VANA
Whole Roasted Fish. Served with charred citrus, herbs, and summer squash
Spoiler Alert: This is the best restaurant in Charlotte! No joke.
A preview to die for
As luck would have it, I got invited to preview a new restaurant in Charlotte called VANA. It’s the sister restaurant to Bardo and is one of the most anticipated openings in Charlotte. Let me tell you — they deserve the hype. While the two restaurants have similarities — such as using an open kitchen as the focal point of the restaurant — they also have differences. VANA feels much more casual with its highly rustic interior that features lots of wood, windowpanes, and mismatching décor. Even the cutlery is mismatched.
Fun Fact: VANA is the sanskrit word for Forest.
Mountain town vibe, big city flavor
I love the juxtaposition of VANA — it feels like a small mountain café yet offers an incredible, sophisticated menu. And just as the vibe is more relaxed at VANA, so is the price point. Dishes range anywhere from $7-$115. Plates range from small, tapas-style dishes to larger sharable plates, many of which they cook on the wood-fired hearth or in the pizza oven.
Grand opening details
Officially, VANA opens at 4:30PM on 8/13/2020 – walk-ins only at this time. Based upon the preview, GET THERE EARLY! You need to try this place, as it WILL NOT DISAPPOINT. Quite frankly, I think VANA could compete with some of my favorite restaurants in LA and NYC (which is HUGE for the Charlotte food scene)
The deets on the food
Here is the rundown on what I tried:
Pickled Vegetables. Nice and bright! Every vegetable was pickled separately in a different brine. Some were sweet; some were more acidic with a little bite to them. All were delightfully crunchy. Essentially, they were perfect pickles (and I like to consider myself a pickle connoisseur).
Meat & Cheese Board. Lamb Finocchiona, Soppressata, and Benton’s Country Ham. Served with Boxcar Cottonseed, Meadowcreek Dairy Appalachian, and Sweetgrass Dairy Griffin, alongside toasted ciabatta, a peach spread, and spiced nuts. While not revolutionary, it was one of the best charcuterie boards I’ve ever had in a restaurant — undoubtedly, the best one I’ve had in Charlotte.
Burrata. Oregano, tomato jam, citrus, and toasted ciabatta. I’d love to know how long that jam simmered for because the flavor was incredible. It was something that could have only been achieved through a long, slow simmer. It had a deep roasted flavor, with sweet, caramelized notes to it. If I could have brought a jar of the jam home, I would have!
PSA: The group is working to create a line of products that you will be able to take home in the future, such as the tomato jam, and various spice blends.
Pork Cheeks. Pattypan squash, double garlic cream, chimichurri. This was both incredibly flavorful as well as tender. The meat just flaked apart — no knife needed. This was a top three dish of the night for me.
Whole Roasted Fish. Served with charred citrus, herbs, and summer squash. The fish type rotates seasonally. My fish was very mild in flavor. Light. Delicate. Tender. Everything a whitefish should be.
46oz Kan Kan Pork Chop. The chop consisted of both loin and belly fat. This was, without a doubt, my favorite dish of the night… though I wasn’t expecting it to be. Honestly, I thought the Tomahawk steak would have been; however, this was a surprise superstar. I don’t think I’ve ever had anything quite like it. In fact, when I took a bite, I exclaimed, “Are you f*cking kidding me!?” It was insanely good, juicy, fatty (in the right way), tender, and beyond flavorful. The seasoning on it was Italian-esque, with hints of what I believe to be garlic, basil, and oregano. The salt levels were also perfection.
36oz Tomahawk Steak. Flavorful, albeit a bit gamey. Not gamey in a bad way, you could tell a high-quality beef was used — likely grass-fed. Execution on this was flawless. It was cooked to a perfect medium-rare with a beautiful crust on the outside.
Flatbread. This was a perfect white pizza. And it was the other dish in my top three of the night. The chefs ferment the dough for three days before baking it. Toppings will vary daily, depending on availability. It is imperfect in shape and fluffy with a crispy golden crust on the bottom. It’s what I will now crave on the regular.
