Extreme Pita in Ballantyne Village

More quick, healthy food choices for BV! A new tenant upfit is underway for Ballantyne Village in the space next to Moe's...the signs on the windows indicate "Extreme Pita" is on its way. The international franchise serves up customized pita sandwiches with a healthy approach. According to their website, they will offer "Lunch, dinner and late night menu items includ[ing] our Extreme Club, Philly Cheese Steak, Grilled Chicken, Gyros, and Falafel, all combined with a choice of different vegetable varieties served fresh or sautéed to perfection right in front of your eyes." Freestyle pitas are simple pita sandwiches customized to your liking, but they also offer "Chef Inspired" pitas such as Chicken Caesar, Rustic Italian, Thai Beef or Chicken, and Meatball. What really caught my eye on the menu was Flat Baked Pitas, which are basically pita pizzas - Hawaiian Luau, Buffalo Chicken, Meditteranean Chicken all sound very enticing.

Aloft Hotel Ballantyne

Aloft Hotel is now open in Ballantyne Corporate park! The hotel is a "vision" of the parent "W Hotels" brand associated with Starwood Hotels. Just like its sister hotel in uptown, the Ballantyne Aloft includes swanky cocktail spot "W XYZ Lounge." Along with an exciting decor and bar drinks, W XYZ appears to have a cozy outdoor patio area. Aloft Hotel bills itself as "a setting that combines urban-influenced design, accessible technology, and a social scene that’s always abuzz." It offers amenities such as an indoor heated pool, re:fuel refreshment stop, re:charge gym, touch screen info terminals, hotel-wide Wi-Fi, camp Aloft for kids, dog-friendly policies, and more. They also have green programs to help conserve water, energy and other resources in place at the hotel. The photos on the Aloft website show that the Charlotte hotel falls right in line with the Aloft chain's typical funky, colorful decor and hi-tech feel. A quick check of rates shows a 1 King sized bed room ranges from $80-130. All in all, Aloft seems it will be a great alternative for business and leisure travelers to the Ballantyne area.

Check out this link to the Aloft Charlotte website.

Libretto's Pizzeria

According to Scott Martin's Ballantyne Weekly e-mail newsletter, Libretto's Pizzeria and Italian Kitchen is coming soon to Ballantyne Commons East. They currently have two locations, one in New York City and another in the EpiCentre in Uptown Charlotte.

Visit their website for a preview of what is to come!
http://www.librettospizzeria.com/charlotte/index.html

More Great Food in Ballantyne: Big Daddy's Burger Bar

Charlotte Business Journal reported this week that Partners Frank Scibelli and Dennis Thompson expect to open Charlotte's second Big Daddy's Burger Bar in Ballantyne this July. Big Daddy's original location is on East Blvd. in the Dilworth neighborhood. Big Daddy's website sums up the restaurant, "we do exactly what our name suggests - we have amazing burgers, a killer bar, and it’s all very, very good... we love serving you amazing food in a lively, laid-back atmosphere."

I've enjoyed a great burger at Big Daddy's in Dilworth. The beer selection was good too. The restaurant space itself is very small though, so it will be nice to see them open up a bigger space here in Ballantyne. The place definitely draws a crowd, so look for it to become a welcome addition to the Ballantyne restaurant scene. No word on exactly where in Ballantyne they plan to open, however.

http://www.bigdaddysburgerbar.com/

D'Vine Wine coming to BV

Fans of wine are well aware that Ballantyne Village's Under the Grape winebar closed and has been vacant for a while now. Good news, however: Ballantyne Village website indicates a new shop coming soon called D'Vine Wine.

From their website, "D’Vine Wine is a boutique winery specializing in custom wines made from the highest quality varietals. By the glass, by the bottle or our vintners will guide you through the process of customizing your very own wine. Personalized labels add a great finish to your creation. D’Vine Wine, Your Personal Winery is truly a unique experience for the wine novice or the wine expert. Our winery produces many award winning wines from the finest juices. Starting from the juice, rather than growing our own grapes, allows us to offer a wide variety of wines from the bold reds, to crisp whites, to fruit and desert wines."

http://www.dvinewinecafe.com/

Farmers Markets are Still Open!

