Good New Restaurants

[CLT2014]

French bistro, Terra, that closed on Providence is being replaced by another French/Mediterranean concept called Aix en Provence. Interestingly, they already opened without much advertising or publicity.

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/entertainment/restaurants/helen-schwab-blog/article52074375.html

[CLTProductions]

Speaking of opening without much publicity. Bella Fresco Cafe opened its second location in the Carillon building. I had it for lunch yesterday. Nothing specular but it was solid. Will be a good addition with meals all day and late night. 

https://www.charlotteagenda.com/32264/bella-fresco-uptown-charlotte/

 

[Crown]

Duckworths uptown received an 87.5 grade . Also, probably not ever eating at Chima again, not that I did that much...

http://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/news/2016/01/08/which-mecklenburg-county-restaurants-didnt-make.html

[CLTProductions]

4 minutes ago, Crown said:

Duckworths uptown received an 87.5 grade . Also, probably not ever eating at Chima again, not that I did that much...

http://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/news/2016/01/08/which-mecklenburg-county-restaurants-didnt-make.html

Spoke with duckworths and part of this reason is that the cellar and duckworths are graded together rather than separately. The Cellar would have scored a 94 had it been alone and Duckworths a 90. Together the infractions were enough to bring it down to an 87. In other news they hired a new GM for upstairs who is looking to make major changes across the board so I'm sure they will reinspect and improve.

And yeah, chima....gross....

[CLT2014]

I think I'll wait until they get a new score. Plenty of places with better scores to spend money at.

[nonillogical]

Yeah I'll keep going to Duckworths and The Cellar. Their explanation makes a lot of sense and an 87.5 doesn't freak me out too much in the first place (I just recently ate my way across SE Asia and you don't want concern over things like American sanitation standards screwing up your enjoyment of the street food there!). 

The Chima thing, however, being an expensive restaurant and getting an even worse score on re-inspection, is pretty alarming.

[tozmervo]

At 22 years old, it's hardly new, but has anyone ever been to The Willow Creek Inn? 

[kermit]

Its not new but Local Loaf -- Wow! Just wow.

[DMann]

Get ready for another Local Loaf location soon.

[CLTProductions]

11 minutes ago, DMann said:

Get ready for another Local Loaf location soon.

!!!!! explain....

Also, Seoul Food is opening Saturday for dinner

[DMann]

Can't really say more than that right now, but soon.

 

 

[Southernyank]

Has anyone tried Seoul food?  Any reports?

[CLTProductions]

1 hour ago, guttersnipe said:

Has anyone tried Seoul food?  Any reports?

Yeah it's excellent. Such a refreshing thing that is so different than others. Menu is crazy affordable. I had the crispy pork belly, ramen mac n cheese, beef ribs, potato swirl and 90% of the Asian Craft Beers. Sure there is room for improvement, but they are just finding their legs. The potato swirl and beef were CRAZY good. This place will kill it.

[Southernyank]

Beautiful! I'll definitely try it Thursday night. I've already got my menu and ingredients at home for the first part of the week. 

[cltcane]

Poplar Street Cafe & Wine Bar is on schedule to open in a couple weeks.  The space, complete with preserved architectural features and local artwork, looks awesome, and one of the co-owners (and the chef) is also a co-founder of the very popular Viva Chicken.  I think this will be a great addition to Fourth Ward!

http://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/news/2016/02/24/cafe-wine-bar-preps-to-open-in-historic-fourth.html

Edited February 25, 2016 by cltcane

[CLTProductions]

Agreed. Got to walk around it. It's perfect. So clutch for the area. 

[ah59396]

There's some sort of new place called Old Pineville Food & Beverage in the little strip mall at the corner of Old Pineville & Woodlawn.  I have NO idea if it's legit or not, I drove by it yesterday on my way home.  But it's definitely new.

[grodney]

17 minutes ago, ah59396 said:

There's some sort of new place called Old Pineville Food & Beverage in the little strip mall at the corner of Old Pineville & Woodlawn.  I have NO idea if it's legit or not, I drove by it yesterday on my way home.  But it's definitely new.

Well cool, their facebook page looks legit....just opened this week.  Local canned beer in their fridge. Kids eat free Tuesdays.  1/2 off apps and wine yesterday.  I have no idea what market they think they can get at that location, but good luck to them!!  #QueenParkish

[grodney]

In Brad's old space in the overstreet (across from McDonald's, next to Freshii), we have TRU Taco Guisado Perfecto "coming soon".  I don't find it googling so with any luck it's Local. 

[Guest]

2 hours ago, grodney said:

In Brad's old space in the overstreet (across from McDonald's, next to Freshii), we have TRU Taco Guisado Perfecto "coming soon".  I don't find it googling so with any luck it's Local. 

Hello illustrator default fonts for GUISADO PERFECTO and Taco. Myriad Pro for the loss.

Edited March 1, 2016 by Guest

[grodney]

5 minutes ago, ricky_davis_fan_21 said:

Hell illustrator default fonts for GUISADO PERFECTO and Taco. Myriad Pro for the loss.

And I thought it looked too professional to be local.  I actually have no idea what you're saying, but I get the gist.  I think.

[Guest]

23 minutes ago, grodney said:

And I thought it looked too professional to be local.  I actually have no idea what you're saying, but I get the gist.  I think.

Haha, I like the font of TRU. I hate everything else about it. 

[ScottCLT]

Someone mentioned in another topic that Deejai Thai was going to be occupying the space on South Blvd. where RB&R Deli used to be. But the sign is up now and says "Bai Lay Thai Cuisine." Is this the same owners as Deejai, just a different name/concept or is this something totally different? I see no mention of it in Deejai's FB feed. 

[CLTProductions]

This is in the Southend living thread. It's the same owners yea. 

[nonillogical]

I tried Seoul Food last night and echo everyone else's comments. Affordable, unique, and REALLY good. Our menu was slightly different than the one Jayvee posted, so I don't know if that means it will just vary, or if they are in the process of finalizing a more permanent menu. The wings are particularly amazing, and I hope they start lunch service so I can go get them on a regular basis. The whole fried tilapia is a steal. 

My constructive criticism: 1. Servers and hostesses seemed very overwhelmed and inexperienced with a Saturday night rush, it was one of the more chaotic restaurant scenes I've seen, but they were very eager to please and friendly. 2. Plastic sporks and knives do not help much in cutting up huge portions of (awesome) fatty beef off the rib for a group. 3. I know this isn't going for a typically authentic Korean restaurant experience, but I still kind of expected some kimchi on the side. The sriracha cracklins, which were good, also seem more like something that should be on the table for free. This is heavy, heavy food, so even moreso than your typical Korean restaurant, some basic ban-chan like fermented veggies would be great to break things up and act as condiments or palate-cleansers. 

Also wanted to comment that the Church St. area was amazingly vibrant, and it was frankly kind of inspiring. It felt a bit like the southern tip of Asheville's downtown (Brewery district?) with the way their buildings are reused and a similar density. The whole stretch from Unknown, The Gallery, Craft, Seoul Food, Bulldogs, and Wooden Robot/Brass Tap was full of people mingling and walking, and there were a lot of trolleys and golf-cart like transport things (new sight for me here) carting people around. I think a little bit of this is attributable to the St Patty's pub crawls, but it definitely was not everyone. The Gold District is going to be really special as long as we don't screw it up!