Durham native chef Alex Catotti is coming home with a restaurant shaped by years spent in some of the country’s most acclaimed kitchens. In spring 2027, Catotti and his wife and business partner, pastry chef Erin Kobler, will open Restaurant Cornelia at 949 Washington Street in downtown Durham, introducing a fine-dining concept centered on the bounty of the American South. The couple confirmed the plans during an interview with WhatNow Charlotte.
Catotti said the restaurant represents a goal he has carried for years. Originally from Durham, he began his culinary career locally before spending much of the past decade working in world-class restaurants, primarily in Chicago. He and Kobler connected in Chicago roughly seven years ago and married last year.
“It’s always been my specific vision to go back to Durham and open a world-class restaurant,” Catotti told WhatNow Charlotte. “Restaurant Cornelia is the world-class experience that we have from working under a number of amazing chefs and bringing that back to Durham.”
According to Catotti, Cornelia will offer a constantly changing tasting menu focused on seasonality, preservation and fermentation. The menu will draw from North Carolina and the broader Southern region, including seafood from the Atlantic and North Carolina coast, along with pork and beef from producers in North Carolina and Virginia.
The approach will connect different seasons through preservation, allowing ingredients from one point in the year to influence dishes months later. Catotti pointed to examples including foraged green pinecones in the spring and misos made with winter squash from the previous year.
“It’s taking everything that kind of exists in North Carolina, which thankfully is everything, but then having a focus on preservation and hyper-seasonality, bridging last in a single dish,” Catotti said.
That philosophy will also shape the restaurant’s atmosphere. Catotti said the space is intended to feel sophisticated and elevated while remaining warm, welcoming and approachable.
“We want to make sure that the community feels that it’s approachable and welcome but also perceives the value of this experience that they’re about to have,” he said.
The name Restaurant Cornelia carries a personal connection for the couple. Catotti said it comes from the Chicago street where he and Kobler lived together for their last four years there, serving as a quiet nod to the first home they built together before creating a new one in Durham.
The restaurant’s rose imagery has its own story. Catotti explained that it is inspired by the Cornelia musk rose, whose natural, loose-petaled appearance reflects the character he envisions for the restaurant.
“It’s not what you expect. It’s still beautiful. It’s very natural. It’s connected to the earth,” Catotti said.
Restaurant Cornelia is expected to open in March or April 2027. The couple will also open The Vintner and The Baker as a sister concept in the same building, with the two concepts expected to debut roughly one to two weeks apart.
