Other than switching the shrimp and grits from a cream sauce to a Creole sauce, she hasn’t touched the classics. The new-old DishĪs the new owner/operator at Dish, Cranford has been careful about not changing too much about the popular diner-style eatery so as not to upset customers who’ve been coming for years.
“There’s something to be said about great, classic Southern comfort food and we’ll never change that about Dish, but this gives us the creativity to stretch our legs a little bit more as culinarians and to pay homage to the people that put all the effort into keeping this around before Dish got here,” Cranford said. There’s also pimento cheese (Southern or kimento style with kimchi), fries with house dipping sauce and Alabama shrimp sauce, a fried chicken biscuit (Asian, Southern, or vegetarian style), and the option to “Dish It Out!” - a chef’s choice with no refunds or dietary restrictions. Served Thursday to Saturday until 1:30 a.m., it features a mashup of Asian and Southern comfort foods including Southern fried rice, sweet and sour meatloaf and Szechuan chicken and dumplings. (Courtesy of Dish)ĭish’s new late-night menu is a nod to Ho Toy. Fried chicken biscuit (Asian style) off Dish’s new late-night menu. Phat Burrito also had a short-lived stint in the space before Dish opened in 2002. From 1998 through 2000, Cafe Dada operated there with the former laundry building serving as an intimate late-night unplugged music venue. Chen,” who ran the restaurant until it closed in the late 1990s.
Tom eventually handed Ho Toy off to a “Mr. When Wong retired in the early 1980s, he sold the property and business to his former boss at Oriental, Johnny Tom, who tore down the house and connected the restaurant with the laundry to create the space that Dish occupies today. There were originally two separate buildings: the Ho Toy restaurant and a Chinese laundry. Junior Wong, the chef at Charlotte’s first ever Asian restaurant Oriental, had the building built in the 1950s and attached to his house. (Photo by Jayme Johnson) Hats off to Ho Toyīefore the iconic yellow brick building on Thomas Avenue was Dish it was a Chinese restaurant called Ho Toy.
“If we lose something like Dish or Snug Harbor or Petra’s or Common Market, then we kind of lose the ability to do that.” Dish on Thomas Avenue in 2019. “We’re either gonna go the way of the dinosaurs or we’re gonna teach the community that’s coming in what it’s actually like to live in this part of Charlotte,” Cranford said. Among them is Bob, a 95-year-old man who walks from his apartment to eat at Dish twice a day and sometimes falls asleep in the booth.Ĭranford said it’s important to hold onto places like Dish that make Plaza Midwood special, especially as the landscape of the neighborhood continues to change due to increased development and growth. The Best in Charlotte – Best in the Nest 2019ĭish has a dedicated pool of regulars who come in every morning, every evening and every Sunday for brunch.The Best in Charlotte – Best in the Nest 2020.The Best in Charlotte – Best in the Nest 2021.Best in the Nest 2022 – Nomination Round.