Mercantile and Mash Opens Tomorrow Without Original Executive Chef [Updated]

Food hall Mercantile and Mash set an opening date of September 23, and the team intends to keep it — even if they did just part ways with executive chef Trey Dutton. [Update: The new opening dates are Mash, Thursday, September 24, at 4:00 p.m. and Mercantile, Friday, September 25, at 7:00 a.m.] Post and Courier broke the news last night that Dutton and The Indigo Road restaurant have separated. Tim Morton, of Cary N.C. restaurant Herons and The Umstead Hotel, will take Dutton's place in the kitchen come October 1.

The opening will go on, as proprietor Steve Palmer told writer Hanna Raskin, "Obviously if we were panicked, we wouldn’t be doing it." He relayed that the current back-of-house team can fill in until Morton comes on board to Mercantile and Mash.

Though, if you are concerned about the menu, let's not forget there's still over 100 whiskeys to sample at the bar and keep you occupied, as bar manager Jeremiah Schenzel demonstrates in this Instagram video.