Subs & Spuds

A few moments ago, I posted an article about Circle Cafe & Deli, a Food Court restaurant I frequently patronized in the early to mid '90s. This is about its replacement.

Soon after Circle Cafe & Deli closed in early 1995, a new restaurant called Subs & Spuds opened in its place inbetween Gatto Pizza and Monk's Cheesesteaks & Cheeseburgers.

I vividly remember my first visit to Subs & Spuds. I was about 5 years old and I decided to try a "sub". Well I immediately bit into it and soon tasted one of the nastiest things I ever tasted. Sadly, it is Carolina Circle Mall's fault for me not liking mayonaise.

However, I soon discovered they had unbeatable hot dogs and grilled cheese sandwiches that were very much like the ones Circle Cafe & Deli served.

I am not too sure when Subs & Spuds closed. It was one of the longer lasting Food Court restaurants. It probably closed sometime around 1998.

If anyone has any information about Circle Cafe & Deli and/or Subs & Spuds, please feel free to tell me.

Circle Cafe & Deli

This restaurant is I believe the first Carolina Circle Mall restaurant I ever went to.

I really don't know much about this restaurant, believe it or not. I want to say it opened at the mall's food court in the late '80s or early '90s. Heck, I didn't even know their name until I found it at the library back in December of 2007.

Their location at the Food Court was inbetween Gatto Pizza and Monk's Cheesesteaks & Cheeseburgers.

My memories of the place include getting delicious grilled cheese sandwiches and hot dogs. I also remember them having a blue neon sign.

Circle Cafe & Deli closed sometime around 1995 and was replaced with Subs & Spuds, another great restaurant I will soon post about.

Monk's Update

According to yesterday's paper, the new Monk's Cheesesteaks and Cheeseburgers on Summit Avenue, has gone out of business. I was really starting to like those cheesesteaks.

Piccadilly Cafeteria

The above picture is a 2005 picture of the inside of the Piccadilly Cafeteria at Carolina Circle Mall.

In November of 1976, the Piccadilly Cafeteria opened in the Carolina Circle Mall across from the Circle Six Theatres.

For over 20 years, Greensboro had two Piccadilly Cafeterias. There was one at Carolina Circle Mall and one at Four Seasons Mall. Today, we'll be taking a look at the Carolina Circle Mall one. For the Four Seasons one, visit Four Seasons City. Not!

I believe this particular Piccadilly Cafeteria doubled as the set for the Old Rebel Show for one day. Carolina Circle was a part of Greensboro TV Land!

In the '90s, I went to the Piccadilly Cafeteria fairly regularly. My parents never really cared for it, but we went anyway. They were similar to K&W Cafeteria, but their food had a certain taste to it that K&W didn't have. Also, I never went to the one at Four Seasons.

On July 31, 1996, Piccadilly Cafeteria went out of business leaving a huge empty space in the mall. It was the longest lasting dine-in restaurant the mall ever had. Since the Four Seasons Piccadilly Cafeteria closed in the late '90s, most of North Carolina hasn't had a Piccadilly since.

I had the chance to revisit Piccadilly Cafeteria once. In May of 2001, I went with the 5th grade of Madison Elementary School to Williamsburg, Virgina. We had dinner at the Piccadilly Cafeteria in Williamsburg. It was awesome.

For some reason, Piccadilly Cafeteria has given me dreams and nightmares over the years. The most recent one was from a few months ago. I went to Piccadilly Cafeteria somewhere and had a meal. When I got back home, I told someone about my meal. Suddenly, my backpack attacked me and I woke up shaking and sweating. Because I'm posting about Piccadilly Cafeteria, I'll probably have another nightmare tonight. The things I do for my blogs.

Monk's & More

Alright, time for a little Carolina Circle Mall food history.

In 1988, Carolina Circle Mall opened it's new food court and carousel in the former space of the Ice Chalet. There were plenty of restaurants prior to the renovation, but no food court.

Throughout the history of the food court, many restaurants thrived. Let me try and list the restaurants I can remember.

1. Chick-Fil-A

2. Mr. Wok Chinese Restaurant

3. Carolina Deli until 1995/Subs & Spuds 1995 and on.

4. New York Pizza

5. Short Lived Taco Bell

But there was restaurant I left out.

In 1990, the legendary Monk's Cheesesteaks & Cheeseburgers opened in the Carolina Circle Mall food court. It was located in the corner of the food court on the right section of the above picture.

In my opinion, it was probably the most successful restaurant at the food court. For seven years, they served a wonderful menu full of many items. They specialized in cheeseburgers and cheesesteaks.

I rarely went there. Probably ony 4 or 5 times. Usually when I ate at Carolina Circle, it would be either at Carolina Deli/Subs & Spuds or Piccadilly Cafeteria. I remember it seemed sort of like a diner. It had a black and white tiled floor with a jukebox. I think it even had a video game or two.

They also had an ice cream shop attached to it. I went there a lot. I would always get a vanilla ice cream cone with a cherry on top.

By the second half of 1995, the mall began it's major slide into decline. In June of 1997, Monk's went out of business. This might have been a major factor in killing the food court.

Does the story end there? Nope. In 2006, Monk's reopened at the Northeast Summit Shopping Center. Same great menu. In fact, I had a cheeseburger from Monk's for lunch today. I agree. They do have great burgers. And they're pretty cheep and beats McDonald's or Burger King. Also, take a look at their menu board inside. It says "Formarly of Carolina Circle Mall 1990-1997".

All of this proves my theory. Carolina Circle Mall may be closed, but it's still open in the form of memories, websites, blogs, and reopened stores. Maybe they'll put a carousel in the Northeast Summit Shopping Center or the Wal-Mart parking lot. One can dream.

You can check out the Monk's website here.

Food in the Mall

As a fan of food (I'm not Garfield), I have found that many good food joints were at Carolina Circle Mall. I will go over a few of my favorite food places there. The * means that the restaurant was in my movie Back to the Future the Second.

Carolina Deli: I think it was called that. That was the restaruant I would all ways go to until about 1995. I remember a blue neon sign there and it was located at the food court between the pizza parlor and Monk's Diner.

Subs and Spuds: The resturant was what opened where the Carolina Deli used to be. They mainly specialized in subs and/or spuds. I would always get a hot dog. They were good, but never get seafood at the Fat Burger Resturant or cheeseburgers at the Chinese resturant.

*Piccadilly Cafeteria: Piccadilly was the mall's main resturant. It was a lot like K&W, but Piccadilly had that certain charm that made it great. My family didn't really like them, but I did. The last time I ever went to Piccadilly was in 2001 in Williamsburg, Virginia.

*Monk's Diner: No, not that detective guy on the USA Network. Monk's was Carolina Circle's flashback center. I would be walking through a mall of the 90's and suddenly be in a diner of the 50's. I didn't go there very much, but as a fan of the 50's/60's, it was cool.

Chick Filet: If you don't know what this place is, you've been living in a cave for quite awhile.

Mr. Wok: Basically your basic Chinese resturant. It filled the mall with its beautiful smell.