NC cocktail bars are still closed. So one in Durham is reopening as a burger joint.
This year of pivots continues, but it seems there are never too many burgers.
The popular Durham cocktail bar Kingfisher will temporarily rebrand next month as the backyard burger joint Queen Burger.
Owned by husband and wife Sean Umstead and Michelle Vanderwalker, Kingfisher opened one year ago, drawing crowds for months to the basement bar on Chapel Hill Street.
Like all bars in North Carolina, Kingfisher has remained closed since mid-March, as businesses shut down to stop the spread of the coronavirus. While restaurants reopened in May, the future of cocktail bars like Kingfisher is still uncertain as North Carolina has not yet allowed them to operate.
“Since Kingfisher is not an ideal setting right now given how intimate and hands-on the experience was designed to be, we’ve envisioned a new way to connect with our community and bring something fresh, fun and delicious to Durham in the safest way possible,” said Umstead in a news release.
This is probably not the anniversary Kingfisher had in mind, but Vanderwalker and Umstead have had plenty of time to think about the perfect burger.
Their answer, two patties griddled on a flat-top, with melty hoop cheese, grilled onions, pickles and a healthy slather of Duke’s mayonnaise, that salve for all seasons. The bun is a squishy potato roll, and Queen Burger is also making its own vegan patties.
For drinks, there will be pre-bottled cocktails, beer and wine.
Kingfisher itself is an intimate space, with nooks and crannies of velvet banquettes. Queen Burger, though, will head outside, where artificial grass has been laid down in the bar’s back patio and a nearby parking lot to complete the look of a cookout.
The burger pop-up is donating 15% of its profits to the Durham-based anti-racism group We Are.
“Queen Burger’s mission is as much about delicious food and drink as it about creating community and a safe and inspiring place where all are welcome,” said Vanderwalker in a release.
The transition from Kingfisher to Queen Burger follows countless other pivots that have already been made in the nation’s struggling restaurant industry. Concerns of spreading the coronavirus have limited restaurants to half-capacity dining rooms in North Carolina, leading many to rely on takeout operations, while thousands of workers have been laid off. Some restaurants have sold groceries and meal kits, while others have completely paused their usual concept to reopen as something more conducive to these COVID times.
While Kingfisher has been closed, Vanderwalker and Umstead have hosted near-daily Instagram happy hours, offering cocktail tutorials and taking questions from viewers and collecting funds for workers through a virtual tip jar. It also sold a couple rounds of cocktail kits for its “Bee Durham,” a take on the Bee’s Knees made with local honey.
Queen Burger looks to open up in the middle of August for dinner service.
