Eating BIG in Charlotte

Eating like a local:
Regional food specialties 
- A Quick Trip to the Hornets Nest 

As our trip in Asheville came to end we made a last second decision to head over to Charlotte. I'd never been and would like to see the world in it's entirety so I'm always down to check out somewhere that's new to me. She had been but it was years ago. Charlotte is the states largest city and also it's fastest growing so there's plenty to see and do. I went in knowing very little and I left knowing nearly as little as we only stayed for a couple nights. But we did it right in that we tried to visit as many neighborhoods and restaurants within them. I also got the chance to hit up a few local breweries and they were impressive in both beer and atmosphere. I liked Charlotte even if it's not as exciting as some other spots. Food wise it's a part of the South and the city has deep African American roots so there's def some gems to be found. In fact according to an article I read right before we visited Charlotte might be home to the Souths hottest food scene at the moment. Let's check it out. 

Sights from Charlotte
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Red Bridges Barbecue (Shelby, NC)

Our last minute decision to head to Charlotte meant a stop in Shelby at Red Bridges Barbecue was easily in reach. They do the popular Piedmont style that you usually find north of Charlotte up in Lexington. Piedmont style means finely chopped pit cooked pork shoulder with a tomato vinegar sauce aka ‘dip’ plus red slaw (made with the vinegar dip), and hush puppies. Red Bridges has been smoking over hickory directly since 1946. It's said that Red Bridges was the first woman owned bbq shack in North Carolina. The late owner Lyttle Bridges was inducted into the Barbecue Hall of Fame this past year. The chopped pork here had great smoke flavor and it was super fresh as they only make enough for the day. I read the sauce here is a bit thicker (and more red) than other spots serving this style but it’s by no means overpowering. The hickory smoked pork is the main flavor. I loved the slaw and the hush puppies too. This was a great first impression of NC barbecue.

Chopped Pork Plate at Red Bridges Barbecue
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Brooks Sandwich House

Here's another roadfood legend I was happy to finally check out. Brooks Sandwich House sits in an area that was clearly gentrified judging by the big colorful brand new apartment building sitting across the street. The little hut that houses Brooks seems out of place these days. But they've been here since 1973. It's a walkup window with a little yard and some tables over to the side. They're known for their chili which is popular on both burgers and hot dogs. I went with a cheeseburger ordered "all the way" meaning mustard, onion, and chili. Down south chili is more of a topping than a meal and both of the Carolinas can make a case that their states are ground zero for the best chili dogs and burgers. 

Burger "All The Way" at Brooks sandwich House 
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Leah & Louise 

As someone that’s always on the prowl for new spots to check out I’m a sucker for best new restaurant lists, especially ones covering the entire country. Leah & Louise was entered in at No. 2 on Esquire’s most recent list. It’s the project of a James Beard nominated chef and his wife who call their place a modern juke joint in restaurant form. The menu pays homage to the Foodways of the south and the Mississippi River Valley in particular (Memphis, Jackson, NOLA). So I was excited to check this spot out even if there aren’t any hot tamales on offer. We had a very enjoyable meal and the signature cabbage dish was as good as advertised (one of my favorites plates of food on this trip). 

Rich Boys- Fried Oyster Sliders with Brown Roux Aioli, Dill Pickled Celery

Dirty Grits - Smoked Turkey Neck, Slow Roasted Corn Grits

On My Way Home- Mussels, Lemon, Butter, Smoked wine, Worcestershire Sauce, Cornmeal Brioche

Leah’s Cabbage and Roll Up - Braised Cabbage, pepper honey, smoked sausage, pork neck bisque

Arthur Lou - Tang Custard, Oat Crust, Floral Meringue, Fresh Berries

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Stable Hand 

I always check Eater for any current lists they may have as far as any cities I'm visiting. If they cover the area they'll usually have an updated list of  'where to eat now' type spots. Newer places creating buzz within the restaurant community. So that's how I came across Stable Hand which is a community driven coffee shop, bakery, and daytime wine bar / cafe. We stopped in for breakfast and I zeroed in on their rice porridge offerings opting for the savory version. The recipe gets switched up regularly but on this day I enjoyed a warm bowl of congee dressed with mushrooms, greens, chicken sausage and cheese. She had a strawberry biscuit concoction that was awesome. A nice neighborhood spot. 

