Background:
Counter- is the brainchild of Sam Hart, a Charlotte born and raised chef who trained at CPCC in culinary arts and worked at some of the best restaurants in Chicago, including Alinea. He came back to Charlotte in 2019 with a mission of opening a fine-dining establishment in the Queen City to rival the best restaurants in the world - he’s told me multiple times he wants to be on The World’s 50 Best Restaurants list in the next five years. That’s quite ambitious for any chef, and more importantly quite ambitious for a city which has not received much national or international recognition. But that’s the point - Chef Hart wants to put Charlotte on the world’s culinary map.
Hart started by doing pop-ups around Charlotte under the name Anomaly in 2019, honing and testing his concept. After proving popular, he opened up his brick and mortar on Thrift Road in September 2020. Counter- serves a ten course, fixed price tasting menu Tuesday through Saturday that starts in price at $105 but goes up depending upon wine pairings and add ons.
What makes Counter- unique is it’s showmanship. Each course is paired with music to make a full immersive dinning experience. Chef Hart also has wears a microphone and story tells through each course, explaining the dish and how it relates to the theme of the meal and the music. Of all the fine dining restaurants we’ve been to, it is the most “showy” of any of them. You are here for an experience which just happens to serve you dinner. This is not a place to have an intimate meal or restaurant where you should go to catch up with a long lost friend. This is the high end, broadway show version of a Medieval Times. You are here to be entertained, but also enjoy and amazing meal, and somehow Counter- tends to pull off the show every time while still maintaining a Michelin level food and wine program. Charlotte ain’t in Kansas anymore.
Eat This:
At Counter- there is one menu and you’ve got to buckle up and enjoy the show. The menu changes seasonally with a new theme. Each theme is completely different from the next. Counter- also does pop ups a few times a season are normally a weekend. Some recent themes have been A Tribute to John Williams (where each course is themed after a movie score), Kanye West’s My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy Album, and F*ck the Stars (a menu to make fun of Michelin starred restaurants). I tend to enjoy the seasonal menus better, as the team tends to hone in on the dishes and improve them over the course of the season. That’s why we always try to go at the end of each season, so we’ve given the team time to work out all the kinks and provide us with the best menu possible.
We’ve been six times since they opened, so instead of going through each meal i’m going to highlight some of our favorite dishes we’ve enjoyed throughout our visits.
Autumn
bruleed kombocha squash, cured sea bass that is poached in an acorn/squash dashi and then wrapped in a corn square.
Counter- loves to showcase local ingredients. This sea bass was highlighted by squash, which is abudent in the regions around Charlotte. The presentation on this dish is one of the best presentations of fish you can get in the world.
Foie Gras emulsion
Foie Gras, Orange, Hennessy, Caraway
The sphere emulsions pop up on a few of Counter-’s menus, but the best one showed up on the Beethoven tribute dinner with this foie gras mousse emulsion. The bite was rich, creamy, and decadent while still highlighting the liver flavor.
Pastarami Carrot
This was a collaboration dish with Ian Jones during the F*ck the Stars dinner. Anyone who can make carrots taste amazing is a winner in my book, and this pastrami carrot brought me back to having hot pastrami at Katz. It’s one of the top vegetarian dishes i’ve ever had, and it could easily show up on a restaurant like Noma’s menu and fit right in.
Sweet Potato Makhani
This is a southern version of butter chicken, with the chicken being replaced with sweet potatoes and collard greens.
A delight for me always is when a chef takes a classic dish, uses local ingredients, and makes it their own.
Oh and we need to mention Chef Elinn Hesse’s laffa bread. Hesse is making some of the best bread in Charlotte, and we look forward to her concoctions each trip to Counter-.
Hawaii
36 hour braised pork shoulder, lusty monk mustard, grilled pineapple, Hawaiian slaw, bacon fat mayo, bacon fat roasted gold potatoes with moa sauce.
This dish was served during the fire menu, and was a tribute to a Hawaiian luau. The different textures of pork, from the pulled pork to the crispy bacon bits made this dish stand out.
Blumenthal
Duck liver mousse, duck leg confit, caramelized onion soubise
This dish was a tribute to Heston Blumenthalfrom the Covers menu. The duck liver mousse with chocolate created a multi-sensory experience with the rich duck liver, cherries, and sweet/bitter chocolate.
Truffle Cream Puff
Pate a choux with pastry cream of foie gras, egg yolk, freshly grated white truffle, sugar, cream topped with black truffle and powedered sugar.
