Counter- Charlotte
Journey Course
I LOVE tasting menus! There’s something magical about trying lots of good food at once — just a bite of everything to keep the palate interested. The best meal I’ve ever had was a tasting menu at SOMNI. And I used to work at Minibar in DC. I order an omakase whenever one is available. Heck — I even order a regular menu like it’s a tasting menu sometimes (which if you follow me, you already know!). So, you can imagine how excited I’ve been for the restaurant Counter- to open in Charlotte; it’s the first of its kind here.
A meal that tells a story
Counter- Charlotte is a small restaurant; there are only about 16 seats, and guests are served by a staff of five (three chefs, a front of house manager, and a dishwasher). They serve a seasonal menu with prices starting at $110 per person before tax (this is supposedly increasing in 2021). Upgrades — such as the addition of truffles or a beverage pairing — are available for an extra fee. While serving you, the menu is supposed to tell a story — both through the ingredients and the music. And the chef also tells you what that story is.
The unfortunate truth about the Counter- experience in Charlotte
Unfortunately, my experience at Counter- was a total miss. For over $250 per person (after the upgrades), I expected much more. I’ll dissect each aspect and how they failed.
You’d expect flawless service, but…
For this kind of money, the service should be flawless. At Counter-, it was very choppy. Dishes were not served in unison across the diners (which I can understand given they are operating using a small staff), but they weren’t served in order either. On more than one occasion, I was served before my friend, but my friend was served after both parties on either side of us. The same thing would happen when removing plates. We would be finished — dishes empty — but our plates would be left on the counter while others’ plates were cleared in no particular order. It felt very disorganized. I also had to ask for silverware twice; I was simply skipped over.
An approachable atmosphere
The vibe seems very cool when you walk in. It’s nothing fancy, but it feels both trendy and approachable. Awesome. My issue is that only 1/3 of the seats could see into the kitchen and know what the chefs were doing (which you want at a place like this!). Unfortunately, I was not lucky enough to see in.
An unfortunate auditory experience
I love the concept of pairing every dish with a song or two to tell a story. I thought of it as a concept when I was in college but figured the execution would be too difficult. What happens if a dish takes a few minutes longer to cook or plate? And what if someone takes longer to eat their course than expected? Well, unsurprisingly, the timeline gets very messy. In the case of Counter-, the music was very much an issue. Here’s why:
The music was waaay too loud. You had to shout at the person next to you, and even then, you still couldn’t hear them. We couldn’t discuss our thoughts about the food or even have casual conversations with dining companions. It was so bad, we ultimately ended up just texting each other through the entire meal, even though my friend was less than two feet away from me. For real.
The music was inappropriate. I heard “N*gger” and “F*ck,” among other profanity. Counter is supposed to be a fine dining experience, but listening to J.Cole rap about dicks swelling doesn’t exactly match what I want in an elevated culinary experience.
The chef told the story about the ingredients and inspiration for the dish through a microphone, which blasted his voice through the speakers. It made the experience feel very impersonal.
My notes about the food
The tasting menu was ten courses served over two hours. The menu I tried was called Terroir, telling a journey of North Carolina. It featured local ingredients and inspiration from around the state.
Texture — apple, radish, cucumber, sorrel. It started as sharp and acidic and moved through each ingredient to become sweet. Overall it was a solid palate cleanser.
Journey — trout roe, Shawnee cake, serrano, and shallot. The flavor was corn-forward. The Shawnee cake was denser than your typical johnnycake but softer than a cookie. It was topped with cream. Overall, it was nothing special. It looked much prettier than it tasted.
Corn — corn, crayfish, butter, cognac. Tied as my *favorite* for all of the dishes. The crayfish ravioli with corn sauce was okay, but it didn’t make me say, “f*ck, that’s good.”
Warmth — beet, miso, mushroom, scallion, lemongrass. The miso and scallion were the dominant flavors, creating an umami flavor. It was good, but it felt very safe.
Dim Soul — pork, collard greens, Cheerwine, black-eyed peas. The wine gave the collard greens a very sharp and acidic flavor, similar to a balsamic and soy sauce. The dumpling was filled with spiced pork similar to a five spice. It was average.
Brunswick — grilled bass (prepared like a yakizakana), succotash, tomato. I couldn’t finish this dish. The beans in the succotash were undercooked. The bass had a powerful flavor that I couldn’t stomach. Hard pass on this for me.
Earth — Sweet potato with two sauces. One was creamy, the other was sweet (similar to teriyaki). They served it with a giant spoon, making it very awkward to eat. The potato was also too firm and a bit gritty (rather than the creamy texture I usually expect from a sweet potato).
CWY — venison, beans, sage, cashew. The meat was cooked to medium/medium-rare, which is how I like it. The sauce that covered it was nice. The shortcoming came with the truffle upgrade. The chef BRUTALIZED the truffles. First, he didn’t shave the truffles; he chopped them into massive chunks. He then proceeded to cook them in sauce; they came out hard and without any flavor. I’ve never had a truffle so miserably prepared. I wanted to shed a tear for it.
Salem Slim — alpage, sugar cake, plum, honey. The plums were tart, and the cake was sweet, which created a nice contrast. The miss for me on this dish was the Emmental cheese that they added. It created a sour funk to the dessert, which was very off-putting. I like Emmental, but it didn’t work in this dish.
Home — yellow squash, marshmallow, benne, meringue. It was slightly reminiscent of sweet potatoes and marshmallows, but it was more savory than sweet. It had a peppery quality and a terrible texture — a complete miss for me.
Libations
The nonalcoholic beverage pairing was the best part of the meal. The drinks were creative and very flavorful. However, they could have done a better job explaining what the drinks were. We were only told 50% of the time; the other 50% of the time, we had to ask (and even then, it was hard to hear what we were drinking because the music was so loud).
Final verdict
Given all that I’ve explained, the best I can rate Counter- is a 4/10. The only reason it’s not a zero is my appreciation for the attempt at innovation. For the price, there were way too many flaws with the meal. The food was average at best, service lacked, and the atmosphere was impersonal and inappropriate. I love the concept, but this restaurant needs significant improvement before I would consider going back.
Update
Unfortunately, as recent as March 2023, I’ve continued to hear negative things. While the experience has supposedly improved, multiple people who frequent fine dining and Michelin rated establishments around the world have told me the food at Counter- was unbalanced, and in several cases, inedible. Not what you expect when the price is over $200/person, before tax, tip, beverages, or any upgrades.
