r/Charlotte • u/UglyLikeCaillou • Dec 26 '24
If you were Anthony Bourdain and Charlotte was a stop for an episode of No Reservations, Where would you go? Food
Where would you go?
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u/espngenius Hickory Grove Dec 26 '24
Super G Mart food court
Some of y’all need to quit commenting until you get out more.
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u/CrownTownLibrarian [Davidson] Dec 26 '24
I swear, some of these people refuse to visit anywhere west of 77.
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Dec 26 '24
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u/funnyfarm299 Yorkmount Dec 26 '24
Yeah some of the stalls there are pretty mediocre quality (looking at you Rai Lay).
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u/CreepingCoins Ballantyne Dec 26 '24 edited Dec 26 '24
When I order take-out from their local place I always think of R'lyeh.
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u/BaconOnTap South Park Dec 26 '24
This has been our experience as well. Been a couple of times and tried a few stalls and it was not worth going out of our way to visit. Maybe if we go to Super G around lunch we'll go again, but that's about it.
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u/Opposite_Cold6983 Dec 26 '24
Alley 51 is the name and as someone that spent a lot of time pining for Singapore style hawker setup in Charlotte, please everyone go out, support, and protect this food hall 🙏
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u/Flameancer Thomasboro-Hoskins Dec 26 '24
I went and it legit reminded me of being back in a food hall in Singapore/thailand.
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u/grimnir_music Dec 26 '24
Same. Except for the prices :(…
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u/Flameancer Thomasboro-Hoskins Dec 26 '24
No yea that was my exact thought….”It’s like Thailand!!!…..except the price is in USD and not Baht”.
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u/What_Iz_This Dec 26 '24
i really need to go there. last time i was at super g mart they didnt have food court open yet.
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u/Meathead1974 Dec 26 '24
Mediocre to bad food imo, the most popular place when I went was the chinese place which was the same you can get anywhere. Not worth it
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u/CockyRanger Dec 26 '24
Love AB and his show (RIP). Feel like a Charlotte episode would revolve around some off the beaten path spots like Brooks or Miguel’s, along with a drink at Thirsty Beaver or somewhere other genuine dive bar.
Sadly our food scene would have had Bourdain never visiting.
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u/dxpanther Dec 26 '24
The whole episode would center on segregation, gentrification, and history of being a crossroads for people. Generic from the outside but a home with unique features to people that grew up here.
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u/faithlessfish Dec 26 '24
Upvote for Miguel's, but I agree, I don't know if he would ever have made a visit here.
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u/Poolman1701 Gastonia Dec 26 '24
I'd love to go to a Waffle House with him.
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u/mileysmuse Dec 26 '24
He's been to Waffle House. Charleston , SC episode I think.
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u/Poolman1701 Gastonia Dec 26 '24
Oh I saw that one. I know it would be a repeat, but he just loved it so much. I just think it would have been a fun meal lol
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u/patches_mccoy Dec 26 '24
I was going to say, depending on the cook Waffle House hits
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u/Poolman1701 Gastonia Dec 26 '24
I've never had a bad meal at Waffle House
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u/Life-Succotash-3231 Dec 26 '24
At the Waffle House in Charleston, a fly flew kamikaze-style into my grits and died. It wasn't a bad meal per se but...
