Restaurant losses continue in Downtown Raleigh as a sandwich shop and taqueria close
When restaurants reopen and the pandemic subsides, two staples of the downtown Raleigh lunch scene won’t be coming back.
The Salisbury Street sandwich shop Linus & Pepper’s and its next-door taqueria Virgil’s have closed permanently, owner Jon Seelbinder announced Tuesday. The two restaurants are part of the Local Icon Hospitality group, which includes Little City Brewing, The Architect Bar and the Green Light.
Since North Carolina shut down restaurants to dine-in guests two months ago, Linus & Pepper’s and Virgil’s ran takeout operations, like many other restaurants in the state. Ultimately, Seelbinder said the two would be closed in hopes of saving the rest of the company.
“This pandemic has dealt a crushing blow to our industry and the world as a whole,” Seelbinder wrote on Instagram. “We have worked tirelessly through the shut down to come up with solutions for survival plans and ways to safely bring our team back to work. With heavy hearts but clear minds, we’ve made the decision that our best path forward is to close this building and focus on our other locations.”
At this point, two months into the shutdown, some Triangle restaurants are making the decision not to reopen. Raleigh chef Ashley Christensen said her burger concept, Chuck’s, would not return, but would instead see some of its menu picked up by an expanded Beasley’s Chicken + Honey. Chapel Hill’s Greek restaurant Kipos will also close, but owner Giorgios Bakatsias plans to reopen in a new location.
The North Carolina Restaurant and Lodging Association expects the cuts to be far deeper. According to a survey of its members, the NCRLA said that 65% of the state’s restaurants said they could not survive a shutdown of more than two months.
Linus & Pepper’s was known as a popular sandwich shop with house-made potato chips and piled-high takes on classic sandwiches. Virgil’s had a varied menu of tacos, plus belly-warming pozole, tortas and a bar of tequila styles.
On Instagram, Seelbinder said it was a tough and personally difficult decision to close the pair for good, saying that Linus & Pepper’s had been named for a cat and a niece and that Virgil’s namesake was a childhood friend.
A cocktail bar named The Merchant was also slated to replace the upstairs bar arcade Level Up, which was also part of Seelbinder’s Local Icon group. That project also appears to be off as the company moves out of the building.
Seelbinder suggested the concepts could return in a different location, but that his other bars plan to reopen when the state gives the go-ahead.
“As of now, our other locations will reopen and we will pour our efforts into those for the time being,” Seelbinder said. “Serving the Raleigh community over the last five years has truly been an honor, and it is our goal to do it even better going forward.”
