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So you’ve got your bank job, your sleek uptown condo, your BMW, your gray slacks and your French blue shirt. Only thing is, now you don’t have any money for lunch. Lucky for you, Charlotte’s full of quick, delicious, inexpensive ethnic food. In fact, ethnic eateries are some of the few around where you can get astounding, explosively flavorful food made with fresh ingredients for a reasonable price.
So you’ve got your bank job, your sleek uptown condo, your BMW, your gray slacks and your French blue shirt. Only thing is, now you don’t have any money for lunch. Lucky for you, Charlotte’s full of quick, delicious, inexpensive ethnic food. In fact, ethnic eateries are some of the few around where you can get astounding, Maybe, though, you don’t have much experience with ethnic food. Many of these restaurants have intimidating menus, especially if you’re a first-timer eating Malaysian or Ethiopian cuisine. Or you might be afraid that, if you keep eating that coconut-milk curry, those grey slacks might not fit too much longer. Again, you’re in luck – the “small plates” concept now cropping up in mainstream restaurants all over the country has been a longtime fixture of many ethnic cuisines. Whether you call them dim sum, tapas or sushi, small plates were perfected elsewhere before wandering to our shores. While a big helping of Ethiopian stew or a steaming Chinese hot pot might be a little overwhelming, a few small first bites can serve as an entryway to a variety of ethnic cuisines. “Eat, smile, ask, eat some more,” goes the mantra of Charlotte Observer food editor Kathleen Purvis. “If you go into a place with an open face and an open mind, I find people are happy to have you there.”
Ethnic food can be found all over Charlotte, but hotspots are along Central Avenue and in the Elizabeth neighborhood. “In larger cities,” says Purvis, “you see "Chinatowns" – neighborhoods that are dominated by one ethnic group. In southern Sunbelt cities, everything is mixed together -- Colombian next to Cambodian next to Pakistani. That makes for a very vibrant and interesting experience.”
Lately, when I want a bite to remember, I head to one of the following places.
Taqueria Mexico is probably the least expensive restaurant that I frequent. The place practically defines “hole-in-the-wall.” The wood panels and cowherd decor don’t exactly scream très chic, but the food is consistently good and almost intimidating in its authenticity. This is not Taco Bell fare. While speaking a little Spanish can’t hurt, the staff’s English is competent and the menu is easily read, not to mention numbered.
Meals at Taqueria Mexico all start off the same way – with a basket of fresh tortilla chips and a trio of salsas: a mild salsa cruda, a very hot, sour salsa verde, and a smoky salsa roja that recalls paprika. The restaurant has excellent soft tacos and burritos, but the thing you really don’t want to miss here is the sopa de mariscos. This Mexican seafood soup is made with snow crab, shrimp, octopus, squid, mussels and whitefish, which are simmered in a shellfish and tomato broth. It’s served with lime slices and completely unnecessary tortillas – I’m honestly not sure what they expect you to do with these. At $10, the soup is the most expensive thing on the menu, but it would be twice as much anywhere else in town. The portion’s enormous, so bring someone you don’t mind sharing with.
At Meskerem, you’ll find a disquieting lack of silverware; the food is eaten by hand. Ethiopian food is traditionally served with and eaten on injera, a gray flatbread made from teff, a native Ethiopian grain. For religious reasons, traditional Ethiopian cuisine contains no pork. Dishes consist of wats (thick stews), and tibs (sautéed meats and vegetables). All of the entrées are typically seasoned with berbere, a hot mixture of pepper, turmeric, and a horde of other spices unique to each establishment. Most of the dishes share a single trait: they are HOT. If you have a delicate palate, be sure to let your server know. Ethiopian cuisine, to be frank, is a little short on appetizers, but it consists almost entirely of first bites, so who cares? A typical Ethiopian meal might contain a half-dozen different wats or tibs.
Restaurateur Alex Ayalew and Chef Tigest Ayalew honed their skills in New York before opening the Charlotte Meskerem; their family owns three Ethiopian establishments in the city that never sleeps. Their experience shows through in the cuisine; though Meskerem is modestly decorated, the food is fantastic.
The restaurant has a few first courses, mostly salads. The sambosa, a flatbread stuffed with beef or lentils, spicy peppers, onions and garlic, is reminiscent of dumplings the world around and is pleasant enough, but the real winner here is the Meskerem Combo, a sampler platter of spicy rib beef stew, tibs wat; curried lentils, miser alecha; spicy lentil stew, or miser wat; and gomen besesga, a dish of prime rib and boiled collard greens. The combo is served directly atop the injera, and diners tear off bits of the sour bread and use it in lieu of forks or spoons. It easily serves two and gives a fantastic overview of the restaurant’s board of fare, and can be had with chicken or vegetables substituting for beef.
