blvd. | cuisine
Fire and water FIRST LOOK: MIZU
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by Cathy Martin • photographs by Justin Driscoll
t’s a weeknight in Charlotte, and you’re sipping craft cocktails and enjoying succulent oysters, sushi and other gourmet bites while taking in the sunset view from the ninth-floor rooftop terrace. It’s a lively scene, as couples and small groups gather for a fun and relaxing night out. These days, trendy rooftop bars dot the skyline in uptown Charlotte. But wait … this isn’t uptown. It’s SouthPark, the suburban enclave known for swanky steakhouses, family-friendly neighborhoods and upscale shopping. Mizu, the new restaurant atop the Hyatt Centric at Apex Charlotte on Sharon Road, joins other neighborhood hot spots such as RH Rooftop Restaurant, Steak 48 and Dilworth Tasting Room in reenergizing the drinks and dining scene in this busy part of town. Led by Executive Chef Michael Chanthavong, formerly
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chef at O-Ku Charlotte, Mizu is a seafood-focused restaurant with a menu packed with Asian flavor with a subtle Southern slant, thanks to a prevalence of local and regional ingredients. Mizu (Japanese for “water”) is the latest from Charleston, S.C.’s Indigo Road Hospitality Group, which operates more than two dozen restaurants from Jacksonville, Fla., to Washington, D.C., including O-Ku, Indaco and Oak Steakhouse in Charlotte. While O-Ku is more sushi-focused, Mizu’s distinction is the robata grill, an instrument for barbecuing over hot coals that traces its origins to fishermen in northern Japan. “It’s fire and ice — instead of a sushi bar, we have a grill,” Chanthavong says. The robata grill at Mizu is compact but mighty, reaching temperatures exceeding 1,100 degrees. “It’s high-intensity, flameless heat,” adds Chanthavong, a Rochester, N.Y., native who