Welcome to Friday Night Bites, your weekly roundup of local food and drink news and events. Have a tip for us? Email [email protected].
NEWS
Wonderpuff Turns One, Seeks Funding
Raleigh artisanal cotton candy company Wonderpuff is celebrating one year in business. Wife-husband team Jackie and Rem Morin have earned a loyal following for their colorful and inventive flavors of organic cotton candy, such as the fan-favorite orange-cardamom. The Wonderpuff cart is a regular fixture at Triangle events and pop-ups, but the couple is hoping to expand the business further. To that end, they’ve launched a GoFundMe campaign to raise money for new equipment, a new logo and website, and eco-friendly packaging. To contribute or learn more, visit their GoFundMe page. You can also catch them spinning sugar at Durham’s Free Things in Life Festival this Sunday.
The Morgan Street Food Hall is Finally Open
ICYMI, the Morgan Street Food Hall officially opened its doors on Monday. It’s the second of four food halls slated to open this year, and Raleigh’s first. For more details on the concept and vendor line-up, click here.
EVENTS
Opening Reception for MILPA / CRAVINGS is Tonight
Food and art intersect at The Carrack with MILPA / CRAVINGS, an art and documentary exhibit that examines our individual interactions with food and explores themes of cultural displacement, consumption, and the collective desire for belonging. The opening reception will be held tonight, Friday, August 24, from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. and will feature pupusas from food truck So Good Pupusas. The exhibit will run until September 9. For more information, click here.
The Hello Kitty Cafe Truck Makes Its Raleigh Debut This Saturday
The Hello Kitty Cafe Truck is coming to Raleigh this Saturday, August 25 at the Triangle Town Center from 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. The popular, all-pink truck will sell treats packaged in limited-edition collectibles, such as a lunchbox with confetti popcorn, a five-piece macaron box set, and a petit fours box set with a Hello Kitty plush toy. Other items for sale include a giant cookie, keychains, and Hello Kitty Cafe T-shirts.
Durham Central Park Kicks Off Parties for the Park Fundraiser Series
The Durham Central Park kicks off its Parties for the Park fundraiser series with a pool party at the Unscripted Durham Hotel on Wednesday, August 29 from 7:00 to 10:00 p.m. Through a series of seventeen different parties and events, the park’s non-profit hopes to raise thirty percent of its annual income to help support, operate, and develop Durham Central Park. Tickets are $50 (and include entertainment, food, and two drinks) and can be purchased here.
BITE OF THE WEEK
OK, so technically I didn’t eat this week’s Bite of the Week this week, but it made such an impression that I’m still thinking about it weeks later. I’m talking about Devil Shoals, a North Carolina craft oyster (yes, that’s a thing) that I described in a recent story thusly: “To me, it tastes the way catching a wave feels. There’s a surge of brine that then undulates between creaminess and saltiness, before a mineral, vegetal finish laps up, part slate, part algae.” But I never would’ve been able to detect all of those flavor nuances and articulate them so eloquently, without first meeting local author Dana Deskiewicz, who, over the course of a recent two-hour dinner at Saint James Seafood, taught me how to eat and truly appreciate craft oysters. Read the full story here.