Alternatively, just a few blocks away is Red Sea, an Eritrean restaurant sporting a similar menu. Though they originated from different sides of the brutal Ethiopia-Eritrea conflict, the owners of Meskerem and Red Sea are good friends – surely a hopeful portent.
Cuisine Malaya is a treasure trove of small entrées and appetizers. It’s one of those intimidating ethnic menus that makes you wonder, “How can I possibly order?” Malaysian cuisine is an amalgam of Chinese, ethnic Malay and Indian cuisines. To these groups, Cuisine Malaya has added a substantial Japanese component; the restaurant has some of the best sushi in town, not to mention a variety of hibachi dishes. Familiar gyoza and spring roll appetizers rub shoulders with ethnic Malay specialties such as roti canai, a crispy “pancake” served with a spicy cup of curried chicken soup.
For my money, the can’t-miss bite here is the popiah, a traditional spring roll stuffed with cucumber, egg, shrimp and steamed jicama, a sweet, starchy bean, and then fried or steamed, according to your preference. And don’t miss the sushi – it’s not just terrific, but inexpensive, with none of the pretentious presentation of more affluent sushi venues.
Ben Thanh, on Central Avenue, is one of the friendliest restaurants on our list. The restaurant’s named for a famous market in Ho Chi Minh City and offers authentic Vietnamese cuisine conveniently labeled and defined in English. Vietnamese food is simple, with clean, fresh flavors. A long colonial period lends the cuisine considerable French influence; pho, the classic Vietnamese rice noodle soup, is based on consommé, but the food’s not too familiar – it definitely sets an exotic tone. Ben Thanh is the sister restaurant to Charlotte institution Lang Van, almost in a literal sense; the owners are brother and sister, and their mother ran the kitchen at Lang Van before moving to Ben Thanh.
Ben Thanh’s menu features standby dishes such as the aforementioned pho, as well as steamed low-calorie options and a variety of noodle dishes. If you’re feeling adventurous, try the pho (pronounced, “fuh”) with beef and tripe. It has a delicious, rich character you won’t find in the other soups on the menu. Here we continue our ethnic flatbread trend with the banh xeo, or yellow pancake. This crispy-edged, crêpe-like rice-flour flatbread is made golden and creamy with ground turmeric and coconut milk and stuffed with shrimp, pork and bean sprouts. The dish is garnished with mint and basil and served with a sweet-and-sour garlic dipping sauce.
Pupusa Heat may seem at first glance to be just another Latin eatery on Central Avenue, but this Salvadorian joint has a lot going for it. Plastic plants and pink walls belie the gustatory delights found within; this seems to be a common theme in ethnic places, and I think it shows a healthy disregard for veneer. Great food can be found everywhere, regardless of appearances.
The eatery is named for the national dish of El Salvador, the pupusa. About the size of a pita, this corn-based flatbread is similar to the Mexican gordita and the Argentine arepa. Pupusa Heat makes their own, and then fills them with white cheese, fried pork rinds, chicken or beans. The final product is very well balanced and completely delicious; the piquant slaw accompaniment complements the rich, fatty filling perfectly. At $1.50 each, you can rack up quite a meal for very little money.
The ethnic scene in Charlotte has a lot going for it, so by no means constrain yourself to this list. Sure, there are plenty of restaurants that are convenient and predictable – your old reliable standby-- but you can’t beat the sense of adventure found in exposing your taste buds to a new cuisine. There are memorable bites all over town just waiting to be discovered.
~ Marcus Walser
Taqueria Mexico: Hole-in-the-wall, devastatingly authentic Mexican fare. Try the soft tacos, or go all out with a friend and get the sopa de mariscos. $4-$10.
7001 South Boulevard
704.552-2461
Meskerem: Eat with your hands! Ethiopian specialties served on a table-sized roll of sour bread. Get the sampler platter; you won’t regret it. $9-$13.
601 S. Kings Dr. # P
704.335.1197
Red Sea: Meskerem from across the aisle. The veggie platter here is particularly good, and for some reason they serve taquitos. $9-$20.
206 E. Independence Blvd.
704.375.4999
Cuisine Malaya: I cannot stress this enough: get the sushi here. The roti and popiah are also particularly good. Sushi, $2-$10. Entrées, $8-$24.
1411 Elizabeth Avenue
704.372.0766
Ben Thanh: These guys make a killer pho, the yellow pancake (#17) is incredible, and #54 wins the audience participation award – roll your own summer rolls! $8-$18.
4900 Central Avenue
704.566.1088
Pupusa Heat: There’s really no question here: get the pupusas. Try a variety of fillings-- they’re all good. $1.50 per pupusa revuelta.
4808 (G-H) Central Ave.
704.537.8475
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