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Uptown, with its museums, galleries and numerous music and arts stages, is the performing arts hub of Charlotte — a fact that's drawing more people to live there.
210 East Trade Street D-262 (EpiCentre 2nd Level), Charlotte, NC
Wings Joint · Uptown · 40 tips and reviews
Creative Loafing Charlotte: While many other eateries come close (for instance, the wings at Fuel Pizza are mighty tasty), we still think these wings are the best.
Creative Loafing Charlotte: With its massive, 50-meter competition pool, there are so many lanes that you rarely have to share with someone whose idea of swimming is splashing more water out of the pool than is already in it.
Creative Loafing Charlotte: RIP Breakfast Club, but thankfully owner Jody Sullivan started the Roxbury. It has carried the BC spirit to 5th Street, giving the city a place to spazz out to favorite hits from the '80s and '90s.
200 S Tryon St (btwn 3rd St. & 4th St.), Charlotte, NC
Seafood Restaurant · Third Ward · 43 tips and reviews
Creative Loafing Charlotte: It doesn't matter whether you order your preferred fish plainly grilled or loaded up with sauces and stuffings - it's all superb.
New American Restaurant · Fourth Ward · 19 tips and reviews
Creative Loafing Charlotte: The eggs here are local and organic, and Harvest Moon's Summer Benedict, with thickly sliced heirloom tomatoes, will make you wish for tomato season year-round.
210 E Trade St #A108 (at S College St), Charlotte, NC
Sushi Restaurant · Uptown · 61 tips and reviews
Creative Loafing Charlotte: Enso not only offers delicious cuisine, but the drink menu ranges from sake selections to fancy cucumber/flower/fruit-infused concoctions straight from the imaginations of creative bartenders.
Southern Food Restaurant · First Ward · 110 tips and reviews
Creative Loafing Charlotte: Southern and Low Country dishes prepared with heart by owners James and Renee Bazelle at this Uptown favorite where everybody takes out-of-town guests. It's Charlotte's version of NYC's Sylvia's.
108 E Morehead St (btwn S Tryon St. & S College St.), Charlotte, NC
Strip Club · South End · 18 tips and reviews
Creative Loafing Charlotte: The venue of choice for buffets and booty-dropping. With its infamous amateur night on Sunday, the joint has been featuring T, A and a mix of impressive dance moves for many racy moons.
New American Restaurant · Fourth Ward · 84 tips and reviews
Creative Loafing Charlotte: Chef Jamie Lynch makes use of local ingredients and puts a creative twist on any dish. (Try the NC Grouper.) The spot is perfect to enjoy a drink (we recommend QC Iced Tea) before hitting the clubs.
Creative Loafing Charlotte: Some first dates need a conversation starter, and nothing beats sitting in the dark for two hours to work up a good getting-to-know-you question. Actor's Theater is that place on Cult Movie Mondays.
Creative Loafing Charlotte: Silent disco is a chance to dance in a club setting like you normally would, only while wearing headphones. The fun is for the outsiders: watching a room of people who appear to be dancing to silence.
Creative Loafing Charlotte: The tragic news is that Breakfast Club, Charlotte's '80s dance club for about a decade, has shut its doors. But as suitable placation, owner Jody Sullivan started a new venture Uptown, the Roxbury.
Creative Loafing Charlotte: The Light Factory supports aspiring and indie filmmakers with its annual Filmmakers' Showcase, as well as hosting screenings of newer titles that otherwise wouldn't have played locally.
Creative Loafing Charlotte: Maja Godlewska's On Tigers & Putti, included paintings inspired by frescoes, icebergs and other phenomena. Her work, dense with gold leaf and dripped paint, brims with contrast and contradiction.
600 S Tryon St (btw Stonewall & Hill), Charlotte, NC
Office · 12 tips and reviews
Creative Loafing Charlotte: Sentimentality aside, Tracy Curtis' "ra-ra Charlotte" attitude is more than a little obnoxious. Her posts that focus on parenting seem useful; if she stuck to that, we wouldn't put her in a timeout.
500 S Tryon St (at Levine Avenue of the Arts), Charlotte, NC
Art Museum · Third Ward · 40 tips and reviews
Creative Loafing Charlotte: The Mint Museum has been revitalized by its new Uptown location and new executive director. A string of impressive shows signals its new swagger and ambition.
Creative Loafing Charlotte: "The Urb" offers a daily soup kitchen and mail service, showers, counselors, substance-abuse treatment, laundry, art classes, resume advice, communal garden, sculptures and a welcoming environment.
Creative Loafing Charlotte: Time to throw stereotypes out the window. Uptown residents are more likely to be arts lovers than late-night partiers; in fact, they're neighborhood encouragers who go days without getting into a car.