Moo & Brew wants to bring ‘the funk back to NoDa’ with second location

Ken Thomas and Zach Current have a long history with NoDa, stretching back to the mid-’90s when both were hanging out at Fat City before they even knew each other. So when the two were thinking about opening a second Moo & Brew location, NoDa was high on the list of possibilities — but it had to be the right spot.

“If we’re going to go to NoDa, it’s going to have to be the prime location in NoDa,” Current said, referring to the intersection of 36th and North Davidson streets.

And now they found that location.

Moo & Brew, the Plaza Midwood burger and beer joint, will open its second location in the former Revolution Pizza building at the corner of North Davidson and 36th (3228 N. Davidson St.). Thomas and Current are shooting to have the restaurant open by mid-summer. And they sounded pretty excited to move into the “cool mansion,” which was renovated in 2002.

“That’s such a cool building,” Thomas said. “I just think that it has so much potential. … Plus it’s set up so that we don’t have to do a ton to create the Moo & Brew feel with it.”

Moo & Brew’s first location opened in Plaza Midwood last June with a simple goal: “Be good at burgers and beers and good times,” Thomas said. The NoDa space will have a similar vibe, though Thomas and Current wouldn’t go into too much detail about what to expect in the new space.

“Some of the signature things we have in the Plaza Midwood space you’re going to see in the NoDa space,” Thomas said. “When you walk into both of them you’re going to know that you’re in a Moo & Brew.”

Here’s what we do know about the new location:

– It’s at least 50 percent bigger than the 1,300 square-foot Plaza Midwood building. (The exact square footage depends on how they utilize and change the space.)

– A lot of that extra space comes in the kitchen, which will be four times as big as the one in Plaza Midwood, according to Thomas.

– The bar has 44 taps, four more than the Plaza Midwood location.

– Moo & Brew bought Revolution Pizza, which closed a couple of weeks ago. Current and Thomas are “retiring” the Revolution brand in favor of Moo & Brew, but they plan to pay homage to the previous tenant.

– Don’t be surprised if you see the new space open — and serving food and drinks — for events and maybe even some UNC basketball watch parties before it officially opens as Moo & Brew. (The two did a similar thing in the Plaza Midwood location, calling it Neighborhood Pub before Moo & Brew officially opened.)

Thomas and Current think the NoDa location will be a natural extension of what they’ve built in Plaza Midwood.

“It’s worked really well for us in Plaza Midwood and we hope to keep cultivating that good vibe (in NoDa),” Thomas said. “It translates really well to NoDa. It’s the same artsy, cool people that we like to be surrounded by.”

Current added that they hope to “bring a little bit of the funk back to NoDa. … There’s a lot of energy here … and we want to be a part of that.”

Photo/illustration: Courtesy of Moo & Brew

This story was originally published March 17, 2017 at 1:01 AM with the headline "Moo & Brew wants to bring ‘the funk back to NoDa’ with second location."