Getting Real About EthniCity 

Next Generation Consulting, that now-notorious outfit that hired focus groups of "young professionals" to determine Charlotte's hipness factor, noted that one element that would make the Queen City "cool" is to have "authentic" ethnic restaurants, especially "authentic" ethnic restaurants in the city core. I'm going to assume for the moment that these "young professionals" did not mean putting in an Epnic (Disney's Epcot + ethnic) restaurant along the lines of a P.F. Chang's on the Square. I'll go with the hopeful premise that what they want are locally grown ethnic restaurants operating in the downtown environment. The study folk call this a "cultural amenity," since eating ethnic is a popular fad for grads.

But just how many ethnic restaurants does Charlotte actually have now? I asked Bill Hardister of the Mecklenburg County Health Department this question, since his department inspects all the food operations in the county. Unfortunately, his office does not stratify restaurants by type or size. On the MCHD list are 1,758 active food operators. This number takes in all the fast food franchises, including the 31 McDonald's and the 46 area Subways, the deli counters at the Harris Teeters, even the jail.

So although there is no official document with the precise number of ethnic restaurants, I culled through the list and arrived at approximately 300-plus locally owned and operated ethnic restaurants. I did not include the hundreds of Italian restaurants and pizzerias, local burrito-type chains such as Salsaritas, regional burrito chains such as Southwest Moe's, or locally grown gyro shops such as Showmars. Nor does this list include the growing number of ethnic bakeries or food markets. I tried to keep the list to actual ethnic eateries. In many cases, I made the distinction of ethnic from non-ethnic by calling the establishment and asking the owner if he, or she, considered the restaurant to be ethnic. Some non-ethnic eateries are owned by folks who have very ethnic sounding names.

I went further to break these 300-plus eateries into ethnic groups. The largest turned out to be the 110 area Chinese food vendors. Not all of these spots are restaurants. Some are take-out-only places while others are large, full-scale restaurants such as Wan Fu, Dragon Court, Shun Lee Palace and Baoding.

The next largest ethnic eatery group was Latino. In this category were about 90 Latino spots: 70 from Mexico, three from South America, four from El Salvador, and about 10 from the Caribbean islands of Jamaica, the Dominican Republic, Granada and Cuba.

Next are the "other" (non-Chinese) Asian spots. This list includes over 30 Japanese eateries, a few sushi-only places; 12 Vietnamese restaurants (one is a soup shop); 12 Thai restaurants; 11 Indian (two of these are south Indian vegetarian); two Korean (one of these is a small Japanese/Korean take out, while the other, Koryo, has been operating in Charlotte for 15 years); one Malaysian; and one Laotian.

Charlotte has four Middle Eastern eateries and one Persian restaurant (in addition to the Kabob House, Ali Baba take-out says it serves Persian, too). Two spots serve New Zealand cuisine and two serve African (non-Middle Eastern) cuisine. Of these, one serves Ethiopian exclusively, while the other serves Ethiopian and Eritrean. Regrettably, the West Africa restaurant, Katchikally, closed last year.

In addition to the plethora of Italian places — and Italian-American places — Charlotte is host to a handful of eateries from Europe, including France, Spain, England, Ireland and Germany. (If I've left out your restaurant, please call me: 704-522-8334, ext 136.)

Surprising, though, is the lack of a Russian or Eastern European style restaurant, given the burgeoning number of ex-pats from the former USSR and Yugoslavia who now call Charlotte home. There are a few ethnic markets: two Russian, one Russian/Armenian/Eastern European, and one Bosnian market.

But are these ethnic restaurants genuinely authentic? In a brief Spanish survey given to a random sampling of Latino eateries, I asked if the owner considered his restaurant's dishes authentic. The answer was unanimously yes. All but one owner came from the same country as the food served, and all agreed that the specialties of the house could be ordered at a restaurant in their native country.

More interesting was the answer to the percentage of clients who were US citizens. Not one of these restaurateurs indicated that the "Charlottean" customers amounted to more than 40 percent. In fact, at a majority of places, the number was closer to five to 10 percent.

When asked why Charlotteans have the perception that there's a dearth of authentic restaurants in town, the owners looked perplexed. Here I was speaking Spanish on a street with dozens of similar establishments. Most owners just burst out laughing. Some tried to help by indicating that Charlotteans might not know these restaurants exist (after all, the focus group didn't). Others said that Charlotteans may be uninformed about the various Latino cuisines. One Caribbean restaurateur, visibly annoyed, noted non-Latinos thought all Latino food was the same: Tex-Mex. "I do not serve burritos here," she said, shaking her head.

But then these Latino restaurateurs were quick to tell me that their restaurants had specialties not found elsewhere in the city: the cut of meat, or imported ingredients.

