JULY 2019 // CHARLOTTE 41
When they returned, they struggled to
nd jobs, and Brown discovered she was
pregnant with their rst child.
“My husband wanted to pursue a crazy
idea we had when we were traveling,”
Brown recalls. “He wanted to open a
restaurant.”
With nothing to lose but their life sav-
ings, they took a chance.
“NoDa was two-thirds vacant, but
cheaper than anywhere else,” Tonidandel
says. “I liked the vibe—it never wanted
to be too uppity. NoDa was always a
very accepting, progressive part of town,
and more supportive than some uptown
spaces.”
Their vision for Crêpe Cellar was a
European gastropub, “but at the time,
nobody knew what that was,” Tonidandel
says. “We wanted a spot where people
could go out to be together and not spend
tons of money. Now that everyone was
poor, crêpes were a great vehicle for a
$10 meal, and something no one else in
Charlotte was doing.”
They bought an electric crêpe griddle,
used buckwheat our like they’d seen in
France, and opened with just 11 tables.
Year one was a success, and in year
two, they bought the space next door and
opened Growlers Pourhouse, a cra beer
bar and restaurant. Today they own four
establishments on the same block with
the additions of Reigning Doughnuts and
Haberdish. But Crêpe Cellar’s anniversary
matters most.
The two met at Davidson College in
- They were both athletes—he was
recruited to play tennis, she for basketball.
They started dating a er graduation and
got corporate jobs. Tonidandel worked for
NASCAR, and Brown worked for Lance
Inc., “but we’re both creatives at heart,”
Brown says. “We both have our MBAs, so
we should probably be smarter and go
make more money, but ... ” She smiles.
Today, they live in Dilworth with their
three children, ages four, seven, and nine,
and they manage 96 employees. Business
is good—but they’re not nished.
Once complete, Supperland will seat
about 100 diners, and the cocktail bar
will hold another 40. They’ve hired
Chris Rogenski, a sous chef at Haberdish,
to head the kitchen. Expect chicken,
steaks, and chops cooked on a re grill,
and a rotation of Southern sides served
family-style.
Brown and Tonidandel quietly eye
new spaces all the time, but their existing
restaurants remain the priority. Growlers
will unveil a new food menu this sum-
mer, and Tonidandel says they change
the cocktails three to four times a year,
“because we’re in a hyper-foodie culture
right now, so we stay on top of that.”
They say sta ng is hard, “because it’sthe type of business where people use
it as an island to get somewhere else,”
Tonidandel says, “but we like supporting
(our employees) when we can.” Executive
Chef Steve Kuney has been at Crêpe
Cellar since day one. Carman Spadaro,
Haberdish’s 27-year-old head chef, began
as a sous chef at Crêpe Cellar. And bar
manager Colleen Hughes, who runs the
cocktail programs at all of Brown and
Tonidandel’s restaurants, will create the
drink menu for Supperland.
A er 10 years as restaurant owners,
they know it takes more than just good
food and drinks to make it. For Brown,
it means looking at the dining experi-
ence as multisensory, as a story to be
told. “(The restaurant) becomes a living,
breathing piece of art that you walk into
and become a part of,” she says. “It’s pull-
ing together all these di¤ erent elements
to tell a cohesive story. Being a great chef
is just one part of it.”TAYLOR BOWLER is associate editor of this maga-
zine.(Top) Brown and
Tonidandel’s
restaurants,
from left to right:
(1) Reigning
Doughnuts,
(2) Growlers
Pourhouse, (3)
Crêpe Cellar,
(4) Haberdish;
(left) co-owner
Jamie Brown in
front of Reigning
Doughnuts.2 3
4