Taste Carolina: Charlotte Uptown Evening Tour
This year, I’ve gotten into taking solo trips. My first was to Washington D.C. to see my favorite podcast, Watch What Crappens, then I took an overnight trip to Charlottesville, Virginia. However, going to Charlotte, North Carolina was my longest solo trip—a whole weekend in the Queen City.
Before I left, I meticulously planned practically every hour of my time in Charlotte, as I do any time I travel. Most of my excursions, of course, are centered around eating and drinking. Instead of trying to squeeze in as many restaurant reservations as possible, I booked a Taste Carolina tour.
Taste Carolina
Taste Carolina offers food-and-drink-focused tours in nine cities in the Tar Heel state, including Raleigh, Wilmington, Asheville, Winston-Salem and Charlotte. These walking tours not only give tourists a chance to do some sightseeing, but also dine at several local restaurants.
As soon as I read about Taste Carolina, I knew this was right up my alley, so I booked the Charlotte Uptown Evening Tour. Also known as the Spirit of Charlotte tour (not to be confused with any local ghost tours), this experience offered a dish and cocktail at three local eateries, as well as one additional cocktail.
Charlotte Uptown Evening Tour
We met in front of Charlotte’s Firebird Statue, affectionately known as the “Disco Chicken” on a rainy Saturday evening. I stood awkwardly with the rest of my tour before doing introductions. Our tour guide, Johnny, was fantastic at getting a group of total strangers to start chatting immediately. After a quick ice breaker, we walked to our first restaurant.
Fin & Fino
We started our tour at Fin & Fino, a restaurant that describes itself as “a social seafood house.” Being born and raised in Maryland, I’m certainly no stranger to seafood, and I was excited to see that the menu draws inspiration from both sides of the Atlantic, not just U.S. East Coast seafood.
Our first cocktail was called “Drunk Karaoke in a Shania Twain Wig”—a tequila-based cocktail with hibiscus, amaro, cappelletti liqueur and citrus. The combination of tequila and two different liqueurs made for an incredibly strong cocktail that I had to sip very slowly. Overall, I wasn’t a fan all those flavors with the hibiscus, creating an almost medicine-like taste, but the flower floating on top did make it look very pretty.
Since this was the first stop, I wasn’t sure how large the serving sizes would be since they told us the food would be tastings. To our surprise, we received a generous portion of Italian-style mussels. These mussels were resting in a broth with a crushed sungold tomatoes, green peppers and pork cheek. The restaurant was dimly lit, so we couldn’t see everything in the bowl. My fellow diners and I agreed that the taste was almost like a deconstructed stuffed pepper. There was a slight, lip-tingling spice, and the dish was served with confit garlic baguette slices to soak up all the broth. Even people who didn’t like mussels before walking into Fin & Fino were fans once we left.
The Cotton Room
From there, we headed to the cobblestone courtyard at Brevard Court. Then upstairs to The Cotton Room, a Southern-inspired speakeasy. Located above Belfast Mill, in a historic brick building, The Cotton Room shakes, stirs and serves handcrafted cocktails. If I was not on this tour, I probably would’ve spent hours here, trying as many cocktails as my liver allowed. Fortunately, my tour forced me to imbibe moderately. We cozied up to the bar and watched as the bartender made a classic Old Fashioned.
An Old Fashioned typically wouldn’t be a cocktail that I’d order, but I’m all for going out of my comfort zone. Starting with a frosty glass, the bartender poured pre-prohibition whiskey (to keep the authenticity of the space), adding angostura bitters, orange bitters, dark brown sugar and a flamed orange twist to finish the drink. The award-winning Redemption Rye was the smoothest whiskey I’ve ever had. After two or more of those Old Fashioned cocktails, you’ll definitely need assistance getting back down the building’s staircase.
Church & Union
With a slight buzz, we took our farthest walk of the tour, from Uptown’s Third Ward to the Fourth Ward, to Church & Union. As a Top Chef fan, I was very excited about this restaurant because one of the partners is former chef-testant Jamie Lynch, who famously gave up his immunity then went home in season 14.
By the time we got to Church & Union, it was dinner time, so the restaurant was bustling. While we waited for our entrees, servers brought out a plate of hummus and pita chips to nibble on. Then, out came our main course, the CU Burger, which was paired with a local beer. This was my favorite dish of the tour—a medium beef patty topped with sauteed mushrooms, caramelized onions, truffle cheese and truffle aioli, with a side of hand-cut French fries. A great burger starts with a quality patty, and that’s exactly what Church & Union has. I would go back again just for that burger but skip the beer pairing and go for wine instead.
The Market at 7th Street
To my surprise, we finished the tour at the location I began my day at, The Market at 7th Street. If you read my first blog post about my weekend in Charlotte, then you already know that The Market at 7th Street is a space for local, small businesses. Since most of the vendors weren’t open when I stopped by that morning, I was excited to try a few more spots while on the food tour.
Assorted Table Wine & Shop served us a glass of local wine from a winery in Dover, North Carolina. This was paired with a grilled cheese from Orrman’s Cheese Shop. Now, I’m very simple when it comes to grilled cheese, so I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed the dynamic flavors of their pickle grilled cheese. In addition to pickles, Orrman’s take on this classic also includes cheddar and gouda cheeses, as well as mustard, served on crunchy sourdough for a tangy, creamy combo that paired perfectly with our wine.
Since no meal is complete without something sweet, our last bite of the tour was a Belgian liege waffle from Sweet Crunch Waffles. Liege waffles are unique in that they’re made with pearls of sugar in the batter. These caramelized sugar bites added a nice crunch to the waffle, topped with strawberries, blueberries, a Nutella drizzle and some whipped cream. By the end of the tour, I was stuffed. Fortunately, for me, The Market at 7th Street was right around the corner from my hotel so I didn’t have far to walk.
A major draw of Taste Carolina tours is that the company works with these restaurants to secure tables. We never had more than maybe a two minute wait to be seated and our food came out faster than other diners’. It truly felt like a VIP experience.
My biggest fear when traveling alone is looking lonely. Before I left for my tour, I hyped myself up and told myself not to be shy. While on the tour, I was relieved that 1. I was not the only solo diner. 2. That everyone was so welcoming to each other. I sat next to a different couple/person at every establishment we went to and had great conversations. Some diners were from out of town, like me, and there were a few locals who just wanted a different dining experience. I was so relieved at how friendly everyone was, and it truly made me open up more. Food, and a couple strong cocktails, is always a great way to build camaraderie.