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dubone

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JHart Whistle-Stop

JHart

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Posted (edited)
13 minutes ago, Madison Parkitect said:

Remind me, is Rowe the guy that bought the original Penguin and started that whole huge controversy a few years back or is he the guy who sold the Penguin? Or am I thinking of a different Plaza Midwood restaurant?

The article they linked has a pretty good short summary of the situation

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RANYC
RANYC

I'm hosting a couple from Bordeaux, France.  They've been on a road-trip all over the states since August and made a stop in Charlotte to see me (we all know each other from our days together living i

jtmonk
jtmonk

Saw this on jasonthomasclt Instagram this morning. 130,000 SF, 8 story office building behind Optimist Hall.  Looks pretty good.   

SgtCampsalot
SgtCampsalot

So my job takes me to a lot of apartment communities in the area, but I normally just see the lobbies and apartments, rarely the amenities. I was back at Alta Warp + Weft, at 25th St Station this

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Crown Whistle-Stop

Crown

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6 minutes ago, Madison Parkitect said:

Remind me, is Rowe the guy that bought the original Penguin and started that whole huge controversy a few years back or is he the guy who sold the Penguin? Or am I thinking of a different Plaza Midwood restaurant?

They were the OGs that were forced out.  Here's some good history on him it if you have some time to read: 

http://www.charlottemagazine.com/Charlotte-Magazine/March-2015/The-End-of-The-Penguin/

http://www.charlottemagazine.com/Charlotte-Magazine/April-2011/Frayed-Pride-and-Friend-Pickles/ 

4 minutes ago, JHart said:

The article he linked has a pretty good short summary of the situation

she

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Niner National Burg

Niner National

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23 minutes ago, Crown said:

Former Penguin owner Brian Rowe reviving his iconic restaurant in a century-old home in Optimist Park
 

Love the name. Love the location. Nice scoop by the Agenda: https://www.charlotteagenda.com/174316/former-penguin-owner-brian-rowe-reviving-his-iconic-restaurant-in-a-century-old-home-in-optimist-park/?fbclid=IwAR3XysaMUjwx1b1Ucl3emu412EdnDT7CRLEYLAzgiDMF5jQjns7q7EC-ITE

Rowe’s new restaurant is named Bird Bones Cafe, a play on the remnants of the death of the Penguin, and will feature a skeleton penguin logo in honor of the iconic sign that still stands at the original building.
It’s taking shape in a century-old home on the property at Area 15, an eclectic small business hub just outside Uptown and across the street from Optimist Hall. Charlotte coffee heavyweight Not Just Coffee, now boasting a stacked lineup of six locations, got its start here back in 2011.

Rowe wants to replicate the original restaurant as closely as possible. “When you walk in here, you’re gonna think you’re in the Penguin,” he said. “It’s gonna be identical.”

Im surprised it has taken this long to become public. While i didnt know the name, ive known about this for over a year. I forgot about it though as it was just mentioned to me in passing. I honestly thought it might have died since I never heard it mentioned again and the work on the house had seemingly stopped. Glad to see it is still alive.

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InSouthPark Burg

InSouthPark

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15 minutes ago, Niner National said:

Im surprised it has taken this long to become public. While i didnt know the name, ive known about this for over a year. I forgot about it though as it was just mentioned to me in passing. I honestly thought it might have died since I never heard it mentioned again and the work on the house had seemingly stopped. Glad to see it is still alive.

They are gonna need a lot of help to reach the 150k they are looking for in GoFundMe.  Up to $450 so far.  :tw_grimace:

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Madison Parkitect Burg

Madison Parkitect

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11 minutes ago, InSouthPark said:

They are gonna need a lot of help to reach the 150k they are looking for in GoFundMe.  Up to $450 so far.  :tw_grimace:

If they can capitalize on the Optimist Hall opening and the Agenda story they should be able to make it pretty quickly, I think the Penguin still has a lot of cache around town.

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JHart Whistle-Stop

JHart

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29 minutes ago, Madison Parkitect said:

If they can capitalize on the Optimist Hall opening and the Agenda story they should be able to make it pretty quickly, I think the Penguin still has a lot of cache around town.

