About

Mickey Ewell, Greg Overbeck, Pete Dorrance and Kenny Carlson: a partnership that has always been ahead of the curve.

Mickey Ewell started the company when he opened Spanky's on Franklin Street. Although he had no experience in the restaurant industry, Ewell recognized the need for a great hamburger in Chapel Hill, and filled it when he opened Spanky's in 1977. Overbeck, Dorrance, and Carlson all worked at the restaurant and made their way up through the ranks to form a management team that ran the restaurant for several years.

In 1986, the four formed a partnership to fill the need for a seafood restaurant in the Triangle. Squid's was conceived as a combination of Southern fish camp, oyster bar, and Northeastern lobster shack. Its menu offered seafood classics from Calabash to Kennebunkport. Locals were hooked from day one, and it continues to fill up nightly on Fordham Boulevard.

Their next project, 411 West Italian Café, featured the first wood burning pizza oven in the area. 411 West opened on West Franklin in 1991 featuring pizzas and fresh, made-in-house pasta. The menu is Italian with a California twist, and the restaurant has been recognized as "Best Italian Restaurant in the Triangle" many times by local publications.

CHRG blazed a new trail in the Research Triangle Park with Mez Contemporary Mexican and Page Road Grill, a restaurant dedicated to modern southern cuisine. Both provide sophisticated, locally sourced menus for Research Triangle businesses and a convenient meeting place between Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill.

In February of 2021, CHRG opened its newest restaurant, LuluBangBang, in collaboration with Chef and Partner William D’Auvray, former proprietor/chef of Fins Restaurant and bu.ku – both nationally recognized restaurants in Raleigh. LuLuBangBang offers authentic Pan-Asian Street Food and a Tiki Bar in a beautiful modern setting in the RTP on Page Road.

Along with its five award-winning restaurants, CHRG has a catering department to serve the needs of the Triangle community. CHRG Catering operates out of a separate state-of-the-art kitchen at Page Road Grill, and provides full service catering for weddings, businesses in the RTP, local universities, sports teams, and private events throughout the Triangle.

At the beginning of 2021, CHRG lost its founding partner and dear friend, Mickey Ewell. The other partners continue to operate CHRG, and will always gratefully remember Mickey for his extraordinary vision, leadership, and dedication to our restaurants and the Triangle dining scene.