A new nickname for NoDa: Charlotte’s ‘Little NODALY’
A long time ago, during an era before COVID-19, my friends and I used to spend every Saturday morning at a little Italian-American spot in NoDa.
On the menu at The Red House Cafe were blueberry pancakes and bottomless slow-simmered coffee. Conversation flowed beside the brick fireplace lit with candles, accompanied by the sounds of silverware clinking and Jersey accents wafting from the kitchen.
There was a walk-up window for ordering ice cream in the summer, and dinners could be spent enjoying fettuccine alfredo, meatball subs or chicken parm. Red House even boasted a $110 burger when it opened way back in 2017.
The restaurant didn’t last long — since February 2020, we have known the (now blue) house as Oh My Soul, the vegan bistro with South African vibes, love for animals and its draw to visitors from all over the city.
Italian-style musical chairs
NoDa wouldn’t be without an Italian spot for long, though. Orto soon arrived, tucked around the corner in a little shopping center next to the Lynx Blue Line, near Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams and Idlewild. Another Italian spot? people mused at the time. The last one didn’t ... well, last.
In October 2021, the owners of Crepe Cellar, a European-style gastropub, dropped some big news about a neighborhood favorite: It would close, and in its place would be a new Italian restaurant, Ever Andalo.
Then in December, Orto announced it would close after being open for less than a year.
As if that’s not enough to keep up with, last week’s news announcing that Menagerie Hospitality Group contemporary, casual Italian restaurant where Orto had closed seemed to be the icing on the Italian torta for Charlotteans.
- “Area is gonna be “little NODALY,” Steve Odren wrote on CharlotteFive’s Instagram post.
- “An Italian restaurant is going where an Italian restaurant just closed? This makes tons of sense …” stated Noah Meador.
- “Yet another Italian restaurant in NoDa? What about some variety?” asked Natalia Roman.
[Related: A new Italian restaurant is going into the former Orto space in Charlotte]
Charlotte’s Little Italy?
So, what’s the deal, fam? Are there too many Italian restaurants playing musical chairs in NoDa, or are we ready to embrace it and give the Arts District a (second) nickname of Charlotte’s NODALY?
In addition to the Italian restaurant rotation, NoDa has plenty of pizza choices. Among them:
- Benny Pennello’s is home of the Virginia slice;
- Free Will Brewing’s permanent food truck, The Sidekick, makes wood-fired pies;
- Room and Board serves its pizza Detroit-style; and
- Salud Beer Shop has wood-fired oven pizzas.
I will admit my bias upfront: I could eat Italian food every day for the rest of my life and probably never get sick of it. The first time I visited Little Italy in New York, I knew I had found a new favorite place. I dream of one day retiring to an Italian hill town, spending my later years drinking cappuccinos, eating bruscetta, pizza, pasta and gelato ... and maybe even learning to acquire a taste for Campari.
At home in Charlotte, I could order Inizio or Capishe every night. I make Caprese salads for lunch on the regular and dry Italian reds are my go-to on any wine list. Would Eataly ever come here? I sometimes wonder.
If NoDa became the Italian food district, I could see it:
- The bistros, ristorantes, pizzerias and osterias lining the streets;
- Warm, cozy spots where the Montepulciano flows like water and the Cacio e Pepe is served in parmesan bowls (like the ones shown at top) with freshly baked bread;
- Walk-up windows with gelato to help ease our humid Southern summers; and of course:
- Arts District artists painting streetscapes to the tune of Italian music drifting through the neighborhood.
DISCLAIMER: That’s not to say I wouldn’t miss all the wonderful (non-Italian) food and drink spots in the neighborhood. A NoDa without a Beaudreaux, Haberdish, Salud or JackBeagles would be too weird and wrong. In my vision, we’d have to find room for them all!
Charlotte’s Italian food scene
NoDa is not the only Charlotte neighborhood with Italian flavor — just a couple of miles away from Little NODALY, Plaza Midwood has long been affectionally known as Pizza Midwood.
Pizza Midwood doesn’t seem to be contained to Central Avenue, either — in April 2021, we mused on the new pizza restaurants all across the city. Since publication, the list has continued to grow — from brewery pizza to pizza at a walk-up window, you can get a big pizza pie of any style in Charlotte these days. (That’s Amore!)
[Related: There’s an explosion of pizza in Charlotte. And we’re not mad about it.]
A year before the latest pizza rush, in January 2020, CharlotteFive wrote about the city’s plethora of new Italian restaurants. North Italia, Volo, Cicchetti and Indaco were among those that had recently opened.
“There’s the old saying that goes, ‘Who doesn’t like Italian food?’ ” Cicchetti owner Pierre Bader told C5’s A.W. Geiger at the time. “It’s just one of those things — I’ve never met anyone who doesn’t like Italian food. People will always love it.”
And more Italian spots are on the way — national chain Piada Italian Street Food will make its North Carolina debut with at least two Charlotte restaurants, the Observer reported on Monday morning.
What do you think?
Now that I’ve gone on and on about my love for Italian food — I want to know what you think.
Email us at charlottefive@charlottefive.com and let us know: Should we embrace all the pasta, pizza and wine — or do you say sufficiente, already?
