Just back from Taste of Charlotte, the annual food fest uptown that runs through Sunday. For more info, including prices, festival map and list of vendors, click here. Or to read restaurant writer Helen Schwab's story, click here.
Anyhow, it was fun -- and very hot -- walking around the booths running along Tryon from Martin Luther King to Sixth Street. I sampled three different Indian restaurants. My favorite taste: UDIPI's made-on-the-spot dosa.
Tasted reminded me of food fairs I used to stumble on in New York. If you go, pack sunscreen, hat and water (overpriced like at most festivals). It's supposed to be in the 90s all weekend. Oh, and save some room for a cool treat at the end. There are a few ice cream and smoothie stands.
Friday, June 6, 2008
Getting a Taste of Charlotte?
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46 comments:
Woohoo! Finally a normal festival instead of all the redneck ones!
Woohoo?? uh, ok.
Overpriced and this time with the exception of the crab dip, the food was terrible. The chicken tacos didn't even taste like chicken and the Jamaican meat patty tastes just like the ones I can pick up at Costco for much less. Not worth it; if I were you I would stay away and spend my money at a good restaurant elsewhere.
It is absolutely necessary for the words "New York" to appear in each and every one of your blogs?
You should really explore more of the country. There are actually 50 states in the US you know.
I agree, most of the booths were overpriced. It's like they're counting on people to convert their cash to tokens, and then forget the exchange rate. 3 tokens for a shotglass full of dried out pulled pork? C'mon.
If the profits went to charity the prices might be more palatable.
NEW YORK ! NEW YORK ! NEW YORK ! NEW YORK ! NEW YORK ! NEW YORK ! NEW YORK ! NEW YORK ! NEW YORK ! NEW YORK ! NEW YORK ! NEW YORK ! NEW YORK ! NEW YORK ! NEW YORK ! NEW YORK ! NEW YORK ! NEW YORK ! NEW YORK ! NEW YORK ! NEW YORK ! NEW YORK ! NEW YORK ! NEW YORK ! NEW YORK ! NEW YORK ! NEW YORK ! NEW YORK ! NEW YORK !
Gotta love that town !!
Just got back. As always GREAT.
Don't be hatin' !
Charlotte is a great town as well. Just different.
Should nt the have the festival when its cooler so we can eat the food; In the South food is hrd to eat when its this hot.
good luck every body Jimmy the earthworm was crushed and wont be coming back.
signed the NSA
Too pricey??? You could sample at least four things for as little as $10.00. For $20 you could get eight to ten items. You folks need to get out more. Anyone who didn't like it though should visit the food festival in the fall. Its more upscale, while the Taste offers more simple food. As for the heat, uhh, check weather.com, its just as hot everywhere else on the East Coast as Charlotte this weekend, and truthfully most weekends. And regarding the writers NY comment, my goodness give her a break, she used to live there. What should her point of reference be, China????
So if you're from New York, it's okay to pay $10 to "sample" 4 items? Give me a break!
I agree, I just moved to Charlotte from WI and I'm already tired of hearing the words "New York"! I came to the South because I like the people, climate and culture. If I wanted to hear about NY I would have moved there. I don't think the cost was excessive for the festival either. Go for the experience, not the value.
^
Maybe you should go back to Cheeseville if you don't like anyone talking about something you don't want to hear ? Free country, free press, free speech.
NEW YORK !
Look Cheese head from Wisconsin we would like some of your food like a slice of butter atop a cheeseburger Ill bet doctors invented this sandwich to keep them in business. I am looking forward for this sandwich but firts I must run 5 miles.
simple simon says
OK I Understand everybody getting upset about New york being brought up all the time, but she is new to town and she does have to have a point of reference for this blog. I went to the Taste yesterday and yes it was to hot to eat and no the prices were not that bad. Look at it this way you can go to any LOCAL restuarant and get a sampler plate with less food for more money than what you could get at this festival.Remember its a festival they have this to generate sales not give you a free dinner. if you don't like it then DON'T GO its that simple. And if you don't like the comparisons then don't read the blog. Have A Great Summer!