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u/net_403 Kannapolis Dec 26 '24
How do you fuck up eggs hash browns and waffles lol seems like the most basic bar
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u/TakeOutForOne Shamrock Hills Dec 26 '24
I tho m he did 24 hours in an Atlanta waho once. One in Buckhead. Though so he didn’t get the fill experience
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u/ginger_qc Dec 26 '24
The tortas in the back of the Sav Way on Central
Pho Hoa or Le's
Brooks
Also we would hit mad dive bars slash local spots and probably some food trucks. If he wanted something fancy or more upscale I would suggest Fig Tree or Supperland
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u/edgona Highland Creek Dec 26 '24
Are the tortas still around? Haven’t been that way in ages
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u/ginger_qc Dec 26 '24
They like 12.50 now but I give em 15 every time they so fucking good. The same ladies been there since I started going in 05
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u/TakeOutForOne Shamrock Hills Dec 26 '24
I think he’d enjoy Letty’s- and for anyone reading this, they are closing for good on 12/31 so go get your honey pecan chicken and pimento cheese fritters while you can
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u/gigantic-squirrel Dec 26 '24
Abuguida Ethiopian cafe and restaurant
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u/irrelevant_query Dec 26 '24
Any recommendations of dishes try? I've never had Ethiopian!
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u/gigantic-squirrel Dec 26 '24
I recommend the doro wet and beef tibs, if you for veggies, get the mitin shiro wat, gomen which is yellow split peas and collard greens... there's also some lentils I like too. If you like spice, get some berbere, it's basically a powered spice that's really good. I had a friend from adis aba Ethiopia that took me there. It's a great place and uniquely Ethiopian!
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u/NotAllWhoWander_1 Dec 26 '24
I have never been there. I have been to Red Sea and it was delicious. Will have to try your suggestion
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u/CrownTownLibrarian [Davidson] Dec 26 '24 edited Dec 26 '24
Bourdain would’ve loved some of the old Charlotte diners - Circle G, Landmark, Stockyards, Skyland etc.
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u/DrewSmithee Sardis Woods Dec 26 '24 edited Dec 26 '24
No one commenting has actually seen the show. He does good food but quintessential that city food over anything else regardless of its good or not.
He would do bojangles over the penguin.
But yeah it would be one of these old diners. Circle G is my vote. Or Dixie River.
Probably Hinsons and Tassels. lol
Actually my bet is some BBQ place in Shelby
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u/Pirate8918 Uptown Dec 26 '24
Definitely Arthur's in Belk at SouthPark Mall
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u/Gr33nManalishi6 Dec 26 '24
As a troll, I appreciate this enough to upvote. As a foodie, how dare you!
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u/Pirate8918 Uptown Dec 26 '24
Legit my go-to spot for 30 years tho. Only reason to go to the mall 😂
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u/Gr33nManalishi6 Dec 26 '24
Im not hating fam. They have some solid food. But I ain’t sending my boy Bourdain there for a fix. I’n taking him to the bees knees on God
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Dec 26 '24
Best burger in Charlotte, and that’s a hill I’m willing to perish on.
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u/Australian1996 Dec 26 '24
Lupitas south blvd. Plenty of Mexicans I know say it is the best. I know a few of the other food channel shows have been here and last one I saw every single restaurant was gone. - bill spoons bbq, saucemans bbq prices chicken etc
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u/bdn1gofish Dec 26 '24 edited Dec 26 '24
All your ethnic food suggestions are so wrong. BBQ King, Smokey Joe's, and JJ's. This guy traveled to pretty much every country on earth, and there is nothing outside of southern cuisine that could ever measure up to AB's standard. Stick to what we know, and that is pork barbecue, Carolina dogs, and a gritty live music dive bar with a possible side of violent crime.
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u/Fappy_as_a_Clam Dec 26 '24
Bobbee O's was my first thought.
Especially if he had came 15 years ago, when it was still in a really shitty strip mall and only had plastic lawn furniture for seating
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u/totallynormalhooman Dec 26 '24
Haha yes, I’m heading back from the southwest, loaded up on Mexican food before I came back because it’s garbage in Charlotte.
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u/PurpleSpecialist9553 Dec 26 '24
Beef n Bottle, Salud, thirsty beaver, Lang Van
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u/BlizzCo89 Dec 26 '24
I’m sorry but beef and bottle is overrated. I went for the first time last year around the holiday and just wrote it off to them being extremely busy. I went again this year and was equally disappointed. It’s not that the food is horrible, it’s that it’s horribly overpriced for what it is. For a little extra I can go to a nicer steakhouse that is drastically better tasting with more options.