If they had that much cache around town they would already have some sort of investors or at least a small business loan instead of asking people for donations for $150k... I know they want the new place to feel underground but that's a paltry sum of money to open a new restaurant, especially if they were truly running a place that "Rowe says the Penguin grossed $1.4 million in sales"

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Spartan Gigalopolis

Spartan

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If he owns the Diamond and Pinky's - both successful restaurants - surely he can afford $150k in financing to build this thing. IMO if that's the deal breaker then this concept isn't going to last. I personally don't want to go to a Penguin replica. The original was great for what it was - but I think people have moved on in much the same way that we moved on from Common Market in South End. These guys have surely made money off of Pinky's, which has a lot of the same menu items and quite frankly the food is just as good if not better.

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JHart Whistle-Stop

JHart

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8 hours ago, Spartan said:

If he owns the Diamond and Pinky's - both successful restaurants - surely he can afford $150k in financing to build this thing. IMO if that's the deal breaker then this concept isn't going to last. I personally don't want to go to a Penguin replica. The original was great for what it was - but I think people have moved on in much the same way that we moved on from Common Market in South End. These guys have surely made money off of Pinky's, which has a lot of the same menu items and quite frankly the food is just as good if not better.

Pinky's was done by Greg on his own after the franchise negotiation went south. He was the chef at the Penguin and clearly the important part at what made the Penguin since Pinky's has taken off and even has 2 locations that are good at being slightly grungy, not quite dive bars with awesome food whereas IMO the Diamond is sort of run down with nothing special about it. I also can't see the new Penguin going anywhere if they need to crowd source $150k to even get this place opened...

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Desert Power Burg

Desert Power

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1 hour ago, JHart said:

Pinky's was done by Greg on his own after the franchise negotiation went south. He was the chef at the Penguin and clearly the important part at what made the Penguin since Pinky's has taken off and even has 2 locations that are good at being slightly grungy, not quite dive bars with awesome food whereas IMO the Diamond is sort of run down with nothing special about it. I also can't see the new Penguin going anywhere if they need to crowd source $150k to even get this place opened...

Funny, I much prefer the Diamond to Pinky's.  Particularly for the most important part, the burgers.  Have had too many way overcooked burgers at Pinky's.  The Pimpin Fires are awesome though.

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CLTProductions City

CLTProductions

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1 hour ago, InSouthPark said:

Question to those that know about Optimist Hall:  Is Fonta Flora still a definite?  The brewery itself has been completely silent since the announcement and I haven't seen anyone mention them in any of the pictures like "this will be the new FF space" etc.   

Yes it’s under construction now

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SgtCampsalot Town

SgtCampsalot

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11 minutes ago, Matthew.Brendan said:

So no dedicated bike lane on the bridge?

Doesn't look like it (pics):

https://charlottenc.gov/Projects/Pages/25thStreetConnection.aspx

But honestly I don't think it's necessary. Folks rolling down the hill from Villa Heights will already be in the middle of the street, and this bridge Street will still be a side street, albeit an important one.

IMO we don't want to give the message to society that bikes should always be separated from Auto traffic. Mixed traffic riding is an important precedent to set in the right spots, and the NoDa area is the perfect area since there are hardly any real thoroughfares (Parkwood/Plaza). The Greenway and rail trail are just bonus.

Screenshot_20190802-094705.png

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t_money Whistle-Stop

t_money

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22 minutes ago, XRZ.ME said:

So many people in food hall and the line is desperate. I walked back uptown and grab some chick fil A. Also the side walk to BLUE LINE station is closed for construction.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

How was the seating situation there at Optimist Hall?  Doesn't look like there was hardly any inside from the pictures I've seen.

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XRZ.ME Whistle-Stop

XRZ.ME

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How was the seating situation there at Optimist Hall?  Doesn't look like there was hardly any inside from the pictures I've seen.

It's beautiful inside. Light green and white wall with wooden tables and floor. Would be great destination for Instagram photo that kind of.

And there are a few outdoor seating too.

But I don't think they have enough seats for people to sit down and eat there. Even when most of the restaurants haven't opened yet.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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CM2424 Unincorporated Area

CM2424

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8 minutes ago, Jayvee said:

There is seating for 650 people. I think it’ll be all good lol 

Yesterday it was very hard to find seating at lunch.  I noticed most of the tables were taken up by people working, meeting, etc. rather than eating food.  I think they will need more

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CLTProductions City

CLTProductions

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2 minutes ago, cmwilson24 said:

Yesterday it was very hard to find seating at lunch.  I noticed most of the tables were taken up by people working, meeting, etc. rather than eating food.  I think they will need more

Interesting. Well to be fair there is a LOT more seating to come. They don’t have it all in yet 

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