OK I Understand everybody getting upset about New york being brought up all the time, but she is new to town and she does have to have a point of reference for this blog.
That particular point of reference is off limits unless she wants to draw the ire of genuine Charlotteans. Fair or not, it's a fact.
So what that she brings up New York. If you read her blog carefully she favorably compares Taste of Charlotte to a New York food fair. That is a good thing not a bad thing. I would think Charlotteans would be pleased at this comparison.
RJ
New York is the city to which all U.S. cities are compared. Get used to it.
Nobody is going to use Decatur, Kansas in a comparison.
I didn't think it was a bad deal at all. For $10 I got brisket, banana pudding (yum) and pineapple and watermelon.
The subsequent posts from New Yorkers and the cheese references only prove my point further. My point was that I moved from WI to embrace the culture in Charlotte and the South. I don't compare it to where I've lived or traveled to. I hate to break it to some of you but outside of New York, New York is not considered the end-all be-all of existence. If you like it so much, move back.
Protect our Southern culture! Embrace Charlotte as a Southern city and help keep it that way. There is nothing wrong with diversity and some change but lets not lose our identity!!
New York may not be the "end-all be-all" of existence... however, it is one of the three "command centers" for the world economy.
Charlotte would be lucky to make the top 10 places to buy a corn dog.
What's with all of the negative postings? Is this why everyone thinks New Yorkers are rude? I wouldn't live in Charlotte if it was more like NY, I'd live in New York! Why don't people get that Charlotte doesn't have to be like other places? Let it have its own personality and identity. I'm proud to be from the south and while I have visited NY many times, I don't like it as much as Charlotte. This is why I live in Charlotte... By the way, the food festival was nice too!
what respectable southerner eats corndogs anyway?
The corny dog is a staple of the Texas state fair.
Texas isn't the "south". It's the Southwest...
Texas was part of the Confederacy.
El Paso may be part of the southwest but try telling Houstonians that they live in the southwest.
So was Virginia and they are north of the mason dixon line and considered part of the South...
oops, I meant Virginia is NOT part of the South.
I've been checking this website for a couple of months, we are looking to move to Charlotte. I truly can't believe how RUDE people are on this site!! You must be really bored if you feel you need to vent on this site. Can't you just leave your negativity at your own sites.
Let us look into Charlotte without your harsh comments.
Keep up the good work AMY!!!
Try telling someone from Richmond that Virginia isn't the South. Virginia IS the South, NOVA excepted.
I've been checking this website for a couple of months, we are looking to move to Charlotte. I truly can't believe how RUDE people are on this site!! You must be really bored if you feel you need to vent on this site. Can't you just leave your negativity at your own sites.
Let us look into Charlotte without your harsh comments.
Keep up the good work AMY!!!
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AMEN! I have lived here for two yrs and this is the most negative "place" that I have seen in Charlotte. It's not all bad I think some people just like to see the glass half empty and aren't happy with their lives. Looking at it from your comment, it is embarassing to see these residents giving our city a bad name.
AMEN! I have lived here for two yrs and this is the most negative "place" that I have seen in Charlotte.
People post things online that they think but wouldn't say in public. We southerners badmouth yankees all the time when we are amongst ourselves.
I'm from San Francisco, and just moved here, so as far as culinary comparisons go... forget about NY or Wisconsin! San Francisco food rules. But Charlotte has some awesome BBQ, that's for sure. Anyhow, I won't go into a detailed comparison of S.F. food since I now live in Charlotte, and what a great city it is!
http://www.todaysbags.com
High falutin' style exists coast to coast, by the way, let's not lose sight of that!
