Charlotte chicken tender showdown, World Cup croissants and more
Happy Friday, Charlotte. 🎉 Today’s CharlotteFive newsletter is stacked with the kind of food news that lives rent-free in our group chats: a chicken tender taste test with a plot twist, a barbecue event with Southern Living heavy hitters, a milkshake shop built for your feed and some very cute soccer-ball croissants. Let’s eat. 🍽️
🐔 A New Yorker taste-tests Charlotte’s chicken tenders
After watching “Top Chef” host Kristen Kish and judges Gail Simmons and Tom Colicchio do their own tender taste test during filming here, Evan decided to run his own experiment — with a very specific ringer. He recruited fellow Observer reporter Desiree Mathurin, a New Yorker who once told her mom her death row meal would be chicken nuggets and fries. Perfect résumé. ✅
Evan pulled tenders from Zaxbys, Publix, Bojangles and Cook Out, stripped the packaging and served them blind. Dez had opinions. “Sometimes I have weird meat aversions. If the chicken is too thick, I’m gonna be like, ‘It’s not cooked,’” she said. Her winner? A bird she previously wrote off: Bojangles. “I’ve had Bojangles before, and I didn’t like it — I tossed it as soon as I got it,” she said. “But that was really flavorful.”
📖 Read Evan’s full taste test and tell us if you agree.
🍖 Southern Living pitmasters land outside Charlotte for a barbecue lunch
Heidi has the details on Luncheon with Legends, a Sept. 20 event where five pitmasters spotlighted by Southern Living contributing barbecue editor Robert Moss will gather at 📍 The Hunter Farm in Weddington. The list started with a simple question from Moss: Who will people still be talking about in 60 years? These are the answers.
Guests can graze pitmaster tastings, fresh oysters, appetizers, drinks and dessert from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., presented in partnership with the Charlotte Regional Visitor’s Authority. Tickets are $175 per person (gratuity included) and go on sale Friday, July 10 at noon.
📖 Get Heidi’s full rundown here.
🍨 Crazy Mason: over-the-top milkshakes made for your camera roll
Jamie’s latest Tristan Scoops Charlotte stop went big — really big. 🤳 The Crazy Mason Milkshake Bar & Ice Cream Shop in Concord is less “quiet cone of vanilla” and more “content studio with a freezer.” Balloon walls, rose backdrops, giant waffle wings — pretty much every corner is a photo station. Owners Aaron and Monica Leach walked Jamie and his son Tristan through the space, which started in Myrtle Beach and is spreading up the East Coast.
The play here is a signature milkshake in a custom mason jar you take home. Tristan went with the Build Me Up Buttercup: vanilla ice cream, Reese’s peanut butter sauce, a chocolate-and-peanut-butter-swirled jar, two Reese’s cups on top and a whole lot of drizzle. Also worth it: the Strawberry Shortcake Nachos with house-fried cinnamon-sugar chips. Find it at 📍 5965 Thunder Rd NW, Concord or 📍 816 Brayden Pkwy, Fort Mill.
🌮 Mal Pan updates
Taqueria Mal Pan, the SouthPark spot known for heritage-driven Mexican cuisine, is leaning even harder into quality. The team is going seed oil-free, deepening local sourcing partnerships and streamlining the menu around its most-loved dishes. 🙌
🍣 Sharigato is leveling up
Charlotte’s first and only dedicated hand roll bar is expanding. Sharigato has added lunch service Tuesday through Saturday starting at noon, and takeout launches next week (Tuesday–Saturday, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.). Your maki era continues. 🍙
⚽ Maman’s World Cup croissants
Maman is celebrating the World Cup tournament with limited-edition soccer ball-shaped croissants at its Plaza Midwood and South End locations — available this weekend and next while supplies last. 🥐 Each one comes filled with a flavor repping a competing nation:
- 🇺🇸 USA: chocolate buttercream
- 🇫🇷 France: strawberry lemon puree
- 🇧🇷 Brazil: açaí puree
- 🇲🇽 Mexico: mango puree
- 🇦🇷 Argentina: guava puree
- 🇺🇾 Uruguay: dulce de leche
Grab a few and turn brunch into a bracket. 🏆
🐟 Try Scandinavian food at Vivienne
Vivienne, which started as a pop-up, opens today at 📍 Free Range Brewing. Expect Nordic flavors paired with street hot dogs, puff pastries and seafood — a very specific vibe we did not know we needed. 🌭
🔥 Top Chef’s Charlotte food tour, for context
If you want the full “where did Kristen Kish, Tom Colicchio and Gail Simmons actually eat” map, our Top Chef dining roundup has you sorted. Kish confirmed she hit Bojangles at least twice during filming. Simmons raved about dinner at 📍 Kindred in Davidson: “I loved our meal at Kindred. I do think it was exceptionally beautiful, and I just love being in their backyard.” Colicchio, on Charlotte’s food scene generally: “There’s good food everywhere. If there’s good farms, that means there’s good food culture. And restaurants who tap into those farms are generally doing interesting things.”
📖 See the full list of judge stops.
💬 Quote of the day
“The burning noodles at Dumpling Lady was my first intro to spicy food. They never found my body.” — Jay Hansley via Instagram, on the spiciest foods in Charlotte. 🌶️💀
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This report was produced with the assistance of a proprietary tool powered by artificial intelligence and using our own originally reported, written and published content. It was reviewed and edited by our journalists. To learn more about how The Charlotte Observer is using AI in our newsroom, see our policy here.