Forty8Hundred Caribbean Restaurant & Lounge serves brunch with a side of afrobeats
Have you ever had brunch so good, you just wanted to take a nap, wake up and eat more? We all have. Doing this at Forty8Hundred Caribbean Restaurant & Lounge will yield two very different experiences.
The lounge has been open since January in the former McBonies Bar & Grill in Oakhurst, and it has quickly built a reputation as one of the hottest brunch spots in Charlotte as well as a popular nightlife destination.
Around 1 p.m. on weekends, the two-story building at 4800 Monroe Road starts receiving guests. Families and friend groups relax in the dining area, grooving to reggae classics and radio hits. The most popular order, jerk salmon egg rolls, is continuously requested and received.
This dish exemplifies chef Leroy Hall’s Caribbean- and Asian-meets-Southern menu, which includes curry chicken wings and waffles, oxtails, and rice and peas.
“I came here to immerse myself in Southern food culture, but everyone here wants multicultural fusions. Jamaican, Caribbean, Spanish food, they go crazy here for authentic flavors with some pizzazz,” he said.
This is the first kitchen Hall, a New Yorker of Jamaican descent, is heading up, and he says Charlotte’s culinary scene is just what he needed. After years in high-end kitchens making multicultural, often exotic dishes, he came south to ground himself in an American culinary heritage.
‘In Charlotte, I learned how to fry chicken’
“In Charlotte, I learned how to fry chicken seriously. Fried fish, the real way. Black-eyed peas. Because I’m cooking for a Southern palate,” he said. Still, he was surprised by Charlotte’s sophisticated taste.
“It’s slower than New York but still faster than a lot of the South,” he said. “Anything that stands out extravagantly — pungent spice, sweet and savory, nothing boring or regular — that’s the Charlotte taste.”
That extravagance is on display at night, when the lounge side of Forty8Hundred turns up.
Neon signs with messages like “good vibes” and “Live more, worry less” light up over white leather couches, the music turns from afrobeats to dance hall, and the hookah girls come out to play. The late-night menu is a variation on the dishes of the day, but more finger-friendly: wings, salmon bites, and of course the egg rolls remain on deck.
Hall and team are still refining the line between being a daytime, family-friendly eatery and giving patrons a nighttime, VIP tables and bottle service experience.
“But that’s the challenge of my profession,” Hall said. “I can’t shy away from a challenge.”
Forty8Hundred
Location: 4800 Monroe Rd, Charlotte, NC 28205
Instagram: @forty8hundred
This story was originally published November 4, 2022 at 6:00 AM.