La Strada Pizza and Pasta Groupon

There's a Groupon up right now for La Strada Pizza and Pasta in Wesley Chapel. It expires in a little under 4.5 days, although it says a limited quantity is available so I guess it could end sooner.

It's essentially a $10-for-$20 deal. See here for all the gory details.

Of note, La Strada is supporting Siler Presbyterian's July Jamaica Mission Trip. A percentage of each bill on Sundays goes directly to support the mission trip if you mention Siler Presbyterian. While the Groupon is good into November, the mission trip is in July, giving you some idea as to when you'd need to dine there in order to provide support.

It's like killing two birds with one stone: getting a meal at a discount while supporting a good cause. But perhaps killing two birds with half a stone is the more accurate analogy.

Details of the the La Strada Groupon are here if the aptness of this last metaphor is what sold you.

Sitting here hungry

And I've just decided how badly Waxhaw needs a Steak n' Shake. South Blvd is far too long to drive to get to one.

Steak n' Shake would quickly get the upper hand in the Waxhaw fast food wars if such a thing exists.

I'd be remiss in not mentioning other benefits, such as the money saved by Waxhaw parents since kids eat free on weekends.And then there's the milkshakes...

Main Street Grill Groupon

I haven't been around lately, but I'm still working hard to save money. An email came in regarding an excellent local deal for a Main Street Grill Groupon that I thought was worth passing on. This deal lasts another 2 and a half days.

There's three options:

• $11 for American lunch or dinner for two with one appetizer (up to a $5.75 value) and two entrees (up to an $8.75 value each; up to a $23.25 total value)

• * $20 for American lunch or dinner for four with two appetizers (up to a $5.75 value each) and four entrees (up to an $8.75 value each; up to a $46.50 total value)

• $27 for American lunch or dinner for six with three appetizers (up to a $5.75 value each) and six entrees (up to an $8.75 value each; up to a $69.75 total value)

The last option seems an especially good deal if you can scrounge up some friends and get a sitter for the kids.

Check it out for all the details.

Thanks to Main Street Grill for joining the ranks of local restaurants offering Groupon deals, joining such esteemed forerunners as Mamma Lena's and El Vallarta if my memory serves.

Help support Kate Zidanic

Fox's Pizza is having another "Help Support Kate Zidanic" fundraiser this evening from 4 - 8pm, the proceeds of which go to helping cover Kate's medical bills as she fights lymphoma. See my previous post for more details.

If you mention Kate Zidanic's name when ordering, 15% of the proceeds go to covering her medical bills.

It was apparently a busy night the the last time Fox's Pizza sponsored one of these fundraisers, so it may take a bit longer to get your order than normal. From was kind enough to host one of her fundraisers. From an email Rick Giarla sent out:

Last month, Fox's Pizza held a "Kate Zidanic Night" with so many of our parents supporting Kate with purchases of pizza and other items on the menu. Rick Hodge, owner of Fox's told me that it was "his busiest non-weekend night in the history of Fox's Pizza".

So for those of you who have a board of commissioners or Cub Scout meeting to attend, make sure you get your order placed with plenty of time to spare.

Here's a coupon that can be used tonight only to get a 1-topping medium for $8. Three of those dollars go directly to Kate's medical bills fund.

Good Living Social deal

For those of you who periodically eat at McDonald's and like Big Macs and fries, there's a pretty good deal going on through the end of the day.

5 Big Macs & 5 Large Fries for $13

It consists of 10 individual coupons. One burger and one fry coupon can be used at a time (ie. can't use all ten on one visit). While Big Macs aren't my sandwich of choice, I still got one

Follow the link for all the details.

Dairy Barn closes (temporarily?)

The Dairy Barn had a Facebook post Friday evening saying they were closing up shop due to lease issues. Here's the whole post:

To Our Customers: It is with so much sadness that we announce the closing of our beloved Dairy Barn. We opened a year ago and we have enjoyed serving every one of you this past year. ....and now, at the end of our first year lease, we have encountered some issues that do not seem to have solutions, so we will close for the winter and look for another location to re-open this spring. Thank you for visiting The Dairy Barn, Thank You for believing in our dream, and Thank You for your continued support during this very very difficult time. Jane and Greg Carpenter

The Dairy Barn was one of the businesses in Waxhaw we regularly visited, generally for the ice cream. It was fun to play a game of checkers or Connect 4 while eating our cones.

