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This elegant establishment boasts farm-to-fork oysters grown in North Carolina, as well as other fresh seafood offerings sourced from the coasts of the Carolinas when available. Settle in for oyster shooters (there’s the Oyster Jammer with vodka, pale ale and mignonette), fish tacos, and steam buns, plus house favorites like fried catfish and paella with the daily catch from North Carolina. The most amazing aroma wafting along the North Tryon Street sidewalk by day or by night (it’s impossible to ignore after stepping out of a show at Blumenthal Performing Arts Center). This cash-only mobile restaurant serves hot food straight out of its walk-up window including chicken and lamb over rice with pita, falafel salad, Philly cheese steaks, and chicken gyros. Two dozen vendors in the city’s first food hall include offerings from several of the region’s favorite chefs, like Charlotte’s own The Dumpling Lady and fried chicken spilling out from a fluffy bun at Charleston’s Boxcar Betty’s. A space brightened by big windows inside and a large patio outside creates a vibe that’s more of a destination than just a simple food court.
40 iconic Charlotte restaurants - Axios
40 iconic Charlotte restaurants.
Posted: Tue, 23 Apr 2024 07:00:00 GMT [source]
Spots for an Exciting Lunch Break in Charlotte
Charlotte may be hours away from an ocean, but Fin & Fino takes its role as a “social seafood house” seriously. The restaurant receives a daily delivery of its fish and shellfish—all of which were raised or caught sustainably–to make its roster of seafood dishes. Not to mention, there’s an impressive, playful cocktail menu; Call of the Clam, Endless Breadsticks, and Papa Was a Rolling Stone are all options to wash down your delicious meal. Shopping centers are usually filled with chain restaurants serving 2-for-$20 meals that taste fresh out of the microwave, but every once in a while, you find a gem like Prime Fish. The restaurant has only 20 seats, and you’ll want to take a date to the L-shaped sushi bar to watch the chefs prepare edomae-style sushi with yellowtail from Japan, salmon from Denmark, and tuna from Spain. You can’t go wrong with any of the sashimi and nigiri, but the special rolls are also so good and include Southern influences you won’t find elsewhere.
Union Barbecue
Little Mama in SouthPark is his upscale sequel to the ever-popular Mama Ricotta’s. But the thrill of shuffling downstairs to your kitchen to forage for lunch has definitely worn off. Now that some of us (most of us?) are back to morning commutes and afternoon slumps that don’t include binge-watching HGTV makeovers, it’s time to return to going out to lunch. Whether you pick it up to go or take a seat while you take a break, a lot of new options have popped up. The menu in this lounge-y hangout just got a makeover thanks to the onboarding of chef Greg Collier, known for his Rock Hill brunch hot spot The Yolk, and his leadership with the pop-up dinner series called Soul Food Sessions. Under the prowess of former Top Chef contestant Jamie Lynch, the Charlotte-based eatery has grown in popularity and expanded to Charleston and Atlanta.
Vida Mexican Kitchen y Cantina
Check out the original location on Central Avenue, because the plywood walls, laminate floors, folding tables, dartboard, and midcentury-modern light fixtures make it feel like your coolest high school friend's basement hangout. The small team and secret tasting menu at Kappo En, in the back of Menya, respect the tradition and elegance of a guided omakase, prioritizing an intentional dining experience over a trendy and flashy night out. For a pre-paid $185 per person, diners will be presented courses with ingredients straight from Japanese markets, and a catalog of sake and wine, with an option for beverage pairing.
These are 5 must-visit restaurants in Charlotte, according to Travel + Leisure - Charlotte Observer
These are 5 must-visit restaurants in Charlotte, according to Travel + Leisure.
Posted: Mon, 22 Apr 2024 07:00:00 GMT [source]
The modern rooftop restaurant opened in March 2023 with a full-service bar and a robust menu featuring sushi, sashimi, and a variety of original takes on bar food. If you were dropped blindly into Sweet Lew’s, you’d think you were in a small-town BBQ joint, not a restaurant in North Carolina’s largest urban city. The place is small and humble, with Coca-Cola, Cheerwine, and RC Cola memorabilia on the walls alongside vintage photos from when the building used to be a Texaco service station. Order the Sweet Lew Sampler at the counter from a menu scrawled on a chalkboard.
18 Essential Restaurants in Charlotte, North Carolina
Try the Crispy Umami, with tempura shrimp, avocado, eel sauce, and shoestring sweet potatoes, and pair it with something off their list of 70 sakes. No matter where you are in Charlotte, you aren't far from a fantastic meal. The city's restaurant scene has spread, not just geographically, but gastronomically. The tried and true dishes every Southern city ought to have down by now are on offer—fried chicken and barbecue at Midwood that will leave you happily stuffed. But roving restaurants have ignited a food truck frenzy and quirky takes on the classics are all the rage at newer places that continue to pop up. The Queen City also has some truly innovative spots that have earned national recognition, like the ever-changing, multi-award-winning Kindred.
