WILMINGTON — Lots of movement happens around the Port City when it comes to restaurants, food trucks, bars and bottle shops, not to mention organizational and nonprofit foodie events and festivals.
While Port City Daily already covers most of this news, “Small Bites” offers another way for readers to stay in the know.
Feelin’ Swine food truck officially launches
After working for the state government for 35 years, Mike Frazier’s retirement plan is coming into focus this weekend when he launches his first food truck: Feelin’ Swine.
A barbecue competitor, Frazier has had a passion for cooking and smoking meats for years. During Covid-19, he began taking the skillset more seriously. By 2021, he and his father, Jerry, and son, Dilan, joined the competition circuit and have scored some first places, including People’s Choice Awards.
“We tend to win for our pulled pork,” Frazier said, noting they’ve come out on top the last three years at Leland’s Bands, Brews and BBQs. They also compete at sanctioned Kansas City Barbeque Society events.
“People kept asking me: Where’s your restaurant?” Frazier recalled
He smokes pork for up to 16 hours on hickory and cherry wood and offers it — as well as brisket and pulled chicken — four different ways on his food truck menu. Diners can top the pulled meats on loaded homemade mac and cheese or stuff it in a slow-roasted baked potato, order it on a sandwich, as a plate or topped on nachos. He also has spare ribs he smokes just until they fall off the bone.
The meats are doused in a homemade Carolina vinegar sauce while cooking and Frazier also makes a homemade sweet sauce — think Kansas City-style — that is served on the loaded mac and cheese and other items. He said he’s been working on the best mac and cheese recipe for 30 years.
“I’m not a big fan of baked mac and cheese, but I’m also not a fan of roux. So I’ve finally come up with something that does not require either,” Frazier said, mum on revealing the secret to its perfection.
Nachos and potatoes come topped with homemade queso, created from American cheese, jalapeno and spices. All other side items on the truck are made from scratch, too, including mayo-and-vinegar-based macaroni salad, cole slaw, baked beans and a potato casserole, denoted as “cheesy taters.”
Once a state employee for the Department of Corrections in New Hanover, Bladen and Brunswick counties, it’s Frazier’s first foray into the restaurant business, aside from working in a kitchen during high school and college. The truck’s operation will be a family affair and run by his wife, Loria, as well as his son, father and mother, Phyllis, and sister, Sherri Potter.
The group did a test-run last weekend for family and friends to learn the point-of-sale system and to better understand the most efficient process to run the truck. Frazier plans to send out Feelin’ Swine two or three days a week and will continue to compete in barbecue competitions in North and South Carolina, as well as Virginia.
“We do somewhere between 10 to 12 contests a year,” he said. “I do all the cooking … but one thing that I’ve always gotten out of the competition portion is to see reactions from folks when they eat the food. That’s what really motivates me. So I want to get it out there as much as possible and talk to people.”
Already they have events lined up in January after Feelin’ Swine launches at Waterline Brewery on Sunday, Jan. 4, from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. Frazier plans to have 10 pounds of pork, five pounds of boneless chicken thighs, three racks of ribs and a slab of brisket ready to serve. Prices are $10 to $18.
Panacea Restaurant changes ownership
After making changes to its menu in the spring, Robin and Artie Hill have sold Panacea Restaurant at 4107 Oleander Dr. Now owned by Ayomilekan Adeloye from Fayetteville, the acquisition was final at the beginning of December.
Adeloye has a background in corporate restaurants, having opened multiple Panda Expresses, including Wilmington’s location. This is his first solo venture and the Hills stayed on through mid-December to ensure the transition was smooth and Adeloye learned all the processes and recipes.
According to the Hills, Panacea’s menu will remain the same with both vegan and meat versions of various appetizers, sandwiches, burgers, and salads offered. The restaurant employees also remained.
“We really didn’t want to lose what we had built for the community and our staff,” Robin said. “So we wanted a deal where the person would be willing to keep the menu and keep the same concept so that Wilmington could still have lots of plant-based options. So he’s continuing with the split menu where every item would be made both ways.”
Eventually, there will be a name change for the restaurant and Adeloye is adding both Uber Eats and Door Dash delivery.
The Hills still own their brewery on Judges Road, which churns out Panacea’s hard and regular kombucha. Production will remain intact for retail sales and the beverages will continue to be served at the restaurant, with growlers available for refilling there and the brewery.
The Hills started Panacea in 2016 selling its homemade kombucha at farmers markets from their 1975 Volkswagen, dubbed the Boochbus. They opened a small brewery on Eastwood Road the following year before expanding into a full-fledged eatery serving vegan fare in 2020.
Last year, the owners made the decision to change the restaurant’s approach by adding meat items in addition to its vegan menu. Robin said though they lost some “hardcore vegans who felt betrayed” by the change, they “more than gained” other diners and transformed Panacea into a “healthier business model.”
