Undercurrent Restaurant Expands To Accommodate Growing Customer Base
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It wasn’t long after earning a business degree when Ben Roberts found that his passion for the kitchen would also become his career.
For 30 years, he worked and trained as a chef in the Carolinas and Washington, D.C. Today, Roberts proudly runs his own restaurants in downtown Greensboro.
The newest dining spot, Table 16 Restaurant, serves an eclectic, New World menu at the former South Elm Street location of his flagship eatery, Undercurrent Restaurant.
Two years ago, Undercurrent moved to a new downtown location at 327 Battleground Ave., to accommodate its growing customer base.
“Our new dining room is spacious and warm and can seat up to 70 guests,” Roberts says of Undercurrent. “We are enjoying being closer to our lunch clientele. We have 6,000 professionals within two blocks of us.”
The new location also tripled the size of the bar and features a private dining room called the Wagner Room.
Roberts says customers come for business meetings, the weeknight tasting/pairing menus and to check out the Greensboro social scene.
“Saturday nights are for diners who like to see and be seen,” Roberts says. “Everyone knows everyone else.”
The intimate atmosphere is only the backdrop for the diverse menu of New American dishes that changes eight times a year. Customers enjoy the varied renditions of duck and lamb, Roberts says, and the shrimp and lobster spring rolls are also favorites.
“We utilize classical French cooking and then do some of those classics in new ways,” Roberts explains.
Chefs prepare such signature dishes in an open-air-style kitchen at both Undercurrent and Table 16, Roberts says, to “showcase what we do best.”
Story by Emily Lansdell
Photo by Ian Curcio