Rice Porridge at Stable Hand 

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What The Fries

What The Fries is a Black owned business that's creating buzz around town. My wife found them on social media and insisted we check them out. They started as a food truck and now have a brick & mortar too. We used google maps to figure out which one was closer to us and the food truck won. So we rode over to a business campus type setting for an early lunch one day. What The Fries is a family and friends owned place that started out as the idea of some Johnson & Whales culinary students. They call it an "elevated fries experience" and I know some people don't like to use the word elevated anymore but in this case they are elevated in that they serve fresh cut fries dressed up a variety of ways. More than just ketchup or cheese. They also make their own tater tots so we had to try those too. Truffle fries were tasty but if we're being real I'm more of a minimal guy when it comes to my fries. So no surprise I loved the hand cut tots which were like little pieces of perfectly fried hash browns. 

Truffle Fries and Hand Cut Tots at What The Fries 

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Angie's Diner 

Charlotte has a really nice collection of soul food restaurants making it one of the city's strong points when it comes to food. I happened to find this one while searching through them online and I decided to grab lunch here based off the fact it was around the corner from our AirBNB. I ordered the meatballs with rice and gravy off the daily specials board and got a side of pinto beans too (a popular side in the south). As I type this here today I'd go get this for dinner later today if I could. 

Meatballs with Rice and Gravy at Angie's Diner 

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Vana 

Here's another Eater type hot spot. Vana is the second project of a local hospitality tag team. The food is rustic American comfort wit an emphasis on wood grilled. I didn't get a pic but they have the cutest little open air grill setup where much of the cooking is done. We stopped in for drinks but also got a small plate to share, one that came highly rec'd by our knowledgeable waiter. He led us right with a really well made dish consisting of wood grilled butternut squash, brown butter, shrimp, capers, and pepitas. Had we had another day we'd have given strong consideration to returning. 

Wood Roasted Butternut Squash at Vana 

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Bar-B-Q King 

I stopped for some Charlotte style Drive-In Barbecue Fried Chicken as approved by Guy Fieri. Sadly I couldn’t make a trip to Keaton’s in Cleveland work out but I happened to be riding by this DDD featured spot so I decided to pull in for some of their famous bbq fried chicken. Fried chicken is tossed in a vinegar heavy sauce reminiscent of saucy fried chicken from Uncle Remus on Chicago’s West Side. I liked the sauce but the chicken was clearly pre-cooked based on temp. Since 1959.

BBQ Chicken at Bar-B-Q-King 

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Cajun Queen 

We both decided that the pictures (and reviews) were good enough to give the Cajun Queen a try. It's a local landmark popular for their New Orleans food and feel. It sits in a 100+ year old house so the atmosphere is pretty good. But the food wasn't quite what we had hoped for. An order of barbecue shrimp, crawfish etoufee, and crawfish Diane was decent but definitely not smack your mama good. 

NOLA Food at the Cajun Queen 
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Yosties Bakery (Faith, NC)

My first pepperoni roll! Along with a hot dog all the way (chili, mustard, onion) seen below. Not in West Virginia (never been) but about 40 mins north of Charlotte in Faith, NC (found en route to Lexington). Pepperoni Rolls are found all over WV and their story goes back to the Italians that came to work the mines. Historians trace them to Giuseppe "Joseph" Argiro at the Country Club Bakery in Fairmont, West Virginia circa 1927. It’s a simple dish consisting of bread baked with pepperoni strips inside. These were easily brought into the mines and proved to be a popular snack when first introduced. Over time it’s kind of become the signature regional eat of West Virginia where the owners of Yosties come from. I got tried one plain (just pepperoni) and one with cheese (baked to order) and they were both awesome. I was tempted to try one with chili but settled on a hot dog as the delivery vehicle for that. The south and both Carolinas in particular has great chili dog chili but the hot dogs are most always a sad skinless variety. I guess this lets the chili sit front and center? I enjoy them but miss the snap you get from a quality natural casing hot dog. Fun stop, they always are down south.

