Now that we’ve dispensed with the doom and gloom, let’s get down to the bigger news for the Triangle’s future: the new venues, restaurants, and presenters that sprung from the ashes of the dearly departed this year.

The Triangle has a vibrant scene of left-field electronic music, which usually gets its time in the spotlight each May at Nightlight’s Savage Weekend throwdown. This year, however, Raleigh’s Wicked Witch threw its hat into the ring with August’s All Data Lost, a day-long festival exploring the farther reaches of electronic music in North Carolina. The world needs more stuff happening by weirdos, for weirdos, and All Data Lost made for a welcome addition.

Carrboro lost Music Loft, but it gained Twin House Music, which opened in the former space of the long-running music shop ten months after it closed at the end of 2017. Carrboro remains an important hub for hobby and semi-pro musicians alike, and Twin House means the town once again has an independently owned and operated space for new gear, consignments, and more. Here’s to giving less money to corporate behemoths in 2019.

So, a little more music—but so much to eat! We finally joined the ranks of bigger food cities with the opening of two food halls, Blue Dogwood Market in Chapel Hill and Morgan Street Food Hall in Raleigh. Offering a wide range of cuisines under one roof, food halls give local trucks a chance at their first brick-and-mortar, including Cocoa Forte, Oak City Fish & Chips, and Curry in a Hurry at Morgan Street Food Hall. It also gives niche products a chance to flourish—at Blue Dogwood Market, you’ll find gluten-free baked goods at Pizzelle Bakery, peanut-free chocolates at Chocolatay Confections, vegan tacos and wraps at Vegan Flava, and plant-based tamales and arepas at Soul Cocina. With the opening of County Fare Durham, there’s a permanent food-truck rodeo in town, too, with a rotating roster of trucks and craft beer.

In Raleigh, chef-owner Tom Cuomo of Papa Shogun explores the parallels between Japanese and Italian flavors and techniques with whimsical dishes such as fresh-pulled mozzarella with kombu garlic bread and carbonara ramen. Café-bars officially became a thing with the opening of Fig, which slings espresso drinks and quiche in the morning and small plates and cocktails after dusk. Downtown also gained a ramen shop-izakaya hybrid in Tonbo Ramen, which serves seven kinds of ramen on the ground floor and small plates, sake, and cocktails upstairs. Kaiju Bowl & Bao also brought ramen downtown, along with shareable bowls such as bibimbap and sesame-glazed tofu. A few chains of note opened, too, including Wahlburgers (hilariously briefly—see p. 16) and Viva Chicken, a Charlotte import known for Pollo a la Brasa, a Peruvian dish of herb-rubbed rotisserie chicken.

In Durham, Margaritte Malfy brought a taste of the Yucatan with Tamale Factory and Tequila Bar, which serves flavorful tamales and tacos with a medley of zippy sauces and equally zippy cocktails. Building on her catering business, chef Zwelibanzi Williams opened Zweli’s Piri Piri Kitchen, which specializes in her signature chicken and native Zimbabwean dishes such as fried curry cabbage. Ali Rudel realized her brick-and-mortar dreams in East Durham Bake Shop, where she makes seasonal pies and galettes alongside excellent pastries, cookies, and scones. Old Havana moved down the block and became COPA, plating Cuban sandwiches by day and tapas by night, many fashioned after centuries-old recipes using produce from the restaurant’s own farm. Chef Mike Lee’s latest spot, M Tempura, introduced diners to two new concepts at once, omakase-style tempura dinners featuring multiple bites of delicately fried seafood, vegetables, and proteins, and donkatsu lunch sets, where katsu-style meat or veggies are coated with panko breadcrumbs and deep fried. Downtown gained a few good lunch-break options, including Thai at Main Street, which took over the former Dame’s Chicken and Waffles space, Neomonde, the Raleigh-based casual Mediterranean restaurant, and Pokeworks, a national chain trafficking in poke bowls and pokeburritos. Hutchins Garage filled the void for late-night pizza on Geer Street with a menu of thin-crust pies and heftier Grandma-style pizza slices, and Cucciolo Osteria brought its traditional Italian offerings downtown.

Lula’s took over the former home of Chapel Hill institution Spanky’s and became an instant classic with chef William D’Auvray’s signature shallow-fried chicken and biscuits with spun sage honey, and Cary became a dumpling destination with Kathmandu Kitchen, serving Nepalese momos jhol-style in broth or alongside dipping sauces.

As much as we moan about the end of Manbites Dog Theater, we’re already seeing some silver linings. The loss of such a cherished institution always opens a space for new efforts. One of them is Bulldog Ensemble Theater, a new company of Manbites vets—including Akiva Fox, Lakeisha Coffey, and JaMeeka Holloway-Burrell (whose Bull City Black Theatre Festival was also a flashpoint this year, and a beautiful sendoff for Manbites)—began its debut season in the fall with Curve of Departure, a stellar production that verified the concept and landed on our best-of-year list (see p. 26). Manbites is gone, but its legacy will last for years to come.

Indie theater and dance are hurting for venues, but in the academic sphere, both Carolina Performing Arts and Duke Performances gained impressive new facilities. CURRENT ArtSpace + Studio allows UNC to present unique shows in a smaller, more flexible space than Memorial Hall, while the von der Heyden Studio Theater at the Rubenstein Arts Center (call it The Vondy at The Ruby) did the same for Duke.

And film geeks in the Triangle got a gift from the cinema gods this year as Alamo Drafthouse, the national chain known for themed screenings, hearty retro lineups, and strict no-texting rules opened in Raleigh. It also earned national notices for Video Vortex, its old-fashioned VHS rental store. For the span of a couple hours, at least, it’s like Netflix never happened.

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