Charlotte – For decades, the folks passing by 2753 Rozzelles Ferry Road in Charlotte got a whiff of high-test gasoline from a corner service station. Now residents of Biddleville, Severville and Smallwood will catch more welcoming aromas when Toucan Louie’s Cafe and Roastery opens later this year: the scents of fresh-roasted coffee, house-made peanut butter and pimento cheese, fresh-squeezed juices and smoothies, maybe a hint of Caribbean spice from the macaroni and cheese.

Owners Marc and Le Anne Kieffer, former partners in three Mellow Mushroom pizza restaurants in Charlotte, have put a 1950s-style sign out front for nostalgia’s sake. But everything about the menu and approach comes from the 21st century.

Toucan Louie’s uses local suppliers when possible: dairy products from Wholesome Country Creamery in Hamptonville, peanuts from Aunt Ruby’s Peanuts in Enfield, candy from Iva Jean’s Fudge in Waxhaw. When the owners look beyond North Carolina, they work with all-natural companies such as Oakland’s OCHO Candy or Massachusetts-based VerMints. All containers, utensils, straws, cups and bags will be compostable.

Your taste buds will be as satisfied as your social conscience. Ingredients in the cold-pressed juices range from blueberry to beet to carrot to ginger; a long list of smoothies ends in the Toucan Fog-Lifter, which blends house-made peanut butter, banana, espresso, honey, almond milk and cinnamon. Breakfast ranges from a spinach-mushroom-goat cheese sandwich to house-made granola to a vegan coconut congee. (That’s millet cooked in coconut milk and topped with maple sweet potatoes and chopped pistachios.)

Lunch also tempers the familiar with the exotic. You’ll get Cuban or Caribbean pork sandwiches, a grilled-cheese sandwich that throws Gouda and Havarti into the mix, a Caribbean jerk chicken salad with coconut, dried cherries and toasted almonds. Even side dishes avoid the mainstream, from a fresh fruit bowl with lavender and lemon to a pineapple-mint jicama slaw. The best news may be that items offered in the café will be available for take-home dining, from peanut butter and honey to meats, breads and other locally made products.

“I think we’ve found the perfect spot to revitalize a cool, old building and provide a business sorely needed in the neighborhood. I have grown to love this neighborhood and see why there is so much growth and redevelopment here. People and businesses looking for an affordable neighborhood, so close to uptown Charlotte, are finding it a great place to live and do business,” explains owner Marc Kieffer on opening Toucan Louie’s on Rozzelles Ferry Road.

Activity in the neighborhood includes the redevelopment of The Savona Mill, bike lanes and pedestrian crossings being added, and the greenway will soon connect uptown Charlotte all the way to the Whitewater Center.

Toucan Louie’s, which sits across the street from Greenway Business Park, will be open seven days a week from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. when they open later this year. And if you’re wondering where the name comes from, here’s the answer: The Kieffers used to read the book Toucan Can!, a favorite, heartwarming story of theirs to their children, about always trying your best. And the Louie part? Well that’s in honor of the family dog, who they adopted a few years ago.

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Raleigh – Rocky Top Catering has announced that it has acquired a new 18,000-square-foot space to serve as a commissary for the organization’s food service operations. The facility, located at 5000 Departure Drive, is believed to be the largest kitchen for catering services in the greater Triangle area and will be in operation in early 2018. Rocky Top has more than 500 full- and part-time employees, and owns two event venues: 1705 East in Raleigh and Cross+Main in Youngsville.

In order to better focus on its expanding catering business, Rocky Top Catering recently changed its name from Rocky Top Hospitality and has sold its restaurants – including Twisted Fork in Raleigh and Dean’s Kitchen+Bar in Cary – to Cook Hospitality Group. The sale closed on October 1, and experienced restaurateur Darryl Cook, who formerly managed Empire Eats restaurants, has assumed ownership of the restaurants.

