Chef Jim Noble

Boy, were we excited to finally open the doors of our second Rooster’s location in Uptown on Feb. 29th. After four years of searching for the right location and planning, this labor of love has come to life. We are especially thankful for our great partners who have made this a successful opening.

With the birth of the new Rooster’s, I got to thinking about how Karen and I decided to create Rooster’s in the first place. The seed was planted after I  started Noble’s Restaurant  in High Point in 1983, and then bought at house in ’84. I took out the bushes and began planting my own herbs that I couldn’t find anywhere.  I then followed suit with a bakery when I couldn’t find the bread that I wanted to serve.  This was the beginning of turning our focus to local food for the freshest ingredients. This is also when we started using wood-fired cooking, that has become a signature Rooster’s element now (less carcinogens than cooking with gas, too!).

As time went on, and we relocated to Charlotte, we also began to notice that there was a missing element in casual food market – quality food. Since we’d only done high-end restaurants before, we wanted to address this issue by opening a place folks could dine at more than once a week or month. So, we created an a la carte menu for chefs and foodies alike to enjoy. If you really understand food, you get Rooster’s. We are lucky to have partners that have our best interests as well in sourcing local farmers, etc.

So, now we have brought all of our old world, traditional style cooking that we have been doing for 30 years to the contemporary Uptown. A friend of mine said, “smells like Noble’s down here.” It’s true – you can’t miss our wood-fired kitchen. There really is a renaissance of artisans and craftsmen in this country, and our restaurants are no exception with our artisanal cheeses, salami, breads from The King’s Bakery… And, like I said, cooking with wood really makes a difference. With a wood-fired oven, you get the textures, feels, tastes of crisp skins and outside edges – things that fire does that you can’t do without gas. If I had to cook without wood, I wouldn’t do it.

I’m also getting into craft beers these days. We’re now carrying “Sisters of the Moon,” which is brewed in Kinston, where my family is from. We look forward to carrying more NC and SC craft beers, so stay tuned.

We are open Monday – Saturday at 4pm until March 19th. Starting March 19th, we are open Monday – Friday at 11am and Saturday at 4pm. We hope you’ll come see us in our new digs!