It's a shame they needed to close up shop, but not really surprising given the revolving door of businesses that have existed in that location since we came to town. For what it's worth, Jackson's Emporium and their overpriced candy was my favorite, followed closely by The Dairy Barn.

Either way, the rent set by the owner does not seem to allow any businesses to occupy this space with serious longevity, at least thus far. But I have no idea what the rent is here or at other downtown locations.

It's times like this where I recall an old County Edge article that detailed the difficulties of starting and maintaining a business in Waxhaw. Of course, it's been so long that this article may just be a figment of my imagination at this point, growing more illustrative of this problem with each telling. For what it's worth, I'm told the Waxhaw library should have an archive of the old County Edges that I should someday take some time to re-peruse.

Either way, keep your eyes peeled for The Dairy Barn in the spring as they plan to investigate alternative locations.

My question: are they still going to have the arcade games? A large handful of tokens is sitting in our cupboard. Hopefully someday they can be put to good use, otherwise I may have to auction these off as arcane tokens of Waxhaw history.

Help support Kate Zidanic

Tonight is "Help Support Kate Zidanic" night at Fox's Pizza in Waxhaw.

Kate is a little 6-year old girl that was diagnosed with lymphona in May of this year. Rick Giarla passed along this statement by Kate's mom to WAA families:

She was diagnosed in May with Lymphoma. She seems to be responding well to the chemo, but still has a rough month ahead of her. Once this chemo is over, she will have 18 months of maintenance. she lost all of her hair last week but that will begin growing back in the maintenance phase (the chemo is not as strong). This money goes directly to a fund at 5/3rd bank designated for her medical bills.

It runs tonight from 4-8pm at Fox’s Pizza Den tonight. Fox’s is donating 15% of your order to help offset their rising medical costs.

Don't forget to mention that you are supporting Kate Zidanic when you place your order!

So if you've got a hankering for some good pizza or just want to help support the Zidanic family's medical costs, get yourself over to Fox's Pizza for some dinner between 4-8pm this evening.

There was also a coupon in the email for a 1-topping medium pizza for a mere $8, $3 of which goes directly to the Zidanic family.

Pass this along.

Fox's Pizza back on restaurant.com

I got an email the other day that Fox's Pizza is now back on restaurant.com, making them once again the only Waxhaw restaurant offered at restaurant.com. I blogged about their prior stint earlier.

While this is good news for Fox's Pizza lovers, the deal is not quite as good as it once was. A $25 gift certificate still runs you $10 (and with the constant coupon codes restaurant.com runs, you'll likely pay $2-4 for this), but there is now a minimum purchase requirement of $50.

So this means the total cost will now be a minimum of $27, but you will get $50 worth of pizza and/or other food. Probably not a good deal for the nights my family wants to get pizza, but it will be a good deal for larger gatherings of people, such as kids' birthday parties and the like, where $50 of pizza can be more readily scarfed down. It should save you a decent chunk of change in those instances.

UPDATE: Has Leo's Kitchen opened yet?

I've blogged about them before a couple times (see the latter for a coupon). On the way home from work yesterday, it looked to be open but there was nothing official saying it was open. Call it my blogger's intuition, which is oftentimes wrong for what it's worth.

No word on their Facebook page yet, which hasn't been for two and a half weeks.

UPDATE 11/1: To answer the question in the title, yes, Leo's Kitchen is now open and apparently the grand opening is set for November 19.

BBQ results

The results of Waxhaw's Grill'n & Chill'n BBQ Cookoff are available at the town website here. Unfortunately, it's a mish-mash of downloadable PDF and Excel files. Not very convenient for looking at the results.

So here they are in all their slightly-more-convenient glory:

Waxhaw Grill'n & Chill'n BBQ Cookoff
October 8-9, 2011
Kansas City BBQ Society PRO Results

Place Overall
1 Uncle Mac's BBQ Crue, Charlotte, NC
2 Palmetto Smokehouse, Greenwood, SC
3 Serial Griller, Yorktown, VA
4 Up in Smoke, Rock Hill, SC
5 Carolinas BBQ Co., Hildebran, NC
6 Red, White and Que, Waxhaw, NC
7 Rock Store BBQ, Indian Trail, NC
8 Bad Mother Smoker, Concord, NC
9 Smokin' Good, Fort Mill, SC
10 Texas Outback Cookers, Monroe, NC
11 Butt's R Us, Waxhaw, NC
12 Chubby's BBQ, Monroe, NC
13 Kick'n & Grill'n, Waxhaw, NC
14 521 BBQ, Indian Land, SC
15 Jo's Jo's Backyard BBQ, Monroe, NC
16 Just Good, Inc., Monroe, NC


