Hillsborough Street has a new restaurant, and Pizzeria Faulisi’s pop-up bagel shop top our restaurant news

The teams of Pizza La Stella and H Street Kitchen have opened La Stella Wood Fired in the old Varsity theater and former H Street Kitchen space on Hillsborough Steet.

H Street Kitchen opened last year, serving new American fare in a unique dining room, but closed in May. In August, the owners of Pizza La Stella, whose wood-fired pizza restaurant opened on Fayetteville Street last year, said they’d launch a new concept in the H Street spot.

There’s some menu crossover with Pizza La Stella, such as wood-fired wings, Brussels sprouts, creamed cauliflower and a few pizzas, but La Stella Wood Fired isn’t just a second location of La Stella. On its website, it bills itself as a “neapolitan gastropub.”

Say hello to mac and cheese tacos, where cheddar mac and cheese, shaved beef, roasted tomatoes and garlic aioli are wrapped up in flour tortillas. The new La Stella also has mac and cheese skillets and a menu of Italian sandwiches cooked in the oven. Even the desserts, a s’mores skillet and a sundae, are cooked with fire.

The new restaurant also has opened up the second floor with an outside patio bar overlooking the street.

Info: 2420 Hillsborough St., Raleigh, lastellawoodfired.com, facebook.com/LaStellaWoodFiredUS/

Booya Bagel Shop & Super Secret Sandwich Club

Home-grown bagels are rare in the Triangle, but a Cary pizzeria is getting in the game. This month, Pizzeria Faulisi in downtown Cary has turned Saturday mornings into a two-hour breakfast pop-up called the Booya Bagel Shop.

The bagels are cooked in the pizzeria’s wood-fire oven and come in plain, sesame or with everything. The bagels are accompanied by biscuits and “B’doughnuts,” which are doughnuts baked in the oven. Though it’s only been going three Saturdays, there’s already a loyalty card, where patrons will get their 13th bagel on the house. Head to instagram.com/booyabagels for announcements. The shop is 10 a.m. to noon, or until everything is sold out.

Meanwhile, the pizza shop has launched a “Super Secret Sandwich Club” on Fridays, where only 20 of a single kind of sandwich are sold to-go. As many secret clubs do, there are a few rules, including one per person. (We may have broken the first one – “Don’t talk about SSSS Club.” Sorry.) Sandwich sales start at noon.

Info: 215 E. Chatham St., Suite 101, Cary. pizzeriafaulisi.com, facebook.com/pizzeriafaulisi

Kaffeinate coffee shop

A new coffee shop has opened in Durham in the former Respite Cafe spot on Duke Street, not far from Brightlfeaf Square. Kaffeinate is the creation of Diana Lee and features an espresso bar, drip coffee and cold brew, along with a chai latte and selection of hot teas. Beyond the beverages, Kaffeinate has a waffle menu, ranging from traditional Belgian to waffles topped with Nutella, fresh berries, cinnamon sugar or bananas and chocolate drizzle.

Info: 115A N. Duke St., Durham. kaffeinatenc.com

A new chef at Guglhupf

Early in chef Alex Ricci’s career, he cooked for players of the Jacksonville Jaguars. He cooked his way through Asheville and most recently cooked for Chef Andrea Reusing at The Durham hotel restaurant. Now, Ricci is the new chef of German bakery and restaurant Guglhupf in Durham.

Ricci is originally from Florida and started in the industry at 15. He recently launched a new fall menu for Guglhupf, including new dishes like venison Gaisburger Marsh and braised rabbit with Reisling-glazed carrots. The new menu can be found online.

And by the way, we’re still keeping an eye on progress of the new Chapel Hill location in Eastgate Shopping Center on Franklin Street.

Info: 2706 Durham-Chapel Hill Blvd., Durham. guglhupf.com

More Peruvian chicken

Viva Chicken, a Peruvian chicken chain with six locations in Charlotte, is opening its first Triangle restaurant in North Hills. In a release, the company said it’s aiming to open in the North Hills Main Street district by next summer. The restaurant will be located between shops Kendra Scott and Peter Millar and have a menu of rotisserie chicken with sides like yuca, plaintains and cilantro rice, as well as salads, sandwiches and house made juices.

There’s no mention on the menu, but photos on Yelp confirm there’s plenty of addictive magic green sauce. The wording in the release indicates that more Viva Chicken restaurants could be on the way.

This story was originally published October 20, 2017 at 5:54 PM with the headline "Hillsborough Street has a new restaurant, and Pizzeria Faulisi’s pop-up bagel shop top our restaurant news."