In addition to being a preferred caterer for dozens of venues across the Triangle, Rocky Top is the exclusive caterer of the Blue Zone in Kenan Stadium at UNC-Chapel Hill, UNC football’s training table, the Friday Center for Continuing Education, and the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences. Rocky Top also operates Southland BBQ Catering and hosts the annual New Year’s Eve Gala at the Nature Research Center in downtown Raleigh.

Rocky Top Catering offers a variety of planning and catering services, both onsite and offsite, for events such as weddings, corporate meetings, reunions, birthday parties, graduation parties, chef experiences, cooking classes and more.

“The time was right for this move, and I’m very excited about the direction of the company,” said Dean Ogan, owner of Rocky Top Catering. “Our catering business has experienced steady growth over the past 10 years, with the last three years being extremely strong, and we are looking at even more growth in 2018. By putting all of our energy into catering, I and my staff can now focus exclusively on offering top-notch customized services to our clients.”

For more information or to view sample menus, visit http://rockytopcatering.com/ or call 919-850-2340.

About Rocky Top Catering
Rocky Top Catering is a full-service, premier wedding and special event caterer serving Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill and the Triangle area. We offer a wide range of food and service options, including full-service catering, corporate catering delivery, offsite catering, and everything in between. Whether it’s a wedding reception, family celebration or corporate event, our award-winning team looks forward to making your vision come to life. For more information, visit rockytopcatering.com.

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Raleigh – Fair Game Beverage Co.’s Flying Pepper Vodka was named a Good Food Awards Finalist in the Spirits category for 2018. The Good Food Awards is a nationwide competition celebrating tasty, authentic and responsibly produced food. “We’re proud that our Flying Pepper Vodka met all of the Good Food Awards responsible production criteria, in addition to being a top scorer at their September Blind Tasting, amongst a pool of over 2000 entries,” explained Rose Dyer, Fairgame’s distiller (and NC’s first female distiller).

Fair Game’s Flying Pepper Vodka is made with locally distilled vodka and locally grown Tobago (or Ahi Dulce) peppers, producing a smoky, peppery flavor with mild heat. Named for the legendary USS Midway – a roller coaster of a ride so thrilling only the bravest would dare to board – “The Flying Pepper delivers the thrilling flavor of the mysteriously smoky and sweet Tobago pepper, with just a hint of heat.” In keeping with Fair Game’s commitment to local agriculture, seeds for these rare peppers are hand-selected and grown by small farms across NC; the peppers are infused in NC organic wheat vodka. The Flying Pepper is ideal for Bloody Mary’s as featured at C. Grace in Raleigh, and in craft cocktails at other NC favorites such as MG Road House, Sovereign Remedies, FOUNDATION, and at the soon-to-open Hummingbird.

Fair Game Beverage Co. is a winery and distillery crafting globally-inspired wines from Southern grapes and a Southern craft distillery inspired by the world’s classic spirits. Small batch rums and brandies are slowly fermented and carefully distilled on an alembic copper still before resting in bourbon oak barrels; wines, ports and sherries are made using Southern fruit and Old World wine techniques. Fair Game avoids shortcuts in favor of an honest, slow approach to producing wines and spirits of the highest quality, made with indigenous ingredients and time-honored methods, and is dedicated to quality, authenticity, regionality and sustainability. The distillery and tasting room is open to the public Fridays thru Sundays in Pittsboro, NC. Follow @fairgamebevco or visit www.fairgamebeverage.com.

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Raleigh – After a decade as one of the Triangle area’s most sought-after caterers – known for her superior restaurant quality food, service and style – Chef Coleen Speaks strikes out on her own with her first cocktail bar and café. Hummingbird is located at Dock 1053, at the corner of Whitaker Mill and Atlantic Ave (1053 East Whitaker Mill Road, Raleigh, NC; 919-301-8900), and will be open Monday through Saturday from 8am until midnight. Follow @HummingbirdRal or visit www.hummingbirdraleigh.com.

