In a full-circle moment, the Hotel Indigo’s 20th-floor High Ground Lounge is now slinging classic ’tails and Southern-inspired fare high above DTR in a swanky atmosphere complete with primo skyline views.
Legends Nightclub’s, ahem, legendary move is complete, now in its new digs at West Cabarrus Street. The party never stops, indeed!
Pinkies up—Smoky Hollow is getting its first wine bar. The team behind Cuya will be replacing Hone-Sharpen’s sandwich counter Garlic Bay with The Deb, an all-day wine bar and lounge offering vino, spritzes and NA cocktails alongside a fusion tapas-style menu leaning Italian, French and Asian.
Find friends in low places (literally) at Low Bar, now open below Whiskey Kitchen. DTR’s newest neighborhood watering hole brings back the good old days of simply showing up for a drink—no scene required—with Tiki-inspired cocktails and THC bevs to boot.
Meet the newest kid on the Person Street block: Gallicchio’s Market & Eatery. Now open in the former (ish) delicatessen space, the Italian-inspired market and eatery offers housemade provisions to-go alongside made-to-order fare—from polpette and crostini to a rotating fish special and muffuletta—plus wine and beer.
Cafe Royale | Photo by Sean Junqueira
Like a “French trip down the rabbit hole,” French-inspired Cafe Royale has officially bowed at The Exchange. From Patrick Shanahan and the team behind Capulet Cocktail Club and Rosebud Cocktail Lounge, the all-day cafe dishes a bistro-inspired menu, pastries and lattes to linger over.
Cup A Joe is brewing up a third location just down the street from its OG outpost on Hillsborough Street at the former Crafty Crab.
Talk about the cat’s meow! Brookside’s newest bar and bodega Big Cat made The New York Times’ prestigious list of the 50 best restaurants in the country.
Michael’s English Muffins is moving on up—or, technically, over—having signed a lease to move a few doors down from Suite 114 to 110 while tripling its space. The bigger digs will give Michael’s room to grow both its retail side and booming wholesale business, which has already expanded into three other states.
Pour a smoothie out for The Bomb Bar. Less than two years after opening, the smoothie and health brand shuttered its Gateway Plaza location in October, stating that while the storefront is closing, they are “dreaming about what comes next.”
The newest member of North Hills’ lunch bunch, Standard Beer + Food’s NHID location is now serving daytime tacos, handhelds, salads and snacks seven days a week—plus weekday happy hour specials ($8 oyster shooters, anyone?).
Alcove | Photo by Matt Ramey
Your exclusive first look at the delicious sips and snacks on offer at Alcove is here. The all-day cafe and bar in the original stone garage at The Gables will soon serve coffee, cocktails and European-style picnic fare—with a little help from local faves Jubala Coffee, Escazu Chocolates, Boulted Bread and Little Blue Macaron.
Take home Cake Jefe? Say less. Lina’s Bakery Cafe—of LaGana fame—is offering a host of sweet tiered goodness. Think matcha pistachio tres leches, Oreo chocolate cake and The Guava Love for pickup.
You can have your cake and eat it too thanks to Bittersweet’s special-order cakes—a launch 12 years in the, well, baking.
Arepa Culture
It’s arepa time. Popular family-owned food truck Arepa Culture has opened its second brick-and-mortar at Six Forks Station Shopping Center, following the summer closure of its first.
Clean meets comfort at Little Barrow, a healthy bowl spot set to open its first location at Horseshoe at Hub RTP next year.
Slice, slice, baby! Winston-Salem’s Mission Pizza Napoletana earned a major national accolade, as National Geographic named it one of the best pizza spots in the country outside of New York and Chicago.
Bull City means big burger business. Downtown Durham establishment Bull City Burger & Brewery is expanding for the first time in 15 years, opening Bull City Burger Outpost #1 in the new Latta Park development in North Durham.
Following ongoing concerns over the state of GoRaleigh’s Moore Square bus station, plans are now in motion to rethink DTR transit. At its Oct. 6 meeting, City Council approved a Mobility Hubs Study that will examine potential improvements to the existing station—or whether a new DTR facility or decentralized approach makes more sense. Consultant WSP USA Inc. will evaluate up to three strategies: improving the existing GoRaleigh station through crime prevention and environmental design; identifying alternative Downtown locations; and exploring a distributed facility model. The broader study will also look into Raleigh’s hub-and-spoke network versus grid system, including opportunities for cross-town connections that bypass Downtown altogether. The City of Raleigh Department of Transportation expects to return to Council with initial recommendations in six to nine months.
Amid DTR’s parking debates, a robotic garage is taking shape.
With Downtown parking prices and policies sparking plenty of recent debate, Raleigh may have found a new way to take the headache out of finding a spot: robots. Enter North Carolina’s first underground robotic parking garage, now under construction as part of phase 2 of mixed-use development City Gateway.
Consider this: Urban drivers spend an average of 17 hours a year searching for parking. Talk about a time suck. Slated to open in Q1 2027, the two-level facility aims to give drivers some of that time back while accommodating a whopping 228 vehicles—twice the capacity of a conventional deck of the same size—minus the endless circling, tight turns and parking-deck headaches. Bonus: Lower operating costs, 24/7/365 remote monitoring, and less worry about someone dinging your door.
Developed in partnership with AUTOParkit, the fully automated system is designed to consume up to 60% less energy than conventional parking garages. And with no need for ramps, drive aisles or pedestrian walkways, its smaller footprint makes room for retail, restaurants and City Gateway’s central public plaza—built atop the garage at sidewalk level along Kindley Street.
