See inside the new Soul Gastolounge
Why it matters: The beloved locally owned restaurant closed its prominent Plaza Midwood spot in August 2022. Since its owners announced it would reopen, it has been one of the most anticipated for the city.
Catch up quick: Owners Andy and Lesa Kastanas opened Soul Gastrolounge in 2009, and it quickly became a neighborhood favorite, known for its tapas-style menu — namely their Asian glazed pork belly tacos topped with watermelon, Axios' Katie Peralta Soloff wrote.
Despite a devoted customer base, popular food and beverage menus, and consistently long lines, the Kastanases struggled to keep the business open once rent prices went up. The building on the fast-changing corner of Pecan and Central avenues remains empty to this day.
Driving the news: Soul Gastrolounge will open soon, according to its owners, who are not ready to give an exact timeline yet, but are aiming for later this summer.
Today we visited the restaurant, which is nearly complete and reminiscent of the old Soul.
"By repurposing key design elements from the old place [the copper color of the walls, the light fixtures, the taxidermied peacock], you get an immediate feeling of the old place."
— Scott Weaver, interior designer
Between the lines: The new Soul is more than twice the size of the Plaza Midwood spot. It has a larger kitchen, seats for more than 200 people inside and another 30 on its outdoor patio.
It's not an easy task to recreate the intimate, lounge-y vibe that drew lines out the door of the old location, but Weaver and the Kastanases made it a priority to transform the new 6,400-square-foot restaurant.
"The food has to be the Soul food. The music is so important. But without this vibe to pull it all together ... that's where the magic comes."
— Lesa Kastanas
Dig in: Most of the restaurant's popular menu items, including the lamb lolly skewers, will remain the same.
Richelle Espinosa-Brewer, AKA " Chef Shiki," is the new executive chef, formerly the executive chef of The Crunkleton.
Stop by: The new Soul is located at 4100 Raleigh St., next to Borderline Bar & Billiards, inside The Pass, a mixed-use development near the Independent Picture House, Charlotte Art League, Eighty Eights and Blackbox Theater.
It'll have late-night food options, and its kitchen will be open Sunday—Thursday from 5-11pm and Friday—Saturday 5pm-midnight.
What's next: It's full steam ahead for the Kastanases as they focus on the finishing touches — training staff, perfecting ingredients and "trying to instill what Soul is about into a new generation of people who will help us bring this to life — because we can't do it alone," Lesa said.
Once Soul is up and running, they'll be able to shift their focus to other growing areas of their business. Catering, for example, is something they were never able to do out of the small kitchen in their old Plaza Midwood spot.
They're also reviving another Plaza Midwood favorite next door to Soul — Tattoo Liquor Lounge. The new bar will have its own entrance next to Soul.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Hill
37 minutes ago
- The Hill
Asian shares track rally on Wall Street that won back most of Friday's wipeout
BANGKOK (AP) — Asian shares advanced on Tuesday, following U.S. stocks higher after they won back most of their sharp loss from last week. Investors appeared to have recovered some confidence after worries over how President Donald Trump's tariffs may be punishing the economy sent a shudder through Wall Street last week. At the same time, a stunningly weak U.S. jobs report Friday raised expectations that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates at its next meeting in September, potentially a plus for markets. This week's highlights will likely include earnings reports from The Walt Disney Co., McDonald's and Caterpillar, along with updates on U.S. business activity. In Asian trading, Tokyo's Nikkei 225 index gained 0.6% to 40,515.81, while the Kospi in South Korea jumped 1.4% to 3,192.57. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng rose 0.3% to 24,799.67. The Shanghai Composite index was up 0.5% at 3,602.13. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 jumped 1.1% to 8,759.90, while the SET in Thailand also gained 1.1%. India's Sensex was the sole outlier, losing 0.5% on concerns over trade tensions with the United States, with the Trump administration insisting on cutbacks in oil purchases from Russia. India has indicated that it will continue buying oil from Russia, saying its relationship with Moscow was 'steady and time-tested,' and that its stance on securing its energy needs is guided by the availability of oil in the markets and prevailing global circumstances. 