After months of renovations, The Sounder, a new coastal-inspired restaurant from Flying Machine Brewing founder and president Grant Steadman, has opened its doors on Oleander Drive.

The Sounder, 5400 Oleander Drive, offers elevated dishes with a focus on locally sourced oysters, fish and other seafood, Steadman said. The restaurant brought new life to a building that’s sat vacant since gastropub Hops Supply Co. closed in March 2023.

According to Steadman, the restaurant’s tagline, Eat. Drink. Coast., encapsulates his vision for a restaurant that celebrates the coastal lifestyle while highlighting producers in the Wilmington area. 

“We want to focus on fresh, elevated seafood,” he said, “but make the experience approachable.”

The restaurant plans to source its seafood from local farmers and from Salt Street Oyster Company, an oyster farm Steadman cofounded with friend Justin Tuttle. The 1-acre farm is located near Topsail Beach off Banks Channel. They expect to harvest their first oysters this winter, Steadman said.

The coast also inspired the restaurant’s name. Sounder was a nickname given to Steadman’s mother-in-law decades ago because she traveled frequently from rural, inland North Carolina to the coast. The name is also a nod to the sounds of coastal Carolina, areas originally inhabited by working-class people whose lives revolved around the water.

In April, Steadman purchased The Sounder’s building, which also previously housed Eddie Romanelli’s, for $3.4 million and began renovations soon after. That included replacing some of the major systems in the aging building. But the building has good bones, Steadman said
“It was built with really, really good materials in the ’90s, lots of wood and steel,” he said, “but a lot of the systems and the kitchen and everything needed updating.”

He was also focused on revamping the building’s aesthetics, brightening its interior and exterior by whitewashing the red brick and adding new coastal-inspired elements to the decor. The dining room layout will remain largely the same as when the restaurant operated as Hops Supply, Steadman said, including the round booths.

Steadman converted part of the dining room into a space that can host private or semi-private events, and he added a patio alongside the building to provide outdoor dining space.

Steadman and The Sounder’s executive chef, Jason Burrows, worked together to develop a suite of menus for the restaurant. The Sounder will serve lunch and dinner daily, with brunch on the weekends and a late-night bar menu.

Steadman said he expects the fresh catch and the 12-oz. ribeye will be among the most popular dinner entrees.

The Fresh Catch will be prepared with a pretzel crust, blue grits, broccoli, local mushrooms, mirepoix mustard emulsion and onion relish, while the ribeye will have an espresso chili rub and will be served with stilton potato pithivier, squash, bordelaise and smoked oyster gremolata.

 Other dinner items will include a burger – two smash patties served with caramelized onions, bacon, smoked cheddar and burger sauce with a side of parmesan herb fries – and several flatbread options.

Steadman’s favorite dish on the menu, so far, is the smoked tuna Wellington appetizer. The dish, according to Steadman, is built around the freshest tuna the restaurant can source. The tuna is then cold-smoked and enclosed in duxelles – a classic French presentation of finely chopped and sauteed mushrooms, shallots and herbs – which is wrapped in phyllo dough and seared Wellington-style. 

For Burrows, a favorite dish is the N.C. Shrimp, which features house-made marigold spaghetti, cherry tomato, watercress, peppers, anchovy herb crumb and lemon butter. Burrows enjoys the process of making the pasta and said the marigold spaghetti – named for the citrusy and peppery marigold flower petals used in the recipe – pairs well with the anchovy herb crumb and lemon butter.

Burrows, a Maine native who’s lived in Wilmington since 2016, has worked in numerous kitchens over the years, from barbecue joints and fine French dining restaurants to casual fine dining establishments, Burrows said.

“I think that’s one of the things that really attracted me to Jason as an executive chef,” Steadman said, “is really the diversity of his cooking background.”

The Sounder will also offer elevated cocktails, such as a Dill Pickle Martini and a Blue Cheese Martini, alongside a curated wine list and craft beers, with selections from Flying Machine Brewing Company. Mere Shabow will serve as the restaurant’s beverage program manager.

In all, the restaurant can seat around 150 people in its main dining room, with about 60 seats in the event space and 34 on the patio, according to Steadman. He wants the restaurant to remain a gathering spot for the community, just like it was when it operated as Eddie Romanelli’s and Hops Supply.

“That community aspect is something that we try to bring into all of our businesses,” he said, “and is something we want to continue.”