Chili Dog and Pepperoni Roll at Yosties 

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Lexington Barbecue (Lexington, NC)

I wont even front. The main reason I said yes to going to Charlotte was bc the legend that is Lexington Barbecue would finally be within reach of me. When it comes to Piedmont style North Carolina bbq this spot is perhaps the pinnacle. Known to locals as “the honeymonk” or just ‘Monk’s’ after it’s founder Wayne Monk who opened the place in 1962. Despite its national fame not much has changed save for the size of the smokehouse. Oak and hickory are used exclusively to smoke pork shoulder which can be ordered a variety of ways. My plate pictured is chopped with some crinkle cut fries and the areas signature side - red slaw which is made with the same red vinegar sauce that comes standard on all smoked meat served in the region. Plus some hush puppies and I can now understand their appeal. They’re so good down there! I was tempted to check out some other spots as there’s lots of options around town but I couldn’t imagine any of them offering a better experience than this. Bomb ass bbq and extra wholesome hospitality. Cross another one off the bucketlist!

Chopped Pork Plate at Lexington Barbecue 
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See ya next time @chibbqking 

Eating BIG in Asheville Pt. 2

Eating like a local:
Regional food specialties 
- Good Food and Great Outdoors in Western Carolina

I still haven’t boarded a plane since February 2019. However since then we have taken three long (15+ hours) roadtrips with the most recent being an excursion into North Carolina where we stayed in the Asheville area for a week before heading over to Charlotte for a couple of nights. This was our second roadtrip to Asheville and my first time visiting Charlotte. We wanted to go somewhere with a rich outdoor setting and ended up choosing Asheville over Colorado bc it’s a little closer but really bc it’s got a much better food scene than any of the other mountain towns. I can’t think of an American city with under 100,000 people that has a harder hitting chef driven food scene than Asheville. There’s lots of good spots in this Western Carolina mountain town that has access to great local ingredients and a ton of amazing locally brewed beers to feature on tap. It’s got a food and drink scene like you might expect to find in other more well known destinations. Plus amazing scenery outside of the city. 

Pics from Asheville 

Since we wanted a trip involved more around the outdoors we rented a spot in the quaint little suburb of Black Mountain. This was more so based on the rental itself which was private and away from others with an outdoor firepit sitting next to a creek. It was a great rental for a great price. The type of spot we wanted since we would be there for a week. Black Mountain itself felt like really nice place to live. There's an abundance of waterfalls in Western Carolina and we made it a point to visit as many as possible. If you go to my instagram page and click the stories under Asheville you can check out some of the waterfalls we saw and trails we hiked. There's a ton of options but you'll definitely need a car as most are not going to be within walking distance of the city. Another reason it's good to have a car is you can ride the Blue Ridge Parkway, one of the country's best scenic drives except there's countless places you can pull over and enjoy the serene settings surrounding you on foot and bike. 

The Waterfalls of Western Carolina 

Views from the Mountains 

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Benne 

Benne is an ode to the old block it sits on. It’s located on Eagle Street in a historic Asheville neighborhood called ‘The Block’. It was home to a thriving African American community that's only recently become popular again, with gentrification. The beautiful space features murals by acclaimed local artist Joseph Pearson. Included on the wall are the drawings of four local women whose culinary, professional, and personal impact on The Block in the 1960s and 1970s is said to still be felt today. It’s also said one of them (Mary Jo Johnson) made a legendary cheeseburger, sounds like my type of spot. The menu here honors soul food and how it relates to both Appalachia and Asheville in particular. Lots to like including Haitian Crawfish Rice made with Carolina Gold Rice, Baked Mac & Cheese with Gouda, Muenster, and Sharp Cheddar, and an order of braised cream collard greens with pickled fennel. The type of spot you should make a point of stopping in at if visiting Asheville.

Dinner at Benne

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Sawhorse 

I wasn't expecting to be eating French Canadian breakfast fare in the Blue Ridge Mountains but Sawhorse made this possible. It's ran by a guy from Albany who's family vacationed near the United States and Quebec border during the summer. He moved to Asheville from Chicago so I guess this is one that got away. French Canadian food has a reputation of being good fuel (pre-skiing) so this was the perfect stop post morning hikes. We actually visited twice. Buttermilk Pancakes were outstanding as was the Lumbercamp breakfast special consisting of meat pie, maple beans, homefries, dressed greens, eggs. An order of almost completely made from scratch poutine was as good as I've had in the States. Even though Quebec isn't close by Sawhorse fits in Asheville perfectly. 