'Trump's threats of 'substantial' tariff hikes on account of imports of Russian crude pose a quagmire for India,' Mizuho Bank said in a commentary. 'Between exacerbated U.S.-imposed geo-economic headwinds and financial/macro setbacks from Russian oil advantages lost, pain will be hard to avert.' On Monday, the S&P 500 jumped 1.5% to 6,329.94. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 1.3%, or 585.06 points, to 44,173.64. The Nasdaq composite leaped 2% to 21,053.58. Idexx Laboratories helped Wall Street recover from its worst day since May, soaring 27.5% after the seller of veterinary instruments and other health care products reported a stronger profit for the spring than analysts expected. The pressure is on U.S. companies to deliver bigger profits after their stock prices shot to record after record recently. Reports from big U.S. companies have largely come in better than expected and could help steady a U.S. stock market that may have been due for some turbulence. A jump in stock prices from a low point in April had raised criticism that the broad market had become too expensive. Tyson Foods likewise delivered a bigger-than-expected profit for the latest quarter, and the company behind the Jimmy Dean and Hillshire Farms brands rose 2.4%. They helped make up for a nearly 3% loss for Berkshire Hathaway after Warren Buffett's company reported a drop in profit for its latest quarter from a year earlier. The drop-off was due in part to the falling value of its investment in Kraft Heinz. American Eagle Outfitters jumped 23.6% after Trump weighed in on the debate surrounding the retailer's advertisements, which highlight actor Sydney Sweeney's great jeans. Some critics thought the reference to the blonde-haired and blue-eyed actor's 'great genes' may be extolling a narrow set of beauty standards. 'Go get 'em Sydney!' Trump said on his social media network. Wayfair climbed 12.7% after the retailer of furniture and home decor said accelerating growth helped it make more in profit and revenue during the spring than analysts expected. Tesla rose 2.2% after awarding CEO Elon Musk 96 million shares of restricted stock valued at approximately $29 billion. The move could alleviate worries that Musk may leave the company. In other dealings early Tuesday, U.S. benchmark crude oil shed 9 cents to $66.20 per barrel while Brent crude, the international standard, gave up 8 cents to $68.68 per barrel. The U.S. dollar was unchanged at 147.09 Japanese yen. The euro slipped to $1.1555 from $1.1573.
San Francisco Chronicle
37 minutes ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
Asian shares track rally on Wall Street that won back most of Friday's wipeout
BANGKOK (AP) — Asian shares advanced on Tuesday, following U.S. stocks higher after they won back most of their sharp loss from last week. Investors appeared to have recovered some confidence after worries over how President Donald Trump's tariffs may be punishing the economy sent a shudder through Wall Street last week. At the same time, a stunningly weak U.S. jobs report Friday raised expectations that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates at its next meeting in September, potentially a plus for markets. This week's highlights will likely include earnings reports from The Walt Disney Co., McDonald's and Caterpillar, along with updates on U.S. business activity. In Asian trading, Tokyo's Nikkei 225 index gained 0.6% to 40,515.81, while the Kospi in South Korea jumped 1.4% to 3,192.57. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng rose 0.3% to 24,799.67. The Shanghai Composite index was up 0.5% at 3,602.13. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 jumped 1.1% to 8,759.90, while the SET in Thailand also gained 1.1%. India's Sensex was the sole outlier, losing 0.5% on concerns over trade tensions with the United States, with the Trump administration insisting on cutbacks in oil purchases from Russia. India has indicated that it will continue buying oil from Russia, saying its relationship with Moscow was 'steady and time-tested,' and that its stance on securing its energy needs is guided by the availability of oil in the markets and prevailing global circumstances. 'Trump's threats of 'substantial' tariff hikes on account of imports of Russian crude pose a quagmire for India,' Mizuho Bank said in a commentary. 