A pair of new bars will transform the former Criterion space in Durham
There’s a kind of reincarnation that happens to the spaces of great bars. The names and chairs may change, the menus and beers sway this way and that, but the room remains the same.
Rubies on Five Points, Durham’s latest downtown bar, opened this month on Main Street in a space beloved with the city’s bar crowd. It’s the first of two new bars coming to 347 W. Main St. The second, The Remedy Room, will open early next year.
The new bar moves into the two-story building that was once Whiskey and was most recently Criterion, a popular beer and whiskey bar that closed during the pandemic. The 347 W. Main building was sold in April 2021 for $1.18 million, records show.
The new bars are owned by Shawn Stokes, the chef and owner of Luna Rotisserie and Empanadas in Durham and Carrboro. Stokes is bringing on former Luna managers Rob Montemayor and Anthony Kofler to the new bar projects.
For Stokes, the bars are a pie-in-the-sky project with a bit of nostalgia.
“Whiskey was my favorite bar in Durham,” Stokes said. “When the chance came up (to open a bar in the space) it was too good of an opportunity to pass on.”
Rubies is a small concert venue and simple bar, Stokes said, aiming for shows of around 50 people several times a week. It first opened as a bar on Dec. 16, and Stokes said plans for music will range from live bands to DJs as well as bartenders and patrons bringing in vinyl records to play.
“We want this to be a place you can come any time of the week,” Stokes said.
The downstairs Remedy Room won’t change that much from the dark wood and subway tiled interior of Criterion, Stokes said. He called the aesthetic “late 19th century apothecary,” and plans to have the Remedy Room open seven days a week from 5 p.m. to 2 a.m., with a limited snack menu, classic cocktails, craft beer and cheap beer alike.
“We’re trying to thread the needle and be a place where everyone is comfortable ordering a well made Old Fashioned or a PBR,” Stokes said. “A lot of bars can do either of those but not both.”
