“It’s a very cool project,” says Tanabe, who was brought on by local restaurant guru Anthony Rapillo. When it came to the chef’s vision, “the No. 1 thing I told Anthony was, ‘Hey, we need to make our own pasta from scratch,’” he shares. But not just any old pasta: Rather than churning out “traditional spaghetti or linguine,” Tanabe reveals, “we’re going to be making rooster combs and radiatori—different styles of pasta you don’t see that often here in Raleigh.”
Indeed, Flour & Barrel will flaunt Italian fare—Tanabe-style. “I’m not Italian, everybody knows,” says the culinary powerhouse. “What I’m doing, it’s my take on Italian food. If you ask me to come to your house and cook some Italian, well, I’m going to cook it, but I’m still going to use my flavor profile.” In fact, Tanabe wouldn’t even go as far as calling Flour & Barrel an “Italian” restaurant: “We are a place serving pasta—really good pasta,” he emphasizes.
To wit, Tanabe shares that 90% of the restaurant’s menu is cooked in a giant pizza oven, giving it that perfectly imperfect “rustic” flair. “We’re going to be roasting fish and chicken in there, and braising meatballs,” he explains. And don’t sleep on the cocktails: Tanabe took advantage of the craft brewery on-site to concoct several creative sips combining beer with spirits like gin and amaro.
Beyond his restaurant work, Tanabe is in the early stages of writing a cookbook. “It’s separated by moments in my life—like when you’re happy, when you want to entertain people… when you’re going through depression,” he explains. By showing “how different times in my life have affected my cooking style,” Tanabe hopes to create something that’s equal parts fun and relatable.
And, as if he wasn’t busy enough already, the celeb chef has a number of projects in the works in Chicago—from a partnership with iconic bakery Bittersweet to the Windy City debut of his fast-casual Mexican kosher eatery Mexikosher (also on the horizon: a Chinese kosher joint in Chi-town). He’s even got his sights set on Atlanta, which he’s currently eyeing as a potential destination to reopen High Horse, his first Downtown Raleigh venture that shuttered in 2020.
Despite all his jet-setting, Tanabe says Raleigh is home. “My wife and kids told me already, ‘We’re never moving out of Raleigh,’” he shares. “Moving [here] was probably one of the best things we’ve ever done.” … And we couldn’t agree more.
Tanabe answers our burning Qs.
Best local dish or resto you’ve tried lately? Boulted Bread. That bread is just the best bread I’ve ever had. We are lucky to have such a good bakery in Raleigh. The awful part is on Sundays, usually I wake up late and when I get to the bakery they’re almost out of everything.
Go-to summer cocktail? We have amazing watermelons, so I like to juice and cold-press them. … Imagine a whiskey sour, but with a sour watermelon. So, you put watermelon juice, American whiskey, sweet and sour, and a little egg white; shake it; and put it in a martini glass.
Favorite place to be when you’re not working? Believe it or not—cooking. Living in NC, especially in Raleigh, we have an amazing backyard. Living in LA, I didn’t have anything like that. I have seven different grills. I like to smoke; I like to braise—I like to do it all. We do a lot of nontraditional BBQ, so we’ll do a lot of Asian-inspired dishes. … We try to go quite often to the farmers market to see what’s available locally and then just go wild. My kids, my wife, we love doing that.
Dream chef collab? I was able to cook with Brother Luck, Brooke Williamson, Casey Thompson—all these people I see on TV and admire. So that’s a dream I’ve actually accomplished. … And the best thing is, cooking with friends you actually get to learn—you learn real techniques. All these guys on Top Chef are just amazing people to cook with.
One thing still on your bucket list? I want to open a very elegant Japanese restaurant. … I’m working on it.
Katsuji Tanabe flexes his chef expertise via the upcoming restaurant’s rustic yet elevated menu.
Flour & Barrel’s shining star is poised to, ahem, rise—and the new restaurant from Anthony Rapillo and Jon Seel hasn’t even opened yet. Enter local celebrity chef Katsuji Tanabe, who Rapillo recently tapped to help curate and design the elevated menu.
While the overarching theme of the menu hasn’t changed much from the previously announced iteration—with focaccia sandwiches and homemade pastas being the two pillars on the “flour” side—the duo completely reengineered the dishes, adding some Tanabe-influenced flair.
See the likes of a standout bone marrow dish, oven-fired shrimp, oven-roasted quarter-leg chicken and lots of fresh made-to-order pasta, natch, made with a machine from Italy. Think lasagna prepared in a cast iron with meat sauce, ricotta and bechamel; fusilli with nduja sausage and chile oil; and mafaldine topped with a vodka sauce.
“The menu is all about being rustic and taking advantage of the amazing Italian oven (the biggest oven I’ve ever seen),” says Tanabe, who had help from and was inspired by his Italian chef friend, Silvia Barban, of LaRina in Brooklyn. “This is like me making you pasta at my house—full of flavor and memorable.”
