Author: Cherith Andes

Photo of the Week: One Big Check

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Who knew that a little do-si-do could yield a lot of dough, dough, dough? In May, Clairemont client Wendell Falls celebrated its one-year anniversary with a barn-raising themed event and celebrity dance competition. Local stars from across the Triangle competed during the Wendell Falls Hoedown Showdown for a chance to win $1,000 for a charity of his or her choice.

Felicia Perry, a local blogger and food photographer, took home the prize, designating her winnings to the Raleigh Chapter of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. Wendell Falls was honored and excited to support the cause with this donation!

Curious about this Barn Raising mayhem? Check out our client’s news story from the event!

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Fancy Food and Fun

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180,000 products, 45,000 food professionals, 2,550 brands, 55 countries … and one sensational experience. Last week, New York City was awash with the sights, sounds and smells of the Summer Fancy Food Show, America’s largest specialty food and beverage festival.

Artisanship abounds in every nook and cranny. The best talent from across the globe showcases the industry’s latest and greatest tasty tidbits, like this Sin in a Tin Chocolate Pate, 100% Fairtrade Organic Extra Virgin Coconut Oil or CaberneyZyn wine fruit snack. Food and beverage professionals can pack their tummies with treats and their brains with industry expertise through a series of business education workshops.

But of course, our hearts were captured by this fun snapshot of Videri Chocolate (Clairemont client) rocking out in such an inviting booth. Vibrant, charming and just plain fun, these artists serve as such an inspiration for entrepreneurs, visionaries and culinary experts alike. Their bean-to-bar philosophy yields a distinct, hand-crafted chocolate that is both certainly “fancy” yet profoundly simple.

Thanks for Tyler Levitetz for capturing the personality of the Videri Chocolate team and brand at the Summer Fancy Food Show and sharing it on Instagram.

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Briar Chapel Unveils Encore

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Briar Chapel, one of the Triangle’s largest green home communities and a beloved Clairemont client, just unveiled its next big step in the Triangle! The community is joining forces with David Weekley Homes to launch Encore, an integrated new-home lifestyle offering for adults ages 55 years and older — only the second release of this housing plan in the country.

Check out the details in this feature from the Triangle Business Journal!

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One of the Triangle’s fastest-growing new home communities, Briar Chapel in Chapel Hill, is finalizing details to turn its latest phase of development into an enclave of active adults ages 55 and older only.

The new age-restricted neighborhood, to be called Encore at Briar Chapel, will have about 185 single-family home lots on the westernmost side of Briar Chapel off of Boone Street. It will be built exclusively by Texas-based David Weekley Homes, which is already building traditional single family homes in five other neighborhoods at Briar Chapel and elsewhere in the Triangle.

The deal will pit David Weekley Homes and Briar Chapel’s development firm, Newland Communities, directly against Pulte Home’s Del Webb brand, which also markets exclusively to the 55-and-older buyer, and other age-restricted communities underway in the Triangle.

Pulte recently announced plans to build its third age-restricted community in the Triangle at Traditions in Wake Forest.

Laurie Ford, senior vice president in charge of Newland’s North Carolina, Virginia and Washington, D.C., metro area communities, says the plan to open an age-restricted community within Briar Chapel has actually been in the works since 2012. A study that Newland had commissioned showed that the Triangle was so underserved by communities offering active adult lifestyle options that the company could even could convert all of the remaining undeveloped Briar Chapel land into an age-restricted community.

“Of course, that wasn’t something we wanted to do, … but it did show us that market is being underserved,” she says.

Encore at Briar Chapel will be only the second such partnership between Newland Communities and David Weekley Homes. The first opened within Newland’s FishHawk Ranch development in late 2015 near Tampa, Florida.

Ford says the specific price points for the new homes within Encore at Briar Chapel haven’t been set yet, but she says they will be competitive to other parts of the master-planned communities. The average price point for a home at Briar Chapel is around $350,000. At Encore, four home models will be offered between 1,500 square feet to 2,600 square feet.

The new age-restricted community will also have its own clubhouse and programing while also still having access to Briar Chapel’s network of existing trails, sports facilities and other amenities.

Amanda Hoyle covers commercial and residential real estate. Follow her on Twitter @TBJrealestate

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Photo of the Week: Fried Florals

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We all love a fresh bouquet of blooms, cheery decor to brighten a room or to celebrate a special occasion. But what about flowers … as a dinner appetizer?

In early June, we joined Clairemont client Il Palio at the Atlanta Food and Wine Festival where Chef Teddy Diggs dished up surprising regional Italian delicacies. His deep-fried squash blossoms piped with ricotta stole the hearts of the guests — as evidenced by the long lines to his booth! After a long (but fun) day in the sun at the Tasting Tent, we snapped this shot of Chef Teddy Diggs and Anthony Carey, general manager, The Siena Hotel, enjoying the last lone blossom.

Check out some of our other culinary festival adventures here!

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Atlanta Food & Wine: Meet the Meats

Cherith AndesBlog, Marketing, Restaurant PR + Hospitality PR, , , , , , , ,

This month’s sojourns beckoned me down to the Peach State for the Atlanta Food and Wine Festival. During a fusion of traditional southern cuisine and fresh modern gastronomy, I had the privilege to visit several seminars prior to the grand Tasting Tent. My palate enjoyed veggies from stalwarts like Ashley Christensen who debuted a Mexican wood-grilled corn salsa, and I sampled pimiento-stuffed okra during a session of “Southern Farmers Spill It.” But I was surprised — and admittedly giddy — by the plethora of mighty meats in the spotlight.

We certainly can’t claim that vegetables are a new trend — or a trend at all for Charcuteriethat matter. The farm-to-fork movement has stolen America’s culinary limelight for some time, and part of that trajectory has created space for veggies. Chef Teddy Digg’s sweet corn gelato, Our State’s series on summer tomatoes and even this spring’s frenzy for ramps all cherish the earth’s harvest. So Atlanta’s spotlight on charcuterie began to cultivate a well-deserved appreciation for beef farmers, butchers and the like.

After a breakfast of headcheese, a brunch of pulled pork and an afternoon tea of seared tuna BBQ, I fell prey to the meat sweats. (Alright, it very well might have been the volcanic Atlanta temperatures, but it sounds more dramatic this way.) We explored farm fresh fish and “comeback sauce” with Mississippi’s Cole Ellis of Delta Meat Market. Chris Chamberlain unveiled the exacting skills required from charcuterie butchers, like David Bancroft of Alabama’s Acre. Where the general public sees bacon, these artisans see a culinary voyage — days, months, years of slicing, salting, smoking, salivating and serving!

Keep eating your veggies, folks, but clear your plate for hand-cut and cured proteins, from pork pate to tuna tartare. It’s time to meet the meats!

Check out our other edible adventure at the Charleston Wine and Food Festival!

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