- I didn't really ever have any plans or intentions of bringing my art background into the hospitality world, but as soon as the opportunity became available, it just is the perfect combination for me.

I love using my hands to create things.

I love the feeling of clay.

It's really a give and take.

You really have to feel what the clay is doing and react to that.

I love being able to design whole spaces.

I am very detail oriented, but also think about the bigger picture and think about how a space feels once it's complete.

[serene music] My name is Michelle Vanderwalker, and I'm co-owner and designer of Queeny's Kingfisher and Queen Burger all in downtown Durham.

I'm also a potter and make all the pottery for Kingfisher and Queeny's.

And my home is Durham, North Carolina.

[energetic music] [energetic music continues] Durham is just the right size city.

You don't necessarily know everyone, but you may recognize people.

There's also universities here.

There's arts here.

It's a very family friendly city.

For the size city it is, there's a lot to do.

It feels very community oriented.

In the restaurant industry especially, we're very close.

There's just an excellent community of people who support each other.

[energetic music continues] - Queeny's is an amazing like vibe, atmosphere, just energy.

Everything about Queeny's is very, very special.

And the fact that they have this podcast space, I mean, come on.

The first time me and my co-host came here, we felt like family.

We've known these people forever.

The studio itself, coming in, you have to pass the bar to get there, and you meet all of the Queeny's family.

[laughs] So you meet the Queeny's family, and you get to know them.

Having that space where we can come and feel welcome, like, that kind of sets the mood for the content that we ultimately produce.

[energetic music continues] - It's my go-to place.

Whether it's cold, warm, raining, sunny, I actually work from home and came to Queeny's to just finish my days and basically created a little community here.

So we always joke that it's the two-state crew.

And just like a sense of family, sense of community, the bartenders know who I am, who others are.

It feels very comfortable and safe.

And also there's a lot of fun events.

You know, from music to drag shows, there's so much to do, and also like the food is really good, and it's in a central location.

- Development of Queeny's was really interesting because neither Michelle or I come at it as a chef proper, so it was really what kind of restaurant and space and experience we thought would fit in and mesh well with the rest of Durham.

The downtown loop, as I like to call it, has a lot of very nice, but I would say medium to expensive restaurants, and we wanted to create something that was an everyday accessible, affordable, and consistent experience for more of the folks who live in Durham.

- Things are a little bit different than you might expect based on the menu, Our chicken crispers, for example, they're pretty straightforward, but so delicious.

We also have a kale salad, and our kitchen is open until 2:00 AM every day, and sometimes there's shift workers, restaurant workers, nurses who get off and there's nowhere to eat a whole decent meal.

We already made the salad for you.

It's here.

You can fill up and feel good about it.

We have a really excellent burger.

One of our most popular items is our Birria of Friendship.

It's this really wonderful braised beef, cheese, bread from a local bakery.

Our fries are so good.

And then for dessert, we have an ice cream cake, which will really just take you right back to your childhood birthday parties.

As an artist who's also in hospitality, I love doing things as many things as I can myself and also involving the people that I know.

So when built Queeny's, I learned how to pour a concrete bar top and poured the bar top myself, and I painted all the walls myself.

My brother is a woodworker, and he built all of our tables for us and also some hanging lamp pendants in the bathrooms and over one of the booths.

One of the bartenders we originally hired is also an artist, so he did a giant chalk mural on our wall.

One of my friends from years ago, I commissioned to sew a quilt that hides our TV when it's not in use.

And my carpenter friend also built out the book room and filled up one window with bookshelves and built me a little window seat.

Good job.

[child coos] Part of the reason that I wanted Queeny's to be so family friendly is my kids are so integral to my life.

I really built it with my kids walking in and out of my studio.

That's just very important to me that families have a place to go that they can casually feel a part of the community.

My littlest son, Claude, is 1-year-old now, so the whole community at Queeny's got to see him developing as I was pregnant, and then I brought him in when he was five days old just for a few minutes.

And so he's really growing up in this space, and we have a great regular crowd that just totally embraced him.

So he is sort of a little star there, and he's so integrated.

I bring him to work all the time when I'm working and when I'm just hanging out.

[laughing] - I haven't seen Claude anywhere.

[excited screams] [cheering] [laughing] - I hope that when people walk out of Queeny's, they feel more connected to Durham and the community and maybe to a specific person that they've met there and feel like there's really a place for them to be themselves and come alone or with a group of friends anytime of day or night.

[jazz music]