Downtown Durham welcomes 2 new restaurants

Downtown Durham has added two new restaurants — one focused on Mexican-inspired cocktails and another that combines a coffee shop, deli and beer bar.

Driving the news: Right before the holiday rush, The Daily Beer Bar opened at 108 E. Main St., serving coffee in the morning hours before turning into a beer bar and deli in the afternoons.

• Founded by John and Rosa Paradiso, the restaurant serves coffee from Raleigh-based Yonder Coffee and makes a delicious set of hot or cold sandwiches and salads.
• The all-day cafe has taken over the space of the former Talk of the Town jazz bar next to the dive bar stalwart 106 Main.

The centerpiece, though, is a diverse draft list from small breweries across the country.

• John Paradiso, a former managing editor of the online beer magazine Hop Culture, curated the list, with an emphasis on breweries that are typically hard to source in the Triangle, such as Atlanta's Halfway Crooks.

Down the street, at 110 N. Corcoran St., the Mexican cocktail bar La Mala also opened in December.

• La Mala, inside the former B. Good at One City Center, comes from the team at Glenwood South's La Santa in Raleigh.
• The cocktail menu is extensive and features eight different margaritas (including one that costs an eye-popping $80), a selection for lovers of mezcal and classic cocktails such as the Paloma and Old Fashioned.
• The food menu swings more toward small plates, like ceviche, and traditional Mexican street food items, like esquites (grilled corn slathered with mayonnaise, cheese and spices), tacos de pastor, flautas de papa and churros for dessert.