New Dilworth restaurant in old church sets plans to open. A film crew captured the scene
After moving a 120-year-old brick building down the road a little in the fall in the Dilworth area, husband-and-wife restaurant owners Jeff Tonidandel and Jamie Brown are looking forward to opening the doors of the historic building next door.
And they’re excited about their work being on TV too.
The Tonidandel-Brown Restaurant Group is close to having Leluia Hall ready for customers this winter. Their goal is to open in early February inside a 110-year-old church on Cleveland Avenue. Customers will be greeted with a steak and surf menu, according to Tonidandel.
“We know it’s been a long road to wait — trust us, no one feels that more than us,” Brown said in a public email message to supporters.
The church at 1829 Cleveland Ave. is next to the historic Leeper & Wyatt structure. The former grocery store was moved 750 feet away from its old location at 1923 S. Blvd. in September. The whole process for the move took about three hours.
The couple saved the building from demolition after plans were announced to build apartment buildings on the corner of East Tremont Avenue and South Boulevard. It operated as a grocery store for more than 50 years.
“We love the historic projects that we have, and being able to save those buildings and do something cool with them is really special,” Tonidandel said.
Repurposing historic sites
The couple is known for restoring old places and turning them into restaurants. Their Supperland business in Plaza Midwood is also in a restored mid-century church.
“We find it pretty fulfilling,” Tonidandel told The Charlotte Observer. “It creates a really cool place with a soul and it makes the restaurant more enjoyable.”
The projects bring a historic presence for the area surrounded by huge commercial projects in Charlotte’s South End, Tonidandel said.
Charlotte has a long history of knocking down old buildings as growth continues in the city. It’s a pattern the couple is trying to upend.
Brown and Tonidandel are working with an architect to turn the Leeper & Wyatt building into a restaurant. More details on that project will be announced in 2026.
But at the moment, their focus is on Leluia Hall.
Construction work took a couple of years after Tonidandel and Brown acquired the building three years ago. The sales price was more than $3.8 million in October 2022, according to Mecklenburg County property records.
It was previously used by the former Bonterra Dining & Wine Room. Tonidandel declined to disclose the cost of renovations.
The church’s property dates back to the 1800s, according to Bonterra’s history. It was originally the Atherton Methodist Church and was the first permanent prayer structure in the area.
The building’s original wooden exterior was replaced with brick and it was re-christened as the Dilworth Methodist Episcopal Church South. First Church of Nazareth occupied the building for 47 years before the Greater Providence Baptist Church used the space from 1973 to 1987.
Later, John Duncan and his father Jack acquired the property and opened Bonterra in 1999. It closed there in 2021 and operated for a time at Phillips Place.
Leluia Hall is not even open yet, but Bon Appétit magazine named the restaurant among eight “must-visit restaurants” around the country to try this winter. Brown said it’s an incredible boost as they spring towards opening.
The publication noted that executive chef Chris Rogienski from Supperland is building a menu with raw bar features like seafood towers, ceviches and steaks sliced tableside.
TV dinners on the tube
Charlotte-based Susie Films is producing “Fork & Hammer,” a documentary series about Tonidandel-Brown and their restaurants. The production company is working with South Carolina Educational Television to present the series to national audiences on PBS, according to Scott Galloway, founder of Susie Films.
The film company made contributions to networks such as ESPN, Food Network and PBS.
Film crews captured the work of moving the Leeper Wyatt building up the street and setting up Leluia Hall. The series will also show them managing five restaurants, more than 200 employees and meeting with culinary professionals for menu ideas.
“It’s all the things we go through every day to run a restaurant, create menus and have great food and consistency,” Tonidandel said about the production.
And it will show them taking trips for inspiration with their three children.
An ‘exciting’ showcase
A premiere date has not been announced for 2025, but it will depend on the Leluia Hall opening and film work like editing, Tonidandel said. The grand opening and celebrations will be filmed in the winter.
The first season for Fork & Hammer may come on TV in the summer with 10 half-hour episodes, according to Galloway.
Galloway was impressed with Tonidandel and Brown running multiple restaurants with different styles of meals in old buildings. “It’s really high-quality food,” he said. “If you get a meal at Supperland, you’re eating at one of the top restaurants in the Southeast, if not the nation.”
Galloway was also impressed with how almost everything like pasta to syrups is handmade. That also includes furniture parts by Tonidandel and other craftsmen.
“It’s been exciting to showcase that and learn about it,” Galloway said. “They spend so much time on the details to get things exactly right.”
This story was originally published December 30, 2024 at 5:50 AM.
