Stardust Site Imagery

The Site

The Stardust was the former restaurant that occupied the space. The building has been a restaurant since the mid-1940’s. It was previously the Charcoal House, a steak house. It is in need of lots of renovation, refurbishment and love.

Robert Portner Brewery

Until Prohibition, the largest brewery in the South was located near the restaurant site. In our attempt to represent the property’s history, I want to acknowledge the brewery.

Old Dominion Glass Co. & Lewis Hine

Old Dominion Glass was located near the restaurant site as well. It provided bottles to Portner Brewery and other local businesses. It was featured in Lewis Hine’s photographic works in 1911 as part of his effort to highlight child labor practices throughout the US. His work assisted in creating national child labor standards. In addition, it also showed that labor at the glass works was integrated during the early part of the 20th century. The Old Dominion Glass Co. burned down in 1925.

Bryan’s Store

This place has influenced my effort to bring a Southern flavor to the restaurant. Now closed, this business served the local community around around Institute, NC for several generations. It was gas station, general store, and meeting house for the community. My hope is we can integrate those flavors into this restaurant as we go forward.

The Counter

The Cheese Case

Never forget a sense of fun and humor

Prime Meats

Located in the Carroll Gardens neighborhood of Brooklyn, Prime Meats began in a small space and has grown in a few years into a inspiring restaurant. While its Germanic and Alsatian menu is not what we want in our restaurant, it does provide an aesthetic exemplar to our business.

Classic Store Fronts

Period Advertising Images

Inspired by Papier Valise and its period products

So Jen and I were discussing the idea of having the bar open to sell beignets in the morning. She came up with something brilliant. So imagine the bike bellow, with The Esquire logo. It might not be an everyday thing, but maybe just on the weekend. But someone would ride the bike through Old Town selling sacks of beignets until that days quota was sold. She even said to design a ‘Where’s the Beignet Bike?’ app for the iphone, and we could have the bike with GPS so it could be located. It could also be rented to do events, a la a In-N-Out trailer.