On Saturday, October 10, Foxcroft Food & Wine will hold one final tasting at its Birkdale Village location and then close the doors it opened in June 2024. That same afternoon, Cornelius hosts Laketoberfest at Bailey Road Park from 3 to 8 p.m. Admission and parking are free, and the town lists local beer and wine, food trucks and live music. One week later, Birkdale Village Restaurant Week begins. One week after that, Taste of Birkdale Village comes back to The Plaza for the first time in three years.
The village has filled October with ticketed tastings, prix fixe menus, comedy and dueling pianos, and almost every item on the calendar runs through its restaurants. This is also the first fall since Birkdale changed hands, and the month shows where the village's attention is going.
A Last Pour on October 10
Foxcroft came to Birkdale with plenty of excitement. It moved into the space that Brixx Pizza used to occupy, and Cornelius Today reports that the build-out ran about a year behind schedule. It opened two years after North American Properties, the owner at the time, had started reshaping the village's tenant mix. One of those earlier changes was the departure of Corkscrew, a wine bar that had operated across the green for 18 years.
The company's announcement was short:
"It's with a heavy heart that we share the difficult decision to close the doors at Foxcroft Birkdale."
Foxcroft gave no further reason. It is keeping regular hours through the final day, and it has invited guests to "stop by, enjoy a glass of wine, and celebrate Foxcroft Birkdale with our team one last time." Its Charlotte locations in SouthPark, Dilworth and Waverly remain part of the business. The same report notes that Foxcroft closed its Raleigh location last month and its Greenville, South Carolina, location last year.
If you still have one of Foxcroft's offers saved from the village's restaurant-specials page, it will only be good through October 10.
The First Fall Under Hines
Birkdale is now owned and managed by Hines. The firm announced on October 22, 2025, that it had bought the village for $274.4 million from a joint venture of Jamestown and Nuveen. Jamestown had owned it for only about a year, so the North American Properties era sits two owners back.
When the sale closed, Hines managing director Paul Zarian said the first step was to learn how Birkdale operates and understand what guests and customers need before deciding what comes next. Through early October, the visible tenant changes have been small. Williams Sonoma has moved across the street from its old storefront and now sits next to Victoria's Secret. Foxcroft is the one dining exit.
The events calendar shows much more activity. The fall programming announced in early September put dining and evening gatherings on The Plaza at the center of the season. For anyone who lives within a short drive of Birkdale Commons Parkway, the late-October calendar is mostly a list of places to eat.
Restaurant Week, October 17–23
Restaurant Week runs from Saturday, October 17, through Friday, October 23. The village also has a new giveaway this year. When you dine at a participating restaurant, you can scan a QR code to enter a drawing for Taste of Birkdale tickets, Birkdale Village gift cards and merchandise. The early-September announcement listed the dates as October 17–24. The village's own event page gives October 17–23.
As of early October, seven restaurants are listed, and the page promises more to come:
| Restaurant | What's posted |
|---|---|
| North Italia | Two-course lunch fixe for $25, weekdays 11 a.m.–4 p.m. and weekends 10 a.m.–4 p.m. Three-course dinner fixe for $40. Happy hour bites starting at $10 |
| Bonefish Grill | Three-course dinner fixe for $54: Bang Bang Shrimp, Bourbon Salmon, Apple Cider Cheesecake and a Smokey Old Fashioned. New social hour plates include Ahi Tuna Wontons and Crispy Cauliflower |
| Fin & Fino | $1 oysters on Sundays, half-price wine on Mondays, $10 tiki cocktails on Tuesdays |
| Brixx Wood Fired Pizza | Buy-one-get-one pizza and appetizers 9–11 p.m., Monday through Thursday. Half-price bottles of wine on Sundays |
| eeZ | Half-price cocktails on Mondays and half-price eeZ martinis on Tuesdays. New cocktails called The Cuke Skywalker and The Don't Call Me Shirley |
| bartaco | High Tide Happy Hour, Monday through Thursday, 3–6 p.m. Small bites at 1 for $3, 2 for $5 or 3 for $8 |
| Midwood Smokehouse | $7 mules on Mondays, $7 margaritas on Tuesdays, $5 off bourbon flights on Fridays |
North Italia and Bonefish Grill are the only two with true prix fixe menus. The rest have posted day-of-week specials, and several read like their standing weekly deals. The Brixx entry still mentions a Charlotte Hornets buy-one-get-one night from February 25, 2026, so it is a good idea to confirm details with each restaurant before you go.
The weekly specials still line up well with the calendar. Sunday, October 18, is the second day of the week, so Fin & Fino's $1 oysters apply. The final night, Friday, October 23, lines up with Midwood's bourbon-flight discount and with the Dueling Pianos night on The Plaza at 6 p.m.
Taste of Birkdale Returns October 24
Restaurant Week leads into Taste of Birkdale Village on Saturday, October 24, from 1 to 4 p.m. on The Plaza. Tickets are $75 through Freshtix and cover food from 10 Birkdale Village restaurants, an open bar and live entertainment. The event is limited to guests 21 and older. Local media personality Jacinda Jacobs will emcee. Split Second Sound DJ & Entertainment and Colby Dobbs will provide the music.
The Taste lineup overlaps with Restaurant Week, but the two lists are different:
- At both events: North Italia, Bonefish Grill, Fin & Fino, eeZ and bartaco
- Taste only: Bad Daddy's Burger Bar, Buttermilk Sky Pie Shop, Kilwins, Red Rocks and Suffolk Punch
- Restaurant Week only, so far: Brixx Wood Fired Pizza and Midwood Smokehouse
The Taste list includes two dessert stops, Buttermilk Sky Pie Shop and Kilwins, plus Suffolk Punch, which Cornelius Today featured in the photo with its announcement.
Proceeds benefit Community Culinary School of Charlotte, a nonprofit that provides culinary training and job-placement help to adults facing barriers to long-term employment. CCSC students will also run their own table and serve a dish, so guests can taste their work alongside the established kitchens. If severe weather forces a cancellation, the organizers say ticket holders will receive full refunds.
The Rest of the Month on The Plaza
The rest of October's programming continues around the restaurants:
- Friday, October 9, 6 p.m.: Social Hour's Stand-Up Hour on The Plaza
- Saturday, October 10: Foxcroft's final day and final tasting
- Sunday, October 11, 11 a.m.–4 p.m.: Birkdale Village Commons Market
- October 17–23: Restaurant Week
- Friday, October 23, 6 p.m.: Social Hour's Dueling Pianos
- Saturday, October 24, 1–4 p.m.: Taste of Birkdale Village
- Sunday, October 25, 10 a.m.–3 p.m.: Birkdale Village Farmers Market
- Friday, October 30, 7:30 p.m.: The Nightmare Before Christmas on The Plaza, part of Lights, Camera, Birkdale
- Saturday, October 31, 10 a.m.–noon: Trick-or-treating
Free self-parking is available in the garages off Birkdale Commons Parkway and Lindholm Drive. Valet costs extra and is located near the performance stage.
An events listing posted October 1 has The Lighting of Birkdale Village, with Santa's arrival and the tree lighting, on Saturday, November 21, from 2 to 7 p.m. The village's own page for that event was not loading in early October, so check that date again closer to the holidays.
Whether you're toasting the last day at Foxcroft or lining up a $40 dinner at North Italia, October puts Birkdale's restaurants front and center. If watching the village change has you thinking about your own plans around Lake Norman, Carolina Living & Estates would be glad to talk it through with you, at whatever pace suits you. Contact Us.
