Table Of Content
As the most discerning, up-to-the-minute voice in all things travel, Condé Nast Traveler is the global citizen’s bible and muse, offering both inspiration and vital intel. We understand that time is the greatest luxury, which is why Condé Nast Traveler mines its network of experts and influencers so that you never waste a meal, a drink, or a hotel stay wherever you are in the world. The Super Boy, a double burger with housemade chili and slaw, might be the star of the show at South 21 Drive-In, but the curb-side service restaurant has plenty of other options too. Opened in 1955, the historic eatery continues to whip up Fish-o-Burgers, BLTs, and other favorites for its customers. With such a long-lasting legacy, the family-owned drive-in is proof that good food has been central to Charlotte’s culture for decades—and hopefully it will stay that way for years to come. Authentic Ethiopian fare is present in Midwood thanks to the team behind Abugida Ethiopian Cafe & Restaurant.
NODA / NORTH CHARLOTTE
Tucked into an old pharmacy building near Eastway Drive, it’s got an eclectic vibe with flea market funkiness and a menu of homey classics, like fried chicken drizzled with honey and pecans or pimento cheese fritters, plus a weekend brunch. The wine selection is a surprise, and there’s a full bar in case customers want something harder. Uptown workers always need a good business lunch spot in their pocket (especially if the tab is coming from the boss’s pocket).
Tacos El Nevado
Shareable items include zucchini cakes and shishito peppers, while the entree list features Mediterranean spice lamb rack with tomato confiture, bacon-wrapped rabbit saddle with carrot puree, and beyond. There are lots of Italian restaurants offering fresh pasta, but not many make it the way Flour Shop does, which is right in the middle of the intimate dining room. Besides the pasta itself, the restaurant’s dishes include produce grown in the area and locally sourced meats.
Jon G's Barbecue
The best spot to sit at this wine bar is by the koi pond on the walled patio that makes us feel like we’re in The Secret Garden, minus the pale Victorian child. Let the staff help you through the extensive wine list, which has the best selection of Croatian bottles in the city, while you share a build-your-own cheese or charcuterie board. If you’re having a surprisingly good time with your coworker, stick around and order a couple bigger plates, like a delicious beet salad or a flatbread with prosciutto, brie, and apricot jam. Charlotte clearly hasn’t had enough of these giant food halls, so much so that Monarch Market just opened with 12 food vendors and three bars in the center of Uptown. Its clean-cut and unblemished aesthetic draws post-work professionals in, especially into the higher-brow Aster Cocktail Bar and casual Lanai Terrace.
Dilworth Tasting Room
And the place is worth the trip alone for Botiwalla, a creation of Asheville's Meherwan Irani that offers Indian street food like vada pav and kale pakoras. Helmed by the esteemed 5th Street Group, La Belle Helene adds a bit of French class to Uptown Charlotte. The menu covers the Parisian classics—French onion soup, ratatouille, saffron mussels, duck a l'orange for two, beef Bourguignon and a honeycomb creme brûlée—and there’s also special menus mid-day and for brunch. The Economy Gastronomy special serves up a three-course menu for $59 per person and includes stars like a foie gras torchon and crispy duck confit. You know that last day of a bachelorette party, when everyone’s a smidge hungover? You’re going to need a solid breakfast, but you also gotta get those last cute pics before you crawl back to reality.
The Best Restaurants In Raleigh, North Carolina
Southern Living Ranks These Charlotte Restaurants "The Best" - Kiss 95.1
Southern Living Ranks These Charlotte Restaurants "The Best".
Posted: Thu, 06 Jul 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]
James Beard semifinalist Chef Greg Collier and his wife and business partner, Subrina Collier, however, have managed to solve this riddle at Leah & Louise. Billed as a juke joint with ties to the Mississippi River Valley foodways, the restaurant introduces its customers to menu items that combine the familiar in order to create the nuance of taste. For years, the Queen City has steadily marched toward becoming a top food city in the South—with recent nods from the James Beard Foundation validating its expertise and growth. While barbecue and typical Southern fare can certainly be found within Charlotte’s city limits (check out Sweet Lew’s BBQ or Noble Smoke), the culinary landscape is more so defined by its creativity and variety in cuisine. In fact, when your options are this vast, the only issue is choosing where to go—so we did the work for you. Taqueria Mal Pan’s tortillas make it stand out from other Mexican spots in town.
