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Coco Bean Expands Into New Glen Lennox

Coco Bean Coffee Shop & Cafe is moving into The Gwendolyn in Glen Lennox as Coco. (Contributed photo)

The first retail enterprise to move into the redeveloped Glen Lennox has tripled its space and its vision.

Coco Bean Coffee Shop & Café served coffee, plant-based pastries and a few other items from its 1,100 square feet across N.C. 54 in the East 54 complex. But as the first tenant of The Gwendolyn building, Coco Bean owner Tamara Lackey had free rein to design her store’s space. She opted for nearly 3,000 square feet, making room for the coffee shop by day to transform by night into a vegan restaurant and an elegant bar offering cocktails, with or without alcohol. Lackey also has room to promote the nonprofit animal sanctuary she founded, Beautiful Together.

The new space, on track to open in September as simply Coco, has evolved to meet the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Gwendolyn has a cutting-edge air-filtration system, and Lackey aims to make the dining experience more reassuring by including a large wraparound patio for outdoor seating and installing a glass wall that opens horizontally by accordion folds to connect the indoor and outdoor seating during nice weather.

With a full kitchen in the new space, Lackey can serve breakfast, lunch, dinner and a weekend brunch.

Some of the proceeds from the restaurant will support Beautiful Together, a nonprofit animal sanctuary founded by Coco’s owner. (Photo by Tamara Lackey)

“It’s upscale vegan comfort food,” she said. She’ll have vegan pizza, burgers and fries, and chicken-and-waffles, along with salads, bowls, breakfast burritos and breakfast sandwiches. The business supports ecologically friendly choices; many items are locally sourced and served on compostable dishes.

Some of the proceeds from the restaurant will support Beautiful Together. Lackey and her husband, Steve, recently purchased 85 acres outside of Chapel  Hill to build the animal sanctuary that eventually will accommodate horses along with cats and dogs from shelters that have to euthanize a high percentage of the animals they take in when they are not adopted. She is partnering with agencies that work with children in foster homes or group homes or are in at-risk situations so they can experience nature and bond with the animals.

Grubb Properties has allowed Lackey, a professional photographer, to exhibit her photographs promoting Beautiful Together on a 13-foot-tall wall in The Gwendolyn.

“Moving during COVID is crazy,” Lackey said. “But we’re excited to merge all this together.”

(The Gwendolyn is named in honor of the late Gwendolyn Harrison Smith, the first African American woman admitted to UNC, pursuing a doctorate in Spanish: “A Pedigreed Doctoral Student, Sent Packing on Her First Day,” March/April 2018 Review, alumni.unc.edu/CARarchive.)

101 Glen Lennox Drive | cocochapelhill.combeautifultogethersanctuary.com

A Beverage, a Meal, a Respite

Arjun Chowdhury, an owner of Saturni Café, offers coffee, smoothies and sandwiches — served with a side of vacation. When she envisioned the concept for her new business, she began with a place “where people can come in, relax and unwind,” she said, either at the start, middle or end of their day. She found the perfect spot in The Courtyard, a tree-dotted enclave tucked away from the bustle of West Franklin Street.

In building her fusion menu of Italian and Mediterranean cuisines, she debuted a lamb sandwich, delicately grilled and topped with sauteed mushrooms and a secret sauce. She makes paninis and salads, and by the time chilly weather arrives, she’ll have soups, too. She found a local coffee roaster that produces a light, bright roast. Her beer and wine license is in the works, which will augment her beverage options of smoothies and “refreshers.”

Inside seating is limited to little more than a dozen; more patrons choose the café tables in the courtyard. To aid relaxation, Chowdhury has organized board-game nights and invited local artists to show pieces and chat with customers.

431 W. Franklin St. | saturni-nc.com

Café With Italian Flavor Takes on Elmo’s Space

Introducing a new concept in a space that has its own rich tradition takes fortitude. But Jay Radford said he has no trepidation about opening Grata Café in Carrboro in what used to house Elmo’s Diner, which after 25 years succumbed to the pandemic economy last fall.

“I don’t scare easily,” he said. “I live my life with my toes on the edge.”

Before he became a stay-at-home dad, Radford had learned the restaurant business at the Planet Hollywood chain. His love of cooking began long ago, when he worked at a liquor store on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., that had a deli in the back, where he’d make a couple hundred sandwiches over every three-hour lunch shift. As a bartender in college, he began hosting Sunday suppers that soon drew crowds a hundred strong. Cloistered at home with his family during the pandemic, he took his culinary skills up a notch.

After Elmo’s closed, Radford leased the space, envisioning an Italian version of Elmo’s, a comfortable place that felt like he was welcoming guests into his own home. His menu, which covers breakfast, lunch and dinner, adds an Italian twist to classics, like a BLT made with pancetta instead of bacon. Though Radford kept Elmo’s booths, tables and chairs, he scrubbed the place top to bottom, refinished the floor and renovated the kitchen from the studs out and installed all new equipment.

“Grata” translates from Italian as “gratitude,” and Radford sees his eatery as an investment in the community. He pays his staff higher wages than the restaurant norm in lieu of tipping, contributes to their health insurance and shares some of Grata’s profits.

200 N. Greensboro St. | gratacafe.com

Provence Reincarnates as Mosaic

Provence, which had specialized in French cuisine, has loosened its culinary borders and taken on a new name to reflect the change.

After closing temporarily in December, the Carrboro restaurant intended to reopen once the weather was warm enough to dine outside, a safer space during the pandemic. But hunkered down over the winter, owner and chef Baptist Knaven broadened his vision. In June, he unveiled Mosaic Café & Bistro, a more casual dining experience that will serve pastries, croissants, macarons and other baked treats during the day and transform at night into a tapas-style bistro with wine that has something for every budget.

General manager Brian Cansler said the menu will have a North Carolina flavor with mussels and seared pork belly. It will expand into Thai coconut soup, tomato pie and fried olives, and larger plates of Brazilian pork and black bean stew, shrimp pesto linguine and North Carolina trout. It will keep a few of the French favorites: escargots, scallops St. Jacques and the onion soup.

203 W. Weaver St. | mosaicbistro.com

Bagel Shop Expanding Into Former Bakery

Bread & Butter Bakery succumbed to the COVID-constricted economy and closed its shop on West Rosemary Street in the spring. Owners Joyce and James Chen had opened Oriental Garden there in 1989, and in 2011, they converted the restaurant into a bakery, bringing in their son, George, as a co-owner and baker.

Once the bakery closed, next-door neighbor Brandwein Bagels decided to expand into the space, gaining a large parking lot, more seating and a larger production area, though the timeframe for expansion has not been set.

505 W. Rosemary St. | brandweinsbagels.com

The Library Closes

After 18 years at 120 E. Franklin St., The Library has closed. The student-centric bar and club shut during state-ordered closures to stem the pandemic. Because it did not serve food, it remained closed after restaurants were allowed to reopen. Despite rumors of a national chain moving in, nothing had filled the space as the fall semester got underway. Meanwhile, owner A.J. Tama hopes to renew The Library in a new location.

— Nancy E. Oates


More: alumni.unc.edu/around-town


 

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