Coconut Custard. Smoked pineapple carpaccio, coconut curd, and graham crumb. This dessert was light, tropical, and sweet, but fresh and natural-tasting. This dessert transported me miles away – perhaps to a beach in Mexico. It tasted like the best piña colada you’ve ever had, but in food form…
Scrumptious libations
What I say next may be hard to believe. As good as the food was, the drinks may have been even better. They were inventive, well balanced, and nothing that I would have typically ordered — but they were all phenomenal!
Summer Highball. Toki Japanese whiskey, fennel, orange watermelon soda, lemon. This was smooth, light, and mild with forward notes of citrus and a gentle vanilla finish. Until this drink, I’d never been a whiskey guy…and this may have converted me.
Mariposa. Don Julio Blanco, elderflower, grapefruit, orange, vanilla, agave, and a rosé gummy. It was somewhere between a citrusy cocktail and cream soda — taking the best of both. The garnish was a house-made gummy shaped like a butterfly. It was both fun and delicious.
So, what’s my verdict? 9.5/10. Maybe even 10/10. The food certainly was a 10/10 for me, making it the best restaurant I’ve been to in Charlotte. I’d rank it in my top 10 meals in the last 12 months. I cannot say enough good things about it — it was perfection to my core. Elevated yet comforting. Service was also impeccable. Everyone was highly attentive and incredibly friendly.
I personally wish the vibe was a bit trendier - more Ralph Lauren hunting lodge, and less Appalachian cabin - but that’s just my preference. I can move past it - I understand the design choices, given the restaurant name. I’m already planning my return with friends, so hopefully, the team will continue to execute beyond the preview, exactly as they did tonight.
UPDATE:
I went back for a follow up visit 1 week after opening - the rest of the menu looked amazing, so I wanted to see if it held up to my experience durning the preview. Here are my thoughts:
Service: It held true to the experience I had during the preview. It was top notch.
Drinks: Consistently delicious. They tasted exactly as they did during the preview.
Food: I tried all of the absolute show stoppers during the opening preview. We ordered a few repeats, and they proved to be consistently delicious. I mean their tomato jam is what dreams are made of - I would put it on anything and everything that I could. With that said, I didn’t find the rest of the menu as consistently delicious. Here is the rundown:
Roasted Beets: Delicious. Tender. Flavorful. Complimented with ricotta and peanuts. Served slightly chilled. A gorgeous dish.
Bison Tartare: Beautiful. Great texture. Bison is very mild, so it did not have much flavor in my opinion. It definitely could benefit from punching up the horseradish, or adding some mustard seed to add a sharpness. The char on the bread, while delicious, was the dominating flavor.
Ceviche: Red Snapper, served with golden watermelon and citrus. Light. Bright. The perfect level of acid, giving it a nice zing. It was my favorite dish of the night.
Roasted Corn: served with aioli, lime and chili. Sweet. Roasted. Creamy. A bit tangy. Overall, a very well balanced dish. Definitely the best corn on the cob I’ve had in a restaurant.
Braised Octopus: with chorizo, tomato, fennel, and ciabatta. The flavor of the braise was incredible. The chorizo really added a nice heat. The octopus was a bit tough/dried out though. Given the octopus is supposed to be the star of the show, I found it to be a bit of a miss.
Grilled Shrimp: with green olives in a romesco sauce. The sauce gave it an authentically Spanish flavor. Served with the heads on, so do not be shocked when you receive it. I preferred the pieces with less sauce, as I like the shrimp to shine through. My friend preferred the saucier pieces.
Quail: with buttermilk and chili oil sauce. Tender. Moist. Incredibly flavorful. A bit difficult to get all the meat off the bone with a standard sized fork, but the flavor was on point.
The head chef (Michael Noll) right over to ask for constructive feedback on the dishes we weren’t impressed with - which I loved. He would then go back to the kitchen, circle up all the chefs, and discuss feedback. In fact, in between plating dishes, he would circle the restaurant and check in with every table - not just ours. This is exactly how a restaurant should operate in my opinion! I have to give the Vana Team a huge Kudos for this.
So what is my verdict, after having been twice? A combined 8/10. Certain dishes are absolute stunners, while a couple fell a bit short in my opinion. It’s tough for every dish to please everyone. Overall though, the team is doing a great and I will 100% go back.
Update: I’ve been back 7 or eight ties since for dinner, and the food remains very consistent. I stand by the 8/10 rating.
I definitely recommend any of the steaks they have on special, as well at the roasted bone marrow!
