Raleigh popular restaurant will close after 14 years, but its food truck will live on
A downtown Raleigh fixture — a restaurant that blends biergarten with European bistro — will close after 14 years.
The popular Capital Club 16 and its chef and owner Jake Wolf announced this week that the restaurant will close at the end of April and focus on pop-up dinners and its food truck, Wandering Wolf.
Capital Club’s last open day will be Friday, April 26.
“We decided after 14 years it was time to have a little shift in our plans,” said Jake Wolf in a phone interview. “We’ve enjoyed our time downtown, our 14 years. (Capital Club 16) means a lot of things to a lot of different people.”
Taking its name from the 95-year-old, 12-story building on Martin Street, Capital Club 16 offered one of the Triangle’s few German-inspired menus and was a destination for everything from seasonal wine dinners to World Cup matches to its annual Oktoberfest celebration.
Last year, the restaurant launched a food truck, Wandering Wolf, which offered a mobile biergarten menu, serving things like schnitzel sandwiches and bite-sized potato pancakes. Wolf said the food truck, catering and pop up dinners would be the brand’s focus going forward.
Food trucks are typically a stepping stone to a brick and mortar, not the other way around, but Wolf said he’s enjoyed meeting diners where they are.
“When we opened (Capital Club 16) our son was six months old, now he’s about to go into high school,” Wolf said. “It’s amazing what can be packed into a year, a day, a whatever. I haven’t been one to follow the traditional path.”
Wolf trained at the Culinary Institute of America, cooked in Germany and New York, then opened Capital Club 16 in Raleigh. The restaurant became a popular lunch spot and nighttime destination for diners throughout the Triangle. Capital Club 16 served a mix of German and Austrian dishes, including sausages and fried cutlets.
Situated on the corner of Martin and Salisbury streets, the main dining room’s big windows and tall ceilings could catch the afternoon sunshine and fill with light.
Some of the furniture and the back bar were built from pieces of historic old New York restaurants, like the German spot Luchows.
“It’s been an extension of our home,” Wolf said. “We’ve been so fortune to host weddings here, people have had experiences here. When you have a restaurant in downtown Raleigh, it turns out to be a little more than you ever could anticipate.”
Wolf said that his food truck will appear at Brewgaloo this year for the first time and should be expected at a several Oktoberfest celebrations this fall, including one at Trophy Brewing.
To follow the next chapter of Captial Club 16 and Wandering Wolf, visit instagram.com/wanderingwolf.nc.
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