'Between exacerbated U.S.-imposed geo-economic headwinds and financial/macro setbacks from Russian oil advantages lost, pain will be hard to avert.' On Monday, the S&P 500 jumped 1.5% to 6,329.94. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 1.3%, or 585.06 points, to 44,173.64. The Nasdaq composite leaped 2% to 21,053.58. Idexx Laboratories helped Wall Street recover from its worst day since May, soaring 27.5% after the seller of veterinary instruments and other health care products reported a stronger profit for the spring than analysts expected. The pressure is on U.S. companies to deliver bigger profits after their stock prices shot to record after record recently. Reports from big U.S. companies have largely come in better than expected and could help steady a U.S. stock market that may have been due for some turbulence. A jump in stock prices from a low point in April had raised criticism that the broad market had become too expensive. Tyson Foods likewise delivered a bigger-than-expected profit for the latest quarter, and the company behind the Jimmy Dean and Hillshire Farms brands rose 2.4%. They helped make up for a nearly 3% loss for Berkshire Hathaway after Warren Buffett's company reported a drop in profit for its latest quarter from a year earlier. The drop-off was due in part to the falling value of its investment in Kraft Heinz. American Eagle Outfitters jumped 23.6% after Trump weighed in on the debate surrounding the retailer's advertisements, which highlight actor Sydney Sweeney's great jeans. Some critics thought the reference to the blonde-haired and blue-eyed actor's 'great genes' may be extolling a narrow set of beauty standards. 'Go get 'em Sydney!' Trump said on his social media network. Wayfair climbed 12.7% after the retailer of furniture and home decor said accelerating growth helped it make more in profit and revenue during the spring than analysts expected. Tesla rose 2.2% after awarding CEO Elon Musk 96 million shares of restricted stock valued at approximately $29 billion. The move could alleviate worries that Musk may leave the company. In other dealings early Tuesday, U.S. benchmark crude oil shed 9 cents to $66.20 per barrel while Brent crude, the international standard, gave up 8 cents to $68.68 per barrel. ___ AP Business Writers Stan Choe and Matt Ott contributed.
Yahoo
7 hours ago
- Yahoo
Elon Musk says he's bringing back Vine's archive
Elon Musk says he's bringing back Vine — sort of. The X owner announced over the weekend that the company discovered the video archive for the popular short-form video app, thought to have been deleted, and is working to restore user access. Vine — something of a precursor to today's TikTok, but with only six-second-long looping videos — was acquired by Twitter back in October 2012 for $30 million to expand the social media platform's video ambitions. Unfortunately for Vine creators and fans, the company fumbled the app's potential and decided to shut down Vine in 2016 by limiting all new uploads. The following year, it was fully discontinued, though a user archive remained for a time. Despite no longer having an App Store presence, Vine still has a place in the internet's collective cultural consciousness. Through online compilations of the best Vines uploaded to YouTube, and through the careers of numerous creators who got their start on Vine, the company lives on to some extent, and its content continues to be discovered by new generations. Musk himself seemed interested in bringing back Vine after acquiring Twitter in October 2022. In a poll posted on the social media app, he asked Twitter's users, 'Bring back Vine?' to which nearly 70% responded 'yes.' Axios reported at the time that Twitter had devoted some engineers to working on the Vine reboot, but nothing ever came of it. It's unclear whether Musk has any ambitions for Vine beyond getting its archive back online, however. In the same post about restoring Vine, he also touted that Grok's new video-creation feature, Grok Imagine, also available to X Premium+ subscribers, is 'AI Vine.' That suggests that his interests in video creation no longer lie with human creativity, but in human-directed AI prompting. Whether or not Musk will actually deliver on the promise remains to be seen, as the X post could have just been another way to draw attention to Grok AI, rather than being representative of a real effort inside the company to make old Vines available for reposting. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
