Scratch bakery downtown rumored to debut next week

Update: The Independent Weekly also has a nice feature on Scratch this week, including more background on Lawless' path from Magnolia Grill to "Pie Lady" to her own business.

According to the local foodie blog VarmintBites, Phoebe Lawless' new downtown outpost Scratch will be opening up on the Orange St. pedestrian mall come next week, assuming all the final inspections pull through okay.

The new digs were announced back in January, and construction got underway in March to upfit a pad that'd been pegged out as shell space, likely when 111 Orange was converted to mixed-use residential over retail a few years back.

Lawless -- better known as the "Pie Lady" for her sweet and savory pies available around the Triangle, including of late at the Durham Farmers' Market -- has had brown wrapping paper covering the windows of the establishment in recent weeks, thwarting the attempts of two-big blogger hacks to get a peek inside (cough, cough).

According to the VarmintBites report, the bakeshop will be open 7:30am to 4:00pm Mondays through Thursdays, 9am to 3pm Fridays and Saturdays. And yes, to answer Ross' question from back in January -- VarmintBites sez there'll be an espresso machine serving up some coffee drinks and the like. 

Read more over at VarmintBites.

Comments

[Ross Grady]

Actually, the brown paper came down over the weekend & the space looks gorgeous.

I was walking home from the Pinhook last week & saw lights on, so I wandered by & found Phoebe & Chuck in there putting the padding on the benches & etc. At midnight. They've been totally busting their humps to get the space ready, and it shows. They had a contractor do all the framing & kitchen build-out & whatnot, but a lot of the finish work they've done themselves.

The most crucial detail in Dean's post, one that I've personally heard people asking Phoebe about, is that there *will* still be a Scratch booth at the Farmer's Market on Saturdays. She wasn't there this past weekend because she was moving her setup from her old space to the new space, and the market folks actually left an empty space where her booth should've been . . . and there were people sort of standing there looking mournful & confused. ;-)

Oh, and yes, the espresso machine was installed last week.

I'm a little bit concerned about having two first-rate bakery/cafes within 3 blocks of home, but in the grand scheme of things, that's about the best possible problem to have.

[Toby]

Kevin -

Phoebe Lawless' website appears to be here: http://www.piefantasy.com/. The link you provided is to a post about Scratch on Dean McCord's blog, VarmintBites.

Not sure why Phoebe's site doesn't have any information about her new venture... prolly just too busy to post it.

[mark dessauer]

i was mournful and confused last weekend. My doughnut muffin fix was not satiated. Thanks for the update.

[Natalie]

I TOO went without a dougnut muffin last Saturday.

I am so very super excited that this is opening up. Can't wait to pop in on my walk to work.

[Michael Bacon]

Whoa. Wait a second. I need a moment.

Somehow, in my haste, I'd failed to connect Scratch coming downtown with a more consistent supply of doughnut muffins downtown.

This is going to take some getting used to. I think I.... like it. Yes, I think I like it a lot.

[Chuck Samuels]

Chuck here. Thanks Ross for the compliments! We were glad you popped by. And thanks everyone else for the comments. We are getting very close. Working out a few kinks with equipment and putting on the final touches. With luck we will be open next week. And Toby, you do have our web address correct, and yes we have been to busy to update. Look for a new site coming online in the next few days courtesy of our friends at Green Olive Media in Atlanta. Thanks again everybody!