WSNC Bar – The Man Who Ate the Town

According to the Broad Branch Distillery Facebook page:

An exciting announcement — Winston Salem FINALLY has its own bourbon arriving next week! We can’t wait to introduce you to Big Winston Bourbon.
This initial release is a 4-year single barrel low rye straight bourbon coming in at 85 proof. It boasts a great balance of spicy and sweet, with notes of tea, vanilla, tart cherries, baking spices, and pistachios.
For the time being, bottles will ONLY be available for purchase at the distillery starting on Saturday, January 23. The first 100 commemorative bottles – each one signed by Broad Branch owner John Fragakis – will be available for sale on our website starting Jan 18 (Monday) with curbside pickup beginning that same day at noon.
Mark your calendars to come to grab a bottle in person on Saturday the 23rd or grab a signed bottle online on the 18th.
This barrel WILL sell out fast.

We will have Daniel Spivey, the Head of Brand Development with Broad Branch Distillery this coming Monday. Tune in to hear more!

Things are happening in this city, food and otherwise, at breakneck speed. It’s really hard to cover it all. We do the podcast once a week and with that, we’re taking the next two off from recording.

Let me cover some stuff.

Bar La Ch.ngada had mentioned they were going to partner with Xcaret (which is owned by the same folks) to offer food options. Then the Governor’s orders came through and they decided to pull back on that. Then, they announced, again, that they were back on! So, they’re back on! New hours will be Tuesday-Saturday 4p-10p and Sundays 1030a-9p. They are closed on Sundays. These hours effective Thursday, December 17.

Local 27101/Artisan has officially changed their name and logo to Local Artisan. We had Greg Carlisle on the podcast a few weeks back for him to announce this and yesterday they unveiled the new logo. I like it. It’s simple, sleek, and easy to read. If you haven’t had this restaurant in a while, it’s still as good as it ever was (better, even) and whether you’re doing the lunch (27101) thing or the dinner (Artisan) thing, you’ll love it. Congrats, Greg, on the rebranding!

Arigato Japanese Steakhouse and Seafood has announced that it will take takeout orders up until 9p in GSO but their WSNC location isn’t doing takeout just yet. They are also selling gift certs/cards on their website but that website is currently (1030a on Wednesday) being repaired.

La Carreta on Robinhood has implemented QR codes for menus. I think this is great. I like that other restaurants have basically laminated a large QR code and put them on the table and people don’t have to handle grody menus. I will admit, though, that I have some trouble reading them, even on my Samsung S10+. But, I’m willing to take that inconvenience, especially in these times, with keeping both Stephanie and me and other folks safe. Good job, La Carreta (and other establishments doing this).

This one hurts. Social. Southern Kitchen is closing for good. This place was great. Granted I only ate there twice, once for my “Summer of Burgers Tour 2019” and another just for appetizers, but the folks were great, the food delicious, the atmosphere perfect. It was just all-around great. Now, why didn’t I eat there more? It takes me around 20-30 minutes to get there from my house. That’s an hour round trip and if we have any alcohol at all, we don’t want to have to drive that and Uber is way too expensive that far away. So, it was special occasions that got me out there.

Here is what the public announcement said:

Jeff and I have worked together in restaurants since March of 2000.

20 years of

~ Behind!

~ Heard!!

~ We 86’d that an hour ago!!!

~ I NEED RUNNNERS!!!!

Let us not forget the priceless sound of $5 wine glasses hitting the floor.

Oh how we love the sounds.

The sounds of plates clinking

Cooks singing..

The end of the night LAUGHS with our staff after literally climbing out of the weeds for hours.

The SOUNDS of our guest laughing over a delicious meal with their friends and family.

The SOUND of glasses clinking in celebrations, belly laughs that would fill a room.

You could hear the bear HUGS and huge smiles…

The delight Chef would get when he’d come out of the kitchen. Witnessing that first bite. Then your guest shares a bite, because “this is too damn good for you not to try”

That is why we have AND WILL ALWAYS be restauranteurs!

It is with huge sadness that we would like to share our closing in January. We are leaving the door open to be able to do what we love in the future and want you to know We LOVE Winston Salem!

We will still offer both catering and private chef events until the coast is clear of Covid.

There are very few OWNER operated restaurants who do it for the money, not with these profit margins!!

We do it for all the reasons listed above and when the celebrations of food and life pause, we must pause as well…

This too shall pass… and we hope to be back in the culinary scene, before you know it.

Thank you for all the love and support Winston! We love you dearly…

Erika and Jeff Gibbs

We have found a GREAT concept to take the space, and we know they will offer fabulous to-go options and eventually dine-in service later this winter.

Thanks for reading my The Man Who Ate the Town Minute (or Two).