Two restaurants scheduled to open this week may draw as much excitement as Osteria Cicchetti’s debut at Monkey Junction.
 
The Forum shopping center’s Pembroke’s, a Southern cuisine restaurant from the owners of downtown’s popular Rx, and Canape, a successful pop-up gone brick-and-mortar on downtown’s North 4th Street, are both set for reveals, their owners said.
 
Pembroke’s was expected to begin service Wednesday, co-owner/chef James Doss said.
 
Meantime, customers have been crowding 180-seat Osteria Cicchetti No. 2, 5401 S. College Road, inside what used to be an O’Charley’s chain restaurant. Last week, just days after the opening, a hostess suggested reservations to ensure peak dinnertime seatings. Both lunch and dinner are served at the location, which opens at 11:30 a.m. weekdays and 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.
 
Patrons from the Monkey Junction neighborhood who had been trekking to the original Osteria Cicchetti, better known as “The O.C.,” at The Forum, 1125 Military Cutoff Road, were treated to a near-mirror design at the College Road store. A grand, enclosed, rectangular bar is set off from the buff brick dining room. A large, arched opening allows patrons to see kitchen action.
 
The two O.C. menus are similar, although cooks may tweak some Monkey Junction offerings based on customer feedback, chef Aaron Schweitzer said. Lunchtime selections at the new shop include soups, salads, sandwiches, pizza, small plates, create-your-own-pasta and meat or seafood entrees.
 
Osteria Cicchetti is owned by Ash Aziz, whose Circa Restaurant Group operates five other eateries in Wilmington. One of them was The Kitchen, which now hosts Pembroke’s.
 
There, Doss and business partner Josh Novicki preserved the space’s dark brown tones but replaced shutters with sheer, beige curtains that allow sunlight into the large dining room. Some areas are sectioned off to better serve private groups.
 
Expect Rx-style but not duplicated “seasonally inspired, ingredient-driven, Southern cuisine” at Pembroke’s, said Doss, who was still tweaking the menu at presstime. In the past few days, cooks have been working on sweet potato biscuits and butternut squash soup. 
 
The New Hanover County Health Department granted Canape permits last week, which puts the opening date just days away, chef Matthew Gould said.
 
Canape fills the former Big Thai location, 1001 N. 4th St. The building’s owner, Ronald Rene, teamed up with Gould to create a permanent location for Canape, which has operated as a pop-up since 2011.
 
Gould plans Canape’s signature progressive cuisine, street food and special theme menus. Past Canape pop-up menus have included applewood-smoked bacon with peaches and smoked vanilla; roasted beef marrow served with parsley butter and baguette; a pork belly and shrimp noodle bowl; and snap pea panna cotta with sake-pickled shiitakes and ginseng and soy milk jus.