Downtown Fayetteville gets a new brunch restaurant with Instagram-worthy decor

Normal is boring.

The mantra, scrawled in big black letters on a wall at downtown Fayetteville’s newest restaurant, captures the ethos behind the Salad Box & Some.

The forthcoming all-day brunch restaurant has roots in the Salad Box on Murchison Road, but with a brand-new menu and Instagram-worthy decor, the former salad bar is practically unrecognizable.

Slated to open Friday at 132 Person St., the site was formerly the Quesadilla Gallery, and before that, the Fried Turkey Sandwich Shop.

Now, tables, chairs and countertops swirled with sparkling blue and pink paint match bright walls adorned with hundreds of silk flowers. The glitzy interior is designed to be the perfect backdrop for pictures posted to social media feeds, co-owner Robb Barber said.

But make no mistake, food is the star of the show, Barber, 44, said. Though he admits that he has no culinary experience — Barber was not a co-owner at the restaurant’s previous location — he is determined to make the dishes one-of-a-kind.

“I’m a big eater,” he said. “I know what tastes good.”

Like the previous location, customizable salads are still part of the menu, but the selection has expanded to include loaded baked potatoes, stuffed peppers and shrimp and grits.

Barber said they plan to serve an upscale take on a McGriddle, a pancake sandwich with cheese, egg and sausage or bacon, drizzled with maple syrup and powdered sugar.

But what’s brunch without booze? The restaurant plans to serve wine, cocktails and champagne towers, Barber said.

Customers can dine in with table service, order meals to go in-store, or get pickup or delivery through Toast, an online third-party platform. Business hours are expected to be 7:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday-Saturday, closed Sunday.

Starting anew downtown

When Tonya McNeill first opened the Salad Box in April last year on Murchison Road, the restaurant made a splash for offering healthy meals. The historically Black corridor suffers from limited access to fresh food, otherwise known as a "food desert." For a city neighborhood such as this, a person is considered to be living in a food desert if they are more than a mile from a grocery store, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Moving the restaurant from Murchison Road is bittersweet, she said.

“I brought it there because that area was missing the healthy side of food,” McNeill said. “It’s a shame that we couldn’t get the support that we needed to keep it there.”

Both owners said that they would consider reopening at a location in the corridor.

Until then, however, they said they are focused on the Person Street restaurant, which they hope will be a flagship location.

“I’m excited about it, and excited about what we’re bringing to the downtown area,” McNeill said.

Food, dining and culture reporter Taylor Shook can be reached at tshook@gannett.com, on Twitter, or Facebook. Want weekly food news delivered to your inbox? Sign up for the Fayetteville Foodies newsletter.

This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: The Salad Box & Some to open in downtown Fayetteville Nov. 3