http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704662604576202170081483858.html

Article about restaurant entrepreneurs talks about the Grape in Cameron Village which closed a few years ago. I went to this place and it was pretty unmemorable. Dude tried to cater an upscale wine bar to a relatively blue collar university and then blamed the locals when his place failed.

5/18/2011 1:31:22 PM

Raleigh's food scene does kinda suck. But that guy also didn't know what he was getting in to. I think you need to live in a place for a couple years before you decide to open up a bar/restaurant there. It takes a while to see what the scene and trends are when people go out to dine/drink.

5/18/2011 1:40:05 PM

As I recall, The Grape executed poorly on their "upscale" food. Their food suffered from low to middling quality ingredients and less than skillful preparation. Their wine was very good, but it was expensive. Their markup was about 20% more than "restaurant standard". At the time, you could get wine at other places in Raleigh that was just as good for less money.

5/18/2011 1:41:11 PM

Visited the one in Charlotte a while back and it sucked. I love wine and I love food but neither was good at The Grape. The prices were way above the grade of wine and food served. Definitely a horrible location to pick too.

5/18/2011 1:51:14 PM

Quote :

"Raleigh's food scene does kinda suck. "

As compared to what?

5/18/2011 1:53:54 PM

i prefer noodles & co. which took it's place.

5/18/2011 1:55:55 PM

Honestly, for the size city it is, I think the Raleigh "food scene" is pretty decent.

5/18/2011 1:56:46 PM

From my experience the Raleigh area has one of the better food scenes in the country for a mid-sized city. I've seen lots of food critics from other places say the same thing.

5/18/2011 1:58:10 PM

Quote :

"Even though he was just a few blocks from a big university, he speculates that he and the Grape overestimated the Raleigh sophisticates' taste for wine and gourmet food on a regular basis. "

Does not compute - college kids don't drink wine for $15/glass, they drink Busch Lite.

5/18/2011 1:58:55 PM

ITB people will spend some money on wine, i don't think he was that far off on the market, but the execution did not justify the price

5/18/2011 2:14:25 PM

Quote :

""The women in cocktail dresses, as it turned out, wanted cocktails," he says."

Wow! No shit?

5/18/2011 2:18:59 PM

Somewhere like Five Points would have made more sense for this type of place. But if the food sucked nothing was going to help.

5/18/2011 2:19:28 PM

Glenwood South or Fayetteville Street

some place where rubes go to spend their money

(I'm not saying the places these locations are a bad value)

5/18/2011 2:22:51 PM

I know I've been spoiled by Charleston's food scene, but when I go back to Raleigh to visit my sister I've always been less than impressed when we go out to eat. On that same note, they came down for the weekend a month ago and were blown away with every meal we had...and I didn't even take them to my top spots.

If you include the Triangle as a whole, then it's good. I just think it could be a lot better.

5/18/2011 2:25:40 PM

i think Durham is better than Raleigh

5/18/2011 2:35:28 PM

Quote :

"and then blamed the locals when his place failed."

LOL taking a page from Don Bender's book I see

5/18/2011 2:36:20 PM

He's claiming in 2006 people in Raleigh weren't into hummus? I guess he's never step foot in Neomonde or even the produce section at Harris Teeter

5/18/2011 2:39:16 PM

The Grape was a really dumb idea for a restaurant AND it was expensive. don't think too many people were trying to spend 15 dollars on a few pieces of cheese and a glass of wine

5/18/2011 2:42:33 PM

Quote :

"i think Durham is better than Raleigh"

........

Quote :

"If you include the Triangle as a whole, then it's good."

5/18/2011 2:42:45 PM

The article makes him sound like a stuck up jerk that woefully misunderstood his customer base. He should have opened a restaurant in Atlanta, not Raleigh. The other woman in the article did it right.

5/18/2011 2:47:53 PM

Quote :

"Ms. Dixon quickly discovered that the reality of running a gourmet restaurant is a lot grubbier than she had imagined. There was a ton of work to be done behind the scenes and not enough people to do it"

Best quote of the article.

5/18/2011 2:55:34 PM

I agree that a wine bar concept would have been much better suited to Glenwood, Fivepoints, Fayetteville St, or maybe even North Hills, but definitely not Cameron Village in 2006.

Relying on the University to provide business is the dumbest idea he had. UNC, UVA, etc may have been a boon for this type of business, but NCSU wouldn't be.

5/18/2011 3:14:44 PM

any time people mention restaurants it makes me want pimento cheese from poole's

5/18/2011 3:19:33 PM

IIRC they didn't even have a full kitchen so some of their shit was like microwaved and pretty much all they served was finger food. great business plan there guy

5/18/2011 3:20:21 PM

Glenwood did have a wine bar! April & George's (then became The George or something)

It had amazing food too...sadly it closed down

5/18/2011 3:21:33 PM

I think it could be said theres no shortage of good places to eat around here but theres no haute cuisine or really famous type chef places around here

5/18/2011 3:42:48 PM

bullshit

there's james beard finalists/winners all over the place

5/18/2011 3:43:38 PM

Yeah seriously. Pooles is the first to come to mind.

5/18/2011 3:50:43 PM

Quote :

"there's james beard finalists/winners all over the place "

James Beard finalists/semifinalists are a dime a dozen.

