Brought to you by Rufty-Peedin Design Builders.
Week of January 8, 2018
A Place at the Table opens
Brookside Pizza opens
Pooleside Pie practice
Work begins on the News & Observer’s new offices
The Willard on Glenwood South
Manhattan Pizzeria coming to Falls Pointe
Renovations to North Carolina Railroad Company offices
Finding A Place at the Table
After years of planning, Raleigh’s most charitable restaurant has finally opened its doors. A Place at the Table is now serving breakfast and lunch from its brand new space at 300 West Hargett.
Monday was the first official day of business for the pay-what-you-can eatery, and if the lunch crowds we witnessed are any indication, the restaurant should be able to provide low and no-cost dining options to Raleigh residents for years to come.
The set up isn’t too different than the space’s previous tenant, Cafe de los Muertos. You order at the counter, choose a seat at the bar or at a table upstairs or downstairs, and your meal is brought out to you. I enjoyed a late breakfast of mouth-watering waffles and bacon, while my dining companion, none other than William N. Finley IV himself, had a panini.
How the pay-what-you-can concept works: you can choose to pay the “suggested” menu price, set your own price, pay for your meal and someone else’s, or eat for free in exchange for some volunteer labor. Any gratuity added counts as a donation rather than a tip. Nearly every employee there was actually a volunteer, as A Place at the Table only has five paid employees.
I went in prepared to love this place, mostly because I think the concept is fantastic, but I had no idea how a restaurant staffed almost entirely by volunteers would operate. It operated just fine, and then some. In addition to the volunteers, A Place at the Table received support from partners including: York Properties, Plan A Architecture, Kevin Israel, Venture Law, Riley-Lewis General Contractors, Bagchi Law, bu•ku, so•ca, and more.
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Brookside Pizza is Open
The long-awaited upgrades to Brookside Market are starting to take shape. The shopping center, located at the corner of Brookside Drive and Glascock Street, saw the opening of Brookside Market & Pizza last week, bringing the number of pizza restaurants in the downtown and nearby areas to…..we’ve lost count by this point. Fortunately, you can never have enough pizza.
We haven’t had time to try it out, so we checked out their Yelp review and came across some major drama. An Elite Yelper had given the restaurant a 3 star review back in December. That caused another Yelper to call her out for abusing her Elite Yelper status. The Elite Yelper went back and updated the review, which you can read below if you have nothing better to do. What a time to be alive.
Read Cassie B.‘s review of Brookside Market & Pizza on Yelp
Pooleside Pie Pizza Practice
Speaking of pizza, acclaimed chef Ashley Christensen has been working on some pizza recipes of her own. Her new pizza restaurant, Pooleside Pie, is expected to open in 2018.
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Renovations Underway on N&O’s New Offices
Permits have been issued for the future home of the N&O’s offices, which will be on the 14th floor of One City Plaza on Fayetteville Street. The roughly $1.6 million alteration of the 20,583 square-foot space is being handled by Inner-Tech. We hope the renovations end up nicer than their holiday party, which looked like a scene from the Saw movies.
Go to the holiday party, they said. It’ll be fine they said. It’s just in the creepy basement. No problem. pic.twitter.com/BZUZz16Qve
— Lauren Horsch (@LaurenHorsch) December 7, 2017
No word on whether construction will be held up due to constant Kroger pop-up ads. The good news is they’ll be located right next door to our favorite lawyer, Stacy Miller.
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A Peek at The Willard’s Paperwork
The developers of Glenwood South’s new seven-story hotel/condo combo known as The Willard appeared before the Board of Adjustment to receive the necessary approvals to move forward with the project.
Despite being mind-numbingly boring, the paperwork gave us a glimpse at the plan review process. For starters, there’s a minimum of eight(!) City staffers working on this project, each analyzing a different trade aspect of the job, from stormwater and fire protection requirements to urban forestry and transportation impacts. Take a look at the list of questions the City has for just one of those eight trades.
We’ll keep you updated as the project progresses.
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Made in Manhattan
A new pizza joint will be opening soon at the Falls Pointe shopping center at 9660 Falls of Neuse Road, as permits have been issued last week for the fit-out of Manhattan Pizza. The restaurant will open in the space once occupied by Greek Fiesta, following $232,034 worth of renovations.
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Railroad Tycoons Redecorate Lavish Offices
When we learned that the North Carolina Railroad Corporation had offices in Raleigh, we imagined their offices would be a spectacle of mid 19th-century Biltmore extravagance: Persian rugs, leather sofas, fine wood-paneled walls, rich mahogany desks.
It turns out, this isn’t the 1850s, and the corporation isn’t staffed by robber barons. NCRC is actually housed in a 1,413 square-foot space in a 1980s-era brick office building on Highwoods Boulevard. The amenities apparently include a kitchenette and an outdoor picnic area; no mention of a billiards room or even a bowling alley. The $95,870 renovation will be handled by Spec Con Inc.
Pooleside or Poolside? You’ve got it both ways.