Brunch at Sawhorse 
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Forestry Camp

Speaking of spots with a very Asheville type setup Forestry Camp is exactly that. It's a restaurant production from the people behind Burial Beer located on the same strip of land as the brewery. I thought this picturesque Olive Brined Whole Smoked Local Trout with Maque Choux, Tomato, and Corn Broth plus herbs was maybe the best dish we ate all trip. It checked all the marks as far as locally procured ingredients made to taste really good goes. The trout was smoked / being smoked just a few feet from where we were sitting. We also had a really nice locally made cheese plate. 

Smoked Trout at Forestry Camp 

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All Souls Pizza

There's no shortage of hipish spots with big patios in Asheville. All Souls Pizza is one of the more popular spots in the bunch. They keep up the local trend of using fresh regional ingredients to make wood fired pizzas and such. They feature a fish dish that's always changing which on our visit was wood roasted whole sardines served with a warm potato salad including olives. We both enjoyed this enough we wanted to return for more but they would end up closing temporarily due to an employee having possible contact with someone who was covid positive. As far as the pizza goes I was reluctant to get the pie made with country ham, eggs, garlic and mozzarella but the waitress sold me on it and insisted I get an order of their east coast pepper spread to smear on top. Great call as this was one of the better non tomato pies I ever tried and the pepper spread made it that much better. 

Dinner at All Souls Pizza

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Jimmy Nix and Sons Apple House (Fried Pie setup on weekends - weather pending)

The town of Hendersonville is about 40 minutes south of Asheville. It's a gateway to the Dupont National Forest as well as the Pisgah National Forest and Green River Gamelands. It's a pretty vibrant community of about 15,000 people and it's one of the states big apple producers. There's a strip of farms along 64 and Jimmy Nix and Sons caught my eye due to a fried pie setup outside. It was ran by an older couple and she made them completely from scratch to order. Starting with the rolling of the dough all the way to dropping it in the fryer before he bagged each one. What a surprise these were as they were maybe the most memorable item I ate on this trip. There's nothing like these were I'm from but having tried another spot (pre-fried) I realized just how special these were and got another. Both apple and peach were awesome but it was all about the crisp oil free lard laced crust.

Fried Pie in Hendersonville

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Clarita's Papusas

I spied this trailer just up the road from the fried pie stop and pulled in to find papusas on offer. Sure why not?! The signature Salvadoran snack is something I always enjoy when I have them but I don't eat them nearly as much as I should. A papusa is a thick corn tortilla that's stuffed with savory stuff like cheese and refried beans (most popular combo). I enjoyed one stuffed with cheese and loroco which the guy told me grows wild around there (it's a wild edible flower native to Central America). 

Loroco Papusa at Clarita's Papusas

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Proper Asheville

While browsing spots I came across what looked to be a proper steakhouse. I rarely go out to steak houses bc most don’t offer a better steak at a better price-point than getting a dry aged cut from my local butcher and grilling it up over live fire. But the menu here was tempting with options like tri-tip  and they were all grilled over live wood. I chose that served with a red chimichurri and we got lots of good sounding sides too. An order of wreckfish with smoked farro piccolo, fried okra threads, pickled sweet potato, apple purée for her plus buttermilk fried NC oysters for both of us. Sides ordered included a house baked Parker Roll, crispy confit potatoes with peri peri, assortment of wood grilled mushrooms, coal fired romano beans with feta, pickled peppers, and mint. Dessert was a Peach and Vanilla Panna Cotta with honey roast peaches, smoked bourbon cream, cinnamon almond tuile.  

Dinner Spread at Proper Asheville 

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Hole Doughnuts 

We spied a crowd hovered around this colorful blue truck and decided to pull in. I then looked up Hole Doughnuts and found a spot with 1,500+ reviews and a near perfect score on google. No that doesn't mean much to me except to continue looking into it which I did. I found something from Food & Wine that named these the best donuts in the state. Another endorsement that doesn't mean much but can at least warrant a try. Actually it was the pics themselves and the small menu of fried to order doughnuts that did it. I got the toasted almond sesame and left wondering why I didn't try them all. 