5/18/2011 4:08:23 PM

Quote :

"I think it could be said theres no shortage of good places to eat around here but theres no haute cuisine or really famous type chef places around here"

How many mid-size cities that are not tourist destinations beat us in this?

5/18/2011 4:17:57 PM

Quote :

"Glenwood did have a wine bar! April & George's (then became The George or something) "

There's also Mosaic Wine Lounge.
http://www.mosaicwinelounge.com/

5/18/2011 4:22:44 PM

Raleigh's food scene is fecal

Raleigh <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< Charleston <<<<< Charlotte

5/18/2011 4:25:59 PM

I went there once for brunch. The food wasn't that good, the portions were small, and the prices were high. Recipe for success right there...

5/18/2011 5:14:53 PM

Quote :

"Raleigh's food scene is fecal Raleigh <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< Charleston <<<<< Charlotte"

I'll give you Charleston, but Charlotte? Absolutely not.

5/18/2011 5:21:46 PM

What a bitch.
People want steak. People want a reasonable proportion. People want cocktails. He refused to offer these things and people took their business elsewhere. He's obviously not cut out for the food industry if he takes every rude customer personally and his refusal to get his hands dirty AT HIS OWN RESTAURANT just sounds whiny and pathetic.

We, the people of Raleigh, are all laughing at your mistakes as you go on to blame the market for your failure. I wonder what the owners of Capital Club 16, Five Star, Flying Biscuit, The Rockford, Solas, Angus Barn, Second Empire, and all the other restaurants that stay busy every night think about his plight?

5/18/2011 6:46:13 PM

The thing I don't get is this area has successful wine bars. So how he can claim it's that the Raleigh market isn't ready for wine bars is beyond me.

5/18/2011 6:47:57 PM

^ Those bars succeed by offering quality beers, cocktails, and moderately priced wines. It's a lot easier to sell someone three or four glasses of wine/beer at $4 a pop than it is to sell them one glass at $15.

5/18/2011 6:50:47 PM

Sour Grapes?

5/18/2011 6:53:29 PM

durham > raleigh >> charlotte

5/18/2011 6:57:36 PM

^^^ lol true. His price point was just totally off. I don't really get why someone would do a wine bar franchise in the first place.

5/18/2011 7:48:22 PM

frazier's is doing somewhat well, and it's right on hillsborough street directly across from the university, for god's sake.

they have abso-fucking-lutely delicious food, a huge wine selection that is fairly and comparably priced, and the best FOH staff you'll ever meet.

granted, there aren't really ever too many actual college students in there... but it's good enough to draw in crowds from nearby.

[i guess i'm a little biased, but still... it's awesome.]

5/18/2011 7:52:12 PM

i hate that place, it like sitting in a rail car. if i want to spend money on a nice dinner, i don't want to feel like i'm sitting at ihop.

and i'm talking the old ihops where they crammed you all together, not the new fancy ones

5/18/2011 8:10:18 PM

PIP PIP, I'D RATHER EAT MY OWN FECES THAN DINE WITH YOU PLEBEIANS.

5/18/2011 9:35:58 PM

MORE LIKE FLEABEIANS IF YOU ASK ME

[Edited on May 18, 2011 at 9:45 PM. Reason : ME-OWWW Ø]

5/18/2011 9:44:46 PM

SIR, I LIKE THE CUT OF YOUR JIB.

WOULD YOU LIKE TO ACCOMPANY ME TO A SMALL CAFÉ IN PARIS?

IT'S THE ONLY PLACE ON THIS EARTH WHERE THEY DON'T SERVE GARBAGE.

5/18/2011 9:48:08 PM

Cafe Caturra in CV is doing fine it seems.. I enjoy it when I go there

5/18/2011 10:02:57 PM

Quote :

"frazier's is doing somewhat well, and it's right on hillsborough street directly across from the university, for god's sake. they have abso-fucking-lutely delicious food, a huge wine selection that is fairly and comparably priced, and the best FOH staff you'll ever meet. granted, there aren't really ever too many actual college students in there... but it's good enough to draw in crowds from nearby. [i guess i'm a little biased, but still... it's awesome.]"

Uhh, I am going to disagree. I was less than impressed for the food (especially my piece of salmon that was the size of a deck of cards.. SALMON), and our desert was pretty sad for how much it cost. And it felt stuffy.

5/18/2011 10:13:33 PM

Buying deserts can be quite expensive unless it's just a tiny piece.

5/19/2011 7:26:06 AM

Quote :

"Raleigh <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< Charleston <<<<< Charlotte"

rriiiigggghhhhttttt...



And Wine and Tapas can work (and IMO, is one of the better "restaurant" ideas). You just have to make sure the food is good and priced moderately. No place is going to do well if you strike out on the food...and tapas should range from $5 to $9 (maybe a really expensive cheese plate). Sounds like this place messed up on all of these things.

5/19/2011 8:51:14 AM

If I had unlimited disposable income, I'd open a Japanese style tapas bar in Raleigh. Small plates ranging from $3-9, and a good beer and sake selection. I'm kind of surprised we don't have one already in this area.

5/19/2011 9:24:46 AM