With a James Beard Award finalist in the kitchen, Fine & Fettle is more than ‘fine’
Fine & Fettle has always been “fine,” as the name would suggest, if not in the most enviable of locations, tucked in the lobby of the Canopy by Hilton Charlotte SouthPark.
Yet, somehow, the dining room was empty on a recent Friday night. Aside from a couple of hotel guests who had come down for takeout, I was the only one there.
Recent news of restaurant closings and chef shuffles should have sent the Charlotte food cognoscenti flocking there in droves: Since October, Charlotte’s James Beard Award finalist chef Greg Collier has been Fine & Fettle’s executive chef.
Shortly thereafter, however, news broke that Collier’s 3rd & Fernwood (also in an unenviable location in Midtown) closed due to financial troubles and staff shortages. Similar rumblings clouded the 2024 closing of Leah & Louise, the beloved Camp North End restaurant Collier owned with his wife, Subrina. Plans included an eventual move to a new location, but that hasn’t come to fruition.
“Subrina and I saw the writing on the wall with the economy when we closed Leah & Louise,” Collier told CharlotteFive. “And 3rd & Fernwood was our ‘everyone’ restaurant that just didn’t work out great.”
“I’ve been wanting to get into a hotel partnership for a while,” Collier said. When he told the GM of Fine & Fettle how he wanted to run a food and beverage program his way, there was a mutual interest.
“I really wanted to get to a place where I had financial and organizational support and could just focus on great food, service and drinks.”
Since the end of November, Collier has been previewing new dishes on Instagram, and from the looks of it, Fine & Fettle will mark a return to the sort of Southern cuisine that made him a James Beard finalist in the first place.
I tried a few of those dishes, and I can say that Collier’s cooking is as good as it’s ever been.
Take, for instance, the cauliflower. Remember the cabbage at Leah & Louise? How you felt when you first tasted it? And how hard you craved it after and again and again?
The cauliflower at Fine & Fettle is its cousin. Grilled, topped with something akin to everything but the bagel seasoning and drizzled with coffee molasses. It’s sweet, yes, but also crunchy, tangy, heady and satisfying — in other words, everything you never thought cauliflower could be.
Or the Hoppin’ John, by which you might be taken aback seeing it on the dinner menu for $35. But let me explain why: this dish is a labor of love.
Field peas, red rice and the best part — oxtail — cooked down, down and down again into a warm, unctuous delight. The pickled okra on top pop. The dish is unmissable.
Even breakfast, unlike most hotel lobby affairs, isn’t an afterthought. The mushroom toast is a delightful umami punch to the face. The buttermilk biscuit — lovely and light — comes out sliced in half and toasted.
All of which could all be neither here nor there.
For what is the real story of a restaurant? That it opens or closes? Or the stories the chef creates in between?
When I texted Collier to let him know I had been in, he wrote back that he’s focused on developing the talent in his kitchen, as well as on working with local farms. He is currently sourcing ingredients from Freshlist.
Remember: Everything delicious about a restaurant happens in between.
Fine & Fettle is now far more than merely “fine.” And, hotel lobby location notwithstanding — even though Collier says it isn’t an issue because they end up doing a lot of banquets — it shouldn’t be empty on a Friday night.
Fine & Fettle
Location: 4905 Barclay Downs Drive, Charlotte, North Carolina 28210
Cuisine: Southern, French
Instagram: @fineandfettlecharlotte
