Popular Triangle restaurant expands eastward, becoming the latest to open in Wilmington
Wilmington’s dining scene has drawn the attention of the Triangle’s busiest restaurant owner.
Prolific restaurateur Giorgios Bakatisas will open a coastal outpost of the Greek taverna Kipos in Wilmington. The restaurant will move into the former 1900 Restaurant & Lounge, near the Lumina Station shopping center on N.C. 74.
The new Kipos will be two miles from Wrightsville Beach, the first coastal venture for Bakatsias, whose previous foray beyond the Triangle included the now-closed Georges Brasserie in Charlotte.
To Bakatsias, he sees the Wilmington area as something like the Hamptons’ relationship to New York City, a place where Triangle residents often spend time on the weekend.
“Individuals spend their professional career in the Triangle and go there for the weekend, there’s a connection,” Bakatsias said. “Obviously there’s also an enormous audience moving there from all over the country.”
Kipos is the latest in a trend of eastern attractions for the Triangle’s food and beverage industry. Last year, Durham brewery Ponysaurus announced plans to open a new taproom and pizzeria in downtown Wilmington, and recently Bull City Ciderworks said it will open a new taproom in Wilmington by early summer.
Relocating the original Kipos
Bakatsias has already opened a Kipos recently, when the original location on Franklin Street in Chapel Hill closed in 2020 and moved to Eastgate Crossing. That move changed Bakatsias’ mind, he said, opening up larger possibilities.
“I think when you’re stuck in certainty you limit the infinite possibilities to exist,” Bakatsias said. “Sometimes I have to pinch myself and tell myself to trust my instincts. ... Nature is telling me to entertain this idea.”
The Kipos menu is led by Giorgios’ sister Olga Bakatsias.
“Kipos is close to my heart, it’s honoring my family and ancestors,” Bakatsias said. “My sister, it’s hard to resist the comfort and love of her cooking.”
As a coastal restaurant, the Wilmington Kipos menu will lean into seafood, Bakatsias said, using a chalkboard to showcase the fish options of the day, plus a display of ice showing off whole catches. Expect oysters and flounder and striped bass, Bakatisas said, as well as lamb chops and moussaka and other classics from the Kipos menu.
“Sixty percent of the fish we serve comes from that area anyway,” Bakatisas said of moving into the Wilmington market. “Kipos has many sides to it. As a Greek taverna it reminds me of Greece, which is focused on seafood and island eating, where a simple fish is best with a little drizzle of olive oil and lemon. Kipos is going to offer a great difference (in Wilmington).”
The Wilmington Kipos could open by this summer, Bakatsias said, noting that renovations of the former 1900 Restaurant and Lounge are cosmetic.
Bakatsias is on a bit of a restaurant opening tear, having announced four previous restaurants slated to open this year, plus the new Kipos. Those projects include the Asian restaurant Krill in Durham, the French restaurant East End Bistrot in Raleigh and Giorgio’s Pizza Bar and Las Ramblas in Raleigh’s North Hills.
Adding a new Kipos on top of that was an opportunity Bakatsias said he had to take.
“It’s not like I was aggressively looking but it became a good location and good relationship,” Bakatsias said. “It was just like this place is looking at you. Gut instinct.”
This story was originally published March 30, 2022 at 10:17 AM.
