The Yolk opens today at 7th Street Public Market - CharlotteFive
The Yolk opens today at 7th Street Public Market
By
Melissa Oyler
-
January 17, 2019
The Yolk's Greg Collier"
Photo by Alex Cason Photography
The Yolk's Greg Collier
Breakfast (and lunch and dinner) fans, take note:
The Yolk, a popular eatery that originated in Rock Hill, will be open today at
7th Street Public Market.
The menu will be limited for a few days during the soft opening phase, and bring cash for now — this place is so new, they are still getting their credit card machines set up. This week’s menu will include sandwiches, omelets, grit bowls and Tennessee fries in the space formerly occupied by Local Loaf.
Once the place is in full swing, expect to find all of the favorites the original location featured — plus an entire lunch menu. Favorites include WWIII, a Belgian waffle with seasoned or buffalo chicken wings; Benny Yolko, two eggs poached with seasonal vegetables, English muffins and hollandaise sauce; or Kush, a rice and black bean burger, sweet potato mustard and slaw on a pretzel bun.
Photo by Jess Bentley
Tennessee Fries at The Yolk
Or you could try co-owner and head chef Greg Collier’s favorite, Two if By Land, made up of two eggs, cheddar grits and toast. If you’re having it his way, add sausage. “I like a lot of things on the menu, but the grits are kinda my thing,” he said. “We’re going to take our time and cook them slow.”
Collier prepares his grits the same way his grandmother did, which is with a hambone stock. “When I went to culinary school, I wanted to pay homage and show love to my granny.”
[Related:
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Also, the Two if by Land reminds Collier of his early days, eating Krystals Scramblers every morning while working his first job in the kitchen. This dish is his version of the Scrambler. “The Two if By Land speaks to my epiphanies about food, me figuring out that this is what I wanted to do.”
The dish, along with the Mojo Hash — coffee-braised steak, diced sweet potatoes, roasted mushrooms with an over-easy egg and scallion pesto — even got shoutouts on the Food Network’s show,
All American Eats.
Breakfast will be served from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m., with lunch from 11:30-3 p.m.
Evenings will be a little different: each month or two, a new guest chef will be featured as part of a chef residency program. The first month will showcase food from
225 Street Food. “I wanted to give some other people an opportunity,” Collier said. “We’ve had a lot of press this year and a lot of fanfare. While I’m on stage, I might as well share with people who could use the stage.”
Leaving Rock Hill
Photo by Alex Cason Photography
The Yolk’s Greg and Subrina Collier
Rock Hillians know The Yolk well, as it had been a popular breakfast spot since 2012. It was successful, yet Collier and his wife and co-owner, Subrina, found themselves working seven days a week. “Then Toast came, a lot of different places came — the market share got smaller,” Greg Collier said.
Its closing on Mount Gallant Road in September
was originally supposed to be temporary, with the couple hoping to find the right person to take it over. That hasn’t happened, so for now it is permanently closed, he said. Greg Collier
has been serving as executive chef at Loft & Cellar.
[Related:
Rock Hill breakfast hotspot The Yolk is coming to Uptown — and we’re already craving the waffles and benedicts]
It was a tough decision to leave Rock Hill, the community that supported them for 6 years, Subrina Collier said. “Greg and I are transplants — we are from Tennessee; we were in Arizona for 5 years,” she said. “We were just kids [when we arrived] — Greg was 30 and I was 26. We just had a dream and people were very supportive.”
The restaurant’s move to Charlotte made sense for the restauranteurs, who live in Steele Creek and are trying to grow their family. “Being in 7th Street Market is going to work out well for us,” Greg Collier said. “People are really excited.”