With the weather changing from warm to cold, people tend to forget fresh fruits and vegetables are still available at the farmers market. Delicious fruits and vegetables in season during November and December include apples, broccoli, oranges, mushrooms, pears, sweet potatoes, winter squash, and much more! Stop by your local farmers market to pick up the freshest food for your healthy lifestyle.

• Charlotte Tailgate Farmers Market located at 100 West Park Avenue (South End), hours are Saturday 10am-1pm, Tuesday 3:30pm-6pm until the weekend before Christmas.

• Matthews Community Farmers Market located at 105 N. Trade St, hours are Saturday 7:15am-noon through November. Hours change to every other Saturday starting December 6th 7:15am-noon.

• Charlotte Regional Farmers Market located at 1801 Yorkmont Rd, hours are Tuesday – Saturday 8am-5pm all winter.

Noodles & Company opens in Arboretum

The Arboretum shopping center at the intersection of Hwy 51 and Providence Rd has a new restaurant option, Noodles & Company. A favorite of kids and adults alike, Noodles & Co. offers Asian, Meditteranean, or American noodle dishes as well as custom made-to-order noodle dishes.

Ballantyne area Starbucks' are Safe!!

By now you might have heard about Starbucks closing 600 stores nationwide. I stumbled upon a news site that listed all 600 of them, so I couldn't resist the urge to check North Carolina and see which stores were slated to be closed. Of course I had my fingers crossed that the Starbucks at Conlan Circle in Ballantyne and the 'drive-thru' Starbucks at Hwy 51 & Park Rd (...both of which get a good amount of business from me!) wouldn't be on the list. I can rest easy! Here is the NC list below. Looks like the Wilkinson Blvd. Starbucks (wasn't this funded by Magic Johnson and wasn't it supposed to help revitalize the area?) and the Starbucks at Providence Plaza on Providence and Sharon Amity Rd (brand new?!?) didn't fare so well:

North Carolina
11525 CHATHAM DOWNS 141 CHATHAM DOWNS CHAPEL HILL NC
10420 WILKINSON BLVD 3220 WILKINSON BLVD CHARLOTTE NC
10836 NORTHLAKE COMMONS 9335 CENTER LAKE DR CHARLOTTE NC
11056 PIEDMONT TOWN CENTER 4620 PIEDMONT ROW DR CHARLOTTE NC
13533 WORTHINGTON 1520 OVERLAND PARK LN CHARLOTTE NC
14141 PROVIDENCE RD & SHARON AMITY RD 2921 PROVIDENCE RD CHARLOTTE NC
14183 FIRETOWER RD & ARLINGTON BLVD 1889 E FIRETOWER RD GREENVILLE NC
11136 VALLEY HILLS MALL 1960 HWY 70 SE HICKORY NC
11925 NASH STREET 2113 NASH ST WILSON NC
8716 HARPER HILL COMMONS 4912 COUNTRY CLUB RD WINSTON SALEM NC

Under the Grape

Vanessa Willis of The Observer reports:
"Under the Grape is moving from Ballantyne Village to a new location, to be determined.

Owners Barb and Henry Tyree could not be reached for comment. But they sent an e-mail to customers last week that said their lease had been terminated and they planned to relocate elsewhere in Ballantyne. It also said they had been asked not to keep their bar doors leading to the patio open while music was playing inside.

Village leasing agent Christy McQueen could not comment on the terms of the separation, but said another wine bar will likely move into the space."

TABLE Restaurant Closes

Rumor has it that TABLE Restaurant in Ballantyne Village has closed its doors to business and is potentially relocating to another place around town. A friend's daughter had pre-prom dinner there over the weekend and heard from servers there that it was the last weekend of operation. As a quick check, I tried to make a reservation on Opentable.com, but the listing for Table is no longer available on that site. So it seems that this might really be the loss of a great restaurant in BV.