Waxhaw Grill'n & Chill'n BBQ Cookoff
October 8-9, 2011
Kansas City BBQ Society PRO Results Chicken

Place Chicken
1 Uncle Mac's BBQ Crue, Charlotte, NC
2 Bad Mother Smoker, Concord, NC
3 Palmetto Smokehouse, Greenwood, SC
4 Carolinas BBQ Co., Hildebran, NC
5 Rock Store BBQ, Indian Trail, NC
6 Up in Smoke, Rock Hill, SC
7 Texas Outback Cookers, Monroe, NC
8 Red, White and Que, Waxhaw, NC
9 Butt's R Us, Waxhaw, NC
10 Serial Griller, Yorktown, VA
11 Smokin' Good, Fort Mill, SC
12 Kick'n & Grill'n, Waxhaw, NC
13 521 BBQ, Indian Land, SC
14 Chubby's BBQ, Monroe, NC
15 Jo's Jo's Backyard BBQ, Monroe, NC
16 Just Good, Inc., Monroe, NC


Waxhaw Grill'n & Chill'n BBQ Cookoff
October 8-9, 2011
Kansas City BBQ Society PRO Results Pork Ribs

Place Pork Ribs
1 Up in Smoke, Rock Hill, SC
2 Palmetto Smokehouse, Greenwood, SC
3 Uncle Mac's BBQ Crue, Charlotte, NC
4 Rock Store BBQ, Indian Trail, NC
5 Serial Griller, Yorktown, VA
6 Chubby's BBQ, Monroe, NC
7 Red, White and Que, Waxhaw, NC
8 Carolinas BBQ Co., Hildebran, NC
9 Butt's R Us, Waxhaw, NC
10 Bad Mother Smoker, Concord, NC
11 521 BBQ, Indian Land, SC
12 Smokin' Good, Fort Mill, SC
13 Texas Outback Cookers, Monroe, NC
14 Jo's Jo's Backyard BBQ, Monroe, NC
15 Kick'n & Grill'n, Waxhaw, NC
16 Just Good, Inc., Monroe, NC


Waxhaw Grill'n & Chill'n BBQ Cookoff
October 8-9, 2011
Kansas City BBQ Society PRO Results Pork

Place Pork
1 Smokin' Good, Fort Mill, SC
2 Uncle Mac's BBQ Crue, Charlotte, NC
3 Carolinas BBQ Co., Hildebran, NC
4 Serial Griller, Yorktown, VA
5 Rock Store BBQ, Indian Trail, NC
6 Red, White and Que, Waxhaw, NC
7 Bad Mother Smoker, Concord, NC
8 Texas Outback Cookers, Monroe, NC
9 Palmetto Smokehouse, Greenwood, SC
10 Kick'n & Grill'n, Waxhaw, NC
11 Up in Smoke, Rock Hill, SC
12 521 BBQ, Indian Land, SC
13 Just Good, Inc., Monroe, NC
14 Butt's R Us, Waxhaw, NC
15 Jo's Jo's Backyard BBQ, Monroe, NC
16 Chubby's BBQ, Monroe, NC


Waxhaw Grill'n & Chill'n BBQ Cookoff
October 8-9, 2011
Kansas City BBQ Society PRO Results Overall Brisket

Place Brisket
1 Serial Griller, Yorktown, VA
2 Uncle Mac's BBQ Crue, Charlotte, NC
3 Palmetto Smokehouse, Greenwood, SC
4 Red, White and Que, Waxhaw, NC
5 Up in Smoke, Rock Hill, SC
6 Kick'n & Grill'n, Waxhaw, NC
7 Bad Mother Smoker, Concord, NC
8 Carolinas BBQ Co., Hildebran, NC
9 Butt's R Us, Waxhaw, NC
10 Texas Outback Cookers, Monroe, NC
11 Chubby's BBQ, Monroe, NC
12 Smokin' Good, Fort Mill, SC
13 Rock Store BBQ, Indian Trail, NC
14 521 BBQ, Indian Land, SC
15 Just Good, Inc., Monroe, NC
16 Jo's Jo's Backyard BBQ, Monroe, NC


