurant, and upscale is fine, but I guess I'm just disappointed that it's not going to be the kind of place I can stop by regularly after work. It's just too expensive. I think it will be a destination restaurant, for special occasions and entertaining business clients. Riviera, The Globe, and several other places have many entrees for less than $20 and they have really good food. Having said that, I hope it does well. Especially after learning how much we all paid for it.

Dewey's in Raleigh!

There's nothing better in the morning than a big slice of Moravian sugar cake. Mmmm.. Anyone from Winston Salem needs no further explanation. It's the best bakery ever. Growing up there, every birthday cake came from Dewey's and now Dewey's is in Raleigh! Well, at least for the holidays. They have actually been here seasonally for 4 years in Cary, but this year have a seasonal store in Cameron Village from Nov 15-Dec 24.

It's a tradition in my family to have Dewey's cake squares or brownies at any family celebration: birthdays, holidays, dinner. You name it. There's always a good reason for Dewey's. Between that and Krispy Kreme, I'm surprised I don't weigh 300 pounds. You just can't say no to a hot doughnut or cake square. Please visit the store if you have never experienced Dewey's. They are in the old Belk spot in Cameron Village next to Nelson's and across the parking lot from Moe's.

If you fall in love and would like to join my efforts in bringing Dewey's here permanently, you can call the customer service number in Winston at 800-537-5374.

No More Nana's?

Did anyone else happen to catch that small fact in Greg Cox's article yesterday? The Pit is opening in the Warehouse district. Nana's Chophouse will close for a week and basically re-open as The Pit.

I've been talking about this with my friends and I guess Nana's wasn't doing so well? There do seem to be a lot of high end restaurants downtown. The choices in establishments seem to be fancy or super casual. It will be nice to have a new casual restaurant, but at the expense of a really good one?

I'm not a bar-hopper anymore, but it seems like that part of town is becoming much more of a club area, so perhaps an upscale restaurant doesn't fit anymore? I'm curious to hear your thoughts on this one.

Fabulous First Friday

Another First Friday and another start to a great weekend. This time we spent the whole evening in the Seaboard Station area. We really didn't plan it that way, but that's how it turned out. The plan was to check out J Betski's restaurant. It's a German place and it's new and I'm always up for going somewhere new.

We kicked off the evening at Seaboard Wine at their wine tasting. I love wine, but I really don't know much about it. The folks at Seaboard Wine really know their stuff. The tasting included Austrian wines, which I never had tasted before. I've had a few German wines here or there on a trip, but nothing memorable. After a flight of reds, we were buzzed enough to buy a case. What a great strategy! Get people drinking so they'll buy more. So as part of the case we wanted to try something new. Seth gave us quite a history on French wines, which neither Scott nor I knew anything about. I can't wait to have a little tasting of my own!

After talking with the wine folks, they recommended getting reservations at J Betski's. Good thing we called, because their only opening was at 9am. The problem was, the tasting ended at 8pm. What to do for an hour?

No problem. Because it was First Friday - everyone had something going on. Capital City Grocery had a band on the front porch playing good ol'fashioned porch music. So we grabbed a rocking chair and hung out for a while.

Finally it was time to eat! The best part. After starting with some Bratwurst, I enjoyed every second of the Schnitzel. Mmmm. Say it with me. Schnitzel. It's just fun to order. Quite tasty. Scott had the duck with a side of kanoodle (it's potatoes, but in Germany we've actually had it fixed for us and they called it kanoodle - a potato dumpling with a sort of stuffing inside).

Overall it was a bit of an extravagant night for us, but we had so much fun. Everything we needed and wanted to do was right there in one place. I love First Friday!