The first place I visited was The Peculiar Rabbit, a gastropub with a really unique take on some classic dishes. The Peculiar Rabbit is part of 3 businesses there, the other two locations are The Rabbit Hole (an entertainment venue w/ live bands) and Jackalope Jacks (a sports bar). I had a beer and tried their Carolina Poutine appetizer.
The next night, I went to Dish, a restaurant featured in an episode of Guy Fieri's Diners, Drive-Ins, & Dives. They specialize in amazing Southern food with an atmosphere that's really homey and comfortable. So I went for a Southern staple, chicken & dumplings with a cup of sweet corn & potato chowder on the side.
While the portions don't look big, the food is so filling that it more than makes up for it's size. The chowder was like a bowl of happiness with both the sweet corn and potatoes maintaining their firmness while swimming in pleasant cream broth with a healthy amount of pepper that gave it a nice twang. The chicken and dumplings were so delicious that they put Cracker barrel's to shame. The shredded chicken was moist and flavorful and the dumplings were tender and maintained their shape. The scallions were a nice touch and added another dimension of flavor to the dish, as did the black pepper they added as well. The meal came with a deviled egg and a delicious homemade biscuit that was brushed with honey butter. All in all, a very good meal and full of comforting foods. I look forward to going back and trying something else.
One of my last meals I had up there this trip was at Sushi Guru at Plaza Midwood in Charlotte, NC. Now I didn't have sushi as I was in the mood for a nice bowl of ramen and they didn't disappoint. They have 4 types of ramen dishes on their menu; tonkotsu shio, shoyu, miso, & yasai. Each one of these dishes use a different broth and the yasai is the only one to have different ingredients in the dish itself with a focus on vegetables and no meat products whatsoever. I went with the classic tonkotsu ramen which was so wonderful and warmed me up from the inside out.
This soup was so delicious and it warmed me up from the inside with it's rich broth and delicious ingredients. The tonkotsu ramen started with a gentle and slightly salty white tonkotsu broth that was topped with some tender roasted pork fillets, a sheet of nori seaweed, some baby bok choy halves, roasted garlic, and naruto cured fish surimi. I mixed it all up so the nori would soften up and the garlic would get mixed throughout the ramen. Each ingredient was cooked perfectly and was perfectly cut so that it could be eaten with chopsticks and the spoon was only needed to finish off the broth. They also have a rather extensive sake list and would definitely be a place to check out if you love sake. This was one of the best ramen dishes I've had yet and I want to try at least a couple of their other ones and maybe some sushi as well.
Charlotte, NC has so many incredible places to eat that it would probably take me a couple of years to try everything out there that looks good. That's not even taking into account all the breweries and distilleries in the metropolitan area as well. If you get to go there for something, don't hit the chain restaurants, explore and try something new!
