Fry bracket: VOTE IN 4 more!

The Observer's 2010 Tournament of Fries begins with the following 12 teams, chosen after weeks of sampling readers' suggested locations across the land. Don't see your favorite? That's OK, since readers get to vote in four additional teams.

Comment on this blog (only once, please!) before midnight WEDNESDAY (March 10). I'll add the top three vote-getters, plus the place that garners what I think is the most heartfelt, compelling comment. (That's to allow for a Cinderella team!)

The dozen anointed ones:

Big Daddy’s Burger Bar, 1626 East Blvd.
Cafe Monte, 6700 Fairview Road.
Comet Grill, 2224 Park Road.
Crepe Cellar, 3116 N. Davidson St.
Fran’s Filling Station, 2410 Park Road.
Lulu, 1911 Central Ave.
Matt’s Chicago Dog, 435 S. Tryon St.; 19732 One Norman Blvd., Cornelius.
Moosehead Grill, 1807 Montford Drive.
Rooster’s, 6601 Morrison Blvd.
Sub Corral, W. Wilkinson Blvd., Belmont.
Tenders, 18341 Statesville Road, Cornelius.
The Penguin, 1921 Commonwealth Ave.

You’ll notice no national chains in my dozen. I didn’t include them, seeking to emphasize our local offerings, but I’ll let the people make the call -- if you want to vote one in, so be it. Same goes for the places that sell a hybrid fry-like "home fry": If you believe it fits in a classic french fry competition, vote it in. The completed bracket will be in Friday's CLT (or maybe earlier, in this space).

Want to get a look at competitions of years past? Go here for the pizza competition of 2009 and here for wings in 2008.

D'Vine Wine turns 1; CORRECTION

CORRECTION: The wine dinner is March 25.

March 20 is D'Vine Wine Cafe's first anniversary, and the Ballantyne place plans events throughout the month, including a free tasting 3-5 p.m. March 6; an "education series event" March 11 focusing on how to pair food with wine; a $20-per-person tasting 2-5 p.m. March 20 of more than 40 wines and 15 beers with free food samples and raffles and more; and a wine dinner March 26 with seven courses paired with Italian wines. 14815 John J. Delaney Drive; 704-369-5050.

Lunch news

Luce now offers a $13 express lunch menu: Included is choice of soup or salad, choice of entree, and soft drink or iced tea, and all is ready in 30 minutes, or it's free. Among the options: pistachio-crusted salmon; spaghetti with vegetables and light cream sauce; prosciutto, mozzarella and tomato sandwich; grilled chicken; and more. 214 N. Tryon St. at Hearst Plaza; 704-344-9222.

Dolce Vita in NoDa is now open for lunch, with $5 panini (sandwiches) and more; recent choices include turkey and fig spread panini; corned beef sandwich; personal pizzas and cheese plates. 3205 N. Davidson St.; 704-334-1052.

Las Ramblas stays put for now

Las Ramblas, slated to close March 1 -- with plans calling for it to reappear when a suitable spot is found -- will stay in its current location at 2400 Park Road through "at least the end of March."

I will be glued to this...

It premieres March 26 on ABC.


... and in case it didn't load, even though my preview pane says it did, it's here.

Ri Ra reopens

Ri Ra, the uptown Irish pub damaged by fire in May 2009, has reopened, with new and refurbished furnishings.

“It’s been a long, arduous, but ultimately rewarding process restoring the pub,” David Kelly, co-founder and -owner, said in a press release. “My partner, Ciaran Sheehan, and his master Irish craftsmen have meticulously refurbished every piece of our antique furnishings."

The Victorian bar, built in the early 1800s according to its owners (both raised in Dublin), is newly free from layers of soot, as are the place's Guinness mirror, etched glass panels from the 1800s and a St. Patrick statue estimated to be more than a century old.

New: the foyer's hardwood parquet floor, salvaged from the Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast. (Sound vaguely familiar? It's where the Titanic was built.)

The kitchen was renovated, too, and chef Tom LaFauci offers a menu of both traditional Irish dishes (house-brined corned beef, soda bread, beef and Guinness stew, Irish breakfast served at lunch and dinner) and more contemporary fare (mussels in whiskey garlic butter, broiled haddock with lemon crumb topping, and more).

The pub’s sandwich bar on Hearst Plaza has reopened as well. Hours at Ri Ra, which opened in 1997 and whose name means uproar or hubbub, are 11:30 a.m.-2 a.m. daily, with lunch and dinner and Irish-style brunch on weekends. 208 N. Tryon St.; 704-333-5554.

Allergic? Here's a resource

AllergyEats, here, a Boston-based Web site, is designed to help those with food allergies or intolerances find suitable restaurants.

The site lists more than 600,000 U.S. restaurants, searchable by location, and offers maps, phone numbers, menus and other information. Those using the site are asked to answer questions about their dining experiences to help develop the ratings.

AllergyEats is endorsed by the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America (AAFA) of Washington, the AAFA New England Chapter of Boston and the Gluten Intolerance Group of Auburn, Wash., among others.

Charlotte listings, when I perused them, were just beginning, with Pewter Rose getting a top rating...