Waxhaw Grill'n & Chill'n BBQ Cookoff
October 8-9, 2011
People's Choice Award

Place Butts Team #
1 Carolinas BBQ Co., Hildebran, NC 9
2 Smokin' Good, Fort Mill, SC 15
3 Backwoods BBQ, Waxhaw, NC 1
4 The Sizzlin' Pigs, Monroe, NC 6
5 521 BBQ, Indian Land, SC 7
6 Butt's R Us, Waxhaw, NC 8
7 King B BBQ, Charlotte, NC 4
8 Butt Burners BBQ, Waxhaw, NC 3
Billy Bob Beamer BBQ, Waxhaw, NC 2
Meat and Heat, Waxhaw, NC 5
Chubby's BBQ, Monroe, NC 10
Kick'n & Grill'n, Waxhaw, NC 11
Palmetto Smokehouse, Greenwood, SC 12
Red, White and Que, Waxhaw, NC 13
Rock Store BBQ, Indian Trail, NC 14
Texas Outback Cookers, Monroe, NC 16
Up in Smoke, Rock Hill, SC 17


Place Ribs Team #
1 Carolinas BBQ Co., Hildebran, NC 9
2 Butt Burners BBQ, Waxhaw, NC 3
3 Uncle Mac's BBQ Crue, Charlotte, NC 8
4* The Sizzlin' Pigs, Monroe, NC 6
4* 521 BBQ, Indian Land, SC 7
4* Chubby's BBQ, Monroe, NC 10
4* Red, White and Que, Waxhaw, NC 13
Backwoods BBQ, Waxhaw, NC 1
Billy Bob Beamer BBQ, Waxhaw, NC 2
King B BBQ, Charlotte, NC 4
Meat and Heat, Waxhaw, NC 5
Kick'n & Grill'n, Waxhaw, NC 11
Palmetto Smokehouse, Greenwood, SC 12
Rock Store BBQ, Indian Trail, NC 14
Smokin' Good, Fort Mill, SC 15
Texas Outback Cookers, Monroe, NC 16

*Four way tie for 4th place



Waxhaw Grill'n & Chill'n BBQ Cookoff
October 8-9, 2011
Kansas City BBQ Society Backyard Results

Place Overall
1 The Sizzlin' Pigs, Monroe, NC
2 Butt Burners BBQ, Waxhaw, NC
3 Meat and Heat, Waxhaw, NC
4 Backwoods BBQ, Waxhaw, NC
5 King B BBQ, Charlotte, NC
6 Billy Bob Beamer BBQ, Waxhaw, NC
7 Somerset Smokers, Waxhaw, NC

Place Pork Ribs
1 The Sizzlin' Pigs, Monroe, NC
2 King B BBQ, Charlotte, NC
3 Butt Burners BBQ, Waxhaw, NC
4 Meat and Heat, Waxhaw, NC
5 Backwoods BBQ, Waxhaw, NC
6 Billy Bob Beamer BBQ, Waxhaw, NC
7 Somerset Smokers, Waxhaw, NC

Place Pork
1 Somerset Smokers, Waxhaw, NC
2 Backwoods BBQ, Waxhaw, NC
3 Butt Burners BBQ, Waxhaw, NC
4 Meat and Heat, Waxhaw, NC
5 The Sizzlin Pigs, Monroe, NC
6 King B BBQ, Charlotte, NC
7 Billy Bob Beamer BBQ, Waxhaw, NC

I wish I could've been there.

Fox's Pizza Deal

Fox's Pizza is offering a pretty good deal right now on Eversave, a Groupon-like site. For those of us who enjoy their pizza (or those of you thinking of trying it), it seems like a no-brainer. EverSave is not as widely known as Groupon, but I've gotten a couple things from them in the past, so you can feel confident in using it if the deals interests you.

$10 for $20 worth of food and drinks at Fox's Pizza Den

There's another 4 and a half days left on this deal, so by my calculations you have until end-of-day Monday 10/17 to take advantage.

Too bad they didn't run this deal one day sooner as I had $5 EverSave bucks that expired one day prior, which would've given me $20 worth of Fox's Pizza stuff for only $5. I haven't yet decided if this is enough of a transgression to make my enemies list or not (EverSave, not Fox's Pizza).

I'd also like to add that Fox's Pizza has got to be the best local Waxhaw restaurant (or any business for that matter) to participate in programs that allow their customers to save money. I've blogged about their past participation in restaurant.com and their past Groupon we missed out on. No other business in Waxhaw has embraced social buying and other customer money-saving programs like Fox's Pizza, so hopefully it helps them expand their business.