“A lot of the vegan folks whose husband or boyfriend or girlfriend didn’t want to come before because they couldn’t get what they wanted, now they dine here,” she said. “So we’re seeing larger table sizes. It really just opened up our patronage of people who were not willing to ever walk in the door before.”
Robin said once she and her husband worked through the menu change, they began assessing next steps for their family. The Hills have three kids, while also operating the brewery and restaurant.
“Running both was more complicated than we wanted to commit to for another five or 10 years,” she said.
While Robin has taken a job with Live Oak Bank, she said Artie will be focused on the brewery and its new Tiny Tap and Taste. He is renovating office space once used for storage at 311 Judges Road to open an eight-seat bar for people to sip brews and watch the kombucha being made through glass doors that separate the production area. It will reflect the tiny space they once owned at Eastwood Road.
“At our first brewery, we had a tiny retail spot that sat four people and when we outgrew that space, we split up into two locations,” Robin said. “But we heard from a lot of our customers who were our originals that they missed the intimacy of the old spot.”
Artie is building it out to look identical to the former small tap room, reclaiming the furniture and installing the old bar. There will be kegs, growlers and packs of kombucha for sale.
Robin said the one upswing about downsizing the business side of Panacea is that it opens up more bandwidth to be creative.
“We can really focus on the things that we’re most passionate about,” she said, which means more flavors both for the non-alcoholic and hard kombucha. Also, they want to expand other products.
“One of our products we’ve been making for as long as we have been open is our lavender lemonade,” she said. “We recently started canning that and we used to just sell it on draft at the restaurant, but it’s been just flying off the shelves and cans. So we’re going to be expanding with more beverages in that vein — that are botanical and healthier than sodas.”
They’re looking at a new flavor drop in February. Tiny Tap and Taste opens Wednesday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. and will operate Tuesday through Saturday; the Hills will offer tours of the brewery as well.
K&W Cafeteria closes
The locally beloved K&W Cafeteria closed on New Years Eve after operating in Wilmington for more than three decades
Located in Hanover Center, K&W management posted a note on the door New Year’s Day, stating the chain cafeteria closed due to “lengthy renovations” of the complex. Hanover Center has been under construction in the last year, with scaffolding often taking over the walkways and entrances to many businesses.
“We want to express our sincere appreciation to all our guests and the community that has supported K&W over the years,” the note indicated.
K&W was founded in Winston-Salem in 1937. It was best known for its home cookin’, featuring everything from meatloaf to baked spaghetti to liver and onions, multiple homemade sides and desserts. It was popular for its reasonable pricing.
However, within six months of the Covid-19 pandemic shuttering businesses, the restaurant filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, which allows businesses to remain in operation while restructuring and paying down debt. K&W was reported to have more than $30 million in assets, over $22 million in liabilities and $12.56 million owed to more than 100 creditors.
It had 18 restaurants in 2022, which dwindled to 11 by April 2024, in both North Carolina and Virginia.
The restaurant was founded by Grady T. Allred Sr., one-third partner with brothers Thomas, Kenneth and William Wilson and their brother-in-law T.K. Knight — hence, the K&W name. In 2022, the restaurant’s president, Dax Allred, announced Piccadilly Restaurants bought the eateries.
Tap Yard Wilmington opens
Wilmington’s first acre-large beer garden is serving customers now near The Cargo District. Tap Yard opened over the holidays from local entrepreneurs Tym Dvorak and Zack Medford and will have a full-scale launch this March.
The indoor-outdoor bar is located at 502 S. 16th St. in what was formerly Transplanted Garden.
Medford, who owns Coglin’s downtown, spoke to PCD in April 2023 shortly after he and Dvorak opened Tap Yard Raleigh. It is a family-friendly and dog-friendly business model mimicked in the Port City.
Dvorak has overseen renovations of the space, which includes light wood and high-rise ceilings indoors, creating a more open feel in what was once a sectioned off retail store. Outdoors, there are brightly colored murals on fencing surrounding the back patio area, complete with outdoor heaters and picnic tables. The goal is to have an outdoor bar opening by March.
Currently, the bar has a selection of beers on tap, with the goal to expand to 16. It also offers wine and signature craft cocktails, featuring fresh ingredients and handmade syrups. One consists of a Manhattan made with a Southern touch.
“We make our own Cheerwine syrup,” Medford told PCD in 2023, highlighting the cherry-flavored soda created in Salisbury, North Carolina.
Live music is being scheduled now on weekends, as well as other special events. For instance, a Tap Yard Whiskey Society event of the month will take place — the first on Jan. 23. It includes handpicked selections of 10-year Bulliet whiskeys, served with bites, and a connoisseur guiding patrons through flavor profiles.
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