The Raleigh Connoisseur

Spring 2013 Restaurant Roundup

2013-05-16T04:00:06-07:00

I hope everyone is spending as much time as possible outside before the heat kicks in. This is one of the best times of the year in downtown Raleigh for walking and outdoor eating.

Here’s the latest list of restaurant news.

Dos Taquitos Xoco is now open in Glenwood South. Besides sitting outside on the outrageously decorated patio, the booths with the toy train serving chips and salsa are pretty enjoyable.
Kimbap, a Korean cafe, has opened in Seaboard Station. There is a lot of sustainably grown food served here as well as a very gluten-free friendly menu. The dumplings are excellent!
They have been open for some time now but Trophy Brewing has been making progress on their new kitchen and outdoor space. Expect that to be open soon.
The Videri Chocolate Factory in the warehouse district has added a coffee bar.
Fiction Kitchen has now been open for two or three months and is 100% vegetarian. The tinga tacos are way tasty!
Cafe de los Muertos is opening a store in The Hue building and should be open late this summer or early fall.
Another coffee shop, Joule Coffee, is still being worked on in the former Wilmoore Cafe spot. According to the (silent) Twitter account, it’s still planned for a Spring opening so expect it soon.
This fall, a doughnut shop, Donut Theory, is planning to open in a space near the intersection of Saunders and South Street.

Also, a little bird has told me that the space between Neptune’s Parlour and King’s on Martin Street may be serving food out of the window this weekend. Is The Garland finally going to open? Perhaps we’ll know in a few weeks.

Similar Posts:

Fall Backwards For The 2012 Fall Restaurant Roundup (October 2, 2012, 1 Comments)
Winter 2012 Restaurant Roundup (February 10, 2013, 4 Comments)
Café de los Muertos To Open In The Hue This Summer (February 10, 2013, 8 Comments)

The Lincoln Will Bring 224 Apartments To Emo Raleigh

2013-05-13T04:00:19-07:00

Corner of Hargett and East Street as seen in March, 2011.

Emo Raleigh (East of Moore Square) may be getting a big influx of housing units if a new development gets approved by the city. According to a newly submitted site plan, The Lincoln is a full-block apartment building for the mostly empty, grassy lot bounded by Hargett, Martin, East, and Bloodworth Streets.

Currently, just a single house sits on the lot and for years the developers behind The Lincoln have been working to acquire property, move houses, and get everything ready.

The site plan tells us that the 70′ high building will be designed by JDavis Architects and offer one, two, and three bedroom apartments. Looking at the preliminary site plan we can see that there will be apartments along all four faces of the block with an enclosed parking deck and pool.

If I’m looking at this map correctly, the deck entrances look to be on Bloodworth and East Streets. See for yourself on this extracted image I created, posted below.

This is great for the Moore Square area as well as the adjacent Thompson-Hunter neighborhood. This side of town has been quiet on the development front. If successful, The Lincoln could raise more interest in new projects for East Raleigh as there is relatively cheaper land here.

Rendering of The New Holy Trinity Church on Peace Street

2013-05-08T04:00:16-07:00

Rendering of the Holy Trinity Church on Peace Street.

In addition to doing a wonderful restoration job to the Jordan House at the corner of Peace and Blount Street, the Holy Trinity Church of Raleigh is building new digs.

Above is an architectural rendering of the new building which will be located along the 100 block of East Peace Street. The land was just surface parking for more than 20 years to the best of my knowledge and adds some diversity to what could be a heavily residential area if the Blount Street Commons project is ever fully completed.

Pic of the Week

2013-05-06T04:00:09-07:00

The first real bike corral in the state of North Carolina was installed last week on the corner of Hargett and Wilmington Street.

Similar Posts:

[UPDATE] Bicycle Parking In Downtown Raleigh (October 12, 2009, 12 Comments)
Public Bike System in DTR (February 21, 2010, 4 Comments)

Union Station May 2013 Public Workshop

2013-05-02T04:00:22-07:00

Conceptual sketch of the future Union Station

Yesterday, a group from the City of Raleigh, NCDOT, and Clearscapes were hosting the public at the Contemporary Art Museum to show off some updates to Raleigh’s upcoming Union Station. This is part of an ongoing effort for citizens to take part in the design process of downtown’s new train station.

The last public meeting was only two months ago so I wasn’t expecting much to be honest. Clearscapes did have slightly new renderings and one interesting slide about the feedback that they have collected.

Almost half of the comments collected so far are related to connectivity, mainly pertaining to pedestrian and bicycle traffic. The design of the new station is attempting to be easily accessible by a variety of modes and from many different directions. In addition to obvious connectivity off West Street, the architects are tossing around the idea of connecting a walkway westward up to Boylan Avenue.

Parking was another concern from the public. There’s no real concrete solution for Union Station parking at this time. The site plans show that only 36 spaces can fit on the site. All parties agree that this is far too few to adequately serve the station. There’s work being done behind the scenes to try and find a solution in the surrounding properties so more details are to come for sure.

The rest of the comments cover a couple of other things. People are interested in really making the entrance way an iconic space, especially the plaza. Use of natural light was also commented on and is leading to designs with more glass.

Here’s a new sketch that I haven’t seen before that shows the gateway from the civic plaza. The cross section shows the possible flow of pedestrians from the plaza and into the station. It also shows how the station will work “around” the in-use freight track that runs between the plaza and the station.

Here’s the latest site plan for you to geek over. Click on it to see it large. I didn’t realize how long the Amtrak platform really is.

Similar Posts:

Pic of the Week (January 9, 2013, 10 Comments)
Union Station Concepts Shown To Future Raleigh Train Riders (March 7, 2013, 25 Comments)
Raleigh Union Station Public Workshop, March 6 (February 25, 2013, 1 Comments)