I used to play the jazz sax at some cool joints around town and Charlotte used to come and see me. She and I had a great rapport and she enjoyed herself with me but insisted one night that I indulge muself with her before we played. It was real nice except for when I went back to the club to play sax. Wow was it ever a sour note night. She heard me play and just slinked away out of the club. I learned that nite never to taste Charlotte again before playing the jazz sax. Wait until after the show is over.
Folks from the north (east coast specifically) are some of the rudest people I know. Just because Southerners are polite doesn't mean we want to be pushed out of the way by the Yanks from NY.
You Rebs are a hoot and a laughable joke. Didnt you learn your lesson?
You have the nerve to bad mouth your superiors and occupiers? Even your black Rebs are as bad as you white ones. Both subordinates. Both ours.
Did you forget who won? This is not your land, its ours. We won it and we own you like we own Germany and Japan. Amnesia set in since 1865?
If you hadnt been so totally stupid and left there would have been no problems and you would still be our equals but no you had to show your stupidity and be taught a tough lesson. And the funny thing is the nation was founded down here and all the founding documents written by the south so thats makes you twice as stupid. But now you are technically our slaves for being stupid.
Had we wanted we could have killed you all off or reversed the Emancipation Proclamation and made you our servants but we went easy on you.
So lighten up and shaddup. You could be washing our cars picking our cotten or cleaning our homes right now.
If you make us mad we may take your homes and cars and put you on a leash. To the victors go the spoils.
I don't think I've seen a more disgusting post in my life. How did race get into this as well? Such a strong way to promote a weak mind.
I wonder if there are any writers at the NY Times complaining about how they can't find good barbeque since they moved "up there".
and yea I've been to Noo York and San Fran, the food is a thousand times better in San Fran and the people are nicer there.
BBQ is part of southern culture. I don't get excited about a hotdog from a street vender however that is very much a staple in NYC. It's all perspective. Some of the best seafood and chowder that I've ever had was in Seattle. I don't look for BBQ or biscuits when I visit family there. I'm sure I would be disappointed if I did. We are lucky to have Southern dishes that make us unique. I'm originally from the Midwest where there really are no cultural dishes other than sausage on a bun. People should appreciate the culture of an area and not try and change it or compare. It's just different. A fantastic kind of different to boot!
Please Charlotte free the Black man Free the Black man dont enslave them with no educaTIAN. lET FREEDOM RING
jim AND nICKS BARBEQUE IS THE BEST on Steele Creek rd and Rt 49/ york rd 3 miles up from the Buster boy bridge on Lake Wylie JIM and NICKS IS FROM al:abama AND BEEN COOKING FOR 35 YEARS mmmmMMMMM REAL GREAT FOOD AND NOT JEST BABAQUE SIGNED yANKEE FROM oHIO
Please all races and cultures try JIM and NICKS BBQ the best and put it up with Bridges BBQ in Shelby I was impressed and Im grumpy about everything
Having read a few of these blogs I really have to wonder if the Observer is missing the boat by having a "newcomer" write this. It would make more sense to have someone from the area even perhaps someone who LIKES it here write this because they would actually know what they were talking about. You will learn more about the region reading Tommy Tomlinson's articles than these.
Nice story about gallery crawl by the way. I'm also very impressed with the coverage of the symphony at South Park and how it has changed over the years - oh wait there aren't any stories about those things just a lot of moaning about missing New York.
Please New Yorkers, go back to New York. See how polite we are down here?
For a city that has only become what it is today off the backs and money of the North and Northern transplants, that attitude needs to be dropped.
If you want all the northerns to go, how about we take all the northern based companies and jobs back with us as well. Then when the best you can is working at a Circle K, you won't run your mouths so much.
As for the Taste of Charlotte... it is way overpriced for the low quality of food sold.
"Please New Yorkers, go back to New York. See how polite we are down here?".....
That is the typical southern hospitality that most northerns have learned after they move south. But the problem is that most southerns do not have the nerve to say that to any northerns faces. That is the typical behind-your-back way most southerns are.
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