North Point Grill: The little diner that could

While family-owned restaurants come and go, North Point Grill has roots that began decades ago.

Open since 2005, this
award-winning, family-owned and operated restaurant is located on North Point
Boulevard near Wake Forest University and Silas Creek Parkway. Butch and Karin
Eddinger welcome guests to dine as if they were visiting their own home. They
started a family, a community and a budding empire in that building.

But their story began more
than 25 years ago when they worked together at another family diner, Robinhood
Grill.

“It was a little diner at the
intersection of Robinhood Road and Olivet Church Road,” Karin remembers. “It
actually was where I had my first waitress job at age 14, too. And his mom and
my mom worked there too, so Butch and I knew each other at a young age.”

A tiny little shopping plaza
located across from the Harris Teeter in Robinhood Village shopping center is where
it started. The restaurant closed between 1999-2000, but five years later North
Point Grill came to fruition.

Butch worked at Southern
Family Restaurant in Pfafftown years ago. He and owner Mike Noah along Gus Stogias
of Liberty Restaurant in Lewisville, saw potential in Butch and made the decision
to expand their businesses to bring on Butch as a partner. While Noah is a
majority owner, he stays at Southern and Butch tends to the Grill.

Serving up fresh, homestyle
sides, an extensive list of sandwiches, salads and soups, the lunch and dinner
menus boast seminal favorites such as oven roasted turkey and stuffing,
meatloaf, hand-breaded chicken tenders, fresh local seafood and bowls of pasta
with homemade sauces, which are all accompanied with large selections of
vegetables, sides and a daily soup cadre that features an award-winning
vegetable beef soup. This soup was the recipient of the Golden Ladle award from
the 2019 Empty Bowls fundraiser for NWNC Food Bank in April. The soup beat out
over 30 favorites from around Forsyth County.

“It’s truly an honor to find
out our soup came out on top considering the competition,” says Butch.

In the restaurant it’s served
in a fresh-baked bread boule — this potage of juicy chunks of beef and fresh
vegetables is only one of many items on the menu.

Prepare to be impressed and
delighted with the quality and quantity of the food and hospitality at this
understated restaurant.

When asked what he wants
people to know about the restaurant, Butch said, “Food, family and friends is
what we’re about.”

The Eddinger children, April and Austin, are growing up in the restaurant. April, now a high school junior, loved to pretend to be a waitress and help the customers when she was younger. Longtime customer Tracy Spencer works across the street at the North Point United States Post Office and would come over after work and little April would talk to him. She has officially started working at the Grill this summer. On her days off she still enjoys coming in, mainly to eat, but also to interact with the customers and when time allows she loves to draw pictures for them. Austin is a little more shy, but makes an appearance in the dining room from time to time. He has mentioned wanting to follow in his father’s footsteps and learn how to cook and also run a restaurant someday too. In the spirit of connecting with friends and community, North Point Grill is hosting Nik Snacks Restaurant Takeover sponsored by Triad City Bites on Saturday Aug. 10. The dinner menu features award-winning dishes straight from Nikki Miller-Ka’s blog, Nik Snacks, including the infamous Philly Cheesesteak Cheesecake, which was featured in the Philadelphia Inquirer after it went viral on Twitter in early June. Essentially, it’s a savory Provolone and cream-cheese quiche with a Saltine-cracker crust, topped with sautéed ribeye steak, onions, peppers and a Cheez Whiz drizzle.

Also on the menu are white cheddar-and-chive biscuits which won Best Biscuits at the World Food Championships in Las Vegas in 2015. Extra sharp white cheddar and fresh-chopped chives are folded into Nik Snacks’ signature butter biscuits. NC pickled blueberry salad with basil vinaigrette has fried red-onion straws, sliced apples and feta cheese. Finish the meal with the award-winning Strawberry Red Wine Cream Cheese Brownie, which is featured on Dixie Crystals website. Strawberry jam and local red wine are swirled inside a thick, rich cream cheese ribbon and decadent chocolate brownie and paired with ice cream. All entrees are a la carte.