This is a post by N&O restaurant critic Greg Cox:

Chapel Hill lost a landmark last night when Pepper's Pizza closed after 26 years. Owner Pepper Harvey cited competition from expanded on-campus meal options for declining business.

Pepper's closing isn't the first time a longtime Franklin Street favorite gave up the ghost (The Rathskeller, which flourished for more than half a century, comes to mind). No doubt it won't be the last.

But it was the only pizzeria I know of where the staff (mostly college kids with attitude) were as much a part of the fun as choosing from the extensive and offbeat list of toppings you could get on a slice or a pie.

I'll never forget walking by the shop early on a Halloween night a few years ago (they were at their previous location a few doors down), and cracking up when I saw the guys making pizzas behind the storefront window. They were all in drag. And I'm not talking half-hearted, I-did-it-on-a-dare drag. These guys obviously had expert help. And just as obviously, they were having fun.

So here's a final toast to Peppers. I think this one calls for a PBR.

Send restaurant news to Greg at ggcox@bellsouth.net. Be sure to tune in to Greg's radio show at 11 a.m. Saturdays on WPTF.

This post is by Chapel Hill News correspondent Matt Goad:

Pepper's Pizza, a popular Chapel Hill eatery for students and townies alike for more than 25 years, will be closing for good today, according to owner Pepper Harvey.

"Downtown is just not busy enough to support us anymore," Harvey said. "The last three years has just been a struggle for us."

Harvey blames expanded on-campus dining choices for the demise of the restaurant.

Pepper's changed locations from 127 E. Franklin to 107 E. E. Franklin in 2006, but Harvey says the change did not affect business for the first two or three years.

In the last four years, however, Harvey said, business is down 40 percent, and he just cannot remain open.

Sugarland bakery is celebrating its fifth birthday with a celebrity cupcake bake-off at its Raleigh location in Cameron Village

From 7-9 p.m. Wednesday, the public can watch celebrities paired with the bakery's pastry chefs have to create a cupcake based on a surprise theme. The winner will get $1,000 donated to the charity of their choice. The celebrities include WRAL anchor Debra Morgan, WQDR 94.7 morning deejay Mike Wheless, UNC football coach Larry Fedora and former "The Biggest Loser" competitors Ed Brantley and Heba Salama.

The event will kick off a month-long celebration featuring specials at the bakery's locations in Chapel Hill and Raleigh.

Plus, the bakery is sponsoring a month-long competition among local charities to win $500. Each charity will have an unique hash tag during March for their supporters to use on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook when sharing a photo of themselves at Sugarland with a sweet treat. The organization with the most posts that both tag Sugarland (@sugarlandnc) and include their organization's given hash tag will win.

To register a charity for the March competition, please contact Hannah Walker at hannah@sugarlandchapelhill.com.

For information about the bakery, go to sugarlandchapelhill.com.

Grammarians may have noticed a misused verb in the first sentence of a story Monday about the Captain John S. Pope Farm in northern Orange County:

“Thomas Crisp Jr. stood at the edge of a wire fence Friday morning in northern Orange County, two bales of hay laying at his feet.”

Two readers took the time to email me about the error - using "laying" instead of "lying" - that was edited into the story late Sunday.

“Kindly assist in teaching by example the uses of lie-lay,” reader Wendy Smith wrote in an email.

For the record: The verb “lay” and its derivatives – laid and laying – require an active voice and a direct object (a person, place or thing). For example, “she laid the bales of hay at his feet.”

However, the verb “lie” and its derivatives – lay, lain, lying – take an indirect object: “The bales of hay were lying at his feet.”

As a former copy editor, I know how easy it is to make mistakes when you’re pressed for time. We stand corrected.

The James Beard Foundation's list of restaurant and chef award semifinalists was just released and there was a strong showing from the Triangle and the entire state.

• Durham's Mateo Tapas is a semifinalist for Best New Restaurant.
• Phoebe Lawless of Scratch Bakery in Durham is a semifinalist for Outstanding Pastry Chef.
• Lantern Restaurant in Chapel Hill is a semifinalist for Outstanding Restaurant. (Owner and chef Andrea Reusing won a James Beard award for Best Chef Southeast in 2011.)
• Angus Barn in Raleigh is a semifinalist for Outstanding Wine Program.
• Sean Lilly Wilson of Durham's Fullsteam brewery and Eric Solomon of European Cellars in Charlotte are semifinalists for outstanding wine, spirits or beer professional.
• Katie Button of Curate in Asheville is a semifinalist for Rising Star Chef of the Year.
• The semifinalists for Best Chef Southeast are Ashley Christensen of Raleigh's Poole's Diner among other restaurants; Scott Crawford of Herons at the Umstead Hotel and Spa in Cary; Vivian Howard of Chef & the Farmer in Kinston; Scott Howell of Nana's in Durham, Elliot Moss of The Admiral in Asheville; and Aaron Vandemark of Panciuto in Hillsborough.

