Expansion aids area's rebirth

Every weekday from about 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., core restaurant patrons scurry away from sequestered office spaces scattered about the Triangle area.

These nine-to-fivers barely have enough time to hit the brakes going past the drive-thru, let alone the time to drive into town for a leisurely fine-dining experience.

As a result, many upscale restaurateurs remain closed for lunch simply because it is less profitable.

Bucking that trend, Talullas restaurant, at 456 W. Franklin St., began offering lunch last week, making it one of a handful of upscale restaurants in the area that feature a lunch menu.

“Lunch is a difficult thing,” said Talullas’ owner Demir Williford. “It is lower profit, and you need higher turnover. For dinner, you can have people coming in from Raleigh, Greensboro and Durham. (For lunch), you are more dependent on the town of Chapel Hill.”

Williford said he made the change because so many people had asked him for a lunch menu.

And although he only has advertised through a banner draped across Talullas’ front facade, Williford is optimistic about demand for the lunch menu.

“It’s going to take time to develop, but I think (lunch traffic) will be good,” he said.

Thursday afternoon, patrons were sparse at Talullas, perhaps a result of the cold, soggy conditions.

Those who did brave the weather were rewarded with prime parking spots and the Ottoman charms of Talullas’ Turkish cuisine.

While pronouncing many of the menu items might require a translator, dishes such as pideler — Turkish pizza — are aimed to please a multitude of cultural palates.

Williford attributes the popularity of Turkish food in part to the vast expanse of the Ottoman Empire, which at its height reached from Europe to the heart of the Middle East and North Africa.

“I always thought there was a market for this cuisine because it has been around for so long,” he said. “This food has been the result of a cultural infusion for over a thousand years in that part of the world.”

Talullas is one of the most recent additions to west downtown, where restaurants are continually being woven into the multicultural fabric of the area.

Carolina Brewery owner Robert Poitras said the area, which long operated in the shadow of the more high-profile eastern part of downtown, seems to have found its niche: diversity.

“We are so unique with the diversity of restaurants that we want to promote this through the rest of the Triangle and even the rest of the state,” Poitras said.

Poitras organized the West End Group, a collection of 12 restaurant owners, to help give the area’s diverse interests a unified voice.

Both Poitras and Williford are excited about the town’s revitalization of the West Franklin Street area, with an upscale hotel, luxury condominiums and furniture store blitzing through construction stages.

“The whole town should be excited about it,” Williford said.

“In order to have a true downtown, you must have successful businesses to attract people.”

Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.