Print
Restaurants

Downtown On A Roll

By Liz Biro, posted Apr 23, 2014
The Peppered Cupcake (Photo by Liz Biro)
Downtown Wilmington is experiencing a food service business development surge this month.

In addition to the new Slice of Life pizzeria that opened Tuesday in the historic Masonic lodge building at Market and 2nd streets, an Asian restaurant appeared, a feel-good food concept launched, a cupcake shop unlocked its doors and a sandwich shop focused on housemade sausage is in the works.

Both Saigon Bistro and acai-centric health food eatery Happy Bowls emerged at the former Smoke, 21 N. Front St., between Market and Princess streets. After Smoke closed, the building’s owner, John Sutton, subdivided the large space for retail and food businesses.

Saigon Bistro owner Kiet Nguyen, from Greensboro, serves Vietnamese, French-influenced Vietnamese dishes, Thai, Japanese and Chinese dishes in a polished bar and white-tablecloth dining room at the building’s rear. He advertises lunch and dinner daily.

Mostly $8 to $18 selections include pho soup; tofu lettuce wraps; a braised quail with peanuts, cilantro, roasted scallions and mixed baby greens salad; rib-eye sautéed in lemongrass and curry; and grilled stuffed calamari with shrimp, pork, onions, carrots, noodles, grilled tomatoes, asparagus and spicy tomato sauce are among the mostly. Click for more.

Up front, Happy Bowls sells “acai bowls” full of fruit, grains and antioxidant-rich acai puree for breakfast, brunch and lunch. Zach Sciales developed the Happy Bowls “family business” with his father, John Sciales, owner of Wilmington’s JRS Construction company.

Tabitha Meready and Shannon Foster, from Kinston, opened The Peppered Cupcake on April 16 at 105 S. Front St., near Dock Street. The "gourmet cupcakery,” which Meready founded in 2008 in Kinston, is known for Southern-leaning cupcake flavors such as Sweet Tater & Molasses with pork cracklings and Bourbon Pecan Pie as well as off-beat ideas like The Peppered Cupcake, a vanilla cake filled with preserves and a hint of horseradish and then frosted with vanilla buttercream and garnished with cracked pepper.

Warm cupcakes might be strawberry basil cobbler or chocolate walnut with warm maple butter sauce and a hint of Grand Marnier.

Cupcakes start at $3 each.

The cozy shop features seating, apothecary-style glass cabinets and fresh potted herbs on the counter.

Experienced food service operator Matthew Sterling and seasoned meat cutter Jamal Rasheed are preparing the sausage sandwich concept, Stuffedwich, at 11 Market St., near Cape Fear River.

At the former Tutti Frutti frozen yogurt shop, the men plan housemade sausages served in baguettes, a rage Sterling said he noticed in Europe while traveling through Germany and France.

Sterling explained that the baguette’s interior is toasted and the sausage is slipped inside, so that the bread encases the meat. Diners pick a sausage - Italian, chorizo and chicken/spinach/feta among them – and a sauce, including chipotle, chimichurri and parmesan cracked pepper, to customize their “Stuffedwich.”

Soups, traditional sandwiches and salads are planned, too, Sterling said. Expect Boar’s Head meats and cheeses and meal prices in the $7 range, he added. Opening day should arrive in about three weeks, Sterling said.

He and Rasheed met while working at Carolina Farmin’ grocery market. Rasheed, from northern Virginia, boasts 30 years as a meat cutter, including time at Carolina Farmin’, Fresh Market and Giant supermarket. He discovered Wilmington while visiting his daughter, a University of North Carolina Wilmington student.

Sterling hails from New York, where he grew up in the deli/bakery business thanks to his father’s 27 stores in the Northeast. Sterling has been an owner, too. Vacation time in the Cape Fear area attracted him to Wilmington, where he said he worked as a consultant for Carolina Farmin’.
Ico insights

INSIGHTS

SPONSORS' CONTENT
Screenshot2022 01 06at338 162234623

Food is the Foundation for Prosperous Communities

Girard Newkirk - Genesis Block
Cfss headshots parker robert webversion 21422121214

The Latest Solar Scams and What You Can Do to Help Stop Them

Robert Parker - Cape Fear Solar Systems
Mcwhorter 0005

The Coastal Corridor is Helping Wilmington Startups With Connected Devices for Life Sciences Industry

Heather McWhorter - UNCW Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship

Trending News

Conservation Group Signs $8M Deal To Buy The Point On Topsail Island

Audrey Elsberry - Mar 26, 2024

Rezoning Could Bring 123 Townhomes To Growing Leland Corridor

Emma Dill - Mar 25, 2024

N.C. Ports Officials React To Baltimore Bridge Collapse

Audrey Elsberry - Mar 26, 2024

Engineering Firm Hires Four Employees

Staff Reports - Mar 26, 2024

National Organization Bestows Top Award On Cape Fear Professional Women In Building

Staff Reports - Mar 26, 2024

In The Current Issue

MADE: Polyhose Inc.

Polyhose manufactures and fabricates hose protection, paint hose assemblies and rubber hydraulic assemblies from its Pender County facility....


Park Progress

The planning for Pender Commerce Park began in the early 2000s when the county wanted to create an economic driver on its largely rural west...


Hacking Cyberdefense Shortage

A shortage of cybersecurity professionals influenced professor Ulku Clark and her team to slowly evolve UNCW’s offerings to now include eigh...

Book On Business

The 2024 WilmingtonBiz: Book on Business is an annual publication showcasing the Wilmington region as a center of business.

Order Your Copy Today!


Galleries

Videos

2023 Power Breakfast: Major Developments