Another bar/restaurant bites the dust

[nonillogical]

^ Davidson St. Public House was open on Sunday when I walked by. Every time I go it is not very busy, but thats usually a weekend lunch, I haven't seen it at dinner.

46 minutes ago, grodney said:

I get what you're saying.....except for this quote.  What style of pizza?  Was it super-different than, or how did it compare to, pure (2 locations), pizza peel, fuel, intermezzo, benny's, etc etc etc?

Very thin crust with a good char on it, availability of uncommon ingredients and toppings, IMO great cheese and sauce. Pizza Peel is probably the closest in style but I went once and didn't like it as much as Revolution. 

[Guest]

2 minutes ago, nonillogical said:

^ Davidson St. Public House was open on Sunday when I walked by. Every time I go it is not very busy, but thats usually a weekend lunch, I haven't seen it at dinner.

Very thin crust with a good char on it, availability of uncommon ingredients and toppings, IMO great cheese and sauce. Pizza Peel is probably the closest in style but I went once and didn't like it as much as Revolution. 

I think he's asking because the space is up for lease online. Someone should go in there and find out. 

http://www.loopnet.com/Listing/20166879/3220-N-Davidson-St-Charlotte-NC/

Edited March 7, 2017 by Guest

[tozmervo]

Nextdoor speculation is that the Revolution space is about to be renovated. Having said that, I'm with those in the neighborhood that would be happy to see that building put to other uses - since it's management change years ago it's become this awkward stepchild of a restaurant that's way too expensive for lousy service.

Second @Jayvee on DSPH. I think that place is great, would be very disappointed to loose it. It always seems to have some traffic, though, it has never struck me as "in danger"

[Prodev]

I'm not a guy that ever complains about service, but every time I've been to Davidson Street Public House, the service has been awful. The food always seems to have a lot of promise too but never lives up to it. As much as I wanted to like it, I just never could.

 

I'll say that Revolution used to be my favorite pizza in Charlotte, but over the last two years has gotten awful. At first it was just mgmt that was bad and the pizza was still really good, but then I think as business went downhill they started changing the food and their pizza has been garbage for a while. Pure Pizza has taken over as my favorite and isn't too far off from what Rev used to be 2+ years ago, although I have to admit i HATE the vibe at Pure, so I stick to to-go orders there and will go to Pizza Peel if I want pizza in PM and not on my couch even though I don't think it's nearly as good as Pure.  

[tozmervo]

Fwiw, DSPH had a solid crowd tonight, Revolution was dark. Viva la revolucion, revolucion es mort

[SgtCampsalot]

I remember when I went to Revolution 6 years ago, and we were finishing our meal and complimenting the food, the waiter said in a slightly desperate tone, "Thank you... please tell all of your friends."

Edited March 8, 2017 by SgtCampsalot

[UPNoDa]

^Dinner date on Saturday night walking by Revolution it was dark. I wouldn't mind if they brought back Mellow Mushroom. The closest pizza I can get similar to back home in Cincinnati is House of Pizza. (It's an acquired midwest taste I guess)

The only other pizza to-go I can tolerate is Benny's and Fuel.

[Crown]

Block & Grinder, the farm-to-table restaurant with locations in Cotswold and Langtree near Lake Norman, announced Friday that it’s closing.

Executive chef Ben Philpott said that next Thursday will be the last day for both locations.

“We have good weeks and bad weeks,” he said. “At the end of the day, that’s what it boils down to. I was trying to offer all-natural, as-local-as-possible product for a competitive price and it just didn’t work out.

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/living/food-drink/article143354279.html?utm_content=buffer5227c&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

[nonillogical]

11 minutes ago, Crown said:

Block & Grinder, the farm-to-table restaurant with locations in Cotswold and Langtree near Lake Norman, announced Friday that it’s closing.

Executive chef Ben Philpott said that next Thursday will be the last day for both locations.

“We have good weeks and bad weeks,” he said. “At the end of the day, that’s what it boils down to. I was trying to offer all-natural, as-local-as-possible product for a competitive price and it just didn’t work out.

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/living/food-drink/article143354279.html?utm_content=buffer5227c&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

That was no joke my overall favorite restaurant in the city. I've been 6 or 7 times and it always seemed busy. I know the location wasn't very sexy and that's probably part of the problem (I'm sure they'd have done fine uptown), but this closure honestly lowers my opinion of what kind of food scene Charlotte is currently capable of supporting. That is to say, stellar quality goes unnoticed due to not being enough of a "scene". 

[Crown]

Just now, nonillogical said:

That was no joke my overall favorite restaurant in the city. I've been 6 or 7 times and it always seemed busy. I know the location wasn't very sexy and that's probably part of the problem (I'm sure they'd have done fine uptown), but this closure honestly lowers my opinion of what kind of food scene Charlotte is currently capable of supporting. That is to say, stellar quality goes unnoticed due to not being enough of a "scene". 

Ditto  - it seemed busy every time I went there. Parking in the Cotswold location was frustrating, but not impossible. 

[CLT2014]

I would guess they just couldn't get their supply in order. He said they had busy weeks and not so busy weeks. If they had ordered lots of product for a week and then customers don't show up, they are throwing out expensive ingredients. The supply chain for a fresh steakhouse like this is tough. You can't have a slow Monday - Wednesday because the product is bad by Friday. Under order for Tuesday and you have angry customers. Over order and you throw out steaks you paid a premium for.

Because they sourced local, their costs are already significantly higher than other steak houses in town that would source from a place like Niman Ranch through Sysco or US Foods. 