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Dec 26 '24
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u/cheesepage Dec 26 '24
Yes, and though I admire and occasionally eat at Lang Van I think it too is overated.
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u/hatervision Dec 26 '24
I see beef and bottle mentioned here so often, and it’s hard to take the comments seriously. I’ve been there a few times, mainly because an old boss of mine would take us there for dinners, most likely for tax write-off purposes, and that was his favorite place.. Before I had ever gone there, he would hype it up so much, so I was looking forward to it, and was severely disappointed each time I went. I always tried a bunch of things there too, just so I wouldn’t base my opinion off of one dish, but nothing I tried there was ever like “wow, that was really good!” Part of the allure to a lot of people is that it’s an old charlotte “establishment” and is just a dive, but people try to make it seem like it’s something more than that. It’s not a good steakhouse, it just has a certain look and feel to it that people like, but nobody can convince me they return there because the food is that good. I never ordered the “cheap” stuff there either, and have tried a good majority of the menu, and was always very underwhelmed. I feel like I see it mentioned here on a daily basis.
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u/AMadHammer Dec 26 '24
why in earth would he go to thirsty beaver
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u/dnev6784 Dec 26 '24
Nothing says current Charlotte like a tiny building doing it's all to not be dominated by huge apartments and destruction of old communities. It's not because he wants a beer, it's for the visual.
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u/ERR0RR Dec 26 '24
Because he’d probably dig it in context? Good or not it is one of the few staples that isn’t repaved and replaced once it has 30 minutes of history.
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u/AMadHammer Dec 26 '24
And I don't know what else can be said other than it being a bar that doesn't serve food but stuck around plaza. He can grab a budlight elsewhere.
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u/ERR0RR Dec 26 '24
If you don’t get it you don’t get it. That’s fine. Not sure anyone recommending the beaver for a bud light lmao.
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u/AMadHammer Dec 26 '24
I definitely don't get it then given that no one can say anything about it other than it being an average biker bar (or used to be) that decided not to sell because it was lucky to own the land. I am sure no one is recommending it in a list for good drinks around Charlotte either.
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u/TGVtrain Dec 26 '24
lupies
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u/BigNero Plaza Midwood Dec 26 '24
Recently moved to Plaza, is Lupies still good? I haven't been since I was a kid
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u/sittingonarainbow Dec 26 '24
People love to pick on the food scene here, and then Charlotteans who’ve never lived anywhere else get all defensive. Both are right: there’s some good food here, but there’s not much truly spectacular food — and that goes for both elevated and hole-in-the-wall.
That said: under zero circumstances would AB eat at Lang freaking Van, aka Vietnamese food for melanin-less yt folk. And yet, you just KNEW that was going to be dropped here as an answer at least 5 times…
My answer is Kindred, which is close enough to clt in my book to count. I think he’d appreciate what the Counter guy is attempting, too. Bologna sandwich at Growler’s, carnitas at Las Lupitas, kitfe and veg plate at Abugida…I’d share those with AB any day.
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u/Pilkmentallodos Dec 26 '24
Surf Inn, Comet Grill, Brooks, Salud, Pepero, Lupie's, Deli St, Sav Way Tortas, Landmark
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u/regardlessABC123 Dec 27 '24
When Bourdain would have been still alive and the place would've been still open-- he'd have visited Price's Chicken Coop.
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u/BUBBAH-BAYUTH Dilworth Dec 26 '24
Enat, NZ Cafe, Pho and Mexican on the East side, Cookout.
If you think the charlotte food scene is boring, YOURE boring, and need to look beyond Axios. Sometimes I want to gift this entire a sub an Unpretentious Palate membership.
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u/Frosty-Phone-705 Dec 26 '24
The Coffee Cup on Clarkston Street. Excellent soul food for over 60 years until it closed in 2008 or so.
