Beginning Thursday, February 10, 2022 restaurants and bars in the downtown Durham Loop (Durham, North Carolina) will come together to create the Small Plates Crawl, a weekly event to draw more dine-in guests to their establishments.
Each participating restaurant and bar will feature something special around small plates every Thursday night, although the exact format will differ from place to place. Some venues will highlight a special small plate, others will offer discounts, and some will provide pairings from their bar.
Current participants of the Small Plates Crawl include Mateo Bar de Tapas, Taberna Tapas, Viceroy, COPA, Luna, Pompieri Pizza, Bull City Burger and Brewery, Jack Tar, Dashi, Rue Cler, Alley 26, Queeny’s, M Pocha and Killer Queen.
“Bringing people together around food and bringing restaurants together—that’s what it’s all about,” says Matt Kelly, owner and Executive Chef of Mateo Bar de Tapas.
Guests are encouraged to go out on Thursday nights and move from place to place, walking through the downtown loop and sampling different small plates. The event provides an opportunity for people to connect with their favorite restaurants and bars while also trying someplace new.
“Instead of having to choose among all the excellent options in the downtown loop, people now have a perfect excuse to say, ‘Yes—And.’ They can visit their favorite spot and they can try somewhere new, all in the same night,” says Elizabeth Turnbull, who is helping to start the Small Plates Crawl and is also co-owner at COPA.
The Small Plates Crawl was born out of a growing need from Durham’s downtown restaurants that have struggled to draw guests for dining in amidst a sharp decline in business due to concerns over Omicron, winter storms and the seasonal cold that reduces demand for outdoor dining.
Downtown restaurant owners, chefs and managers have raised the alarm recently about how little time they have left if business doesn’t turn around quickly. In a recent meeting with elected officials, a number of local business owners made it clear that they’ll run out of funding within months and will be forced to shut their doors forever if something doesn’t change fast. The closures would result in hundreds of local jobs lost, many of which are held by Durham residents.
The Small Plates Crawl is one way businesses seek to address the urgent need. The event expects to draw diners downtown and encourage them to get comfortable with dining in again.
Several participating businesses have pointed out that vaccinations, anti-viral medications, testing and clear CDC guidelines all provide a level of protection against COVID-19 that the Durham community didn’t have in 2020. Many of the participating businesses have been safely serving dine-in guests since 2020. They are confident they can continue to do so amidst the new variants, especially given Durham’s high vaccination rate. A number of the participating restaurants and bars also require proof of vaccination for dining in.
Diners are encouraged to visit durhamsmallplatescrawl.com and follow #smallplatesdowntowndurham on Instagram to learn more about the Small Plates Crawl and keep up with the weekly offerings.
