Table Of Content
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.
Dilworth Tasting Room
The best meals we ate all year: Here are our favorite Charlotte-area restaurants in 2023 - Charlotte Observer
The best meals we ate all year: Here are our favorite Charlotte-area restaurants in 2023.
Posted: Wed, 13 Dec 2023 08:00:00 GMT [source]
Work through the line at Yafo Kitchen, a fast-casual Mediterranean concept that shines as the local version of Washington, D.C.-based Cava. Soak up the bright and classy atmosphere (white and blue tones are reminiscent of the sand and sea) over fish and shellfish delivered daily. The restaurant works to keep at least 12 types of oysters on the raw bar menu around the clock. Sandwiches and entrees range from the crab cake BLT to the poke bowl with tuna and salmon. With lots of accolades on his resume already, chef Greg Collier turned to his roots with Leah & Louise. Here he’s serving up the Soul Food inspired by the foods back home in Memphis, like chips made from chicken skins and smoked rabbit with grits.
Eater Carolinas
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.
UPTOWN
While there’s no food menu, there is a whole shelf dedicated specifically to notorious hot girl foods — tinned fish and cured meats — to be perched atop saltines on the house. By day, the inside is lovely, with the sun casting flirty shadows on the oodles of natural wine bottles, but visitors will want to sip their amber and pink-hued drinks outside on the balcony or patio. Because it’s a small house with a front yard (and a parking lot), it really feels like someone’s yard party. By night, it’s moody with generous specials and a backdrop of something funky on aux, vinyl, or even live. The thrifty art on the walls and a sign that pokes a little fun at “natty wine” culture show this place's lighthearted, self-aware personality.
The best restaurants to grab cheap dinner around Charlotte for $15 or less - Charlotte Observer
The best restaurants to grab cheap dinner around Charlotte for $15 or less.
Posted: Tue, 22 Aug 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]
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.
Currywurst frites have a following, but for the money, Reuben fries with crunchy pastrami bits are too good to be missed. The restaurant has also added packaged meats, like its pastrami, in the deli case. To highlight our ever-evolving food scene, we have compiled a list of 101 must-try restaurants in and around Charlotte. Fondly called Al Mike’s by locals, this Charlotte staple that opened in 1983 offers a low-key tavern experience with unpretentious food. It’s impossible to go wrong with the quinoa black bean vegetable burger or the reuben on rye (get a basket of Cajun fries, too).
Scissors & Scotch Brings the Ultimate Men's Grooming Experience to Charlotte
The tight menu includes chicken and vegetarian “steaks,” Italian hoagies, and a couple of breakfast sammies, including one with Taylor’s pork roll. Prices are a little higher than you’d pay at Philly’s Gino’s or Pat’s (a cheesesteak, fries, and soda runs $25 after taxes), but you do get free refills on the soda while you wait. A mix of modern and Southern styles, this quaint hotel restaurant brings approachable dishes like cast-iron biscuits with bacon jam, deviled eggs, a fried chicken sandwich, rice grits with seasonal vegetables, and more. Customshop has been serving farm-to-table dinners since 2007, which is around the same time that people across the country realized their food comes from farms. We’re only sort of joking, but this is one of those restaurants that celebrates North Carolina’s extremely good and varied produce. Come for dinner and definitely get a vegetable-focused small plate or two before moving to a seafood or pasta main.
Sign up for our email to enjoy your city without spending a thing (as well as some options when you’re feeling flush). From Southern staples to Ethiopian and sushi, there’s a little bit of everything in the Queen City.
Pizza Baby
The experience is opened up with umami-dominant small appetizers, then a parade of prized Edomae-style nigiri, followed by a few standout cooked meats, from eel to wagyu, and concluded with an earthy dessert, like a matcha mochi. The counter-style dining area is so intimate that diners, witnessing the precise dance of an open kitchen, may feel like they’re in an artist’s private studio. Located in the Wesley Heights neighborhood, Pizza Baby, like its name, is youthful and playful, with spritzy aperitivos and sprightly menu fonts and doodles. Order takeout, or dine in for an energetic, multisensory experience — scents of fermented sweet-salty-soft dough, sounds of staff serving, and sights of the cool, airy Los Angeles-meets-Rome aesthetic. Save room for chef Trey Wilson’s Brussels sprouts and sesame seed-crusted pizza, inspired by travels to New York, and the plentiful portion of soft serve (add amaro).
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.
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.
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.
