Local Flavor

Chef Dave Feimster learned to make authentic poke bowls during his seven years in Hawaii.

LOCAL FLAVOR From the Rooftop to Ground Level

Fahrenheit’s new food truck serves up Hawaiian street food in parking lots across Charlotte

BY TAYLOR BOWLER PHOTOGRAPHS BY PETER TAYLOR

ROOF.TOP21

Follow @roof.top21 on Instagram for the weekly food truck schedule. AT 21 STORIES, Fahrenheit is one of Charlotte’s most popular places to dine on a roo op. When COVID-19 invaded the city this spring, Executive Chef and Director of Operations Dave Feimster and his team made the di cult decision to temporarily close their restaurant on South Caldwell Street in Second Ward. But instead of a complete shutdown, they put their operation on wheels and brought Hawaiian street fare to customers in a little red food truck they call roof.top21.

“It was actually built in late December, pre-pandemic,” Feimster says. “We were going to keep it a surprise and use it for catering and special events, but then the pandemic happened, so we thought, ‘Let’s get it out on the streets and start feeding people now.’” roof.top21 hit the pavement in April with a limited menu of handheld, Hawaiianinspired street food. “We’ve been taking it to a lot of apartment complexes because it’s a great way for residents to stay safe and still get restaurant food,” Feimster says. The Fahrenheit team also joined the “Feed the Soul” initiative to help feed frontline health care workers during COVID-19. On Thursdays in April and May, members delivered 300 meals to Novant Health and Atrium Health’s main hospitals.

The food truck menu includes Kalua (Hawaiian barbecue) pork, a poke bowl, a spicy chicken katsu sandwich, and Kalua pork crinkle fries. “Hawaiian food is so trendy right now,” Feimster says. “Everyone loves chicken katsu; turn that into a sandwich, and you’ve got the Hawaiian version of the Nashville hot chicken sandwich. Kailua pork is barbecue, but Hawaiian-style. All of this is a play on ‘local’ Hawaiian.”

Feimster, who has earned the nickname “Sushi Dave,” lived in Hawaii for seven years and owned the restaurant Sushi En Fuego. In 2012, he got a call from his old friend Rocco Whalen, who was about to open Charlotte’s rst open-air roo op restaurant. Feimster came on as executive chef and cra ed a menu that emphasizes seafood with Asian air. “Japanese food and Hawaiian food go hand in hand,” he says. “It’s a big melting pot over there. I learned from my Filipino cooks and friends, so when I came back over here I had a real heavy hand with Asian food. I’ve been doing poke bowls before they were even cool.”

Fahrenheit reopened for dine-in service in late May, but Sushi Dave has no plans to abandon roof.top21—or let the food truck menu get stale. “That’s just where we started, but I don’t want to be pigeonholed to Hawaiian street food,” he says. When he o ered lobster grilled cheese—with gruyere, brie, and Maine lobster—as a special, it sold out immediately. Now it’s on the daily menu.

Kalua pork with mac salad and pickled cucumbers (top) and a spicy chicken katsu sandwich (left). (Below) Chef Dave’s creative take on Japanese and Hawaiian food earned him the nickname “Sushi Dave.” LA CASETA (pronounced la-kah-SEH-tah), a food stall from the group behind Sabor Latin Street Grill, has opened in Camp North End. Feast on tacos with traditional trompo-style pork, pupusas revueltas, and arepas.

Charlotte’s rst seltzery, SUMMIT SELTZERY, opens this month in Wesley Heights. The taproom will serve 14 hard and nonalcoholic seltzers, all cra ed on site.

Rob Masone, the chef behind Wooden Robot Brewery’s gastropub, will open a new restaurant called KOUNTER in downtown Rock Hill this fall.

STIR, a Chattanooga-based oyster and cocktail bar, is open in South End’s RailYard. Look for made-to-order cocktails, a raw bar, and entrees like seared scallops, spicy tuna burgers, and steak frites.

“I came up with it because one of our most popular dishes at Fahrenheit is the lobster mac & cheese,” he says. “With roof.top21, you’re getting Fahrenheit food, just on the ground level. Not everyone can make it up here to this high-end place, but everyone can get to a food truck.”

BITE-SIZED STORIES Foodie News on a Small Plate

The Whole Okra: A Seed to Stem Celebration by Chris Smith won a James Beard award in May. PETER TAYLOR, a longtime contributor to Charlotte magazine, took the photographs.

ROOFTOP RESTAURANT, a year-round garden and atrium on the roof of RH Charlotte, The Gallery at Phillips Place, is open in SouthPark. Look for shareable boards, salads, and classic entrees like burgers, steaks, and tru ed grilled cheese. —Taylor Bowler

CARPE DIEM RESTAURANT, a mainstay that COVID-19 forced to close in March, won’t reopen. A perennial favorite on Charlotte magazine’s best restaurant lists, Carpe Diem’s signature dish was the buttermilk fried chicken breast. Sisters Bonnie Warford and Tricia Maddrey opened Carpe Diem on South Tryon Street in 1989 and moved it to East Trade Street in 2000, then relocated again to 1609 Elizabeth Avenue in 2003 and opened EARL’S GROCERY, one block away, in 2014.

Earl’s will remain open but switch to takeout-only. They removed the grill and co ee counter so the business could operate even under health restrictions, Warford says, but kept the outside seating. Customers can still nd Carpe Diem’s buttermilk fried chicken on the menu, along with themed weekly takeout and grab-and-go options. Look for a mix of local favorites like Chef Alyssa’s Spreads, Cannizzaro sauces, and Pure Intentions Co ee on the store’s shelves, or place grocery orders online and pick them up curbside. The to-go menu is available Tuesday through Saturday from 3:00 to 8:30 p.m. Place orders by phone only a er 2:30 p.m. each day at 704-333-2757.