This new concept from the team behind C Grace and Sidebar in Cary offers elevated craft cocktails in a timeless atmosphere
Outside: a facade painted forest green, the trimwork almost-black, the bar’s names in a classic serif in a brassy gold. Inside: a polished-wood bar, leather booths, petite marble-topped tables. Plaid pillows echo the wallpaper insets in the ceiling, and an Oriental rug adds a homey touch.
This is Mr. Henry, a new bar in the Village District that offers a complete departure from its neighbors. “We wanted a space that felt timeless,” says co-owner Matthew Bettinger, “like it could’ve been there for 50 years and will still feel right 50 years from now.”
For two years, Matthew, his wife, Catherine, and business partner Jeff Kinard, the three leads at CMJ Hospitality, had been on the hunt for their next project. After closing downtown Raleigh’s beloved jazz bar C Grace in 2022, the co-owners of Hank’s Downtown Dive and Sidebar in Cary felt something was missing closer to home.
“We thought, maybe we should open the bar we wish existed,” says Matthew. So when the former Which Wich sandwich shop space in the Village District became available, Catherine immediately saw the vision. She designed the space, leaning into her childhood memories of riding horses to weave an equestrian theme throughout the bar. The narrow space has a long bar lit by glass-encased pendants, with vintage illustrations of horses and riders on its walls. To keep the space from feeling “too new,” they brought in hand-me-downs from their other spaces, including pre-loved tables from Hank’s…