To see the list of all the semifinalist nominees, go to jamesbeard.org/awards

The semifinalist nominees will be narrowed to finalists and those will be announced March 18 at a press conference in Charleston, S.C. The winner will be announced May 6 at a gala reception in New York City.

This how the awards work: The foundation puts out a call for nominations in the fall and this year more than 44,000 entries were received. A committee narrows the entrees to a list of semifinalists in each category. Then more than 600 judges across the country -- regional restaurant critics, food and wine editors, culinary educators and past James Beard Foundation Restaurant and Chef Award winners -- vote for the five finalists and then choose a winner in each category.

The James Beard Foundation is a nonprofit that recognizes excellence in the culinary field from chefs and restaurants to journalists and cookbook authors. James Beard was a television personality and food writer who championed regional American cuisine. The foundation was created by his friends after his death in 1985.

A successful coffeehouse operator is taking over the space formerly occupied by Chapel Hill's 3Cups.

Owners Ann and Lex Alexander announced the closing of their wine, tea and coffee shop last month. (Go HERE to read our earlier blog post.)

But Dr. Stephen DeCherney, who owns a Market Street Coffee & Ice Cream in Chapel Hill's Meadowmont Village and the Bean Traders coffeehouse on Durham's Ninth Street, has taken over the former 3Cups location. The store will reopen as Market Street Coffee on Feb. 22, according to general manager Sara Owens.

Owens said the customers at the Meadowmont location were upset that 3Cups was closing and asked her and DeCherney to take over the space.

"It was the customers who made it happen," Owens said.

The new coffeehouse will no longer sell wine, instead focusing on coffee and tea. But Owens said they hoped to serve wine and beer by the glass once they get the proper permits.

And with Lex Alexander as an advisor, they plan to continue to sell gourmet food items, including North Carolina specialty products like jams and pickles, and high-end cocktail ingredients, such as bitters.

The location's hours will be 8 a.m.-7 p.m. but Owens said those may change. The location is 227 S. Elliott Rd., Chapel Hill.

Owens also noted that the company is in the process of changing the name of the Bean Traders Coffee shop on Ninth Street to Market Street Coffee. Owens said it will clear up any confusion between the locations that DeCherney owns and the location at Durham's Homestead Market operated by the original owners.

Friends of former Chapel Hill High School assistant basketball coach Gus Fraley should be able to get a glimpse of him tonight on TV.
Fraley is in his first year as an assistant at Tennessee State University, and the Tigers (14-11 overall, 8-4 OVC) will host Ohio Valley Conference rival Belmont (20-5 overall, 11-1 OVC) at 7 p.m. on ESPNU.

Mayor Mark Kleinschmidt announced Wednesday that he is creating a campaign committtee for the November election.

“Being mayor of Chapel Hill over the past three years has been the one of the most challenging, yet rewarding experiences of my life,” Kleinschmidt said in a news release. “It is my intention to file for re-election in July in the hope the citizens will allow me to continue to serve and move forward with the hard work we have invested in Chapel Hill together as a community.”

Kleinschmidt filed the paperwork to create his committee with the Orange County Board of Elections as required by state law governing campaign contributions. The mayor was one of nearly 20 candidates nationwide that received endorsements recently from the Victory Fund, an LGBT advocacy group dedicated to increasing the number of openly gay and lesbian government officials. He also received a $250 campaign donation from the LGBT Democrats of NC, prompting his filing.

Kleinschmidt is Chapel Hill’s first openly gay mayor and was first elected to the office in 2009. He joined the Chapel Hill Town Council in 2001.

Concerns about the possibility of ice and snow forced Chapel Hill officials to cancel a community workshop scheduled for Saturday.
Sketching Chapel Hill will be rescheduled at a later date, said town planner Megan Wooley.
The daylong workshop event was expected to address a series of Chapel Hill 2020 topics, including public spaces, zoning rules, transportation, landscape design and Carolina North.

Four Triangle-based food and beverage companies were honored in the third annual Good Food Awards competition.

Durham's Fullsteam Brewery won for its first frost beer. Raleigh's Escazu Artisan Chocolates won in the confections contest with its dark chocolate basil ganache. Alamance County's Blessed Earth Farm won in the pickle category with its summer squash curry relish. And the Hillsborough-based Farmer's Daughter Brand won in the preserves contest with its rosey strawberry rhubarb preserves.

Congratulations to all the winners.

The Good Food Awards are an annual competition that recognizes tasty foods and beverages made by socially-responsible and sustainable food producers.

To see the complete list of winners announced last weekend, go to goodfoodawards.org.