Charlotte, once known for steakhouses and company-credit-card dinners, is chasing recognition for its evolving food scene, investing millions in exposure through “Top Chef” and Michelin.
Why it matters: There are some criteria for building a food-city reputation that money can’t buy. Few people can succinctly describe Charlotte’s culinary identity. The debate sounds awfully familiar.
- “Charlotte itself is still finding its identity,” says Evan Diamond, aka Charlotte Foodie Guy. “Unlike places that built their food culture over generations around one cuisine or specialty, Charlotte is a mix of influences from all over.”
Charlotte is historically a trading-post town.
- That’s reflected in menus with Appalachian, Piedmont and Lowcountry influences.
- “It’s one of the most accessible food cities in the country,” Diamond says. “Some of the best meals here aren’t in fancy dining rooms. They’re in strip malls, food halls, food trucks and family-owned restaurants.”
What they’re saying: Southern food journalist Erin Perkins says eating in Charlotte used to be an “afterthought” when she visited the city.
- “Now that’s the first thing I think about,” she says. “There’s so much now that I want to try, what’s new and what’s happening, and I don’t want to just stay at my hotel in Uptown at the Capital Grille.”
Yes, but: Ask anyone Charlotte’s signature dish, and answers range from pimento cheese to livermush to Bojangles. I asked around and got no consensus.
- “People love Charlotte because you can easily get to the mountains, you can get to the coast,” says Jamie Brown of Tonidandel-Brown Restaurant Group. “We don’t need a signature dish, and nor would it be to our benefit to have one, because then you’re not very diversified.”
- Jeff Tonidandel says Charlotte’s diversity of produce, stemming from its seasonality, may be among the scene’s greatest strengths.
- “It means we get foraged ramps in the spring, and we get citrus from Charleston in the winter,” Tonidandel says. “We don’t need one specific dish to hang our hat on.”
The other side: There’s a difference between a culinary destination and a city with some good restaurants, says Robert F. Moss, a Charleston-based food writer. It’s hard to say what a visitor can find in Charlotte that they can’t find in their hometown.
- “I don’t see it as really standing out on its own as ‘I really need to go to Charlotte to eat,'” Moss says. “Charlotte is still working on what its culinary identity is going to be.”
Zoom out: Charleston’s food scene blew up around 15 years ago from publicity. It’s also invested heavily in promoting its food scene…