“We want to create a unique hospitality experience that bring travelers and locals together to incite creativity and collaboration,” says Brian Hansen, general manager of Unscripted Durham.
Food options include The Patio, where guests are offered drinks and dishes poolside; allday, a mix-used coffee bar and eatery, and a lounge and cocktail area in the lobby called The Studio. Jeff Lee, director of food and beverage for Dream Hotel Group, says that the goal of the food offerings is to have something for everyone on the menu, whether it’s sushi rolls or burgers. The Patio menu reflects this vision, offering everything from pimiento cheese biscuits to a pork belly bun with sriracha mayo and a grilled lamb chop with yellow bell pepper and mango chili marmalade. The hotel even has its own beer, called Unscripted, a hoppy lager brewed by Durham-based brewery Fullsteam.
Unscripted has expanded past its own on-site offerings by incorporating local restaurateurs to fill the ground-floor storefront. In Durham, these spaces include pay-by-the-ounce taproom Pour Taproom, Mediterranean restaurant and bakery Neomonde, and a diner from the operators of two other downtown Durham restaurants, Littler and Pizzeria Toro. Unscripted pays homage to its roots as the former mid-century hotel by maintaining original architecture and design elements accented by bright colors, geometric patterns, and custom murals. The ground-floor diner will also be called Jack Tar Diner, a nod to the building’s first life as the Jack Tar Motor Lodge.