While it could be easy to fill up on starters, make sure to leave room for the squid ink linguine with chorizo and Carolina shrimp or the beef and pork bolognese. A “rock n’ roll ramen shop” is a far cry from the Southern-inspired menus you’ll find in numerous eateries across Charlotte—and that’s the point. Opened in the spring of 2015, Chef Michael Shortino’s Futo Buta continues to serve residents and visitors of the Queen City creative takes on ramen as well as other Japanese dishes. In addition to ramen bowls made with pecan-smoked pork belly, the menu includes Lowcountry-smoked pork belly buns, spicy tuna rice crispy squares, and duck confit donburi. Developing a menu of “modern interpretations of Southern classics” is almost a Catch-22; classics are classics for a reason, yet reinvention is often necessary to make a dish feel new and different.
Amélie's French Bakery & Cafe Uptown
If the menu has a pasta dish with seafood, and it usually does, you legally have to order it (or we’ll appear out of nowhere and attempt to make a citizen’s arrest). The restaurant stays true to the organic theme, with fresh flowers on the wood tables, stoneware dishes, and a general, upscale granola energy. Union BBQ is boldly serving Texas barbecue in North Carolina out of a weekend-only food truck. Dynamic duo Holden Sasser and Chase Young serve a mean, best-in-class brisket with a charred crust that turns into a tender, layered, smokey bite, paired best with sour pickles. The lime zest on the pork spare ribs is a quiet hero, and the beef cheek barbacoa sandwich, deluged in rajas con crema and a touch of cilantro, is sloppy in all of the right ways.
According to Chef Sam Diminch, the “seasons write the menus” at Restaurant Constance, a 10-table, no-concept restaurant. Born out of Diminch’s Your Farms Your Table Restaurant Group and named after his daughter, Restaurant Constance is highly focused on quality, local produce, and the power of connecting over a meal. Expect an evolving raw bar, inventive desserts, and a vast and creative non-alcoholic cocktail menu with your reservation.
Yes, there are classic tacos, but there are short ribs in green tomatillo broth, tamarind-glazed fish, and mole, too. As seen on Food Network’s Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives, the traditional soul food and Gullah-inspired dishes fall in step with the bright, jazzy hand-painted decor. The soul roll egg rolls kick with black-eyed peas, rice, and collard greens. Fast-casual and family-friendly, this Neopolitan pizzeria now has two locations — one in Dilworth and one in South Charlotte. Pizzas are cooked in wood-fired ovens for 90 seconds and served hot and crisp (just look for the leoparding on the crust). The pistacchio pizza is easily the most-talked-about, with its jade-tinted pistachio pesto sauce and clouds of ricotta and buffalo mozzarella.
If you’re feeling peckish afterward, consider ending the meal with a slice of pound cake. While new restaurants tend to get all the hype, the older establishments—the ones that have been greeting guests for decades—quietly and steadfastly serve their well-loved dishes day in and day out. Mama Ricotta’s, an Italian stalwart in Midtown, has been open for about three decades, and if you’re craving a chicken parm sandwich or a plate of penne alla vodka, it won’t disappoint. Part of Charlotte’s FS Dining Group, Mama Ricotta's sister restaurant, Little Mama’s, opened in 2020. Whether you’re meeting a blind date, your entire bird-watching club, or a coworker who’s always begging for an after-work Happy Hour, Dilworth Tasting Room is the place to go.
It was such a hit, it became the inspiration for the Kindreds’ breakfast and brunch cafe, Milkbread, first in Davidson and now at their stylish reimagining of the classic Central Avenue Dairy Queen in Plaza Midwood. Customers can sit down at the Davidson location, while the Plaza Midwood spot is a walk-up counter with limited outdoor seating. The doughnuts and cinnamon rolls, along with the crispy chicken sandwiches, prove that Milkbread has staying power. “Sustainability” and “heirloom ingredients” sound like culinary buzzwords, but they’re true North Stars for Chef William Dissen and his team at Haymaker. The Uptown restaurant whips up its offerings—which include PB&J pork belly, beef short ribs, and bacon fat beignets—using local farm deliveries, artisanal products, and a brick hearth. You may want to try everything on the menu, but the mac and cheese made with Benton’s country ham is a non-negotiable.
Sustainably caught or raised seafood is the star here, headlined by the $150 Penthouse, a tower of oysters, mussels, shrimp, scallop ceviche and butter-poached lobster tails. There are plenty of non-seafood items here too, like the duck breast and wagyu flatiron, but the truly adventurous eaters should opt for The Treatment, a $65 chef's choice sampler that includes a $5 donation to charity. You don’t need to book a ticket to New Orleans to get your fix of Cajun dishes. Instead, head to Eddie’s Place in the Cotswold neighborhood, where she-crab soup, muffuletta sandwiches, and po’ boys are menu staples.
Calle Sol is as dependable as a 1998 Toyota Camry—it’s the restaurant we turn to whenever we want a guaranteed excellent lunch or dinner. For lunch, go with a Tampa- or Miami-style Cuban sandwich with a side of fried sweet plantains. And even though you might have other responsibilities, you should still pair it with an off-menu spicy margarita that uses muddled rocoto chili peppers. This spot sits on a corner in one of Charlotte’s most walkable neighborhoods, which means it’s always buzzing, and you should definitely make a reservation. There’s no parlor — you’ll either get it to-go or sit at a picnic table — and the lines are already legendary. But Cheat’s gets the bread right (traditional Liscio’s Bakery rolls), and it slices the top-round steak in-house.
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