Coquette, a French buvette by the team behind neighboring Mariposa, is a quiet patisserie by day and a buzzy dinner service/wine bar by night. It’s convenient (minus Uptown parking) in its walkability to popular uptown Charlotte event spaces and offices, and in its open-all-day hours, with caneles and tea at the ready. The white negroni with Lillet Blanc or a classic French 75 sips well with the minerally Prince Edward Island oysters, and balances the richness of the duck fat fried chicken and coq au vin. Inside, it feels dressed up in blue, gold, and pink, fairytale-esque, and ornamented with marble tabletops. The menu can seem pricey, but it’s packed with local ingredients and it’s all meant to be shared, like a family dinner at a table loaded with deliciousness.
Union Barbecue
Specifically, a plate of blackened catfish with pickled field peas and rice grits piled in a shallow pool of smoked fish stew. The cocktail list is always in flux, too, and the bar uses the same seasonal ingredients as the kitchen to reduce waste. That means you can enjoy a drink with beet gastrique, carrot cordial, and Carolina gold rice orgeat and act like you were the key vote to pass climate legislation. If you want to experience Charlotte as the neighborhood city it really is, Letty’s will give you just that.
Hottest Restaurants in Charlotte, April 2024
Order the Mind Your Own Beeswax or a Happy Go Lucky Punch if you’re feeling festive. Supperland is located in a restored, midcentury church in Plaza Midwood, where you’ll find tables in place of pews and a kitchen in place of a pulpit. Kick things off with baked brie bites, hot onion dip, or a seafood tower so tall it might be the closest anything from the ocean has ever been to God.
Standout vendors include beloved Curry Gate, Korean street food vendor Seoul Good, and franchise Dock Local, which promises tried-and-true Connecticut and Maine lobster rolls (hot and cold, respectively). The original Counter, with themed tasting menus focused on cutting-edge culinary inspirations, opened in commissary space the City Kitch on Charlotte’s Westside in 2020 and held on, pandemic-be-damned, through 2022. Hart took a short break and has reopened in an elegant space on West Morehead Street that’s tucked in next to Hart’s wine bar, Biblio.
When Plaza Midwood brewery Resident Culture expanded to a cavernous space in South End, it found space for chef Hector González-Mora, whose breakfast taqueria had already attracted a following. González-Mora has thrived, and now El Toro Bruto has a full menu, from breakfast to lunch to dinner. It’s the kind of thoughtful Mexican cuisine that’s taken a while to find a home in Charlotte.
Wagyu pot roast, miso mac and cheese, and broccoli grilled with bone marrow butter will barely leave room for desserts like salted honey pie. Nestled between the Mint Museum and the tail end of the Tryon Street business corridor, Fin & Fino’s cocktails and impressive raw bar make it a seafood haven. Grilled octopus, seasonal campanelle pasta, and seafood boil paint the menu’s landscape. A noteworthy gustatory delight is the Treatment, a personalized tasting menu that includes a $5 charitable donation to an area nonprofit. Now that office traffic has returned to Uptown, the restaurant added weekday lunch as well.
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).
Read on for our picks for the best restaurants in Charlotte, and start planning ahead. Even though Charlotte isn’t a coastal city, it’s only 175 miles from the Atlantic Ocean. Because restaurants here have prime access to fresh, local, and sustainable seafood. The large restaurant gets busy and chatty, but that won’t keep other people from staring in envy as a waiter passes by with your seafood skyscraper.
Don’t be shy about blanketing everything — the remnants of crispy crust or the lush burrata — in that bonafide Sicilian olive oil or the dipping trio, featuring a crushable Calabrian chili red sauce. While Pizza Baby is in its infant stage, finding its footing with busy nights and new employees, it has promising potential as a fun adult pizza party. Richly spiced stews, warm incense, and East African art make this Eastside spot feel like walking into a well-kempt home. Diners use their hands as well as rolls of the soft-as-lace flatbread injera to scoop and dip into dishes like crispy bits of beef tibs, or stewed chicken doro wat made with spiced butter, onion, and whole boiled eggs. An Ethiopian coffee ceremony perfumes the air as fresh coffee beans are roasted and poured tableside as an after-dinner treat. Joe and Katy Kindred’s Davidson restaurant Kindred was the area’s first to get serious (and well-deserved) national attention.
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