Despite all 2020 took from us, here are the 25+ restaurants that opened this year
No one would have picked 2020 to open a restaurant, yet in a collision of timing and circumstance, many did anyway.
Despite the COVID pandemic and derailed dreams, dozens of Triangle restaurant owners opened their doors for the first time. Some launched on-the-fly pivots for projects years in the planning, others morphed restaurants into takeout service, while some gave it a go as best they could.
What restaurants new and old are grappling with in this moment is the absence of people — that dining rooms meant for crowds, for elbowing to the bar, for nightcaps and birthday dinners can never be balanced with takeout orders. For most of the pandemic, these special rooms have been pitted against a competitor they were never meant for: the drive-thru line.
Nomad restaurant opened in Hillsborough this year, planning to serve shareable small plates from around the world, but forced to focus on what would work best for takeout. This is the second restaurant for B.J. Patel and partners, following the success of their downtown Durham Indian restaurant Viceroy.
“We’ve been lucky that our landlord has been working with us, but eventually the bills came up,” Patel said about opening. “The partners have jumped in and worked shifts. We had to give ourselves a fighting chance.”
Prime BBQ in Knightdale opened this summer when brisket prices had never been higher. Pitmaster Chris Prieto had lined the dining room with gleaming white tile and ordered large custom-built wooden tables meant for communal seating. With North Carolina’s dining restrictions, Prime’s capacity of 176 would be cut to 24 to meet social distancing requirements.
“My entire life’s dream of having my first restaurant grand opening didn’t happen; I had to pivot my entire business,” Prieto said this summer. “Curbside pickup and takeout, that was supposed to be a very small part of the business. Now it’s the lifeblood.
“But I’m joyous, this is happiness to me,” Prieto said. “We’re created to pivot. We’re in this business to serve people. My job is to fill people with more than food.”
Most of the restaurant news in 2020 has been about the latest restaurant closings and struggles.
Here are more than two dozen restaurants that, despite all odds, have opened since the beginning of the pandemic. Are there other notable ones? Let us know at jdjackson@newsobserver.com.
New Raleigh - Durham area restaurant openings in 2020
▪ Annexe: From the owners of Durham’s Bar Virgile, this sister bar was dreamed up as a champagne-pouring spot for dancing. As COVID made that impossible, Annexe offered a few weeks of outdoor dining and looks to launch its full scale opening next year.
▪ Boot Room: The Durham location of Beer Study expanded this year, adding the Boot Room as a new soccer-centric restaurant. The menu includes “Bang Bang” tater tots, smoked chicken wings and a roster of sandwiches sporting nicknames of famous footballers.
▪ Brandwein’s Bagels: Downtown Chapel Hill has a new bagel shop. After months of pop-ups, Brandwein’s bagels opened at 505 W. Rosemary St., serving up New York style bagels and bagel sandwiches.
▪ Breadman’s: A breakfast favorite for generations of UNC Students, Breadmen’s moved from its original location on Rosemary Street in downtown Chapel Hill to a new space in Elliot Square at 261 S. Elliot Road. Roy and Bill Piscitello sold Breadmen’s to Omar Castro, whose family has worked at the restaurant for decades. With the sale, Castro made a slight tweak to the name, christening the new restaurant Breadman’s.
▪ City Market Grill: Opened in the former High Horse location in downtown Raleigh’s City Market, this new restaurant aimed to be entirely outdoor only. City Market Grill offered a taste of its plans before shutting down for the winter, but aims to be back in spring 2021.
▪ Corpse Reviver: At the beginning of the pandemic, Durham Distillery started producing sanitizer for restaurants, as well as its award-winning gin. The makers of Conniption gin also opened their own cocktail bar, named for the famed drink, a result of North Carolina expanding liquor rules in 2019. The bar will close temporarily starting Sunday, Dec. 20.
▪ Durham Food Hall: The much-anticipated Durham Food Hall opened its doors in 2020, but has largely operated as takeout only. Still, the options bring some exciting new restaurants to the Bull City, including: Ex-Voto and its COVID pop-up Burrito Bodega, Napoli pizzeria, Southern restaurant Lula & Sadie’s, Locals Oyster Bar, Liturgy Beverage Company, Old North Meats & Provisions, Everything Bagels and Afters Dessert Bar.
▪ Esmeralda’s Cafe: This Durham coffee shop has moved on from its days in the Northgate Mall and recently held its grand opening in the North Point shopping center. Esmeralda’s Cafe serves specialty coffee and Honduran food and pastries.
▪ Fine Folk: After creating a burger sensation with Gov’t Cheeseburger, a COVID pop-up in Cary’s Postmaster restaurant, this is the next iteration of one of the Triangle’s most popular pandemic pivots. Fine Folk serves its menu out of Raleigh cocktail bar Foundation. In its latest Devil-may-care form, look for a griddled patty melt, a chicken skin sandwich and a chili to stave off the winter chill.
▪ Flying Mayan: Following the rise and fall of Wahlburgers on Fayetteville Street in downtown Raleigh, this homegrown taco restaurant took over as the sister restaurant of Raleigh’s Flying Burrito. Flying Mayan is currently on hiatus but plans to reopen in January.