[nonillogical]

^ Yeah, I imagine that could have a lot to do with it. But I thought we'd arrived and could easily support a place like that throughout the week. The crowd there early-on seemed great, and the quality never dipped, so I think Charlotte restaurant-goers are just a bit fickle or especially susceptible to the hype of brand new places.

On a related note, I tried to go to Meat & Fish Co. at Morehead & McDowell for lunch earlier this week to find the windows papered up. I didn't walk up to see if there was a notice in the window, so I'm not totally sure if they are closed or merely doing some construction/refreshing inside. I really like that place, as not only is the meat quality great (you do pay a lot for it though), but the lunch sandwiches were actually very reasonable considering they use those same high-end ingredients. Most of the time it was pretty empty though, and the people who I assume were the owners/managers were always a bit weird (nice, but awkward), so I don't have high hopes that its coming back.

A few years ago there was also a butcher shop on Selwyn that only lasted about 6 months. Why can't we support any of these places?

[Guest]

25 minutes ago, nonillogical said:

^ Yeah, I imagine that could have a lot to do with it. But I thought we'd arrived and could easily support a place like that throughout the week. The crowd there early-on seemed great, and the quality never dipped, so I think Charlotte restaurant-goers are just a bit fickle or especially susceptible to the hype of brand new places.

On a related note, I tried to go to Meat & Fish Co. at Morehead & McDowell for lunch earlier this week to find the windows papered up. I didn't walk up to see if there was a notice in the window, so I'm not totally sure if they are closed or merely doing some construction/refreshing inside. I really like that place, as not only is the meat quality great (you do pay a lot for it though), but the lunch sandwiches were actually very reasonable considering they use those same high-end ingredients. Most of the time it was pretty empty though, and the people who I assume were the owners/managers were always a bit weird (nice, but awkward), so I don't have high hopes that its coming back.

A few years ago there was also a butcher shop on Selwyn that only lasted about 6 months. Why can't we support any of these places?

damn and I never got to go to Block & Grinder or this place. 

[Temeteron]

I went for brunch once at the Block and Grinder Cotswold area location but I thought the food was ok at best. The cheese plate was good but everything else wasn't good enough for me to want to go back. Just because something is farm to table doesn't necessarily mean that it will be an outstanding experience or taste. That's where skill, spices, and technique comes in. 

Edited April 8, 2017 by Temeteron

[asthasr]

8 hours ago, Temeteron said:

Just because something is farm to table doesn't necessarily mean that it will be an outstanding experience or taste. That's where skill, spices, and technique comes in. 

That's my experience with a lot of such places. In California especially, I hated most of the food because it was just blame and badly cooked. "Local" food can be made poorly as much as imported food.

[CLT2014]

15 hours ago, nonillogical said:

Why can't we support any of these places?

Local butchers are closing all over the country. The two culprits are price and convenience. If I'm making dinner after work on a Tuesday and stop to pick up Filet Mignon at Block and Grinder's butcher counter, I have to drive and park there, pay $40, drive to Harris Teeter or Whole Foods to buy produce and side fixings to go with the steak, see the cheaper filet mignon at those stores that look just as good and feel regret, get back in the car and by that point it has been nearly 2 hours of driving and shopping at rush hour after work.

A local butcher can work in a highly walkable area where you can drop in while doing errands as you walk from store to store. In a car dependent area, people don't want to stop and park, fight traffic, and pay for just one part of their meal when they could get it at Whole Foods, etc... along with everything else they need.

If you are twice as expensive as the supermarket, you also need to execute on excellent service and quality of your product. 

Edited April 8, 2017 by CLT2014

[hambone931]

15 hours ago, nonillogical said:

On a related note, I tried to go to Meat & Fish Co. at Morehead & McDowell for lunch earlier this week to find the windows papered up. I didn't walk up to see if there was a notice in the window, so I'm not totally sure if they are closed or merely doing some construction/refreshing inside.

IRRC they were planning on expanding into more of a restaurant as opposed to just being a butcher with a sandwich counter.

[nonillogical]

1 hour ago, hambone931 said:

IRRC they were planning on expanding into more of a restaurant as opposed to just being a butcher with a sandwich counter.

I hope that's the case! That would probably do better. It would be nice if they still had a (smaller) retail butcher service, but that would be pretty much Block & Grinder's concept at that point.

[InSouthPark]

I went to Block and Grinder once. My wife and I both sent our $17 burgers back twice for being over cooked. Twice! Medium rare is not that hard. Even when they did get it right, it wouldn't have been worth the money (they comped us). Yeah, we never went back. 

[nowensone]

^ We sent back the camel steaks ourselves once when that was the featured meat, but beyond that their food is almost beyond reproach.  I'd give it another chance and try some of the small plates/sides, I would drive an hour and half right now just for a salad with their basil vinaigrette were I "in-town" (GSO), only restaurant I've been to where that tastes right.

[Crown]

Hearing rumors that Kennedy's in Elizabeth is circling the drain. Anyone else? 

[wilmore]

On 4/10/2017 at 9:45 AM, Crown said:

Hearing rumors that Kennedy's in Elizabeth is circling the drain. Anyone else? 

Guess it wasn't Premium enough. 

[JoshuaDrown]

Had to get to Block & Grinder one more time, the lamb burger is going to be missed... and great fries! I like Cowbell Uptown, but when I really craved a burger, I went to B & G. 

[Temeteron]

14 minutes ago, JoshuaDrown said:

Had to get to Block & Grinder one more time, the lamb burger is going to be missed... and great fries! I like Cowbell Uptown, but when I really craved a burger, I went to B & G. 

You should try Kid Cashew's lamb burger

[ES Charlotte]

Blue has been sold and it's closing it's doors for good tomorrow night.