I was justing having this conversation two days ago with someone.
I know some of the bars took out loans to stay afloat, but I was expecting a lot more closures at this point. However, I’m happy to see so few.
Meanwhile, places have been pretty packed lately. Ate at Why Hill and it was at capacity outside. The Station has been mobbed lately and Mellow Mushroom/Mo Joes have all been packed every time I drive by in the evening. These are just the ones I see frequently, but it makes me feel goo to see people back out and about helping these restaurants get their feet back under them.
Yum. Ok, this goes on the list of places to eat when things settle down and I can come back to the 'wood and do my beer & eating tour. My brother’s wife and son are picky eaters, so they eat at a very limited number of places. My folks just moved back from Tucson and have not explored yet. So I am anxious to try to the numerous places in Raleigh. I just hope they survive!! At least till my next trip back north over Thanksgiving.
i had dinner at barcelona yesterday. they have a great set-up (and had a pretty nice sized crowd for a wednesday evening). I hope more restaurants take advantage of outdoor seating before we move into the late fall/winter months.
Honestly I’m loving the ingenuity and incremental experimentation in the retail/hospitality industry right now. Here’s to hoping that Al fresco dining and pedestrian facilities permanently gain space from cars moving forward.
Almost downtown, Bowstring is open. Gotta work on their mask game at the moment, but cool space inside with a lot of outside areas and patios and food truck style wood fired pizza cooked outside.
Five Star is open and delicious. Fairly busy for a Sunday night, too. Best of all, it doesn’t smell like cleaning products like the old location. It smells delicious, actually. My pictures don’t do it justice but it’s fairly dark inside in a cozy way. It’s not in an old warehouse but it’s nicely done inside.
Lol