“We are not a fancy establishment, and we are not an authentic Italian restaurant. These are Italian pastas and techniques made by me in my style of cooking.”
—Katsuji Tanabe
The pair were first introduced to each other at a Raleigh MagazineBest Bars Party (!), but Rapillo admits he was a fan of the Top Chef winner (and the show) before they met. And this isn’t the first time they’ve worked together since that fateful meeting: Rapillo has hosted two private pizza dinners at his cocktail bar Flask in which he and Tanabe created a menu together for ~30–40 people.
“We became really close, really quick—I always wanted to partner with him,” Rapillo recalls. “He’s a better chef than anyone I’ve ever met. He’s even influenced the cocktail menu.” (Hey, beer-infused cocktails!)
Now, the talented restaurateurs are finally taking on that journey together, with Flour & Barrel anticipated to open later this month. “I knew he would be able to take [the restaurant] to a place we just would not be able to take it to without him—and he’s proven that even before we’ve opened,” maintains Rapillo. Clearly, dining and imbibing here should be at the *top* of your list.
We chat with Love Is Blind Season 6 cast member and former Raleighite on the truth behind pod dating.
*Spoilers ahead!*
Is love truly blind? According toLove Is Blind Season 6 cast member Ariel Gomerez, it’s only “legally blind.” Adding with a laugh, “it doesn’t have 20/20 vision.” A former Raleighite (he helped open V Pizza’s Raleigh location with owner Anthony Rapillo), Gomerez is one of the 30 men and women who opted to try to find love sight unseen by only talking to potential love interests in “pods” separated by a wall.
The popular reality TV show hosted by Nick and Vanessa Lachey on Netflix challenges these singles to prioritize an emotional connection over a physical one, with couples only getting to see each other face-to-face post-proposal. They must then test their relationship in the real world before saying “I do” at the altar—or walking away forever.
Upon the release of the first half of season six—which took place in Charlotte—we chatted with the licensed mortgage loan originator about his experience on the show, what he’s learned about dating and more.
How did you get cast on the show?
I applied on a whim after someone told me they were doing casting calls. I filled out a questionnaire; got a phone call from them; and then started a three-month process of interviews, Zoom calls and different things of that nature. Filming started at the end of March 2023.
Why did you want to be on Love Is Blind?
I wasn’t thinking, ‘Oh, let me just do this to get on TV’ or anything. I’m a little bit older; I’ve dated for a good chunk of my life. I just thought this would be a good experience—and let me see how this works out.
How would you describe your experience?
My experience was good; I don’t have any complaints. I met a lot of great friends. The only people I hang out with here for the most part are guys I met from the show who I got super close with. I’m friendly with everybody.
Did you make a romantic connection?
Obviously I didn’t make it past the pods portion. Toward the end, I was down to two people I was interested in, one more so than the other—but it just didn’t work out. … I have a bad habit of doing a lot of overthinking, so I probably talked myself out of that connection. It was me in my own head that kind of got in the way for me.
Why did you decide not to follow through with the proposal?
You get to the first date and you’re like, ‘Oh, this is fun,’ and then as the dates go on, you’re like this is getting kind of serious. But then you get into wedding ring talking, marriage certificate talking… and it kind of hit me. And that’s when the overthinking started. I’m not saying I didn’t want to get married. I just started self-reflecting on myself—like am I ready to be a husband to this person? And then once you start sounding unsure to the person on the other side of the wall—especially when other days you sound so sure and so calming—it can kind of throw people off. It is very real in there. I don’t know why, for whatever reason, it didn’t fully click with me in the beginning, but it caught me while I was in there.
Give us the tea on pod dating.
It was interesting talking to people through a wall without any other distractions. You don’t really know how many distractions there are in the real world until you get somewhere where there’s absolutely zero distractions. I know when people see the show they’re like, ‘Oh, how do you fall in love in four days?’ And it’s like, well, in four days I spoke to this person for about eight hours without interruption. So by the time you’re done, you total up 20–30 hours talking to one person uninterrupted—so there’s really nothing else to do except get really emotional and build connections.
Take us behind the scenes… how does dating really play out?
The first day you’re there you talk to everybody. From there, it’s who you want to talk to the next day, and then it goes from there. It was almost like a dating app. If you match them and they match you, you date the next day. And then things go on. Maybe one person doesn’t want to see the other. It’s really you choosing who you want to see again and whether or not they also want to see you again.
What was a typical day-to-day for you while filming the show?
It was almost like a frat house of bored guys. Once you get in the lounge, they let you know who your dates are. As the days go on, you have less and less dates. If you’re not on a date, you’re in the lounge just hanging out. They supply you with a ton of food—I was eating a lot. The lounge is pretty big, so I would walk around [and] play sudoku. If we didn’t have dates at the same time, my friend Nolan and I played pool. So they have to have easily hundreds of hours of footage of us just on the pool table. They had a workout center there, but I didn’t use it. … A lot of people would journal, write down their thoughts. Some people brought books or a chess board.
