Chris' Cosmic Kitchen

When Marge and I met Kristin and Chris Lubben at a Wilmington Tweetup in May we had already heard of their popular restaurant on Eastwood Road in Wilmington. This morning we finally went for breakfast.

Located in a strip mall on the way to Wrightsville Beach,


Chris' Cosmic Kitchen presents excellent food in a slightly retro-funk atmosphere with plenty of artwork.


Not everyone will get to see the item below -- it's a coat hook in the men's room.


Marge and Chris Lubben


This three-dimensional piece overlooked our table.


We both had omelets (Marge had a Greek omelet and I had a Tex-Mex omelet) that were so good we ate 'em before I remembered I wanted to take a photo (that happens a lot). So ... here's a shot of the knock-you-on-your-knees Cheesecake Kristin and Chris brought to the Tweetup.

House to Home for Habitat - Buy Green & Help Habitat for Humanity

Several area groups and companies worked together to put on the House to Home for Habitat program that will run both weekends of the Parade of Homes in April and May. Stevens Fine Homes provided the model home, the nascent Wilmington Professional Stagers group did the staging and decorating, and Fast Signs provided signage for the event.

So here's the deal. During the weekends of April 25-26 and May 2-3, go the the fine new Stevens Fine Homes model home above in the neighborhood of South Brook in Mallory Creek in Winnabow. The actual address is 1206 South Brook Road, Winnabow. The house has been completely decorated with "found" items from six area shops (list below) that specialize in used or antique furniture and accessories. All the furniture and decorative items, including some great clothes in the humungous master bedroom closet, are for sale at appealing prices. Depending on the item, 10-15% of the sale price will be donated to the greater Wilmington area Habitat for Humanity. So how cool is that?

The house on South Brook Road is Green certified and Energy Star certified and by virtue of the "found" status of the decorations, the whole shootin' match is green.

If you are interested in the house itself, either of the fine ladies below, Charlotte Palmer on the left and Wendy Melville on the right will be happy to provide you with information about it. They'll also be delighted to tell you about other existing new homes or homes that can be built in the South Brook neighborhood or the adjacent Cove Landing. Please remember that Charlotte and Wendy both represent the builder and if you'd like a buyer's representative, I would be elated and honored to work with you.

The newly formed Wilmington Professional Stagers group did the work of staging and decorating the house. The WPS crew, below, consists of Melissa Prim, Barb Mihalik Pat McCartan, Shay Perryman, Cindy Jones, and Peggy Stone. Great job, folks, the house looks beautiful.

Remember that every piece in the house is "found". It's hard to believe that when you see how great it all looks. The living/great room is very inviting and looks out at a wooded back yard.

The dining room in particular looks right out of a design magazine.

Check out the headboard in the master bedroom. It's an old fireplace mantle! Neat, huh?

The upstairs playroom is huge and inviting, with lots of light and plenty of room to spread out and enjoy.

Even the mirror at bottom of the stairs was an unexpected delight. Ooops, and there's Wendy, too.

Here's a list of the stores and shops that provided furniture and decorations for House to Home for Habitat:

Habitat for Humanity

Fabulous Finds

The Seaside Cottage

Cape Fear Antiques

Primrose Cottage

Second Time Around

So check it out. And please call me at 910-297-8753 or e-mail me at brucebrown@seacoastrealty.com if you'd like buyer representation to see this or any other home in our area.

Rims on the River!

So, did you go to Rims on the River 2009 last Saturday? Wow, they sure close downtown Wilmington's streets for some great events.


I parked near the Coastline Convention Center (hint - free and easy, when there's space) and walked down Water Street by the Hilton. First I walked through the Rivefront Farmers Market, which closes a couple of blocks of Water Street just north of Market each Saturday from mid April through December with vendors offering fresh flora and produce.

Our buddy the multi-talented El Jaye Johnson had a tent by the river and he was ROCKIN'.

I walked up Market Street from the river and saw a typical Downtown Wilmington scene: horse drawn trolley, leather-clad bikers, and classic cars - yeah, that's Wilmington, what's not to like?

Market Street was open all the way to the Cape Fear River, but Front Street was closed and lined on both sides of the street with classic cars from north at Red Cross Street as south as Orange Street.

The cars on display were mostly American iron, but there were some foreign cars as well. I think I saw one Ferrari, one Maserati, and a whole passle of British cars (all, of course, pre-1980, the event's cutoff). A lot of pre-80s bikes, too.

There were a couple of these coffin-looking low-riding dragsters. Not sure exactly what they're called (so help me out with a comment to this blog post, someone), but I can't imagine they'd drive well on uneven streets - ouch, those cobblestones hurt!

The timeless Cobra with its clean, mean look appeals to almost everyone.

Advance Auto had a trailer with a monster truck inside. If you wanted you could wait in line to sit in the driver's seat to watch a big video screen where I assume they simulated you driving over jumps and bunches of other cars and stuff. It was too nice a day, so I decided I didn't wanna. Mostly in the line were kids and guys with dates.

The greater Wilmington area has a boatload of car shows - sigh, that's not very well said, is it? OK, so anyway they have a lot of them. Rims on the River is pretty big (estimated at 400 cars by the estimable Downtown Business Alliance).

One might wonder how closing the downtown streets so often during weekends is for downtown merchants. I suppose it matters, but I spoke briefly with good guy Scott who manages Front Street Brewery (that would be on Front Street) and he seemed pretty happy. When the weather cooperates as it did so well for the Azalea Festival and Rims on the River, Front Street Brewery puts tables and chairs outside and moves their host/hostess station to the door and does a booming business. Other restaurants apear to love it as well.

What's the Big Deal About Leland?

Almost Serious - It's the Beach

Instead of telling you all the serious reasons people like our area, let's be real. It's the beach!