Cajun, Southern flavors on the menu at Charlotte’s Freshwaters restaurant
Clifton Freshwater is a North Carolinian at heart. Although he spent most of his childhood and adolescence in New Jersey, annual trips to visit family in his hometown of Elizabeth City kept Southern cuisine close to his heart and mind.
“One day, I came home from my job at New Jersey Transit and told my wife, ‘I’m gonna open a restaurant’,” Freshwater told CharlotteFive. “I had no restaurant experience, no cooking experience, just an entrepreneurial spirit.”
Fortunately his wife, Sharon, was along for the adventure, and the Freshwaters opened their first restaurant — Southern Style Sensations — in 1986. Located in Plainfield, New Jersey, the eatery that promised “a little bit of South up North,” enticed hungry diners into the small takeout restaurant.
“I had to hire cooks because I was learning on the job,” Clifton Freshwater said, laughing. “I was burning yams, burning beans. It was a lot of trial and error.”
Hard work paid off and the couple outgrew the space, moving to a larger location — a historic house-turned-restaurant with 12 tables. “Around this time, people told me I ought to use my last name as a restaurant name. Initially, I was scared because I didn’t want failure attached to my name. But we tried it, and it worked,” Freshwater said.
It was during their time at this location that the Freshwaters visited New Orleans for Clifton’s birthday. “I ended up taking cooking classes every day we were in New Orleans,” he said. “I realized that I needed to fuse New Orleans flavor with Southern cuisine.”
New flavors
In 2005, Freshwaters restaurant combined Cajun and Southern flavors — and the rest is history, including a move from New Jersey to Charlotte.
The couple was tired of steep taxes and a high cost of living, so they moved to Charlotte in 2013. They opened the current Freshwaters location in Fourth Ward in 2015. The restaurant’s most popular dishes are catfish, salmon croquettes and shrimp étouffée. Those are paired with sides such as collard greens, candied yams and sauteed cabbage.
Freshwater is proud of the time he’s spent perfecting his culinary skills. “We try to cook as healthy as possible,” he said. “We prepare our collard greens and string beans in turkey tails, and we don’t use meat in our cabbage and stewed okra to appeal to those who don’t eat meat.”
Strawberry cake, coconut pineapple cake and other desserts are made in-house, as well. “If we don’t make it, we don’t sell it,” Freshwater said. Freshwaters currently serves lunch and dinner; however, weekend brunch is on the agenda for 2022.
Bright spots
Like many restaurants, Freshwaters has struggled during the COVID-19 pandemic. The dining room is open, but with so few people working Uptown, the restaurant does not see much traffic. “We can’t make it on takeout alone — and getting help has never been this hard,” Sharon Freshwater said.
Still, there have been bright spots as of late, like Congresswoman Alma Adams bringing U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona in to dine last summer. “Before leaving he told us, ‘Chicago can’t touch these greens,’” Sharon Freshwater mentioned proudly.
Even a crying customer a few months ago brought some joy. “I heard someone crying, so I ran out of the kitchen,” Clifton Freshwater said. “Once the young lady stopped crying, she looked up and said, ‘My mama used to cook macaroni and cheese just like this before she passed.’”
Clifton and Sharon Freshwater have seen ups and downs over the years — but they’ve remained loyal to one another. “If I didn’t have my wife, I’d be out of business,” Freshwater said. “There have been times when nobody else showed up but her.”
Whether you visit for lunch or dinner, be sure to keep your ears open. Between food orders, you might just hear Clifton calling for “Mrs. Fresh” from the kitchen.
Freshwaters
Location: 516 N Graham St, Charlotte, NC 28202
Neighborhood: Fourth Ward
Cuisine: Southern, Cajun
Hours: Thursday through Friday, noon.-2:30 p.m., 5-8 p.m.; Saturday, 3-8 p.m.; Sunday, 1-6 p.m.
To order: Dine in or call 704-503-9629 for takeout
This story was originally published February 28, 2022 at 6:00 AM.