▪ Gojo by Goorsha: This new coffee shop and lounge comes from the owners of Ethiopian restaurant Goorsha in Durham. Located near the city’s Brightleaf District, Gojo serves up morning coffee and breakfast and features new patio seating.
▪ Hook & Reel: Before COVID, the boiled seafood trend was one of the fastest growing restaurant concepts. Hook & Reel is among the first restaurants bringing that trend to the Triangle, where diners choose seafood options like shrimp, scallops or crawfish and choice of seasoning. Hook & Reel is a national chain with two other locations in North Carolina, in Fayetteville and Greenville. The location in Durham is the company’s first in the Triangle.
▪ Idle Hour Coffee: There’s a new neighborhood coffee shop on Oberlin Road in Raleigh, serving up a full menu of espresso drinks, plus local doughnuts and bagels.
▪ Iris Coffee Lab: Just off of Glenwood Avenue sits this new cozy coffee shop. The beans are from local roaster Black & White and beyond the familiar espresso drinks, Iris has iced coffee on tap, as well as Thai iced tea.
▪ Iza Whiskey & Eats: This Japanese fusion restaurant comes from private chef and caterer Yung Nay. Opened in the former One Fish Two Fish poke house in downtown Carrboro, Iza serves up a menu of small plates, like sushi rolls and grilled octopus, and larger dishes like ramen, teppanyaki style steak and fried whole fish.
▪ Killjoy: Two of the Triangle’s most creative bartenders launched this new cocktail bar just off of Glenwood Avenue. Instead of Glenwood’s boom and bustle, Killjoy takes it easy, with modern twists on classic cocktails, an outdoor patio and snacks.
▪ Mi Pequeño Honduras: In place of a former Biscuitville location on Club Boulevard in Durham comes this authentic Honduran restaurant. The dining room is currently closed, but there’s an online menu for takeout ordering.
▪ Monsoon: This new Indian restaurant opened in downtown Durham this fall. Located in a new development on Durham’s downtown loop, Monsoon is a sister restaurant of Chimney in Chapel Hill.
▪ Napoli Hillsborough: In a short time, Napoli has set up its own Triangle of pizzeria, starting with its original Carrboro location, plus two new locations in Hillsborough and in the Durham Food Hall. The Hillsborough Napoli moved into the former Mystery Brewing brewpub space and is a collaboration with Carrboro’s Glasshalfull wine bar. So expect the same blistered crust pizzas, plus small plates. Because of COVID, Napoli is cooking its pizzas 90 percent of the way and letting diners finish them off in their home ovens so the pizzas come out piping hot.
▪ Nomad: From the owners of downtown Durham’s Viceroy, this Hillsborough restaurant opened in a renovated Osbunn Theatre earlier this year. The original plan was for shareable small plates from cuisines from all over the world. COVID forced a pivot to some of the most creative rice bowls one can find, including Nashville hot chicken and small dishes like Korean grilled corn.
▪ Plum: From Lisa Callahan and her brother Kevin Callahan, who owns Acme Food & Beverage in Carrboro, comes this new Durham neighborhood restaurant. Opened in the warm side of fall, Plum remains to-go only, but serves up oyster shooters while you wait for your pickup, along with Lexington-style Brussels sprouts, mac and cheese, chicken and dumpling and beef Stroganoff.
▪ Prime BBQ: Chris Prieto’s long-awaited barbecue palace opened in Knightdale this summer. Serving up brisket, pulled pork, sausages and weekend whole hog, there’s plenty on the menu for any barbecue lover.
▪ Que Chula: Joining the heart of Chapel Hill’s Franklin Street, Que Chula was set to open in the former Hops Burger Bar spot just as the pandemic began. This new Mexican restaurant boasts a lively menu, extensive tequila selection and sprawling patio.
▪ Secrets Pho & Noodle Bar: This noodle shop is the latest restaurant to join Durham’s Ninth Street. The Vietnamese menu features beef, chicken, seafood and vegetarian pho, banh mi and rice bowls.
▪ Sister Liu’s Kitchen: One year after being named one of Bon Appetit magazine’s 50 best new restaurants in the country, this Durham dumpling shop branched out with a second location in 2020. Sister Liu’s now has a Morrisville location, close to RTP, but serves the same popular menu of steamed dumplings and Chinese hamburgers.
▪ Standard Beer and Food: Once one of Raleigh’s most promising restaurant spaces, Standard Foods sat empty for more than two years. Thanks to the guys behind Bond Brothers Beer Company and Ancillary Fermentation, the Person Street spot will make a return as Standard Beer and Food. For now, it’s mostly Standard Beer, but food trucks are common and the beer menu features a few proprietary brews, plus offerings from some of North Carolina’s most acclaimed breweries.
▪ Summit Coffee: This popular Asheville-based coffee company made its foray into the Triangle this year, opening a new cafe on Franklin Street in Chapel Hill. Summit has a full espresso menu and brews its own beans, plus a beer and wine menu.
▪ Wonderland: Earlier this year, Lady Luck opened on Glenwood Avenue in Raleigh as one of downtown Raleigh’s glitziest new restaurants. In the fall, it rebranded as Wonderland, serving up tapas-style dishes and cocktails.
This story was originally published December 18, 2020 at 6:00 AM.
