Fresh tortillas, new chicken tenders + a bite of Queen City culture
A new Mexican spot is opening soon in South End, a chicken tender chain is plotting the suburbs and a Netflix show that filmed in your backyard is about to hit screens.
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If you missed this morning’s CharlotteFive newsletter, consider this your fast-scroll download on what’s happening around the Queen City this week. 🎬
A new regional Mexican restaurant is landing at The Railyard in early September. Raíces — Spanish for “root” — comes from husband-and-wife restaurateurs Alfonso Bravo and Amalia Macias, whose portfolio already includes five spots across South Carolina. This is their first Charlotte concept and sixth overall.
Chef TJ Steele, who lives part-time in Oaxaca and previously cooked at the Michelin-starred Claro in Brooklyn, will run the kitchen.
Expect handmade tortillas, moles, open-fire cooking and seafood, with dishes like Guacamole Tatemado with charred avocado, Queso Fundido with roasted poblano and wild mushrooms, Carolina Shrimp & Melon Aguachile, Barbacoa de Borrego and a bone-in ribeye with mole negro. 🔥📍 1422 S Tryon St Ste 140, Charlotte, NC 28203
The CharlotteFive Readers’ Choice best bakery poll is down to the Top 10, and your vote decides who makes the Top 5. Round three runs until noon Monday, Aug. 24.
Current contenders are: Innescas Sweets of Europe, The Sweet Spoon Bakery, Mauve Lynn Bakehouse, Mado Paris French Bakery & Cafe, Homemade by Lauren, The Accidental Baker, Renaissance Patisserie, Manolo’s Bakery, Villani’s Bakery and Marcus Bread Co.
Chicken tender fans, take note. The Florida-born chain Huey Magoo’s — self-dubbed “Home of the Filet Mignon of Chicken” — is planning six new restaurants across metro Charlotte and Columbia, South Carolina. The first opens in Rock Hill by spring 2027, followed by a location near the University of South Carolina. A Fort Mill spot is also on the map, though the timeline is still under wraps.
The menu covers hand-breaded tenders, sandwiches, wraps and salads, plus signature Magoo’s sauce, house-made ranch, honey mustard, Buffalo and sweet red chili. Handcrafted banana pudding is on deck for dessert.
Charlotte’s restriction on uptown food vendors operating past midnight is hitting Halal Food Cart hard. Manager Wais Mayar told CharlotteFive the business has seen a “tremendous drop” in sales and has had to cut labor.
The cart serves third-shift workers, bus drivers, Uber and taxi drivers, nurses and police officers with $10 plates, $8 to $9 gyros and $1 drinks. Mayar disputes the link between late-night food vendors and the violence officials point to, noting that bar crowds remain after midnight.
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Charlotte Center City Partners CEO Michael Smith said the policy — enacted at CMPD’s request — has had a “positive impact,” citing a double-digit drop in violent crime over the past six to nine months.📍 101 N. Tryon St., Charlotte
Netflix has a premiere date for season two of “The Hunting Wives”: Thursday, Nov. 26. The scandal-filled series is set in fictional Maple Brook, Texas, but the new season was filmed around Charlotte, Mooresville and Lake Norman — with downtown Mooresville dressed up in Vote Jed Banks campaign signs during production. 🕵️
Brittany Snow returns as Sophie O’Neil and Malin Åkerman is back as Margo Banks. John Stamos joins the cast this season and was spotted around Mooresville during filming.
“Get ready to feast on another spicy season,” Netflix wrote in a blog post.
📖 Simone shares what she knows.
Three Bone Theatre’s 2026-27 lineup marks 15 years in Charlotte and opens Nov. 6 with “Liberation,” winner of the 2026 Tony Award for Best Play. It follows six women in 1970s Ohio forming a consciousness-raising group.
“So thrilled to open the season with ‘Liberation,’ it’s a provocative piece about the women’s liberation movement, intersectionality and the work we still have to do,” said Robin Tynes-Miller, co-founder and artistic director.
Also on deck: “Coal Country” (March 5-27, 2027), Three Bone’s first-ever musical, with original music by Steve Earle telling the story of the 2010 Upper Big Branch mining disaster; “The Reservoir” (May 7-23, 2027), winner of the 2024 National Jewish Playwriting Contest; and “Purpose” (Aug. 6-22, 2027), the 2025 Tony winner from Branden Jacobs-Jenkins. A one-night staged reading of the 2024 Pulitzer winner “Here There Are Blueberries” happens Jan. 27, 2027.
Flex passes are on sale now at threebonetheatre.com — $105.80 for four shows or $200.40 for eight, taxes included. Single-show tickets open Oct. 1.
Squeeze in one more escape before the school-year grind takes over: 🍎
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This report was produced with the assistance of a proprietary tool powered by artificial intelligence and using our own originally reported, written and published content. It was reviewed and edited by our journalists. To learn more about how The Charlotte Observer is using AI in our newsroom, see our policy here.
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