What did you learn from your experience on Love Is Blind?
It was really insightful. Obviously there’s not a lot of distractions, so you have a lot of time on your own. There’s no phones, TVs, nothing like that. So there’s a lot of self-reflection. It was a big part of the reason I decided to switch out of the restaurant business. I decided the restaurant thing wasn’t what I wanted to do long term. And that’s when I decided to get back into mortgages, which is what I was doing before the restaurants. I also decided to move to Charlotte, and I’ve been here ever since.
What was your biggest takeaway when it comes to love and relationships?
The physical part is an important aspect, but you can build a real connection in there. The couples who get married, they last—like more than regular couples. It does work. Personality definitely goes further than looks by far.
Now that you’re out, what’s your MO when it comes to dating?
Talking to other people now is very different. I’m in sales, so I’m good at chitchatting, even if I’m not interested. But now, after doing dating this way and just seeing how much further it goes and wanting more than just casual dating, I take that portion of the process a lot more seriously than I did before. A deeper connection can go a long way.
A new partnership is brewing in the Little City Brewing space.
Little City Brewing is entering a new era. The local favorite Local Icon Hospitality brewery in Smoky Hollow will be transitioning into a brand-new operation dubbed Flour & Barrel, a collaboration between local restaurant guru Anthony Rapillo (of V Pizza, Flask Cocktail Bar and The Side Door Craft Cocktails fame) and current owner Jon Seelbinder—opening at the end of May. A modern-day meet-cute, the partnership began on Instagram.
“I was incredibly fortunate to meet Anthony after he reached out via a heartwarming Instagram message as a young entrepreneur,” recalls Seelbinder. “I have seen few with as much grit, enthusiasm and genuine love for the business. He will undoubtedly continue to excel and grow in this space.”
Seelbinder emphasizes the Little City location has always been a natural fit for a crafted food-driven concept—and Flour & Barrel will certainly fit that vision. Rapillo plans to add a full kitchen; demo one of the bars; and update the bar tops, floors and chairs, giving the entire space a face-lift.
The name a nod to its split intention (read: housemade pasta and bread and barreled spirits), Flour & Barrel will lean heavily on rustic Italian small plates highlighting flour-based dishes—think focaccia sandwiches and deconstructed lasagna, plus different types of meatballs and chicken dishes, with ingredients repeated throughout to create a zero-waste kitchen. And for those who get hungry in the after-hours, a late-night menu will serve up pizzas, sandwiches and more after 9pm (!).
Photo by Sean Junqueira
On the “barrel” side of the menu, F&B’s cocktail list curated by Flask’s beverage director will bring barrel-aged trends like bourbon and mezcal to the forefront. The microbrewery in the back will continue to play a huge part in the new restaurant/bar under head brewer Josh Wing, who was also part of the original Trophy team and ended up at Little City via a 20-year connection between Seelbinder and Trophy’s Woody Lockwood, Wing’s first cousin.
In keeping with its trend-forward, industry-competitive MO, the beer lineup promises to stay fresh and delicious, with new flavors like an Italian Lager to complement the Italian-based menu.
“I’m incredibly excited for the opportunity to work with Anthony and to lean on the continued mentorship of Jon to bring crafted food and an expanded cocktail program into this space,” says Wing. “I think the oven-fired menu and Anthony at the helm fill a much-needed void in this part of town—and I can’t wait to brew new beers, reimagine existing brands, and just get really creative to match the innovation that will surely flow from the kitchen and bar programs.”
Also gone is the OG LCB regularly front-parked Virgil’s food truck—because full kitchen—making way for a streetside patio a la parklet (think like Clockwork’s), adding extensive outdoor seating come the warmer months.
With the alfresco op and upscale food and bev menus, Rapillo hopes to add a new upscale flair to the cherished space, separating itself from the DJ-dense Glenwood South party scene and draw in locals looking for a more “adult” outing—sans the shooters, party vibes and hangover. “We don’t want to cater to a college crowd—or even kids who are 22 or 23 just looking for loud music or a DJ and a place to go get really drunk,” says Rapillo. Instead, it’s more of a hot spot for a date, GNO wine night or a friendly group outing over craft cocktails.
“When I first moved here—I lived a couple blocks from [Flour & Barrel]—I was the exact clientele we’re looking for,” Rapillo continues. “We’re going for the working professional living in Smoky Hollow or other nearby apartments or even the condos directly above us. You pay all this rent and there’s not a ton of places within walking distance that fit the vibe you’re looking for… like an elevated cocktail bar.” And there’s no doubt that Flour & Barrel will deliver that high-quality experience. Cheers to change! flourandbarrel.com
