A new wine bar is opening in Durham, and Vivian Howard’s pizza joint is closer to reality

Raleigh wine shop and bar The Wine Feed will open a Durham location with an expanded bar, retail space and lounge.

The shop opened in Raleigh six years ago on Glenwood Avenue and will open in Durham at 307 S. Roxboro St., next door to Bull City Ciderworks. It’s near the Durham Bull Athletic Park and the Durham County Courthouse.

“We’ve been interested in Durham for quite some time,” owner Phillip Rubin said. “The city aligns with our focus on quality, interesting and unique wines from all over the world.”

Rubin said the new Wine Feed space will offer a bar and retail area about twice the size of the shop on Glenwood. It will also have a lounge.

Beyond wine, the shop will offer all the usual tasty wine-loving bites of cheese and charcuterie, as well as some flatbreads and other snacks. The new space will join a quickly developing part of East Durham, where Bull City Ciderworks moved last year and apartment buildings are currently going up.

“We’re excited to be neighbors with Bull City Ciderworks, and since neither one of us serve beer or liquor, hope to build a destination for people not looking to drink those things,” Rubin said.

Construction is underway, Rubin said, with an expected opening date later this year or early 2018.

Benny’s Big Time Pizzeria countdown

Perhaps a Wilmington pizza oven isn’t exactly Triangle restaurant news, but the newest restaurant from award-winning Kinston chef Vivian Howard is likely to draw diners from across the Southeast.

Benny’s Big Time Pizzeria is expected to open this month and draws its name from the nicknames of husband and wife creators of Chef and the Farmer, Ben Knight and Vivian “Big Time” Howard.

The restaurant made something of a formal introduction Thursday with its first Instagram post, a short animation of pizza slices with the caption “It’s the final countdown.” It also set up a Facebook page.

In an interview earlier this year, Howard talked about the project offering an outlet for her love of Italian food, as well as an excuse to sometimes work closer to the beach.

Korean Garden closing

Korean Garden in Cary announced on Facebook that it will close its restaurant at 748 E. Chatham St. at the end of the month.

The restaurant, operating since 1989, has been part of Cary’s international food offerings along East Chatham Street, offering traditional Korean dishes and barbecue. Korean Garden makes its own kimchi and sells it by the pint, quart, liter and gallon.

“After almost three decades of sharing our culture and our food with everyone in the Triangle area, I am saddened to say that we will be closing our doors for the last time at the end of November,” the restaurant wrote on its Facebook page. “Mr. and Mama Choi is long over due for a well deserved retirement. ... Thank you all for the decades of support. We’ve made so many friends and family along the journey.”

Korean Garden will offer a 10 percent discount during its final month.

Bedlam Vodka at the CMAs

For a young, small company, Durham’s Graybeard Distillery has been successful at getting the name of Bedlam Vodka in front of national eyes.

The latest showcase will be this Wednesday’s Country Music Association awards, which will feature the Bedlam Vodka Green Room. The sponsorship means the vodka will be exclusively served in the event’s green room to country music’s biggest stars.

“The opportunity to team up Bedlam Vodka with the CMA Awards is really a chance to showcase our enthusiasm for the music industry, which is such an integral part of our processes and environment at Graybeard,” CEO Brandon Evans said in a news release. “We are extremely honored and proud to share Bedlam with such an amazing group of artists, and hope that we can add a little something to such a special night.”

Next week’s CMAs follow Bedlam being the exclusive liquor served this spring at the ESPY Awards pre-party and appearing in R&B star Jason Derulo’s latest video “If I’m Lucky.”

Brewer’s Ball

The Carolinas Chapter of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation will host its Brewers Ball Friday night at Bond Brothers Brewing in Cary. The event has assembled quite a crew of Triangle restaurants and beverage makers, including a rare local appearance for pitmaster Matthew Register and his Southern Smoke barbecue and the debut of former Little Hen chef Regan Stachler’s new project, Hull Foods.

Also cooking will be Piedmont, La Farm Bakery, Posh Nosh Catering, Sono Sushi and Pizzeria Faulisi. In addition to Bond Brothers, drinks will come from Fullsteam Brewing, Trophy, Nickelpoint, Carolina Brewing, TOPO distillery, Crank Arm, Oak & Dagger and Black Twig Cider.

The ball runs from 5:30 to 10 p.m. Tickets are $75. Go to brewersball.finestcff.org.

Foodie events

▪ Perhaps inspired by the upcoming remake of “Murder on the Orient Express,” Il Palio and the Siena Hotel are throwing a whodunit weekend in January. Dubbed “A Brush with Death,” the overnight event includes a three-course dinner, breakfast and a night at the Chapel Hill hotel.

Participants will try to solve the murder at an art opening.

Tickets are $390 for couples and $290 for singles.

▪ The sixth annual Mushroom & Foraging Wine Dinner at Guglhupf is Nov. 7 at 7 p.m. The wine dinner is at the restaurant at 2706 Durham Chapel Hill Blvd., Durham. The five-course dinner features mushroom, game and other foraged foods. The dinner will begin with a chardonnay reception, and Austrian winemaker Christine Netzl will provide red wine from her Austrian winery, Netzl Winery. Tickets are $65 per person. Make reservations by calling 919-401-2600.

▪ The owners of Al’s Burger Shack, Mel’s Commissary & Catering and Italian Pizzeria III will collaborate on an Italian wine dinner on Nov. 8. A five-course meal at 7 p.m. will feature Italian favorites paired with wine for $50 (not including gratuity). The dinner will be at Mel’s at 109 W. Main St. in downtown Carrboro. For tickets and information, go to melscarrboro.com/events.

Thanksgiving meals

If you’re a restaurant serving Thanksgiving meals on Thanksgiving, or you know of one, let us know.

Tell us the what, when, where (with address), cost and contact for making reservations (phone, website and social media).

Email featureseds@newsobserver.com. Put “Thanksgiving” in the subject line.

Our online guides will be updated as we receive more information.

Chopt opening in North Raleigh

Fast-casual salad maker Chopt will open a North Raleigh location Wednesday, Nov. 8. This will be the third Chopt in the Triangle, joining locations in Chapel Hill and in Cameron Village in Raleigh.

The new Chopt will be located in the North Ridge Shopping Center at 6004 Falls of the Neuse Road and will have seating for 80 and an outdoor patio. It will be open from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. seven days a week.

While it will formally open Nov. 8, Chopt is offering a free salad for lunch or dinner the day before to diners making a donation to Rise Against Hunger. The deal is good from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and then from 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. on Nov. 7. When the most recent Chopt opened in Charlotte, the fundraiser netted $8,700.

“Our time in North Carolina has been incredibly rewarding,” said Colin McCabe, co-founder of Chopt. “We choose to open restaurants in areas that share our passion for healthy, flavorful eating, and Raleigh is no different. We look forward to continuing our relationship with the capital city.”

This story was originally published November 3, 2017 at 6:00 AM with the headline "A new wine bar is opening in Durham, and Vivian Howard’s pizza joint is closer to reality."