COURTESY UPTOWN YOLK

Leah & Louise restaurant owners Subrina and Greg Collier are relaunching the re-disigned Uptown Yolk to Vantage South End.

Uptown Yolk is moving to South End.

Two-time James Beard-nominated chef Greg Collier and wife/business partner Subrina Collier will reopen their breakfast-focused culinary concept to a 2,800-square-foot ground level retail space at Vantage South End in the spring. The new Uptown Yolk site will seat about 100 people inside and out.

The redesigned restaurant will include menu enhancements, coffee program and full bar. The restaurant, which moved out of 7th Street Public Market in March, is part of the couple’s BayHaven Restaurant Group.

“Uptown Yolk was able to push through the pandemic, but it hasn’t been able to return to its true potential yet,” Greg Collier said. “Expanding to a full-service restaurant will allow us to bring the best brunch concept in Charlotte to people on a wider scale and expand our clientele even further.”

While Uptown Yolk was in transition, the Colliers put some of its favorite dishes on the menu at their juke joint inspired Leah & Louise at Camp North End last year.

“We enjoyed having Uptown Yolk at 7th Street as it introduced us to a completely new market of guests,” Subrina Collier said. “Our time at the market was a time of learning and growth that prepared us to make this move.”

The Colliers opened The Yolk – Uptown Yolk’s predecessor – in Rock Hill in 2012 with new flavors and techniques that focused on breakfast. The Yolk was closed in 2019 and moved to 7th Street Public Market as the rebranded  Uptown Yolk. Greg was appointed executive chef at Loft & Cellar, during that time where he earned his first James Beard Foundation nomination.

In 2016, the Colliers opened the short-lived @Dawn in Ayrsley, before shifting their attention back to The Yolk and a passion project called Soul Food Sessions, a pop-up dining series featuring Black chefs.

The Colliers are founders of the BayHaven Food & Wine Festival, a three-day festival that celebrates Black foodways. The inaugural event was held last month, and plans  are made for it returns in 2022.

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