Rock Hill chef continues his return to Charlotte with a new uptown spot
Add Rock Hill’s Gregory Collier to your list of uptown breakfast stops later this winter. The chef/owner of The Yolk announced Thursday that he will take over the space in the 7th Street Public Market, 224 E. 7th St., that is currently the home of Local Loaf.
Local Loaf owner Adam Spears told The Observer earlier this year that he would leave the 7th Street Market in November, after opening a location of his bakery and cafe in NoDa. The market is designed to be an incubator for businesses, and Spears said at the time that he felt he had done that.
Collier and his wife and partner Subrina Collier already are are well known in the area for several reasons: Their popular breakfast-and-lunch restaurant The Yolk, their work as founding members of the dinner series Soul Food Sessions and his current job as executive chef at Loft & Cellar. They’re also planning to use the 7th Street location as an incubator of sorts, too.
They plan to do a lot of events on Mondays that might include cookoffs with other chefs, cooking classes or collaborations with other market vendors. They also plan to bring in teams of new or lesser-known chefs every six weeks or so to cook dinners on nights when the market is open later.
Collier also is using the market stand as a way to see if a smaller version could work in other places.
“I think the market works so well for everything else we’re trying to do,” he said.
“Our re-entry in Charlotte in the market blasts us off to where we want to go.”
The Colliers tried opening in Charlotte once before, with their restaurant @Dawn in Arsley, which closed in 2017.
The Yolk’s hours at the market will be 7 a.m.-3 p.m. daily. Expect the most popular dishes from The Yolk’s menu, such as chicken and waffles and mojo hash, along with daily specials that will change with the seasons.
Local Loaf will remain at the market until Nov. 30, when The Yolk will get the space. Collier expects to open several weeks after that, hopefully by mid- to late December.