Chillfire Bar and Grill is opening next week.  Restaurant Traffic got our VIP Invitation to the Grand Opening Celebration today.  Chillfire is a concept from the group that brought you Epic Chophouse in Mooresville.  Those are the owners of Epic above.  From left to right you have Jim Morasso, Rick Mack and Larry Sponaugle.  Chillfire is a casual upscale eatery and will be located in the Shoppes at Waterside Crossing in Denver.  Chillfire will be dinner only to start off but they plan on serving lunch down the road.  Restaurant Traffic has not seen a menu yet but are excited to see what this group has come up with.

Freshii aims to provide fresh and nutritious options for people on the go like the 50,000 office workers that use the Overstreet Mall.  Their stores are hip and cool.  They also are heavily into recycling and helping keep the environment green.  This will be the first Freshii in the Carolinas.

Dixie's Tavern closed for good this past Saturday.  Dixie's was open for 15 years and had a loyal following.  They were one of the original bars Uptown.   They were pioneers but lost their lease to eventually make way for a park that developer Daniel Levine is planning along with the city.  Restaurant Traffic wonders where all those Pittsburgh Steelers fans will watch the game on Sundays this fall as Dixie's was the home of the Steelers.

Restaurant Traffic is heading to Las Vegas for the big Commercial Real Estate Convention the next 4 days so if there are any drunken posts blame it on Vegas.  We are hoping we get some work done and are not reliving any of the Hangover movies.  If I wake up with a tiger and a chicken running around the hotel room I have miserably failed.  We will post anything new and interesting.

Crisp is going to open their 3rd location at the Latta Arcade in Uptown.  Crisp serves fresh custom made salads and sandwiches in a fast casual setting.  Crisp uses only the highest quality ingredients (locally when in season) and also makes their dressings from scratch.  They make their soups daily and also serve pizzas.  The other 2 locations are on 7th Street and Dilworth.

Bubble Charlotte opens to the public tonight at the Epicentre in Uptown Charlotte.  Bubble will offer 30 different champagne selections and a distinctive food menu.  Bubble treated the media to a sneak peek tour this past Wednesday and we were impressed.  There must have been 30 workers scurrying around attending to the last details to get the place open.  Bubble's Operating Partner (shown above) Bourke Floyd showed us how they make several of the signature cocktails and better yet he let us sample them.  If Bourke looks familiar it is because he was on the hit show Dawson's Creek that was filmed in Wilmington.  But on to Bubble pictures......

That is the Caprese Napoleon shown above.  This is not your average bar food.  They also treated us to Fresh Strawberry Chevre, Three Dragons Calamari and Foie Grass PB&J.  The interior of Bubble is high end stylish.  Bubble created quite a stir a couple of weeks ago when it announced it would serve cocktails with liquid nitrogen that is -320 degrees.  As you might guess, it is quite dangerous if consumed.  We did not get to see a drink made with the liquid nitrogen but are sure it is quite impressive.

Bubble was a long time in the making but is surely worth the wait.  So pop the corks and celebrate!

Former New York Jets quarterback has finally found a team to play for next year.   No as of now it is not in the NFL but for PDQ which sells chicken tenders, chicken sandwiches, chicken based salads, milk shakes and french fries.  Tebow has plans to open several outlets of the restaurant with the first one being in his hometown of Jacksonville.  Tebow is known for being ultra religious so apparently God likes fried chicken.  By the way PDQ stands for "Pretty Darn Quick."

The Room on Montford is no more.  Well it has been closed for 5 years now and it was curious to everyone why nobody had reopened a restaurant/bar at the venue considering how busy Montford is these days.  Now a AAA travel center will take over the real estate.  Sad.  You would hope another cool bar would have taken a shot but it was not to be.  Now the former bar is a pile of rubble.  We will leave it to the Boss to play his classic song Wrecking Ball.

Nolen Kitchen will feature a wine tasting on the 3rd Monday of every month.   The cost is $10 and it will include wine and appetizers.  They are kicking it off May 20th featuring the varietal Pinot Noir.  The event will run from 6-8 and reservations are required as space will fill up fast.  May 20th is also Mecklenburg Independence Day.  Below is a picture of Captain Jack which will not be on the patio at Nolen on the 20th.

On the way to taking the wife and kids to Mellow Mushroom last night I noticed this sign in the window of the Colony Shopping Center on Selwyn Avenue.  Now before we debate me being cheap and celebrating Mothers Day at a Mellow Mushroom I have to point out that is not the essence of this post.  It is about a new concept coming to Myers Park.  There is no website so we are assuming it is a new candy store, the confections part of it tipped us off.  We are smart over at Restaurant Traffic.  If anybody connected to Candy Girl Confections reads this please contact us.