Chef Coleen Speaks celebrates a return to her restaurant roots with the opening of Hummingbird, a stylish neighborhood bar and café, located next door to Whitaker & Atlantic, Speaks’ new private event space, also designed by Raleigh’s Furnish Design and REdesign.build. Hummingbird will resonate with PoshNosh devotees as an extension of Speaks’ catered soirées, where all are welcome and a joie de vivre permeates food, décor and conversation. While intimate, with 12 bright yellow bar stools at the marble bar, and an adjacent “Portrait Room” seating 16 at café tables, Hummingbird will introduce heated, outdoor seating on the promenade and lounge seating next door at Whitaker & Atlantic in the coming months.

This neighborhood bar offers classic cocktails, wines and bottled beers alongside original cocktails with floral inspiration. House-made tea infusions present unique, fruit-forward accents as in Speaks’ signature cocktail – the “Hummingbird” –a vibrant hibiscus tea-infused cocktail.

Bar snacks and small plates – designed to complement well-crafted cocktails – reflect Speaks’ affinity for festive New Orleans cuisine and a caterer’s talent for elevating and expanding upon classic hors d’oeuvres. Salty and savory bites include togarashi-seasoned popcorn and shrimp dip, house-made pretzel bread with tangy pub cheese and brandied paté.

Hummingbird will be one of the few bars and cafés in Raleigh for gathering day and night. Fresh squeezed juices and full coffee service will be available beginning at 8am, with cinnamon-sugared ricotta fritters, butterscotch sticky buns, coconut-chia seed pudding and from the bar, boozy coffee cocktails and Micheladas. Lunchtime brings Vegetable Bahn Mi’s with mushroom paté, grilled cheese with apricot jam, Po’ Boys with cornmeal fried seafood, and salads, accompanied by a clever “Session” cocktail menu including an Aperol Spritz. In the evenings, Hummingbird’s bar snacks will share the menu with hot and cold small plates – charbroiled oysters, her Cajun-style gumbo, Buttermilk Fried Quail, pickled shrimp and Garam Marsala-scented wings. Dessert includes a collaboration from the kitchen and bar – Soyer au Champagne – a coupe filled with vanilla ice cream, bubbles, Luxardo and brandy. (Upon opening, the coffee and breakfast menu will be served daily until 3pm; the evening menu will begin at 4pm. The lunch menu will be introduced in the coming weeks.)

Hummingbird joins Whitaker & Atlantic and PoshNosh Catering kitchen, among a handful of makers, entrepreneurs, artisans and retailers, revitalizing Dock 1053 – originally built in 1955 for the Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company (A&P Grocery) as a regional distribution facility – the Triangle’s largest warehouse, in this burgeoning extension of downtown Raleigh.

Chef Coleen Speaks – whose career began at Emeril Lagasse’s NOLA Restaurant, and locally at Bloomsbury Bistro and Enoteca Vin (during Chef Ashley Christensen’s tenure) – launched PoshNosh Catering in 2007, filling a need for seasonal chef-driven, catered cuisine in the Triangle region of North Carolina. PoshNosh flourished through the years, capturing the area’s boutique catering market, and cultivating a loyal following for Speaks’ locally sourced cooking and restaurant-quality service and style. Custom menus and event concepts are tailored for each client and event, creating one-of-a-kind experiences, featuring everything from made-to-order ethnic street food like bibimbap to multi-coursed wine-paired dinners at art-themed galas. In 2017, Speaks opened a private event space, Whitaker & Atlantic, and a café and bar, Hummingbird.

Follow Hummingbird on Instagram and Twitter @HummingbirdRal and on Facebook at Hummingbird, or visit www.HummingbirdRaleigh.com. Follow PoshNosh Catering on Twitter @PoshNoshRaleigh; on Instagram @PoshNoshCatering and on Facebook at PoshNosh Catering, or visit www.PoshNoshRaleigh; and Whitaker & Atlantic on Instagram @WhitakerandAtlantic and on Twitter @WhitakerAtlantc or visit www.whitakerandatlantic.com

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