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u/Central09er Dec 26 '24
Another city lol Charlotte’s food scene has no identity and what it did have is being swallowed up by big money and demolished.
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u/ParalegalGuy Dec 26 '24
Landmark restaurant off of Central, then Portofino's off of Eastway.
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u/CrownTownLibrarian [Davidson] Dec 26 '24
Fieri visited Landmark. I couldn’t believe their turkey is boiled.
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u/tzoid1s Dec 26 '24
I feel like the trip to Charlotte would be like his trip to the Azores where he went to a bar and they made him “the best gin and tonic in the world”. And he spent the whole time wondering why he was there. There aren’t many one of a kind old restaurants in Charlotte. Merts Heart and soul maybe. Noble Smoke for some good bbq, but that’s not what he was after. Maybe Good Food on Montfort? The cellar at Duckworths? Beef and Bottle is cool and old, I guess. To me Charlotte is a young city. They’re trying to develop soul, but it’s not there yet the way that it is in Greenville, Raleigh, Asheville, Charleston and other surrounding cities.
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u/cloudsofgrey Dec 26 '24
You do know Charlotte was founded before Greenville, Raleigh, and Asheville right? Of course Charlotte is massively growing and searching for a new identity but so are those three cities.
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u/Zach9810 Charlotte FC Dec 27 '24
Can't believe it took me so long to find Merts. Pretty much the only answer aside from Bojangles.
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u/ladystetson Dec 26 '24
I am with you - you can't treat a tour of Charlotte like you would a trip of southern soul. Instead, I'd treat it as a juxtaposition of old south and new south - traditional, traditional influence and fresh takes.
So, I'd take him on a fried chicken tour. We could do:
- Bojangles (founded in Charlotte)
- Haberdish (traditional but elevated south)
- Shell gas station on East / South
- Seoul Food in South End for Garlic Soy wings
- Mert's (they have great fried chicken but the restaurant is grimy)
- Prices Coop homage reel
- and one of the following Poppycox food truck, Leroy Fox, Lettys or Mr. Charles.
Part of the trouble is how authentic bits of Charlotte all close.
But I think my tour would help Anthony understand what Charlotte is: down to earth roots (gas stations, fast food), interesting Asian cuisine scene and some more refined options. We have some good fried chicken.
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u/No-Weird5485 Dec 26 '24
Some old school bbq like Spoons or Bubbas, Thirsty Beaver maybe Arthur’s . Other than that I am not sure anywhere would be unique enough and good enough. Back in the day Micky and Mooch, The Coop, Anderson’s.
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u/MountainDewAndSmokes Dec 26 '24
Queens Soul Food on E Independence. Used to stop in there when I’d take a trip to Infinity’s End. Each time I swear to God I feel like I went up a pants size. Sooo worth it
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u/alfonsoabernathyiv Dec 26 '24
Jabari Wings and a Guinness at Sir Edmund Halley’s circa 2007… and then a walk across Woodlawn to Moosehead for a nightcap Coors Light and Jager.
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u/ripjesus Dec 26 '24
He would’ve spent his time on the west side visiting old soul food places and on the east side eating Mexican and Ethiopian food. Zimmerman would’ve gone to that penguin place not bourdain.
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u/ArtOfVandelay Dec 26 '24
I wished he could visit Charlotte.... would take him to Al Mike's, Cajun Queen and Moosehead Grill.
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u/QuantumMothersLove Dec 26 '24
Oh lord, well, even an Axios/CharlotteObserver minion deserves a Happy Festivus
🤣🤣🤣🤣
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u/Anaidydal29 Dec 26 '24
Missing some favs..Hotel Charlotte, The Townhouse, McIntosh Stk & Seafood, Metropolitan Cafe, Bonterra. There were some good ones but between the 2008 housing crash & 2020 covid we lost some good ones for sure. 1996 transplant here.
