The biggest news in the Triad restaurant scene is that Chris Lester and Kayne Fisher are taking their company, Natty Greenes, public. The initial IPO should be worth about $3 million, of which the guys have ponied up about half. Nice work, fellas.

Just as things start slowing down in the Triad restaurant biz, a few items worth mentioning get on my radar..

First course of the Served column this week is news from my old friends at Bert's Seafood Grille.

Celebrate (and avoid more cooking) by going to a locally-owned restaurant this weekend..

Most of the restaurant news this week concerns the business of food, as opposed to its preparation and dissemination..

The newest restaurant trend, according to "experts" in the field, is pie.

Really? Really. Trend watchers trace the movement to the KFC Double Down, and the dish is being re-imagined in city restaurants as far-flung as Toronto; Chicago; Yountville, Calif.; and New York City..

Tuesday is all Winston, with Pumpkin Day at Krankies Farmers Market followed by a Green Drinks Winston-Salem meeting there at 5:30 p.m. It is also Local Food Night at NOMA..

The food scene continues apace here in the Piedmont Triad, where as a response to Greensboros Iron Hen, perhaps? the Screaming Rooster.

Served begins this week with Triad restaurant news, as Greensboro's Table 16 tweaks its lunch hours, dropping it down to Thursdays and Fridays from 11:30 a.m. until 2 p.m. Other days are open for special events.

Food news breaks this week with an announcement from Hungry Howies Pizza.

Okay, things are kicking into overdrive in the Triad culinary scene, so lets get started. Chipotle has introduced a kids menu in its Greensboro restaurants featuring smaller portions of house favorites and a build-your-own-taco item. To promote it, kids will eat free every Sunday until Oct. 17.

One of the consequences of US farm policy is that we have all this corn on our hands serious tonnage and because we can eat only so many Fritos, something needs to be done with the rest of it.

How to explain the dearth of food-related events and news in the Triad? For one, weve reached a lull in our agricultural cycle, the overlap between the end of tomato season and the beginning of pumpkin season. Plus, were all suffering from a late-summer indulgence.

Okay, so after last weekends monstersized beer festival out at Tanglewood Park, maybe things have mellowed a bit. But the Triad culinary scene continues apace, with two new restaurant openings in Winston- Salem.

Things in the Triad culinary scene are cooling off this week, with just a couple of days loaded with events and a few old reliables holding out in these last few weeks of summer..

More than half of Triad residents have eaten breakfast at a fast-food restaurant in the last month, according to a study by Scarborough Research released last week.

Mixed news from the front lines this week, as Ombu Wood-Fired Grill in Winston-Salem closes its doors, to be replaced by the Kitchen Table,.

Sad news from Greensboro's restaurant front. Zaytoon's owner Masoud Awartani passed after a battle with illness. Awartani, originally from Palestine, loved peace and all-natural, delicious food. He will be missed and remembered.

Want to get into the restaurant business?