Must visits in Charlotte, Gastonia, and Hickory, NC

[Fat Guy]

We're spending the week in North Carolina divided pretty much evenly between Hickory, Gastonia and Charlotte. Looking for interesting stuff to eat, at all levels, in any or all of those places.

[munchymom]

Some of my favorites in Charlotte:

521 BBQ

(Don't listen to anyone who tells you that Mac's is the best barbecue in Charlotte - would you trust a barbecue place that serves spinach salad and quesadillas?)

Dish

Bistro La Bon

Harvest Moon Grille

Ilios Noche

Roosters

[Holly Moore]

John's Country Kitchen for Southern Breakfast. Liver mush, pork brains and less exotic southern breakfast fixings.

Price's Chicken Coop - takeout fried chicken dinners only.

Tony's Ice Cream - Old fashioned, unfancy ice cream place.

Upstream - Carman's son-in-law is chef - seafood.

You're not to far from Lexington and its twenty plus barbecue joints.

[catdaddy]

Make sure you visit a Bojangles location. Great spicy fried chicken, biscuits, pinto beans. sausage gravy, unique FFs, and great breakfast samiches too.

[munchymom]

So, where'd you go (besides Subway)? Anything good?

[Fat Guy]

By far the best meal we had was at Diamond, the classic and now-renovated diner in Charlotte. I have a couple of photos somewhere and will try to post them.

Also really enjoyed a regional chain called Mellow Mushroom, visited in Hickory.

There's a whole 'nother topic about fish camp near Gastonia, I'm sure.

We made several visits to Chick-Fil-A and are really enamored of the place.

Other chains we hit were Subway, Five Guys and Golden Corral.

Two of the three places we stayed had kitchens so we did our own cooking for a bunch of meals, and had two meals at people's homes. In our hotel we had a breakfast buffet, which was like eating four meals before 9am.

I wish we'd visited more interesting places but this wasn't really a food-centered trip.

[munchymom]

Glad you made it to Diamond - it's a real gem . Golden Corral would have been my 8-year-old's recommendation for you, it's his favorite restaurant.

[David A. Goldfarb]

I must have missed this thread when you posted it. Hickory isn't far from Sims BBQ in Dudley Shoals, which I visited some years ago, and I've heard is still a good place for authentic North Carolina barbecue, bluegrass, and clogging.