Since we opened the doors to this special restaurant in 2010, our mission has been to “transform the city we love, one plate at a time.”

Transforming an entire city takes many years, and many hands doing different things. Inside the restaurant, our efforts have been focused on changing the lives of folks in need. Just outside of the restaurant, other hands have been at work erecting new buildings and updating old ones.

We’re excited to watch the progress being made on the Grand Bohemian Hotel just across the street, an addition that is sure to improve the Uptown skyline and its nightlife. We’re even more excited to see the progress right here at the Trade West building, where work is being done to create a more modern and welcoming streetfront.

At this intersection of Trade and Church Streets, right in the heart of Uptown Charlotte, you can look up in any direction and see a crane turning in the sky. Look down, and you’ll see tracks being laid down for the Gold Line of the light rail. Change is everywhere.

Transformation of any kind isn’t exactly easy, though. There can be a lot of dust, noise, confusion. It’s usually not convenient. We accept these frustrations, though, because we have hope that the results will be positive. And they usually are. Depending on how you tell the story, Charlotte is a city that excels at adapting to the times. Or it’s a city that indiscriminately scraps its history in constant pursuit of the new. I’ve been here a long time and have witnessed a lot of this change for myself, and I think it’s more the former.

Amid all this change, though, the challenge is to know what things to let go of and what things to hold on to.

A restaurant our age can look at all the things happening around us and worry a little. But we have faith in the process of transformation. We trust that our friends and patrons will pardon the dust around us.

We believe the people in this city will continue to embrace our mission and keep a place for us in their lives, even with all the new places popping up nearby. We like the new stuff. But we also like the comfort of a good, old-fashioned biscuit and some fried chicken.

CHEF JIM NOBLE is the executive chef and owner of NOBLE FOOD & PURSUITS. NOBLE SMOKE and BOSSY BEAUT'S are set to open in 2019. For more information, visit NOBLEFOODANDPURSUITS.COM.