5 best things to eat and drink at Charlotte's newest restaurants
By: Hanna Raskin
Like any city with a modicum of municipal pride, Charlotte is flattered when it’s noticed by outsiders. Right now, local culinary chatter is centered on Shake Shack, which in April opened its first Charlotte outlet, and Whole Foods, contributing to Uptown’s rising tide of hipdom with a massive new store.
Increasingly, though, it’s not just population statistics and spending potential that are making an impression on people beyond the Queen City. When I ordered coffee at that week-old Whole Foods, I was served by a woman who normally works at the Whole Foods in Mount Pleasant. “There’s nowhere like Charleston,” she said, declaring she’d never leave it. And then she started ticking off reasons she was tempted to move to Charlotte.
She didn’t mention the food, but Charlotte’s restaurant scene is blossoming because of the same factors that make the city appealing to baristas: Its residents are game to try new things, and its community networks are strong. Moreover, it’s lately started developing a culinary identity independent of restaurant strongholds to the west (Asheville); east (Raleigh) and south (Charleston) — which is even greater cause for celebration than the arrival of a national chain.
During my short stay in Charlotte for a reporting assignment, I ate primarily at new and newish restaurants; the following five dishes were standouts in a sea of foraged mushrooms and smoked trout (Even when Charlotte ventures out of Asheville’s shadow, it’s fated to share its foodshed).