West Catawba Just Got a New Morning and a New Midnight
In October 2026, two independent businesses opened in the 19900 block of West Catawba Avenue in Cornelius. Hunter's Bagels opens at 6:30 in the morning. The Alleyway by Harp & Crown stays open until midnight. One makes bagels and the other mixes cocktails, but the owners described them in nearly identical terms. Each one was built around a short list of things it deliberately does not offer.
At Hunter's Bagels there are no laptop outlets and no microwave. At The Alleyway there is one television, set at the far end of the room, and the live music is meant to stay in the background. Together they give that stretch of West Catawba a full day of places designed to keep people at the table and talking.
Hunter's Bagels opened Monday, October 12, at 19905 W. Catawba Ave., in the former Coffee Republic & Bakery space, as the Lake Norman Beacon reported. If you are driving by, look for it near Goodwill.
The owners are brothers-in-law Brandon Kurz and Andrew Roth. Cornelius Today reported that they moved from South Florida this year after Kurz sold his custom golf cart dealership. They considered a bar and grill and a deli before deciding on bagels. The bagels come from Kurz's 60-year-old family recipe, which traces back to a Brooklyn kitchen. Roth grew up with parents who ran a bagel shop for nearly two decades.
That Cornelius Today profile was built around a refrain the owners know well from Northeastern transplants around Lake Norman: "They don't know how to make bagels down here." Kurz and Roth answered it with equipment. They put six figures into bagel-making gear, including an Empire oven about the size of a stand-up shower that is meant to produce a chewy bagel with a crispy shell. The paper also reported that there is no microwave anywhere on the premises and that everything is made from scratch, breakfast-sandwich eggs included.
The missing laptop outlets are a design choice too. Cornelius Today described it as part of an effort to recreate the feel of an old-school deli and bakery, where the owners spread schmear alongside their employees. Kurz's mother designed the interior, and the fully renovated space has a warm, lodge-inspired feel. The shop is named for Kurz's one-year-old son, Hunter. That explains the deer antlers in the logo and menu items called the Hunter, the Buck and the Doe.
"We invested the money into making sure that the bagel, no matter if 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," Kurz told Cornelius Today.
The Hunter's Bagels menu prices bagels low enough that the baker's dozen is the obvious order for a weekend crowd:
Before opening, WhatNow Charlotte listed the bagel lineup from the shop's website as plain, everything, sesame, onion, garlic, blueberry, cinnamon raisin, Asiago and jalapeño cheddar. The spreads include scallion, vegetable, lox, maple bacon and Nutella. At opening, the Lake Norman Beacon reported hours of 6:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. daily. With Thanksgiving three weeks away, check directly before you plan a holiday-morning pickup.
The Alleyway sits across the patio from Harp & Crown, at 19930 W. Catawba Ave., Suite 200. Harp & Crown is the English-and-Irish pub in Suite 130, and its site says it has served Cornelius since 2017. Mary and Pat Maiorino bought the pub in 2024. When the space across the entryway opened up soon after, they spent about 16 months turning it into a second concept.
"The patios connect. Let's just utilize this as a type of a cocktail lounge," Mary Maiorino told Cornelius Today before the October 1 grand opening.
The same Cornelius Today story reported that the room was designed to feel distinctly different from the area's sports and live-music bars. It has 75 seats and is built around specialty cocktails rather than draft beer or games. The one TV is tucked at the end of the room. "This is about more connection and that chill vibe," Maiorino said. Jazz is planned mostly for weekends, and rock bands are left out on purpose. "It's not going to be the loud music," she told the paper. "We want our own flavor."
The room itself has a story. Maiorino did the decorating herself. She painted the walls black to bring out the exposed wood beams already in the building, then added a chandelier and candles throughout. The walls are covered in 1920s-style portraits of Harp & Crown regulars and friends. The couple made them by using artificial intelligence to turn ordinary photographs into period-style likenesses. If you are a longtime Harp & Crown regular, you may find your own face on the wall.
Cornelius Today reported about 20 signature drinks at opening, several with a Celtic theme, including the Dublin Express, Celtic Breeze and Fake Foolery. The current Alleyway drink menu lists the Emerald Isle at $14, the Celtic Kiss at $15 and Midsummer Magic at $16. CharlotteFive pointed to the Irish Silk as a dessert option. It combines Basil Hayden Toast bourbon, coffee, Baileys and a house-made banana demerara syrup.
For now, food is light. At opening that meant charcuterie boards and appetizers prepared on site and at Harp & Crown. CharlotteFive reported that a full food menu will come later. If you want dinner first, Harp & Crown's fish and chips with Harp beer-battered cod is a short walk across the shared patio.
At opening, the lounge was open Tuesday through Saturday from 5 p.m. to midnight and was set to be available for private events on weekends. Maiorino said that schedule could change. The jazz arrived as promised. Cornelius Today's Live at the Lake listing for the last week of October had Michelle Renee, the Union Groove Jazz Band and Gio's Jazz Trio playing The Alleyway on three straight nights. The owners have also planned monthly themed parties with a DJ and ticketed admission. That weekly listing is the easiest way to see who is playing in November.
| Hunter's Bagels | The Alleyway by Harp & Crown | |
|---|---|---|
| Address | 19905 W. Catawba Ave. | 19930 W. Catawba Ave., Suite 200 |
| Opened | October 12, 2026 | October 1, 2026 |
| Hours reported at opening | Daily, 6:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. | Tuesday to Saturday, 5 p.m. to midnight |
| What it leaves out | Laptop outlets, microwave | All but one TV, loud bands |
| Starting price point | $2.25 bagel | $14 cocktail |
| Owners | Brandon Kurz and Andrew Roth | Mary and Pat Maiorino |
Both sets of owners are recent arrivals, and each brought one specific skill to its room. Roth has spent his whole career in hospitality. Cornelius Today reported that Pat Maiorino spent about 25 years at Performance Foodservice working with restaurant owners and kitchens, and that the couple moved to Huntersville from Raleigh two years ago. Roth described his standard to the paper this way: "Even if it costs me an extra cup of coffee or an extra bagel, you're going to go home happy."
The hours fit together well. You can bookend a whole day at these two street numbers and fill the middle with what Cornelius has on its calendar over the next week:
Both businesses are only a few weeks old, and their opening-month hours and menus may still change. Before you build a morning or an evening around either one, check the Hunter's Bagels site or The Alleyway's site.
New places like these are part of how I get to know a part of town, and West Catawba now covers both ends of the day. If you are new to Cornelius, or thinking about which part of the lake fits how you like to spend your mornings and evenings, I'm glad to share the spots I would send a friend to first. Let's Connect with Mary Kay Portaro.
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ADDRESS 21025 Catawba Ave #101 Cornelius, NC 28031