Here are 14+ new Triangle restaurant projects that will have us drooling in 2023
The last few years have been a time for the old familiars — meals seasoned with the warm embrace of comfort and convenience, an era of “the usual.”
In the pandemic years, when reality shifted moment to moment, a cheeseburger wasn’t meant to be a thrill, it was a companion.
That’s not the theme for 2023. This year looks to be back with new projects and new flavors. Beloved bakeries are expanding, top chefs are continuing to push new boundaries, and the Triangle’s food scene looks to grow in lots of tasty ways.
Here are the projects we’re looking forward to in 2023.
Scott Crawford’s Brodeto, Raleigh
While the massively anticipated Crawford Brothers steakhouse is still another year away, Raleigh chef Scott Crawford will open a new restaurant in 2023. Brodeto, a new Italian and Croatian concept embracing live fire cooking, will join the already impressive lineup at Raleigh Iron Works.
Crawford helms a roster of some of the Triangle’s most beloved and acclaimed restaurants, including Crawford & Son, Jolie and Crawford Cookshop. With Brodeto, Crawford adds another large and elegant dining room and a local first — a crudo counter, along with the restaurant’s outdoor garden and bar. Look for an opening late this year.
Also coming to Raleigh Iron Works: Durham brewery Ponysaurus, Eastcut Sandwich Bar and Andia’s Ice Cream will open this year.
Nana’s, Durham
Proving what’s old is new again, Durham chef Matt Kelly will open a revamped Nana’s this spring, reintroducing the dining scene to one of the city’s most important restaurants. Taking over from founder Scott Howell, Kelly will offer his own take on the European classics, reinterpreting risottos and pates and the soulful comfort food that once defined this fine dining institution.
Emmy Squared, Durham
This one may have been on our list of anticipated restaurants in 2022. Emmy Squared is still in the works and we are still drooling over the prospect of famous burgers and Detroit-style pizza in the same restaurant. Opening in Brightleaf Square, Emmy Squared is named for the square pizzas that are its specialty, and with several locations on the east coast, this growing brand is perhaps a signal of things to come as regional chains continue to move into the local market.
Max Jr.’s, Durham
Alongside the redeveloping Brightleaf District, the owners of The Federal will open Max Jr.’s as a throwback to simpler times. Look for flavorful sausages and affordable drinks and a wide biergarten joining the city’s collection of fun-loving outdoor spaces.
Isaac’s Bagels, Durham
This Durham bagel shop has had a nomadic start, popping up in parks, farmer’s markets, community centers and a residency at the downtown restaurant Queeny’s. In 2023, Isaac’s will build its first brick and mortar spot, moving into the 1003 W. Chapel Hill St. space in Durham.
Owner Isaac Henrion announced the new restaurant on New Year’s Day and suggests it could be open by summer or fall of this year. Look for the same roster of bagels and cream cheeses, plus sandwiches and an expanded menu of sweets beyond marshmallows and cheesecake.
Niko, Durham
Speaking of Brightleaf, prolific restaurateur Giorgios Bakatsias will open the new Mediterranean restaurant Niko, representing his return to Brightleaf Square. Niko will use Greece as a launching point for a broad menu of Mediterranean flavors, Bakatsias said in announcing the restaurant.
Bakatsias will open three other restaurants in 2023, all in Raleigh. In North Hills he’ll add Giorgio Pizza Bar, slated to open Jan. 10, and Las Ramblas, a new tapas spot that will also open this month.
Closer to downtown, Bakatsias has worked for years on a large new French restaurant East End Bistrot that will be big on fresh raw seafood and butcher shop meats. The restaurant opens as one of the cornerstones to the new East End Market development near Capital Boulevard.
Leroy’s Tacos N Beers, RTP
Sometimes the spark of an idea will create an inferno. When Jake Wood put brisket birria tacos on the menu as a special at his Lawrence Barbecue smokehouse in Boxyard RTP, diners ordered them non-stop, making the dish of griddled, greasy tacos so popular it was a problem.
Well, most problems have solutions and for this particular one, Wood is launching a new taqueria built around those birria tacos. Look for Leroy’s Tacos N Beers to open alongside Lawrence in the Boxyard RTP development as early as this month.
Midwood Smokehouse, Raleigh
It’s been a barbecue frenzy in the Triangle the last couple years, but the fire isn’t out quite yet. Midwood Smokehouse, one of Charlotte’s most popular barbecue spots, will open in early 2023 in Raleigh’s Smoky Hollow development.
Midwood offers solid versions of the barbecue hits, with brisket, pulled pork and ribs set to star. Also according to their Instagram page they’re working on a new barbecue crunchwrap.
Bombolo, Chapel Hill
The brother-and-sister duo of Garret Fleming and Eleanor Lacy are taking over the former Kitchen restaurant in Chapel Hill and turning it into their Italian sandwich shop and small plates restaurant Bombolo. If that name sounds familiar, the concept was initially planned and partially built in a house on Graham Street in downtown Chapel Hill, but Fleming said that spot ultimately fell through.
Instead Bombolo will open as early as late January, serving porchetta and roast pork sandwiches, fresh daily pastas and an ambitious charcuterie program. Kitchen, a French bistro located in a shopping center on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, closed Dec. 31, after 12 years.
Fleming and Lacy are also looking for a new slim space to move their barbecue concept Big Belly Que, which ended its run last year in Chapel Hill’s Blue Dogwood Public Market.
Zweli’s Ekhaya, Durham
For their follow-up to the popular and acclaimed Zweli’s Kitchen, owners Zweli and Leonardo Williams are heading to Downtown Durham’s American Tobacco Campus with one of the most exciting new restaurants in years. Zweli’s Ekhaya is currently under construction and will serve a small plates Bantu menu, aiming to showcase dishes from multiple African cuisines in a fine dining setting.
Lula and Sadie’s, Durham
One of Durham’s newest Southern restaurants started in the Durham Food Hall in 2020, but veteran chef Harry Monds is moving Lula & Sadie’s to bigger digs this year. Named for Monds two grandmothers, Lula & Sadie’s will reopen in Durham’s Lakewood neighborhood in 2023, revamping the elegant space that has been The Lakewood restaurant and True Flavors Diner.
Look for Red Velvet chicken and waffles, hot chicken sandwiches, sweet potato pie and more Southern classics. For now, find Lula & Sadie’s at its residency in the beer bar Pour in downtown Durham.
Cheetie Kumar’s next restaurant, Raleigh
One of 2023’s heartbreaking restaurant closings was the loss of downtown Raleigh’s Garland. Nothing like it existed anywhere, as Cheetie Kumar and Paul Siler’s restaurant seemed to be evolving the new Southern cuisine nightly through Indian and Asian dishes sourced with seasonal North Carolina ingredients.
Kumar and Siler have partnered with Raleigh bakery Anisette on a new project expected to launch this year.
Boulted Bread, Raleigh
When they’re not reinventing the bagel or doughnut, the folks at Boulted Bread run one of the South’s top bakeries. That bakery is on the move this year, scooting up the hill in Boylan Heights to a new much larger space at 328 Dupont Circle in Raleigh. The new bakery and bread counter is only about two blocks from the original location and looks to open this spring.
Common Market, Durham
A popular Charlotte bodega will open its first Triangle location near Durham’s Ninth Street district. Run by Graham Worth, Common Market is putting the finishing touches on its deli/neighborhood bar/market, including a basement bar and outdoor patio. Look for an opening this spring.
This story was originally published January 6, 2023 at 9:22 AM with the headline "Here are 14+ new Triangle restaurant projects that will have us drooling in 2023."
