The Newest Rooms on West Catawba Were Built Around What They Left Out

"This is about more connection and that chill vibe," Mary Maiorino told Cornelius Today on October 1, the day her new cocktail lounge opened. The lounge is The Alleyway by Harp & Crown. It has one television, and that one is tucked into the far end of the room.

Eleven days later, Hunter's Bagels opened at 19905 West Catawba Avenue with no microwave on the premises and no power outlets for laptops. One opening is a breakfast counter and the other is a late-night bar, a few address numbers apart. Both were designed by taking things out, and together they give this stretch of Cornelius a place to sit at either end of the day where the room itself is the point.

What each one removed, and what it bought instead

The two owner teams have little in common. Brandon Kurz and Andrew Roth are brothers-in-law with New York roots who came to North Carolina from South Florida this year. Mary and Pat Maiorino moved to Huntersville from Raleigh two years ago and bought Harp & Crown in 2024. Still, their opening interviews describe the same approach:

• Hunter's Bagels has no microwave and no laptop outlets. The owners put six figures into bagel-making equipment instead, and they say the missing outlets are part of an old-school deli and bakery feel.
• The Alleyway skips draft beer and sports. It has one TV and no rock bands. What it has is about 20 signature cocktails, jazz, and candlelight.

In both places, what's missing keeps the focus on the counter, the table and the people across from you.

Hunter's Bagels puts the money into the oven

The bagel recipe is Kurz's family recipe. It's 60 years old and goes back to a Brooklyn kitchen. Roth grew up with parents who ran a bagel shop for nearly two decades. The center of the shop is an Empire oven that Cornelius Today described as "about the size of a stand-up shower." It's built to turn out a chewy bagel with a crisp shell.

Kurz explained the oven spending as a promise about consistency. He told the paper that whether "you come in once a month or every single day or a year from now because you're on vacation, you're getting the same product."

The shop is in the former Coffee Republic & Bakery space near Goodwill, now fully renovated. Kurz's mother designed the lodge-style interior. The shop is named for Kurz's one-year-old son, Hunter. That's also where the deer antlers in the logo come from, along with menu names like the Hunter, the Buck, and the Doe.

Before opening, WhatNow Charlotte published the menu:

• Bagels: the classics plus Asiago and jalapeño cheddar
• Schmears: scallion, lox spread, maple bacon, and honey almond, among others
• The Hunter: two scrambled eggs with Boar's Head cheese
• The Buck: the Hunter plus a crispy hash brown
• Lunch: deli sandwiches, a turkey club, Nova lox, and Caesar, Greek, and chef salads
• Bakery and drinks: crumb cake, cinnamon rolls, espresso drinks, and Dr. Brown's sodas

Roth has worked in hospitality his whole career. He told Cornelius Today his service rule: "Even if it costs me an extra cup of coffee or an extra bagel, you're going to go home happy." Opening-week hours weren't published in the local coverage, so check huntersbagels.com before planning an early stop.

The Alleyway turned off the TV but kept the music

At night, the same approach comes back with a cocktail list. The Maiorinos spent 16 months turning the space across the entryway from Harp & Crown into a 75-seat lounge. Cornelius Today reported that the goal was to feel distinctly different from the area's sports and live-music bars.

Mary Maiorino did the room herself. She painted the walls black so the exposed wood beams already in the building would stand out, then added a chandelier and candles throughout. The walls are covered in 1920s-style portraits of Harp & Crown regulars and friends, made by running their photographs through artificial intelligence.

The drinks list has about 20 signature cocktails. A few lean Celtic as a nod to the pub next door, including the Dublin Express, the Celtic Breeze, and the Fake Foolery. Food at opening was charcuterie and appetizers, made both on site and in Harp & Crown's kitchen. The launch hours were 5 p.m. to midnight, Tuesday through Saturday, with weekends also used for private events. Maiorino said that schedule could change.

Music is still part of the plan, just quieter. "It's not going to be the loud music," Maiorino said. "We want our own flavor."

Two volumes from one building on the same night

"The patios connect," Maiorino said when explaining why the space next door was worth taking on. You can see what that means in practice in the October 12 edition of Cornelius Today's Live at the Lake listing. That week, the pub and the lounge booked music on the same nights in different styles:

Every one of those sets was free. The opening announcement said jazz would be "primarily for weekends," but that first full week had it four nights running, starting on a Wednesday. On that Friday, a group could hear a rock band on one side of the shared patio and a jazz trio on the other.

Tuesdays work differently. Harp & Crown's posted hours show it closed on Tuesdays, so at The Alleyway's launch schedule, the lounge was the only one of the pair open that night. The pub's posted hours run 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday, until 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and from 10 a.m. Sunday for brunch.

The lounge also has a monthly themed party series. The first, planned for October, was a Roaring '20s night with a DJ, dancing, and ticketed admission. No date or price had been published by mid-October. The weekly Live at the Lake listing is the most reliable place to watch for it and for upcoming jazz nights.

Getting there from the US 21 side

If you're driving over from the east side of I-77, you'll go through the roundabout project at Catawba Avenue and US 21. That's where the drive is still changing. NCDOT's July 2026 project notice shifted traffic into the south roundabout, on US 21 below Catawba Avenue, after 9 p.m. on July 23. It said the north roundabout "should open later in the fall."

When both roundabouts are finished, left turns at that intersection go away. A driver who wants to turn left from Catawba onto US 21 will turn right, make a U-turn in one of the roundabouts, and then continue. The project is a $14.6 million contract. NCDOT's notice expected completion by winter 2027, and the Town of Cornelius project page lists Summer 2027. Until the north roundabout opens, give yourself a few extra minutes for an early bagel run or a 7 p.m. set.

A day on this stretch of West Catawba

Here's how a full day on this stretch could go now that both places are open:

1. Morning at 19905 West Catawba. Get a Buck and a coffee at Hunter's Bagels. With no laptop outlets, breakfast here works better as a sit-down meal than as a remote-work session.
2. Brunch or lunch next door, on Sundays. Harp & Crown opens at 10 a.m. on Sundays, with its brunch hours listed separately from dinner.
3. Evening at The Alleyway. Doors opened at 5 p.m. at launch. Go for a Dublin Express and a charcuterie board, then stay for whichever trio is playing.
4. Midnight. That was the lounge's launch closing time, Tuesday through Saturday.

Before Hunter's Bagels opened, Kurz and Roth hosted relatives from New York for a taste test. "If we close our eyes, we are back in New York City," the family told them, according to Cornelius Today. At the other end of the day, the room next to Harp & Crown is lit by candles, has one TV, and books a different jazz act most nights of the week.

When I talk with people about Cornelius, I ask which new places they'd actually go back to every week, because those are the details that make a part of town feel like home. If Hunter's Bagels or The Alleyway has become one of yours, or you'd like to talk about the West Catawba side of Cornelius, Nicole Leininger would love to hear about it. Let's Connect.