If you live downtown and are tired of your sushi, dessert and sports bar options, which I know you are, you are now in luck with new locations on each front having already opened or opening soon in the area.
SUSHI
Tired of Sushi’s Blues and Wild Ginger to satisfy your cosmo sushi craving?
The legendary Raleigh staple Waraji Sushi Restaurant will open a second location in the old Est Est Est space at 19 West Hargett Street in downtown. Across from the Wachovia tower and a block from Fayetteville Street, Waraji will promise to be a fantastic lunch and evening spot for the downtown crowd with their yummy specialty rolls and various other Japanese dishes. Just read the reviews.
DESSERT
Tired of going to Fresh Market and Krispy Kreme to satisfy your sweet tooth? One location is already looking for your business and another is on the way in time for the holidays.
The Cupcake Shoppe on Glenwood Ave. (beside Amra’s) is serving up cupcakes by the pound. The street front location stayed vacant for a while with only a sign stating Coming Soon on the front door. It is now open and keeps late hours on the weekend for your dessert cravings after snatching a hot dog from Snoopy’s or any of the venders that cruise Glenwood now.
A second sugar spot is set to open in the old Belk store beside Nelson’s in Cameron Village very soon. Dewey’s Bakery, a third generation family owned bakery based out of Winston-Salem since 1930, will serve Moravian Cookies, Cheese Straws and Moravian Sugar Cake, as a pop-up store and will be around for the holiday season only. It will then be replaced by White House Black Market in the spring.
SPORTS BARS
Tired of going to the other 30 Television Littered Bars in Raleigh to watch your sports? One new bar is open and another to come.
Raleigh kitsch seems to be the theme of the new sports bar The Hurricane in the depot building across from Nana’s Chophouse on West Davie St. I hear the food is reasonable but its neighbors aren’t. These places seem to come as a package deal, the cliché (An Atmospherics Parlor in Denver…geez) changes relative to the city, as does the name (in Denver’s case: Hush).
A second bar is set to open in the old Figs (sad loss) space in Cameron Village ( MAP ) beside Cherry Modern. Little has surfaced about this bar but let’s hope it has a better atmosphere than its neighbor Village Draft House which could be mistaken for a TGIF or Applebee’s if one didn’t look at the sign. Too bad it’s actually mistaken for the other 6 copies of it scattered around the Triangle disguised under different, yet similar names. (Something about clicking on a button that says Draft House Group Home doesn’t seem like good marketing for a company that owns a bunch of bars). Let’s hope Cameron Bar and Grill steps up the bar culture in Cameron Village.
Other notable openings:
Tookie’s Grill at Seaboard
Starting out as a lunch counter in a gas station on Six Forks Rd., this local favorite for chicken salad recently opened its doors to customers in Seaboard Station.
Amedeos North
Currently Amedeos sits beside the church of wine and Priscilla’s on Western Boulevard but is having a grand opening of a new location in North Raleigh next weekend (Oct. 12-14) with various events planned.
Looks like downtown Raleigh is doing a bit better than neighbor Smithfield in the restaurant industry news
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