The highly anticipated reopening of the Blue Moon Diner is still…highly anticipated. A call for applications to restaff the West Main Street restaurant, which closed in May 2017, went out a few weeks ago, noting that employees would be strapping on aprons sometime in August.
Now comes word that the Brooklyn-based duo, Charming Disaster, has been booked to play at the Blue Moon at 8pm September 26. We could not confirm the exact reopening date (the answering machine at the diner still says “hopefully this August”) but it better be before September 26!
Charming Disaster is a fitting act to kick off a new chapter for the quirky spot, where vinyl was always spinning behind the bar and musicians periodically played gigs. C-VILLE Weekly described the reopening band’s music as “folk tunes with a cabaret twist,” and a press release notes inspirations including “the gothic humor of Edward Gorey and Tim Burton, the noir fiction of Raymond Chandler, and the murder ballads of the Americana tradition.”
Cheerfully dark, a little theatrical… Just like the Blue Moon.
Open-and-shut cases
As C-VILLE Weekly first reported via Instagram and Twitter, a new Mexican restaurant run by Benos Bustamante, who recently left his post as front-of-house manager at Mas, will open at 816 Hinton Ave. No date has been set (we sense a theme), but Comal is currently testing recipes—and if the food tastes as good as it looks on Instagram, we’ll be there on opening night, whenever that is. Comal takes over the space recently vacated by the clearly misnamed No Limits Smokehouse. Also reaching its limit: Seafood at West Main, which has announced it will close up shop at the Main Street Market on August 31. Owner Chris Arseneault says he’s moving upstream to Jessup, Maryland, to join the sales team at Reliant Fish Company.