All Up In Your Business, Oct. 15

Mei Asian

Franklin Street’s Asian food scene is now a little more diverse.

Mei Asian, which opened Oct. 1 at 143 E. Franklin St., features Thai, Vietnamese and Malaysian cuisines.

The owner, Meiling Chiew, said she knew Franklin Street had a lot of take-out food venues but not many sit-down restaurants.
“I wanted to make an upscale Asian restaurant for students,” Chiew said.

Chiew said the restaurant has been very busy and already has regular customers.

She said the curry has been the most popular item so far, and the menu has many appetizers.

The restaurant also caters to vegetarians, offering tofu and noodle options.

Chiew said she hopes students enjoy the variety Mei Asian has to offer.

“I wanted to add enough food and entertainment to the community,” Chiew said.

MultiVerse Gamers

While most freshmen were still settling into college life, James Flowers was opening his own business.

Flowers — with the help of his father, Jim — opened MultiVerse Gamers, a trading card and tabletop gaming shop on Sept. 29.

Flowers, a freshman who lives in Cobb Residence Hall, said he saw a need for a shop where student gamers could meet and compete in tournaments after watching students play games on the first floor of Cobb.

Flowers went to his father, who has experience in gaming, and, together, the two opened the shop.

“Even if 1 percent of students are playing these games, that is still a lot of people who don’t have access to what they enjoy,” said Flowers, a biology and chemistry double major.

The shop, located behind R&R Grill, sells a variety of trading cards, like Yugioh and Magic: The Gathering. It also provides locations for larger games, like Dungeons & Dragons, to be played.

The father-son duo also hosts tournaments for the store’s customers, and winners can receive prizes, like promo cards and booster packs.

Tobacco Road Sports Cafe

The Amra brothers are bringing their restaurant, Tobacco Road Sports Cafe, to Chapel Hill later this month.

The cafe has locations in Raleigh and Durham as well, and owner Brian Amra said building a cafe in Chapel Hill was the natural next step.

“It kind of completes the trifecta,” Amra said.

The restaurant will be in the East 54 development, which also houses restaurants, stores and Aloft Hotel.

It will have four private dining rooms, a covered indoor-outdoor patio, a large covered seating area and televisions galore.

Lee Perry, the East 54 development director, said the restaurant will have roughly 40 TVs.

All food will be made fresh daily, and almost everything will be grown locally, with 75 percent of the cafe’s ingredients coming from North Carolina.

Amra said the ingredients are all fresh and are never put on ice.
“The only frozen items are ice and ice cream,” Amra said.

Amra hopes to open the restaurant in late October — just in time for the football game against N.C. State University.

Contact the desk editor at city@dailytarheel.com.