Menu at Hole Doughnuts 

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Session (inside Citizen Vinyl) 

"Citizen Vinyl is a communal space housing a record press facility, cafe, bar, recording studio & analog art & record store – located in the historic Citizen Times building in downtown Asheville. This grand civic space serves to celebrate the history of manufacturing & craft – alongside the current state of music, food & beverage within our local community." - Citizen Vinyl Website. I own a grand total of zero records but I love the idea of what this place is. More cities need to make use of historic buildings like this one. Session sits inside the old local newspapers building and doubles as a bar / cafe. I read that it was a collabo project between a local chef and baker. They make chef driven sandwiches are mostly made from scratch and local ingredients. The smoked rainbow trout with creme fraiche, caper, pickled shallot on bricohe was a perfect post hike lunch. 

Smoked Rainbow Trout on Brioche at Session 

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Ukiah Japanese Smokehouse 

Ukiah is the latest example in a long line of restaurants, bars, and breweries that make Asheville such a happening spot. Ukiah (Haiku backwards) is a Japanese smokehouse but I think that description is a bit misleading in that they more so grill over live fire wood which is still a very cool thing. It’s like an Izakaya and a good one at that. The menu is small but mighty with the beech mushroom tempura being an early crowd favorite (served with Tokyo ranch and onion ash). This was basically a blooming onion in mushroom form. What’s not to love? The whole meal, dish after dish was pretty much a hit.

Beech Mushroom Tempura 

Crispy Rock Shrimp with Gorgonzola and Chili Butter

Striped Bass Yakitori with brown butter ponzu, grilled lemon, sea salt

Tokyo Street Corn with Kewpie mayo, togarashi, nori dust, miso butter, and bonito

Striped Bass Yakitori with brown butter ponzu, grilled lemon, sea salt

Pork and Shiitake Mushroom Gyoza with black pepper ponzu

Yakiniku Crispy Baby Back Ribs
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La Bodega by Curate 

On our last trip to Asheville back in 2014 we had an excellent meal at Curate. At the time it was a newish spot from a female chef who spent time at El Bulli in Spain. We didn't make it back to Curate but we did head over to it's new more casual sister spot, La Bodega by Curate. It's an all day Spanish cafe and goods shop with a selection of wine, tapas and sandwiches on offer as well as paella and more. We split a bocadillo de gambas frias (Spanish shrimp sandwich) served with truffle potato chips and it was excellent. Maybe my wife's favorite bite of the trip. An order of fresh fried churros served with a rich chocolate dipping sauce also hit the spot. Nice place to relax after an outdoor adventure. 

Lunch at La Bodega by Curate 

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Avenue M Restaurant 

So I got a hot tip from my guy Newman Miller (Chef at Star hill Provisions in Kentucky) to check out this pasta forward spot in North Asheville manned by a friend of his. We like a lot of the same things (Laha’s Red Castle, La Chaparrita etc) so I knew I was in for some damn good pasta when he told me to try all of them. Well we ending up trying two and both were outstanding to the point it’s likely one of them will be named my favorite pasta prep of the year. But which? First was the sweet corn agnolotti made with the fluffiest little pillows of dumplings stuffed with delicious sweet corn that was all covered in lots of butter. After that came an order of ravioli stuffed with boudin served sitting in a tasty red gravy. We also had an excellent order of Asian leaning grilled brussels sprouts and some awesome bread service to start. I will pass the along the same advice about the pastas. Both were excellent. 

Sweet Corn Agnolotti - sweet corn filling, Appalachian sour corn
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Ravioli - boudin with pork jus, black vinegar

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Little Pigs BBQ

To give you an idea of how new and recent the development of Asheville is consider that this old school bbq joint is the city's oldest restaurant. Little Pigs BBQ has been around these parts since 1963. Yeah that's old but usually urban areas like this have spots that have been around much longer. But Asheville went from sleepy town to bustling city pretty quickly. Little Pigs serves Carolina style pit cooked pork with the regional fav hush puppies on the side. It's not bad by any means but also not great. I liked what I ate but knew there was better to be had on our trip into Charlotte. Stay tuned. 

Chopped Pork Plate at Little Pigs BBQ
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Eating Big in Asheville Part 1

See ya next time @chibbqking