With acclaimed mixologist Stefan Huebner helping shape the program, Foxcroft Food & Wine is making a bigger play in Midtown’s drinking scene.
By Dathan Kazsuk
There was a time when Foxcroft in Raleigh felt like the place you went when you wanted to drink a really good glass of wine without somebody making it weird.
You could settle in with a flight, split a board, maybe order dinner, and feel like you’d landed somewhere that respects wine without throwing out random letters like WSET, CSW, or SOMM. That was always part of the appeal. Foxcroft didn’t feel stiff. It felt comfortable, yet confident. Now, it’s evolving again.
The North Hills restaurant, formerly known as Foxcroft Wine Co., now operating as Foxcroft Food & Wine, has officially rolled out a new cocktail program at its Raleigh location—another sign that the brand is continuing to stretch beyond the bottle shop-and-wine-bar identity many people first knew it for. The move follows Foxcroft’s broader rebrand to better reflect its expanded food program, hospitality focus, and more restaurant-driven direction.
And no, this isn’t some half-hearted “we should probably have an espresso martini on the menu” situation.
Foxcroft partnered with Dot Dot Dot co-owner and longtime Charlotte cocktail figure Stefan Huebner to develop the new program—bringing in a bartender whose name already carries weight across North Carolina’s drinks scene. Huebner, who helped build Dot Dot Dot into one of Charlotte’s most respected cocktail destinations, has spent decades behind the bar and has been recognized over the years for both his technical skill and hospitality-first approach.
According to the wine shop/restaurant, the cocktail list was designed to complement Foxcroft’s established wine program and its Modern American menu, with an emphasis on polished, recognizable drinks that are actually worth wanting on a weeknight. That means you’re not walking in and staring at a menu full of smoked this, clarified that, and some drink named after a dead poet who hated you. Instead, the lineup leans into elevated familiarity: an Espresso Martini with Ketel One; a Spanish Gin & Tonic built with house-made tonic; a Spicy Paloma; a Mule; an Old Fashioned; and a Barrel-Aged Manhattan.
Honestly, that’s probably the smartest thing Foxcroft could’ve done.
Because the best cocktail programs in restaurants like this aren’t trying to compete with a dark little cocktail den where you spend 15 minutes discussing amaro with a man in suspenders and a handlebar mustache. They’re trying to make your meal better.
Midtown doesn’t exactly suffer from a shortage of places to drink, but there’s still room for more spots that understand the middle ground—something a little more refined than a loud bar, but not so precious that you need to mentally prepare for it. Foxcroft has already carved out that lane with wine. Cocktails feel less like a pivot and more like the next logical extension of the brand.
HOW WE GOT HERE
What started as Foxcroft Wine Co. in Charlotte back in 2004 gradually grew into a more complete food-and-drink concept, with the newer branding making that shift more official. Wine still clearly matters here—it’s still central to the experience, with dozens of wines by the glass and a list designed to keep both casual drinkers and serious wine folks happy—but now the restaurant is making a stronger case for itself as an all-around beverage destination.
A lot of wine-focused restaurants get nervous about cocktails because they think adding them somehow waters down the wine culture. But that’s usually only true when the cocktail side feels lazy or disconnected. When it’s done well, it actually broadens the audience without cheapening the experience.
Foxcroft seems to understand that.
The restaurant’s new cocktail program reportedly leans into precision-batched, barrel-aged drinks to maintain high quality and consistency while still maintaining a craft-driven feel. It’s also launching at exactly the right time, with patio season back in play and the Raleigh location leaning into more of that neighborhood hangout energy. Foxcroft is also hosting live music on Tuesday evenings through mid-May, giving people one more reason to treat it like more than just a dinner reservation.
And if we’re being honest, there’s something kind of inevitable about this whole thing.
Wine drinkers don’t only drink wine.
At least not all the time.
Sometimes you want a crisp white and oysters. Sometimes you want a red with steak. And sometimes you just want a damn good Manhattan before dinner, without having to relocate halfway through the night.
Foxcroft seems to have finally figured that out on a larger scale.
