Some pandemic “pivoting” brought chefs Richard Conklin and Kenneth McDuffie together to create a new restaurant in northeast Columbia called Esther’s Soul Food and Kitchen.

Esther is the name of McDuffie’s great-grandmother, who would have turned 101 years old on Aug. 12, 2021, when Esther’s Soul Food and Kitchen plans to open at the Village at Sandhill shopping center.

Both chefs learned from a young age how to cook in their grandmothers’ and great-grandmothers’ kitchens.

“One thing in the African American community is, you don’t mess up the potato salad, you don’t mess up with fried chicken and you don’t mess up the macaroni and cheese. If you do, just get out of the kitchen and don’t come back,” said McDuffie.

Both men stayed in the kitchen and developed recipes that were never written down, just passed down.

The restaurant will be in the former Panera Bread building at 631 Promenade Place. Esther’s will be a new adaptation of Conklin’s former restaurant, Capital City Kitchen and Grill at 2732 Decker Blvd., and his coffee shop, Cream and Sugar Coffeehouse and Bagels, in Columbia Place Mall.

“You want to have a full-service coffee shop? You want to have live entertainment? It’s just going to be a new wave of dining experiences— we call it luxury on a budget,” said McDuffie.

McDuffie, who was a contestant on ”Hell’s Kitchen” with Gordan Ramsey and was known for “potato-gate” on his season, said the restaurant might even see a few celebrities popping in because of his history as a celebrity chef. McDuffie’s one-time plans to be a chef in Los Angeles changed during 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, so he decided to partner with Conklin to create Esther’s in Columbia.

The Philadelphia native will bring authentic hoagies to the menu, while Conklin will contribute Southern soul food. Indoor and outdoor seating will be available at the restaurant.

“COVID pretty much changed everybody’s business model, and I just thought it’d be a great fit to bring something fresh, something new, the North versus the South,” Conklin said.

From April until August, the restaurant will be closed for renovations. Esther’s is hiring for front-of-house and kitchen positions. To apply, email your resume to getsocial@capitalcitykitchenandgrill.com.