Kale’s Kitchen Express has closed its Durham restaurant after more than 10 years in business. Owner Monica McLaurin is not renewing the lease at 2100 Angier Ave.
The decision was posted to Instagram on Oct. 21. In a report published Wednesday, The News & Observer said customers can still get meals through occasional pop-ups, catering, meal-prepping and personal-chef appointments, and that McLaurin is moving into content creation.
The Lease She Walked Away From
The public explanation is short. “We decided it wasn’t in our best interest to renew our lease there,” the restaurant said in that Oct. 21 post. The News & Observer said it would update its story after receiving a response from Kale’s Kitchen Express.
The address and the decade are not the same fact. The paper reported a Durham restaurant closing after more than 10 years; the lease McLaurin declined to renew was the one at 2100 Angier Ave. How long that particular storefront had been open is a separate question from how long the business has been cooking.
Standard Tray, Heavy Tray
The draw was a build-your-own soul-food plate. Guests picked a main dish, two sides and bread, served as a four-item tray in a standard size or a heavy one. The roster ran through fried chicken, turkey wings, stuffed salmon, mac and cheese, collard greens, candied yams, baked beans and cornbread.
A May 6, 2025 review in the Durham Voice treated the nickname seriously: “Home of the Heavy Plate.” At that point the reviewer described Kale’s Kitchen as a pop-up that announced each service on Instagram, and priced a stuffed-salmon plate at $30 to $40 depending on the sides. By the time of the lease decision, the operation had a street address it was choosing to leave.
Plates That Left The Building
The same review said tips went directly into McLaurin’s outreach to unhoused Durham residents, and that extra plates were sometimes delivered to encampments or shelters. The News & Observer reported that she fed Durham’s unhoused population multiple times a week.
Those accounts describe the work as it was being done, not a promise attached to the closed dining room. What the paper does confirm going forward is commercial: pop-ups, catering, meal prep and personal-chef appointments.
Where The Meals Go Next
McLaurin has said she is moving to content creation. The News & Observer put her following at 224,000 on Instagram and 21,000 on TikTok. For anyone still chasing a plate, the remaining route is whatever service she actually schedules, not a standing Tuesday-through-Sunday counter on Angier Avenue.
The same News & Observer report noted two other restaurant endings that are not this one. Bul Box closed its Hillsborough Street location on NC State’s campus on Oct. 31. Bandido’s Mexican Cafe has announced a permanent closing in December. Kale’s Kitchen Express left its leased Durham restaurant because McLaurin said renewing was not in the business’s interest, and the cooking she is still offering is the kind that has to be booked.
