Vidrio, the latest restaurant in Raleigh, North Carolina, from hospitality group LM Restaurants that provides an Mediterranean-style dining experience, opens its door for diners beginning January 23. Located at 500 Glenwood Ave., Vidrio invites guests to experience true Mediterranean cultural dining—a blend of Greek, Turkish, Lebanese, Moroccan, Spanish, and other coastal influences. Vidrio also offers more than 50 wines on tap and another 300 by the bottle.
Guests will be able to visit Vidrio to enjoy pre-dinner cocktails and small plates, or stay and share platter-style meals with friends. Vidrio’s menu will rotate based on availability and seasonality of products, for a curated experience from start to finish. Executive Chef Ian Sullivan and Chef de Cuisine Saif Rahman carefully craft the menu to showcase top seafood, meats, and cheeses and pure, fresh flavors.
Vidrio imports its own olive oil, Vrisi 36, directly from Lou Moshakos’ Greek village, which compliments small snacks such as olives and spiced nuts and dips such as harissa, flavorful hummus, and baba ganoush. Along with a daily rotating selection of cheese, seafood, and charcuterie, guests can enjoy small plates such as beer tartare with a pomegranate gastric herb salad, chestnut gnocchi in a parmesan broth, flatbreads, and fresh seafood such as grilled octopus, grilled prawns with grapefruit and winter greens, and scallop crudo with fennel and pickled lemon.
Larger plates include whole grilled fish, such as a snapper with scallions, basil and mint, or seared salmon with pistachio pesto, and various pastas such as linguini all’amatriciana with tomato and guanciale, and black rice risotto with confit mushrooms and pecorino romano. With each dish, guests will experience a new and bold flavor true to Mediterranean flavor.
The bar, led by Beverage Manager and Chief Mixologist Ahmed Hasan, features not only an unmatched wine offering, but an extensive cocktail list. This includes Vidrio’s beautiful and unique signature cocktail, the “Amortentia,” a gin- and tea-based cocktail which impressively changes color from blue to purple as it’s made and the longer it sits as the guests enjoy their meal.
Vidrio’s two-story space is influenced by coastal colors and textures and the boldness of the earth. As Vidrio is Spanish for “glass,” the main dining room features a stunning wall ofover 350 custom handblown glass pieces. The design features hand-painted tiles, mosaics, wooden dowels, rope chandeliers, original European furnishings, and custom guillotine windows for a visually stimulating dining experience.
“At Vidrio, our guests will be transported to the Mediterranean, experiencing the sights, sounds, and smells of the region,” says Lou Moshakos, founder and owner of LM Restaurants. “We are proud to bring a new concept to Raleigh for people to try something vibrant and flavorful.”
Vidrio offers a variety of private event spaces with a separate bar and catering kitchen. The spaces are suited to accommodate groups ranging from 10 to 250 people in a number of different settings, from a casual party to a business affair to weddings.