Toi (Sukanya) B. Rogers, a native of Bangkok, owns Thai Marlai in Cornelius. She moved to Charlotte with her American husband in 1972. In the 1980s, she opened the phenomenally popular Thai Cuisine. Then in the 1990s, she opened Thai Orchid. Does Rogers consider her Thai Marlai an authentic Thai restaurant? She responded wryly, "I am 100 percent Thai. My sister who is cooking in the kitchen is 100 percent Thai. We get our seasonings, our chilies and many other ingredients from Thailand, and the recipes are my family's. And they are 100 percent Thai, too. If someone does not think this place is an authentic Thai restaurant, they should come talk to me."

Many restaurateurs agree with Rogers. Nader Behrouzjou opened North Carolina's only Iranian (Persian) restaurant seven years ago. He said, "My dishes at the Kabob House are all Iranian dishes. People tell me I should convert some of the recipes, to Americanize them. But my culture is 2,500 years old. I serve the authentic kebob marinated with different spices."

Alex Ayalew, a native of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, opened Meskerem Ethiopian Cuisine last year. He reports, "Our food is authentic. It is exactly the same as the food in Ethiopia. We get all the spices from back home. The taste is the same." He said it is just as important for him to educate his customers about his culture as to serve them delicious food, and he hopes that more Charlotteans will visit his restaurant, which is less than one mile from Trade and Tryon. "We try to market to everyone. Once they try it, they come back."

In Pineville, Gitta and Tom Maier opened the Waldhorn Restaurant six years ago. The restaurant is named for her parents' restaurant in Stuttgart and her husband is a Culinary Institute of America graduate whose father is a German baker. Gitta Maier said, "We are definitely authentic. Our customers rave about the food and say it reminds them of Germany. Two-thirds of our customers are American, the rest are Germans who live here."

But the truth is that although some restaurants such as those mentioned above remain true to their heritage, others do not. As the clientele grows to include more Americans, a funny thing happens to the menu. It is a common practice, for example, for Chinese restaurants to have two menus. One is for Asians and the other for non-Asians. On the latter are such Americanized Chinese dishes as Chicken Chow Mein, Chop Suey and, more recently, Crab Rangoon. And no, there isn't cream cheese in traditional Chinese cuisine.

Why two menus? Tony Koos, owner of Dragon Court Chinese Restaurant in the Asian Corners Marketplace, puts both of his menus in the same folder — that way Asians and Americans alike can choose. He stated, "We have the two menus, the regular Chinese and authentic Chinese. Both types use the real Chinese vegetables. What is different is the cooking style. The authentic style is totally different."

But serving authentic can be challenging for the restaurateur who wants to hear that cash register ring. Would an American choose black chicken feet stir fry at a Chinese restaurant?

The change in dishes may be subtle. Kevin Cheng, who serves extraordinary Taiwanese cuisine at Tomi, related, "We have one dish that we had to change. The dish called for a chicken leg cut up with the bone and the skin. First, Americans don't like dark meat. Next, they don't like the bones, and third, they don't eat skin, so we use boneless chicken breast as the meat for this dish. But all the other ingredients and the sauce are the same."

Some restaurateurs opt out of the whole authentic arena altogether. At Salsas, Sergio Gomes said their restaurant's concept is "American Mexican." "We considered both directions and went with this concept. While we have authentic Mexican choices on the menu, we primarily have Tex-Mex. But everything is made fresh in house. We try to reach as many people as we can, so the dishes are not too spicy. About 70 percent of our clients are Americans; the rest is Latino, but that segment is increasing."

But what happens to the other ethnic restaurants if one within a category acquiesces to American taste buds? Bhupen Engineer, owner of Bombay Cuisine, noted that having high quality Indian restaurants is important to him. He opined, "Many people will judge all Indian restaurants from one Indian restaurant. If they do not have a good experience at my competitor's place, then I will lose a future customer."

So if ethnic restaurants have only one menu for all patrons and the food is "authentic," do the non-ethnic customers take advantage of the experience? Most restaurateurs told me that Americans typically order the same dish repeatedly. Cheng said some customers come into Tomi, realize he doesn't serve Americanized Chinese food like chow mein, and leave.

Cuong Duong, owner of Bên Thành Vietnamese Restaurant, reported, "Americans eat the same thing again and again. I have one customer for the past 10 years and only sometimes does he order something new. It's always the same." Duong also noted that what the Vietnamese come for at lunch is not the same that non-Vietnamese come for at dinner. "The Vietnamese come in for our Bun Bo Hue, a spicy lemongrass and rice noodle soup; banh canh, a shrimp and rice noodle soup; pho soup with meatballs; and a seafood soup. Americans order the curry, spring rolls, charbroiled meats with sweet sour sauce, and stir fried tofu and pan fried rice noodle."

