Savor Charlotte's Culinary & Cocktails:It's Worth a Trip to North Carolina USA
By Carla Marie Rupp With co-travel and food journalist Jason Rupp
The secret is out Charlotte “the Queen City,” its nickname, in the state of North Carolina, has reached international and media recognition as one of the world’s best food cities.for culinary and cocktail creation. Many award-winning Charlotte chefs have taken foods in their restaurants to a whole other higher level using produce in season in innovative ways. Charlotte earned international recognition for the MICHELIN Guide American South, with 12 MICHELIN-recommended restaurants in 2025.Food & Wine Magazine states that Charlotte is among the most exciting up-and-coming cities in the U.S. and Southern Living magazine has said. Charlotte is “leading the charge” for North Carolina’s restaurant scene. Over 100 new restaurants opened in in Charlotte in the last year, a huge amount. One of them, Albertine, with Chef Joe Kindred, was named by Eater magazine as the “Best New Restaurant in 2025.” It continues to get raves with diners and is recommended to visit.
Chef Chayil Johnson, from Community Matters Cafe, we recently met at a James Beard Foundation event. The Foundation’s motto is to “do good,” which is Johnson’s aim also,has been awarded the prestigious Michelin star. Customshop is also a Michelin-recommended Charlotte restaurant, with Chef Andres Kaifer. We have been excited to meet some of the honored chefs and cocktail creators and try and enjoy what they make. So we’ll let you in on the trending foodie city and what to do there and where to go. While we’ve been to Charlotte and its attractions, we heard a lot of updates at a special dinner event at the famous James Beard location, Platform JB inside Market 57, in New York City. Around a dozen chefs and cocktail professionals from Charlotte made us delicious food and creative drinks and told us what they do and how they serve visitors.
At our Charlotte evening—where Charlotte came to New York City—we learned that the ingredients for the dishes and drinks were carefully selected and brought north by vehicle to the big foodie event, while the chefs and tourism officials went by plane to the city. We could watch the food and cocktail pros at work in the James Beard kitchen and eat family-style and drink what they were making for us. It was an awesome experience for us food and travel writers. Courtesy of Bojangles Biscuits, a must-try in Charlotte, we first ate the scrumptious biscuits, made by Marshall Scarborough and Abby Riker, that you could top with sweet tea butter. Locals are called “Charlotteans,” and they rave about the biscuits; we can see why.
With coastal access to the
water, many restaurants in Charlotte serve delicious seafood that includes crab cakes, gumbo and spicy shrimp. At our dinner, we had a new take on fresh flounder and scallops. The Scallop Tortellini made by Chef Brittany Cochran used North Carolina apple cream, pecan, sorghum and caramelized onion to make the appetizer extra tasty. She is a top chef at Charlotte’s Stagioni Italian restaurant. Chef Callan Buckles made the Carolina Flounder dish with “Sumac beurre blanc and celeriac,” he said. The New York Times named Rada, where Callan is the popular chef, one of the top 50 restaurants in 2025.
Chef Sam Hart of the also-recommended Counter restaurant in Charlotte is the first Michelin-starred chef earning a star and a Green Star for his immersive tasting menu. Anthony Roldan also has gained Michelin recognition for dining experiences. Our recent dinner included squash and collard greens that never tasted so good in the vegetable dishes. The media colleague next to us relished them as much as we did.Also a staple of the Carolinas cuisine is, of course, barbeque; with top Chef Chris Coleman a master at it. He impresses diners with his smoked North Carolina pork belly, with hash arancini, sour cabbage slaw and barbeque field peas, among other specialties.
The tasty North Carolina sweet potato mousse cake dessert was not like anything we’ve ever had, a favorite made by Counter restaurant Chef Faith Morley, using black pepper meringue and milk jam along with the sweet potatoes, a popular ingredient in the South. Another dessert featured was Tres Leches Freedom Cake, with red-white-and-blue layers, from Chef Manola Belancur, of Manola’s Bakery, which USA Today newspaper has rated the #2 cake shop in the U.S. We were sent home delicious corn bread also made in Charlotte.
Vivacious drink specialist Colleen Hughes, who won the 2025 MICHELIN exceptional Cocktails Award and works at Supperland in Charlotte, serves up the most beautiful, colorful and delicious drinks. The ingredients were shared with us for her non-alcoholic drink called Crown Town Spritz (NA). They included Lyres Italian Spritz and non-alcoholic sparking wine, and garnished with an orange slice. Colleen names her red-colored alcoholic drink “It’s Giving Queen,” and it includes Sutler’s American Dry Gin with genmaicha green tea, a cordial of strawberry, pandan, palm sugar and coconut, bergamat and lemon juices and sherry. Her drink is garnished with lemon and fresh strawberry.
Charlotte mixologist Justin Hazelton shared a few of his drink ingredients from the Charlotte dinner party event. His Uptown Cornball drink includes Southern Star Double Rye Whiskey, roasted corn sorghum, seltzer and black walnut bitters, and finished with black pepper and popcorn shoots. Justin’s delicious non-alcoholic drink specialty is called Carolina Spice, that used hibiscus, cinnamon, clove, allspice, tumeric, habanero and lime, all ingredients good for one’s health. Definitely, the Charlotte bar Lorem Ipsum, where he works, is recommended: Esquire Magazine named it among the 15 Best Bars in America in 2025.
As Chowhound magazine
said, “Charlotte is rapidly expanding its reputation as a city worth visiting for the food.” We hope to try some of these restaurants in Charlotte. Besides eating at some of the great restaurants, visitors can try an array of attractions. They can fly into the Charlotte airport. There are seven major air carriers, with nonstop air service with more than 188 destinations around the world.
For Charlotte food info, see www.savorcharlotte.com and @charlottesgotalot on Instagram. Also charlottesgotalot.com.
Jason Rupp and Carla Marie Rupp are travel journalists reached at their emails of [email protected] and [email protected].