Alley Twenty Six

The bar's new, but the face is familiar. Shannon Healy of Crook's Corner in Chapel Hill has opened his own spot, Alley Twenty Six, in downtown Durham. There are obvious carryovers from the old restaurant to the new bar, including a plate of pimento cheese, a spread that Bill Neal, Crook's first chef, helped place on the national map. But what persists from the Crook's well—housemade syrups, tonics and a carefully considered wine list—is mostly Healy's doing. Alley Twenty Six's air of maturity comes from Healy's attention to flavor and quality rather than the checkered curtains and mustard-colored walls (which appear more apt for a gentleman's sitting room) or the lack of televisions and bottled sodas