New restaurant to replace Locals Seafood at Raleigh’s Transfer Food Hall. What we know.
A prominent corner of Raleigh’s Transfer Co. Food Hall will remain devoted to the sea.
Replacing Locals Oyster Bar in the downtown food hall will be a new sushi and ramen restaurant from one of the Triangle’s most successful restaurant teams, Joel Ibarra and Salvador Alvarez.
Yatai Market, named for Japanese street food stands, will open this spring in the food hall. The corner spot in Transfer has sat empty for more than half a year following the departure of cornerstone vendor Locals Seafood, which left to build a new fish market.
Yatai looks to carry on that seafood market component and pair it with fast casual seafood and steamy bowls of ramen.
Yatai Market’s sushi chef pedigree
Leading that menu will be longtime Triangle sushi chef Magno Tapia, who comes from the heights of the Triangle sushi world, having worked with M Sushi chef and owner Mike Lee for more than a decade.
“Sushi to me, it got my attention quickly,” Tapia said. “I just saw it in a different way, it’s not just cooking. It caught my eye, the fact you get to interact with the people, diners sitting right in front of you.”
Tapia and Lee first met at Mura in North Hills, then worked at Sono in downtown Raleigh and left together in 2016 when Lee opened M Sushi in downtown Durham, where Tapia was a sous chef.
“He’s been my mentor pretty much for more than half my career,” Tapia said. “Now I’m trying to do something on my own.”
The Yatai menu will focus on traditional sushi rolls, hand rolls, sashimi and nigiri, shying away from sometimes overly complicated specialty rolls, Tapia said, allowing the quality of the fish to stand on its own.
Each day’s menu will include eight to 10 varieties of fish as well as plush bao buns. Bowls of ramen and noodles will be another focus, with Tapia planning a version with chili oil made from Mexican peppers and topped with peanuts.
“I’m putting my little twist on the ramen,” Tapia said.
Ibarra’s first non-Mexican restaurant
Ibarra owns some of the Triangle’s most popular and influential Mexican restaurants, including Chido Taco, Rancherita and Totopos. He said that Transfer Co. Food Hall owner Jason Queen approached him about the vacant Locals space, but that the food hall already had a Mexican restaurant, Dank Burritos.
“We saw it as an opportunity to create something different,” Ibarra said. “(Tapia) has the passion and has trained under top culinary names, that inspired us. Yatai is going to be a unique vibe for us, and be our first non-Mexican restaurant.”
Yatai Market will keep the seafood market component that Locals Oyster Bar opened with, where fresh fish can be purchased alongside fast casual sushi.
“We want to give customers that market feel, cleaning and butchering fish out front in the morning,” Tapia said.
On the bar side, look for Yatai to do a few things well. Ibarra said to expect a wine bar with dark corners and a speakeasy feel, and Tapia sees cocktails, especially those mixed with sake, to star.
“Japanese street food is our inspiration and we have a chef who is passionate about that food and food in general,” Ibarra said.
When will Yatai Market open?
Locals was the first Transfer vendor to depart Transfer Co. Food Hall, making Yatai the first breath of fresh air in the five year old dining destination.
“The food hall is exciting,” Ibarra said. “We didn’t necessarily imagine ourselves partaking in one, but with Raleigh being part of that trend you’d only see in larger cities, it’s brought new opportunities to small restaurateurs who offer new and creative concepts.”
Ibarra is a neighbor of Transfer Co. and said he’s a regular at Benchwarmers Bagels.
“We’re foodies ourselves and we’re excited about the different food we’ve seen come in,” Ibarra said. “I thought, ‘What would I want in my backyard?’ (Tapia) has trained as a chef in Japanese restaurants and this will be a great place to showcase what he knows and complement the food hall.”
Look for Yatai Market to open this spring, within the next three months.
This story was originally published February 28, 2023 at 4:36 PM.
