FOOD & DRINK CRITICS’ PICKS: FOOD & DRINK
itself was another thing entirely: smoky, stout and swirling, with wondrous depth from a roux that was flour and oil cooked down until it became the primordial stuff of life. One of the great food journeys of 2021 has been Rob Clement’s growth as a chef, as both he and his We all gotta eat, just respect your servers while food gain confidence with each new pop-up. The you’re out. They’ve taken a lot of shit over the past weather doesn’t keep anyone away anymore — queues form before he even opens — and that year. So eat, drink, be merry and tip well. matzo ball gumbo continues to leave us feeling verklempt.
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Best Menu Item: Matzo ball gumbo at Meshugganah Best New Menu: Bardo On a dark and stormy night back in February, while huddled together in our car to protect ourselves from the cold, we had our first bowl of Meshugganah’s matzo ball gumbo. Hardly anyone had showed up at the pop-up that evening. We had all been fans of Rob Clement’s modern take on standard Jewish deli fare since that first pimento cheese knish, though, and we weren’t about to let the weather keep us away. Magically, his gumbo, on a night like that, had all the transformative qualities of a high-pressure front. The matzo ball itself was bemusing in just how light and fluffy it was, as though a ping pong ball were dressed in tennis ball drag. But the gumbo
In late 2020, Bardo – Chef Michael Noll’s food imaginarium in South End – took the dramatic step of rebranding itself as a tasting menu-only restaurant. “Quelle horreur!” the local foodies screamed. “What is this ‘tasting menu’ of which you speak?” They had a point. Tasting menus, and more to the point – tasting menu-only restaurants – are still relatively new to Charlotte, despite the World’s 50 Best Restaurant list being filled almost entirely with them. Tasting menus can be a lot to ask of diners, especially if asked the wrong way. But that’s what Bardo is doing so right.
Instead of positioning the tasting menu as a firm commitment, sprinkled with options for supplements that, at best, instill a sense of FOMO as soon as you sit down and, at worst, create a palpable caste system between the closely spaced tables, Chef Noll puts the experience entirely in diners’ hands and allows them to tell him just how much they’re willing to go all in. Whether it’s three, five, seven or 12 courses, you never feel like you’re getting anything less than the full Bardo experience – which has only gotten better over the course of this year.
Best New Restaurant: Supperland
It’s a testament to how perfectly aligned the stars were at Supperland’s inception that the restaurant was able to open as though it had been around forever — its well-polished and wellmoneyed guns all ablaze – when COVID-19 at best hobbled even the strongest of its peers. For the rest, the pandemic excuse suddenly came up empty like so many gutted platters of pork can-can. What owners Jeff Tonidandel and Jamie Brown managed to pull off was nothing short of a miracle, and they owe so much of it to two of the smartest personnel decisions they will likely ever make:
executive chef Chris Rogienski and pastry chef Liana Sinclair. With these two at the helm, injecting style and substance into an otherwise kitschy “southern church potluck” concept — and with the bar at Supperland taking on a life of its own with a speakeasy and its own special menu in the not too-distant-future — there is no limit to how far Supperland can go.
Best New Chain Arrival: Emmy Squared
Pizza doesn’t have to be complicated. Hell, it’s almost better when you have it cold while standing in your kitchen nursing a gnarly hangover. So why is pizza such a cynical topic in Charlotte? Debates rage over styles, regional favorites, and even the quality of the water for making dough. It’s just pizza. What makes Detroit-style pizza chain Emmy Squared’s arrival in Plaza Midwood so notable is how hard they try to be more than just pizza. The dining room’s dim lighting, modern furniture, bohemian aesthetic and exposed brick go much further in establishing an intentional atmosphere than the harsh lighting of most Charlotte pizza spots. The crispy, square pies are delicious, but the burgers and cocktails are just as good. It’s the kind
