New restaurant Henrietta’s opens with fresh, seasonal dining in LoSo Charlotte
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Henrietta’s opens July 18 in Charlotte’s Lower South End with seasonal dining.
- Rally team partnered with Customshop chef Andres Kaifer to develop menu.
- Henrietta’s positions itself as a neighborhood gathering spot with shared plates.
The new neighborhood restaurant from the teams at Rally and Customshop — Henrietta’s — is now open.
Reservations are available for the Lower South End restaurant’s opening in the former Rally Annex space adjacent to the pickleball complex. A July 18 opening was previously planned, but a team member’s medical emergency pushed that back to late July 25.
Rally co-founders Meg Charity and Barrett Worthington have partnered with chef Andres Kaifer — co-owner of Customshop and Marina’s Tapas — to offer a menu that’s fresh and seasonal at Henrietta’s.
They’re going for a dinner-party-with-friends vibe, set in a comfortable space decorated in deep red and navy with warm lighting.
“The restaurant is purposefully designed for guests to be a little nosy if something on the table next to them looks good, so they can ask what they ordered,” Charity said in a news release.
“We plan to train our staff to encourage these types of conversations and playfulness amongst tables in their respective sections.”
What’s behind the name Henrietta’s?
As for the name, Henrietta is a personification of a character that Charity and Worthington view as the ideal dinner party host. She’s someone who’s thoughtful about details and is warm and engaging, as well as elegant and a bit quirky.
Best of all, Henrietta just happens to be an ostrich. It’s a bit of an Easter egg that some regulars may find incorporated at Rally, Charity told CharlotteFive.
“If you know you know,” Worthington added.
The flightless birds are native to sub-Saharan Africa, which also gives a nod to Charity’s South African heritage.
“I grew up with ostriches running around all the time, and I’m just very familiar with with them. They’re obviously gorgeous birds,” Charity said.
Henrietta’s menu
Of course, the best part of any new restaurant is the food — and Henrietta’s is set for a strong showing with Kaifer developing the menu.
His curated lineup of small plates and shareables will include items such as:
- Freshly made fettucini with pancetta, confit tomato, chili and garlic butter, and ricotta salata
- Crispy gnocchi topped with Parmesean cream, agrodolce, gremolata and Urban Gourmet Farms mushrooms
- Roasted carrots on a bed of whipped ricotta, caramelized honey, dukkah and espelette
- Hamachi crudo with sesame, preserved blackberry ponzu, radish, jalapeño and scallion
Wagyu carpaccio with umami mayo, giardiniera and crispy fingerlings
The crispy gnocchi is another personal touch from Charity and Worthington. It’s a dish they had together years ago in a long-forgotten restaurant that they re-create weekly at home.
“We told that story to Andres, and he took that as inspiration and created something that is 1 million times better than anything we’ve ever made at home. I think people will be excited to try that,” Worthington said.
Kaifer — who is set to open wine bar Emmy Lou’s this fall with business partner Alex Bridges — also helped craft the wine list. The selection of familiar and comfortable offerings includes a few wines for people to try outside their comfort zone, including a South African white that’s another reference to Charity’s home country.
Laura Fusato is the new food and beverage director pulling all the details together, leaning on her experience in hospitality consulting and in operations at neighborhood restaurants in New York.
“All these little moving pieces are, are nearing the finish line,” Worthington said.
A neighborhood gathering place
As for the dinner party vibes, Worthington noted that Henrietta’s and Rally are set in a growing Lower South End area stacked with breweries and chain restaurants but few neighborhood eateries for gathering with friends.
“If you live in that neighborhood, you really don’t have a place to go on a regular basis that feels fresh in a price range that you can visit more than once a week. And so that’s an open opportunity that we’re excited to step into,” she said.
“We’re just really excited to build a unique experience that’s that’s different than you may see in Charlotte,” Charity added. “It’s our mission to be a catalyst for connection, so that mission will drive through and true into this space of Henrietta, as well.”
Henrietta’s
Location: 117 Southside Dr, Charlotte, NC 28217
Cuisine: American, seasonal
Instagram: @henriettasclt
Rally
Location: 117 Southside Drive, Charlotte, NC 28217
Instagram: @rallypickleball
This story was originally published June 12, 2025 at 6:00 AM.