How many is the right number of ethnic restaurants? Out of Charlotte's 300-plus ethnic restaurants, there are 17 — from upscale fine dining to take out — in the center city (within 277): Bistro 100 (French), ARPA (Spanish), Latorre's (Latino), Blue (Mediterranean), Luce, Coco Osteria (Italian), SoHo Bistro, China Inn, China King, China Queen, The Wok, Curry House, Open Kitchen (Southern Italian), Sushi, Tin Tin, Fuse Box and Fujos. Notably, this group does not include a number of ethnic restaurants within one mile from Trade and Tryon, including the exceptional Cuisine Malaya.

While ethnic restaurants may be the culture that the "young professional" study group yearns for, the fact is I am unaware of any of our current ethnic restaurants having a lengthy wait at dinner. Not downtown, not on South Boulevard, North Tryon nor Central. So why come downtown?

Mao Lin, who owns SoHo Bistro in the Hearst building, came downtown because his family desired to offer more "cosmopolitan" food. Lin had had restaurants in Fayetteville and a small takeout Chinese restaurant in Harrisburg.

Other area entrepreneurs have looked into going downtown. Engineer said when the Indian population grows to about 10,000, a "fine dining" Indian restaurant could make it downtown. However, a vegetarian South Indian restaurant could never survive the high rent, reported Narayan Mogera, the owner of the Woodlands South Indian Vegetarian Restaurant. "I do not serve meat, nor do I serve alcohol. With the cost of the lease, we could not make money downtown without selling meat or alcohol. Typically Southern Indian restaurants, such as Woodlands, are vegetarian. Entrée dishes do not cost that much."

Mark Shen, owner of the Emperor Chinese Restaurant that's within a mile of Trade and Tryon but outside the 277 loop — and, thus, the study group's knowledge — noted that he has looked into going downtown, but the ventilation requirements have dissuaded him. "Typically, the hood costs about $15,000 to $25,000. That's the common type you would put in here (in a strip shopping center). Downtown, there are many environmental concerns, especially if you are operating on the street level of a condominium complex." He continues, "Those hoods are very expensive. They muffle the sound and change the grease output. They cost $75,000 to $100,000." That additional $75,000 for just the hood system means the entrepreneur needs to have ever deeper pockets.

Another factor which is discouraging to entrepreneurs is the high cost of downtown space. Rogers, who has looked into opening there, said, "Most places cost about $10,000 a month for rent, plus a percentage." That's $120,000 up a year — or, in a restaurateur's language, the typical restaurant would have to have sales of over $1.2 million just to break even. That's a lot of Pad Thai.

Would Charlotteans fork out $25 for a Pad Thai or Chicken Tikki Masala entree? The owners I spoke with thought Charlotteans are not ready to spend that kind of money at an ethnic restaurant. Besides, Charlotte needs to welcome a larger ethnic community in order to support these additional restaurants, and Charlotte is not known for that kind of inclusive hospitality.

How far are the other 300 ethnic restaurants from center city? Ironically, a large percentage of these restaurants are within 10 minutes from Trade and Tryon. The 4900 Block of Central Avenue, which is 5.1 miles (or nine minutes) from the Square, has the following to offer: one Thai restaurant, two Vietnamese, one Mexican/Honduran, one Caribbean, one Salvadorean, one Middle Eastern, one Salvadorean bakery, two Middle Eastern markets, and a Vietnamese billiards/bar.

For now, most of Charlotte's authentic ethnic restaurants are located in ethnic neighborhoods, since their main customer base is ethnic. But what about the brave souls who have staked out an ethnic position in the netherworld of restaurants, places like Ballantyne? A few years back, Be Pham and Axel Dikkers opened the remarkable Saigon Café. She had been the owner of many successful Vietnamese restaurants in town; he had once owned the French Pastis in SouthEnd. Not only was the rent high in Ballantyne, but the folks who went to Saigon Café didn't like the interactiveness of the food. Dikkers told me, "I think the people didn't want to do things with their hands. They wanted me — the chef — to do it all for them."

And ethnic owners are no different from Charlotte's other independent operators who are besieged by the increasing invasion of chain restaurants. But the ethnic owners' true competitor is the Epnic restaurant, since many Americans find it so much easier to eat in a "kinda authentic" ethnic place.

While today's customer is much savvier about food and is interested in ethnic cuisines, will this same customer support the ethnic restaurants if they move into non-ethnic neighborhoods, or if they move downtown? Remember Tango Argentino? Siboney Cuban? Inka Grille? Pastis? Closed. Closed. Closed. Closed.

The very cool aspect to getting our groove back, or getting it for the first time, is that Charlotte can actually buy its way to being cool. Charlotteans are very good at spending money. Instead of buying the McMansion, perhaps a few dollars could be spared to try all the ethnic eateries in the city. In fact, if you visited one of the 300-plus ethnic restaurants currently open each week, it would take six years to visit all of them. Plus, during that time, more independent restaurants would open — maybe even a Dutch Indonesian place. In any case, the ultimate benefit is not "coolness." The ultimate benefit is that Charlotte might develop a culinary soul.