photo: Andrew Kornylak
Crook’s Corner’s revered shrimp and grits; the well-known sign with a pig on a pole; a handwritten recipe.
In the beginning there was Crook’s Corner. Every other joint in this town is an asterisk, the what-happened-after parade of four-star restaurants lining Franklin and Rosemary Streets. Crook’s was our first star. I don’t mean to lay it on too thick, but it’s no accident the restaurant sits squarely on the spot where Chapel Hill becomes Carrboro (or the other way around), the Tigris and Euphrates of Southern food. No, Crook’s didn’t invent it Southern food has been here since there was a South but they gave it a coat and tie and a haircut. And it cleaned up well.
A staple of the Chapel Hill restaurant community has closed its doors for good.
Crook’s Corner, which has long served refined spins on Southern cuisine, announced in an email to customers on Wednesday it is permanently closed. The restaurant at 610 West Franklin Street in Chapel Hill first opened in 1982.
“With an incredibly heavy heart, I must share the news that we are closing,” reads the message attributed to the Crook’s Corner team. “The position we find ourselves in, exacerbated by the COVID-19 crisis, is no longer tenable.”
Gene Hamer and chef Bill Neal first opened the restaurant with the goal of featuring regional recipes and meals. After Neal died in 1991, Bill Smith assumed the role of chef for Crook’s Corner and earned several regional awards for his cooking. The James Beard Foundation named Crook’s Corner one of America’s Classic Restaurant in 2011, which the foundations gives to restaurants for qualities like “timeless appeal, beloved for quality
“With an incredibly heavy heart, I must share the news that we are closing,” reads a message sent from Crook’s Corner to its customers. “The position we find ourselves in, exacerbated by the COVID-19 crisis, is no longer tenable.”
The restaurant has been a mainstay in the Chapel Hill community since Gene Hamer and chef Bill Neal first opened it in 1982. The James Beard Foundation named Crook’s Corner one of America’s Classic Restaurant in 2011, which the foundations gives to restaurants for qualities like “timeless appeal, beloved for quality of food that reflects the character of their community.”
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allies and all people who see the trav jeesty and what happen today fight on. the fact that they have scheduled a vote for tomorrow morning has enraged people to set up more protests, more rallies tomorrow that will happen all the way through november, all the way through 2020. this is not a fight that s going to end. rachel crook, zerlina maxwell, thank you very much. along with attorney lisa green and msnbc contributor and host majority reporter on siriusxm, sam seder. there was a sort of legal proceeding today, a quasi legal proceeding there was a political proceeding. there was an extremely raw airing of the most traumatic moment in a woman s life today, and i just cannot believe they are going to call this vote tomorrow. it s a pure power play. it s a pure power play. they re going for it because