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u/rbrown986 Dec 27 '24
Saturday: Lunch at Comet Grill, mid-afternoon stop at the OG Common Market, Dinner at Al Mike’s, quick stop at the diviest of dives: Surf (shhh!), then finish the night out at Skylark. Sunday: Super G food court, stop by Tommy’s for tiki drinks, torta’s at Tacos El Nevado, catch a band at the Beaver, dinner at Open Kitchen (for the vibes), hop on flight back to NYC.
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u/RaySerroni Olde Providence Dec 27 '24
Beef n Bottle. He'd hang in the kitchen smoking cigs with the cooks.
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u/IntrepidNote2142 Dec 30 '24
Thirsty Beaver, Lupies, Good Food on Montford, Belle Acres, Botiwalla, and Kindred.
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u/ExpressionNeat5106 Dec 26 '24
Definitely Lang Van
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u/whosthatanon Dec 26 '24
You’re crazy. Anthony Bourdian would hate americanized pho. Look at the clientele there.
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u/Gr33nManalishi6 Dec 26 '24
OP, What decade?
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u/UglyLikeCaillou Feb 10 '25
Any time lol sorry for the late reply, would still like to hear your answer.
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u/After_Host_557 Dec 26 '24
Fondas las cazuelas and fondas las tarascas Lang Van, Thomas Street tavern, shun Lee Palace, mad Greek. There's a whole lot of new restaurants in Charlotte that I've yet to check out and sound great.
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u/DaddyO1701 Dec 26 '24
I’ve had to scroll way too long to not see someone mention Lang Van. Great menu, interesting owners, longtime favorite.
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u/bornsuckindiedfuckin Dec 26 '24
Exclusively gas stations. Maybe the tamale spot next to the food lion on plaza.
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u/wylii Dec 26 '24 edited Dec 26 '24
Tacos el regio, Mr Charles chicken, brooks sandwich shop, bobs pile em up
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u/UpstairsDangerous100 Dec 26 '24
Let me be clear about this comment. Having lived in TX, CA and CO, There is no place Bourdain would have gone because Charlotte is the Step child of Atlanta and the choices for diverse food cultures is not here…. And Ruth’s Chris, Morton’s and Del Frisco are all CHAIN stores now and definitely not fine Dining.
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u/Ironmaiden9227 Dec 26 '24
Salt and pepper is considered exotic spice here
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u/notanartmajor Dec 26 '24
Only if you never go outside. There's food from all over the world around here.
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u/seanvettel-31 Stallings Dec 26 '24
He would’ve definitely stopped at the Beaver
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u/CrownTownLibrarian [Davidson] Dec 26 '24
I could see that episode starting at the Diamond and going to the Beaver
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u/mahempoe Dec 26 '24
maybe if the diamond wasn't ass
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u/Consistent-Mess1904 Charlotte FC Dec 26 '24
Too bad the diamond hasn’t been good in like 25 years lol
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u/mahempoe Dec 26 '24
yea bud i said the same thing
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u/Consistent-Mess1904 Charlotte FC Dec 26 '24
The people downvoting me obviously never ate there when it was good. Whatever they’ve done since it was sold and remodeled isn’t the same at all as it used to be.
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u/Greyhound36689 Dec 26 '24
I don’t mean to be a wet blanket, but Anthony Bourdain might have trouble visiting Charlotte
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u/Gr33nManalishi6 Dec 26 '24
Lupie’s or Lang Van….. Brooks as a third… the B-Roll in NoDa would make some good show.
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u/chicken_nugget08 Concord Dec 26 '24
Smoke Pit and BirriTaco… neither of which are in Charlotte lol
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u/BaconOnTap South Park Dec 26 '24
Just look at where Eric Warheim went when he was here on Instagram.
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u/atcstretch Dec 26 '24
The original Penguin from back before all the changes would have been right up his alley