To reflect on the year, Chapelboro.com is re-publishing some of the top stories that impacted and defined our community’s experience in 2023. These stories and topics affected Chapel Hill, Carrboro and the rest of our region.
Besides the Chapelboro-based photo gallery of Chapel Hill’s Cook Out location posted in September of 2022 somehow still being one of the top restaurant-related posts of 2023… there was plenty of new food news for us to cover. From closings and openings to expansions and unexpected developments, here’s a roundup of 2023’s biggest restaurant news on Chapelboro:
- Sutton’s celebrated its 100th anniversary, a century of serving Tar Heels on Franklin, on April 12. May the most legendary countertop in Chapel Hill continue slinging sandwiches for a hundred more.
- 120 East Franklin Street — perhaps most popularly known as the location for college bar haunt The Library, which closed in 2021 — was sold to new owners.
- The Mama Dip’s property was listed for sale, and promises were made the restaurant would remain in Chapel Hill.
- Chapel Hill Creamery, owned and operated by Flo Hawley and Portia McKnight for more than two decades, was sold to Reverence Farms.
- Bombolo announced its opening in February of 2023, and was also named North Carolina’s 2023 Restaurant of the Year by Eater Carolinas.
- Chapel Hill restaurant “Ay Por Dios!” opened, things got more than a little heated in various comment sections across the internet as customers reviewed and ownership responded, and 97.9 The Hill’s Aaron Keck tried the $20 guacamole on “Date Night.”
- Denver-based breakfast chain “Snooze” had been planning a location in the Triangle since 2019, and in 2023 the eatery finally opened in Eastgate Crossing.
- After delays and countless days spent waiting, Raising Cane’s opened in Chapel Hill
Manager Jeremy Strayhorn (center) prepares to cut the ribbon to officially open the Chapel Hill location of Raising Cane’s on November 7, 2023.
- Indian fast food chain Curry Up Now announced two new locations, one in Chapel Hill and one in Durham.
- Lapin Bleu, a bar and art gallery in the Midway area of Chapel Hill, opened.
- Crumbl Cookies set up shop on Franklin Street, though Insomnia is still the late-night delivery champ.
- TOPO Distillery closed its doors for good in February 2023.
- NoDa Brewing Tapas in Chapel Hill rebranded as The Dogwood in August — before closing in September alongside The Poplar Café
- After temporarily closing in early January, Carrboro’s Mosaic Tapas and Wine Bar announced the closure would be permanent
- Cornoato Pizza in Carrboro closed, citing “significant health and safety concerns” amidst conflict with neighboring cigar bar Oasis.
- As development plans for 306 West Franklin moved forward, popular shop Purple Bowl announced their own plans to move — later confirming the new location to be 505 West Franklin Street.
- Carrboro’s “The Cheese Shop” announced plans to expand to a second location to continue selling “exceptional and rare local, domestic and imported small batch cheeses.”
- In the final days of the year, Basecamp on East Franklin Street announced it was permanently closing and its ownership rededicated its focuses to Momo’s Master around the corner.
Chapelboro.com does not charge subscription fees, and you can directly support our efforts in local journalism here. Want more of what you see on Chapelboro? Let us bring free local news and community information to you by signing up for our biweekly newsletter.
Comments on Chapelboro are moderated according to our Community Guidelines