Named after a notorious, accident-prone bridge, a new food truck bar is opening near downtown Durham this summer.
The Can Opener combines the food truck superpowers of five popular restaurant names, adds a bar and plenty of outdoor seating. near Brightleaf SquareThe Can Opener will park food trucks from Bulkogi, Chick-N-Que, Gussy’s Greek Street Food and breakfast trolley Queen Egg Express.
For dessert Andia’s Ice Cream opens its newest location and moves into a decommissioned double-decker bus.
The can opener
The idea for this new take on the food truck rodeo originally came from the owners of Bulkogi, Chick-N-Que and Gussy’s, veterans of the Triangle’s mobile restaurant scene.
“We’ve been friends in the food truck industry for a long time,” says Bulkogi co-owner Charlie Ji. “We always wanted to do something together and always wanted to be able to park our trucks there permanently.”
When it opens and how it works
The can opener is expected to be made available to the public this summer, possibly as early as the end of June.
Truck from Bulkogi, Chick-N-Que And Gussy’s Greek is permanently parked and Queen Egg Express will offer a breakfast service in the morning.
An indoor bar serves specialty coffees in the morning and drinks throughout the day; there is also a wall of beer taps.
A hybrid space
Combining a food truck and a bar, The Can Opener is the latest in the Triangle’s line of hybrid restaurants.
The trend was most successful in the area’s food halls, but was kick-started by the former food truck area. County Fare in Durham and similar concepts such as Crafting in Knightdale.
Bulkogi has a long history with alternative restaurant spaces, with its flagship store Namu, a combination coffee bar, beer hall and Korean street vegetable garden, and its premises at Boxyard RTP.
“We love creating spaces where people can really enjoy themselves,” Ji said. “We really enjoy that, we all have families and I think we all love having a place to hang out.”
Why this name?
The name of the new food truck goes back to Durham’s infamous Can opener bridge.
Like the Bermuda Triangle, the bridge exerts a mysterious gravitational pull that draws medium and large trucks through its threshold and then causes them to buckle away from the ceiling.
“The name was easy, we didn’t have to think about it for long,” said Charlie Yi, co-owner of Bulkogi. “From here alone, I’ve seen three (trucks crash into the bridge) in the last month.”
A great sensation
Andiasthe extremely popular ice cream parlor, will operate its business on the ground floor of a double-decker bus.
Scoops of ice cream are served from a window on the side of the bus, while the upper level is open for standing guests and guests to eat and drink.
Andia’s will modify the menu slightly and serve scoops of ice cream and pints to go, but no “monster shakes.”
In 2022, Andia’s was named the Triangle’s favorite ice cream shop by readers of the News & Observer (and last year was voted one of the best in the country by readers of USA Today).
The double-decker bus was discovered and renovated by Chick-N-Que owner Ernest Harris in Alabama.
This is the first move to Durham for Andia’s, which started as an ice cream shop in Cary and then expanded to the Raleigh Iron Works.
“Durham has such a great foodie scene,” said Andia Xouris. “It was always a question of when, not if, we would be in Durham.”
