City Market restaurant trades breakfast and lunch for late night vibes

RALEIGH After a seven-month hiatus, the owners of Royale have re-opened Lucarne with a new concept.

Lucarne, which opened last year as a breakfast and lunch spot in Raleigh’s City Market, is now an after-work and late-night hang.

Co-owner Jesse Bardyn said the new Lucarne opened last week and will focus on small plates to snack on while imbibing on cocktails, wine and beer. The new chef is Bobby McFarland, who was previously the chef de cuisine at Royale.

“Now Lucarne is an evening place, much more leaning towards craft cocktails and a lot more beer and wine,” Bardyn said. “The menu is more of, let’s say small plates, around six to eight a night, but constantly changing. It’s kind of hard to nail down, because it will be something like bar food dishes. But we’re going to do them in an elevated way.”

That could mean a fried chicken or short rib sandwich, oysters, a pork curry, even a take on a hot dog with grape jelly and brie.

Lucarne opened in July 2016, but struggled to find its footing, Bardyn said.

“We had trouble getting the volume we needed, but the environment has changed,” Bardyn said.

In the past year, the picturesque district just off of Moore Square has since been filled by popular spots like dumpling-centric MOFU Shoppe, City Market Sushi and Royale.

When Lucarne closed in March, the owners said they wanted it to be more of a companion restaurant to Royale, which they opened in November 2016.

Lucarne, at 309 Blake St., is open Wednesday through Saturday, from 5 p.m. to midnight or later. Follow on Instagram @lucarneraleigh.

This story was originally published December 4, 2017 at 2:12 PM with the headline "City Market restaurant trades breakfast and lunch for late night vibes."