RALEIGH, N.C. — PNC arena is welcoming back Canes fans for another season of hockey and also welcoming loaded fries to their roster of vendors.
Buena Papa — a fry bar that got its start in one of Raleigh's food halls after the pandemic — has been named the official loaded fry of the Carolina Hurricanes for their 2022-2023 season. The Canes played one home game before the state fair came to town, and Buena Papa's owners considered it a trial by fire.
“We're hearing there's an uproar about Buena Papa, so we're excited,” James Windon, the owner of Buena Papa, said. “We're a little bit nervous, but we deal with our nerves, backs against the wall, we're gonna come out with fries, so we're coming with fries, guys.”
Rather than the traditional menu they offer at other locations, Windon said they've pared it down to three of their most popular fries in the interest of getting fries to fans and fans back to the game as quickly as possible.
All of their loaded fries are inspired by flavors from different countries they've traveled to, especially Colombia where Johanna Windon is from. The fry options featured at PNC include the Americano, Mexicano and Griego.
“I've grown to be kind of a connoisseur of Colombian food and actually I created all the recipes,” James Windon said. “So just adapting the taste from Colombia, adapting tastes from Puerto Rico, a taste from Mexico. We just kind of took something from it, the best part from it and we put it on fries.”
He said they might look into making one just for the Canes.
They said their customers always told them they would do well in a stadium atmosphere as a vendor — they just had no idea it would be PNC. Buena Papa brought 400 pounds of potatoes to the stadium for the opening game, using that as a gauge for the rest of the season.
“I want every Caniac in the building to come to Buena Papa and get some fries,” James Windon said. “We got everything fresh. Hand-cut fresh potatoes. We're making fresh potatoes, fresh pico de gallo, everything is fresh. We love the other stands, but we're kind of biased to Buena Papa.”
Buena Papa has locations in Raleigh and Durham and will be opening spots in Cary and Greensboro in the near future. They've been met with such success across N.C. that they are now looking to franchise out of state.