Rendering by SFLA
So how does it work? You pull into one of two loading bays, kick off your parking session and step out. From there, the system takes the wheel—literally—no circling a nine-story deck or uneasy parking maneuvers required. Instead, a lift whisks your vehicle down into the storage area, where it’s shuttled into its designated stall and tucked away. Advanced reservation capabilities are being looked into as well, in an attempt to “fit with the elevated parking experience we are targeting, especially associated with scheduled special events,” says SFLA Development Manager Asher McGlothlin.
The deck will accommodate nearly all cars, SUVs and pickups, with the exception of oversize vehicles. And EV drivers get an added perk: All 228 spaces are designed to accommodate charging. Plug it in and the system charges it up before sliding it into storage. When you want your car back, simply request it via the app for an average retrieval time of three minutes from request to loading-bay delivery.
While pricing is still TBD, developers say the goal is to stay competitive with other Downtown decks. The technology does support dynamic pricing used in other automated decks nationwide, but McGlothlin says they do not currently plan to use that capability. A peek at automated garages in other cities offers a glimpse of what Raleigh drivers might expect. In West Hollywood and Hoboken, New Jersey, rates are competitive with nearby public decks—if not slightly easier on the wallet. But how exactly pricing will break down in Raleigh remains to be seen—though City Gateway residents will be offered monthly permit parking at market rates.
The real test will come when everyone wants their keys at once. McGlothlin says the system can retrieve multiple vehicles simultaneously, and users can request their car ahead of time—with on-site ambassadors helping manage the flow during peak periods and special events. And should the robots go on strike, a backup generator keeps the deck operational during power outages.
There’s a sustainability play here to boot. Transportation accounts for ~52% of Raleigh’s greenhouse gas emissions, according to the city’s Community Climate Action Plan. And McGlothlin hopes the garage’s EV charging infrastructure will encourage more drivers to make the switch.
“Automation was chosen early in design because of what it lets us do on this site,” says SFLA Principal Barry Buckman, allowing them to showcase innovative ways of tackling climate issues, and also some of the development issues seen in an urban landscape.
And with driverless taxis already making moves in NC, the garage is designed with the future in mind—though, despite the ever-churning Waymo rumor mill, there’s still no planned partnership in place. “We’ve been in contact with Waymo and some other auto-taxi-type services to make sure that what we put in place now can accommodate them in the future, if that’s a direction they want to go,” says Buckman.
Ultimately, it’s a big step for the future of a city where parking is almost always top of mind. As Raleigh’s first fully automated parking facility, people will be paying for a different kind of experience, says McGlothlin. Will robots solve Downtown’s parking headaches? Only time will tell. But one thing’s certain: Raleigh’s parking game is about to reach a whole new (underground) level.
The espresso martini trend has been going strong for a hot minute—with absolutely no signs of slowing. And we’re here for it. Now, Raleigh’s buzziest ’tinis are popping up on nearly every menu—serving perk with every pour and a pick-me-up in more ways than one. Here, some of our favorite espresso ’tinis around town that get the job done every time.
Saddle up—High Horse is back. Slated to open this month at Horseshoe at Hub RTP, the bold, boundary-pushing concept from Top Chef alum Katsuji Tanabe—which made a splash in City Market during its short-lived 2019–2020 run—is getting a new lease on life with the help of Raleigh restaurateur Anthony Rapillo.
The fourth collab between Tanabe and Rapillo—following Flour & Barrel, La Taqueria and Katsushi—High Horse 2.0 brings back the spirit of the OG while going bigger in a brand-new standalone building.
Built from the ground up, the space gave Tanabe and Rapillo room to dream big. “The building is just so cool,” says Rapillo, pointing to an abundance of natural light that gives way to a moodier vibe after dark.
A place you could picture Jay Gatsby and Henry Hill waltzing into for a highball, High Horse channels sexy supper club swagger with plum-colored tabletops, custom-made burnt-red booths, textured wallpaper and wood accents. And for a more intimate escape, a private dining room with a custom wine display sets the stage for a more exclusive experience.
At the center of it all sits a show kitchen, elevated on a stage to showcase what’s cooking behind the scenes. A chef’s counter puts diners eye level with the open kitchen, while an indoor/outdoor bar serves both the expansive patio—decked out with fans and heaters—and dining room.
RIDE ON: Dynamic duo Katsuji Tanabe and Anthony Rapillo are teaming up for the fourth time to revive High Horse. Photo By Sean Junqueira
While High Horse 2.0 will have its own look, its signature energy will remain: louder music, people dancing in their seats and drinks flowing, says Rapillo—not quite a nightclub, but not your typical dinner out, either. “We just have to figure out what that looks like in RTP,” he adds.
The pair served up a sneak peek of what’s to come at Flour & Barrel’s two-year anniversary party in October, including the return of OG High Horse’s locally famous cornbread with honey truffle butter—which will share the menu with vaca vieja steak, fresh pasta and cotton candy.
And the spirits? Cocktails from Beverage Director Duke Campbell (of The Willard and Dram & Draught fame) will share the spotlight with a robust wine program. And that signature “ring the bell” ice shot glass will be back.
But it’s not just dinner and drinks—it’s entertainment. “Everything has to be an experience—from the way you walk in to how the food’s prepared to interactions with the servers,” says Tanabe.
Joining Cheeni Indian Food Emporium, Drift Coffee & Kitchen, and Nanny Goat—with Di Fara Pizza Tavern and Prime STQ on deck—High Horse adds another draw to Horseshoe’s dining scene. “There’s a ton of people in that area—I don’t see why they wouldn’t want to hang out there,” says Rapillo. So whether you’re a High Horse devotee from the way back or a first-timer, consider this your cue to get back on the (high) horse.
