2 distinct restaurants — one with brisket, one with books — open soon in Raleigh
North Raleigh will soon have two new, distinct dining establishments from local entrepreneurs.
One is a barbecue spot, with a drive-thru, serving brisket, pork and sausage. The other is a restaurant that doubles as a book store, offering beer, coffee and a cafe menu.
Here’s what to know.
Beow’s Books & Brews plans new Raleigh location
Less than two years after opening, the North Raleigh bookstore/cafe/pub Beow’s Books & Brews is expanding to a second location.
With a name inspired by the epic poem “Beowulf,” the business is expected to open in Falls River Town Center this summer, around July, founder and managing partner Jim Ranieri told The News & Observer in a phone interview.
Ranieri, who formerly worked as a teacher and administrator at Trinity Academy, said he lives in the North Raleigh area and frequents the shopping center. After meeting with the property management and leasing firms, it felt like a great partnership, he said.
“We love the high concentration of residential, and we were excited to be in that area,” Ranieri said.
This location has been in the works for almost as long as the original Beow’s — in the Brennan Station shopping center on Creedmoor Road — has been open. Both will be similar in terms of menu offerings and design, but the Falls River Town Center location is around 1,000 square feet larger, allowing for an expanded food program, additional seating and more space for books.
“Chef Matt,” a longtime friend of Ranieri’s who has decades of experience at North Carolina restaurants including Casa Carbone in Raleigh, is behind the food offerings. But Ranieri, a self-described “Italian kid from New York,” gave input; he wanted some Italian-inspired choices along with some classic Southern dishes to honor the region where he’s lived since he was a 9-year-old, and some more unique items.
The new location will maintain the elements that let customers know they’re at Beow’s. At Falls River Town Center, Beow’s will continue to hold its comedy nights and book club, and it will have space for private events.
“We always want Beow’s to be a place where people experience unreasonable hospitality,” Ranieri said. “We want folks to come into a Beow’s and leave a bit happier.”
How Beo’s Books & Brews started
Pivoting from education to hospitality was a transition, Ranieri said, but not unprecedented.
His senior year yearbook predicted that he and Chef Matt would one day have a restaurant.
Especially after the pandemic, he was convinced that people needed a place for face-to-face interaction, away from screens, where they could gather and talk.
And as a book-lover, who is married to a literature teacher, he knew books should be incorporated into that place. He also thought back to his family, and how food and drink was at the center of gatherings.
One day, over a beer, he was having a conversation with parents of one of his students, and he pitched his business idea. They became his first investors.
The second impetus to leave teaching (and coaching), which he loved, came from Ranieri’s wife, who told him he needed to “go all in” to the project.
His experience in education helped Ranieri develop skills that he uses in hospitality. As a school administrator, he learned to care for people, especially during difficult conversations, and treat them with respect.
Other Triangle hospitality pros lent a hand, too, Ranieri said — namely Chris Prieto of Prime BBQ and Jared Plummer of Two Roosters Ice Cream, who offered advice and mentoring.
Red Hot & Blue returns to Raleigh
The barbecue chain Red Hot & Blue is returning to the City of Oaks with a new location in Quail Corners Shopping Center, at Millbrook and Falls of Neuse.
It’s moving into a former service station just a couple of miles from the barbecue restaurant’s previous Raleigh location just a couple of miles north on Falls of Neuse. That location closed in October 2022.
The Quail Corners restaurant, expected to open the week of April 22, will be similar to Red Hot & Blue’s Morrisville outpost, where customers order at the counter.
The barbecue restaurant serves meats including brisket, pulled pork and sausage, along with traditional sides like cole slaw, potato salad, hushpuppies and baked beans. The burnt ends appetizer is a customer favorite.
Diners will also recognize the menu and decor, but the drive-thru is new.
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Anna Pope, the marketing director for Red Hot & Blue, told The News & Observer in a phone interview that the company has received positive feedback from customers about the counter service style, which speeds up the process for diners wanting to get in and out quickly.
The drive-thru will provide another option for busy families and other customers on the go, Pope said.
Red Hot & Blue’s Raleigh restaurant will have seating for 84 people across its indoor and outdoor spaces.
“We have a lot of buzz on our social media, too, about people so excited that we’re coming back,” Pope said. “We have a lot of customers that drive kind of some distance to get some barbecue.”
The Raleigh location will be Red Hot & Blue’s sixth restaurant, and its second in the Triangle, joining others in Texas, Maryland, Virginia and North Carolina.
Quail Corners houses several other restaurants including Big Ed’s, Deja Brew Coffee House, I Heart Mac & Cheese and Burrito Shak.