To me this is the signature dish of Counter- and maybe the best dish in all of charlotte. The foie gras/truffle cream on the inside of cream puff is so good it could be considered gold currency in some countries.
Kaiserschmarrn
pancake ice cream with a sugar twill and rum soaked cherries
Chef Elinn Hesse’s take on a traditional German smashed pancake dessert.
Not only was this dessert stunningly beautiful, but the maple tasting pancake with the rum soaked cherries left us wanting more.
Foie-cicle
foie gras, lemongrass, sea salt
This was another collaboration from the F*ck the Stars dinner.
I guess the foie dessert, maybe started with David Chang a decade ago, is becoming a trend. Cold and foie gras go together, and it tastes delicious with a little lemongrass added in.
Adria
Strawberry yogurt explosion, strawberries multiple ways, thyme gel, coconut snow, shortbread cookies
The strawberry explosion is a tribute to El Bulli’s famous olive emulsion. I love an explosion like this, but the highlight for me on this dish was the soaked strawberry jelly in the middle. The intense strawberry flavor made for a refreshing end of the meal.
Drink This:
Counter- has a fantastic wine program, offering one of the best value wine pairings you can do at a fine dining restaurant; however, we tend to stick to the non-alcoholic pairings, and Chef never disappoints us with unique and fun spirit-free concoctions.
Lavender butterfly pea cream soda
Of all the non-alcoholic beverages served at Counter-, this one stood out as the best. The drink tasted like a mix between a milk shake and a botantical, with a delicious, light floral flavor mixed with the cream.
Cheerwine Manhattan
with burnt sage
Chef Hart loves Cheerwine, as do I, and he tries to incorporate it into most of the non-alcoholic pairings. This Cheerwine manhattan with burnt sage was a nice way to mix the sweetness of the cheerwine with the smell of the sage added for a refreshing drinking experience.
ATMOSPHERE:
Counter- is a 16 seat “counter” that encircles a prep-table with the main kitchen looming in the background. For each theme the decorations change, including the artwork which Chef Hart curates from local artists and then sells at the end of the season, with the profits going back to the artist. The team’s clothing also matches the themes, always in a fun and whimsical way.
Counter- is not your typical sit-down dinner. Don’t come here expecting an intimate meal. You are here to be entertained, eat well and learn something. In a way, Chef Hart is giving you a behind the scenes, in your face look at how a Michelin-starred restaurant runs. Instead of just sitting at a table and the food coming to you, the veil of secrecy is lifted and the diner is shown under the hood of how everything works. Do we see it all - of course not, we don’t see the hours of prep-work that goes into each meal, but the diner is explained the thought process of the meal and why the chefs did what they did to exacting detail. The education aspect is very important for Hart, and comes through in each meal.
The meal is choreographed to music and lasts about 2 hours, with two seating each night. So everything is timed out to perfection, leaving just enough time at the end to hang out for a few minutes without feeling rushed to leave. It also allows for a compact dining experience that leaves you satisfied and not bored.
Chef Hart showing us the truffles
View of the counter seating (hello Danny!)
View of Counter- from the outside
Charlotte Hospitality:
Counter- offers a Michelin Star hospitality experience, with each member of the small staff trained on all aspects of the meal, from each dish to every wine pairing.
Our one quip is the up-charging during the meal of “add-ons,” such as the truffle course. Allow diners to choose an up-charge when you make the reservation or don’t have them at all. Doing an up-charge sell in the middle of service is a little tacky and makes people feel uncomfortable. Also we’ve never liked it when people around you are getting different courses then you, especially in such a shared experience.
FRANKIE’s NOTES:
Putting a dash (-) at the end of your name is a little pretentious, and if you do it don’t expect anyone to actually spell out the name with the dash; How much do we have to pay to have the truffle cream puff delivered to us at our house each morning?; We are still waiting for the Tenacious D tribute diner, and we will patiently wait until 2026 if we have to do for this - I Love you baby, but all I can think about is…Kielbasa Sausage.
RATING:
The most admirable trait of Counter- is the ability of the restaurant to take risks and not be afraid to fail. Chef Hart is willing to throw out a controversial dish to see if it works or not. Most restaurants will keep a menu pretty stagnant, but Hart charges menus almost too much. He was the first to have a true upscale tasting-menu restaurant in Charlotte where many more seasoned chefs around the city said it was not possible. His success has paved the way for other restaurants to follow suit and believe that the Charlotte dinning scene is ready for the big time.
Every city needs a restaurant like Counter-: a restaurant that isn’t afraid to bring something great to a city hungry for greatness.
5 OUT OF 5 WITH 2 MICHIGAN PUGS
