Do you love Pimento cheese enough to make a trip for it? If so, you’ll want to put Charlotte, NC on the list as here are 9 spots that serve items with sinfully tasty Pimento cheese.
Affectionally referred to as the caviar of the south, Pimento cheese is a favorite of most Southerners. It’s quite easy to make, consisting of cheddar cheese, cream cheese and mayonnaise and pimentos. Some add mustard powder, onion powder, Worcestershire sauce too.
Most people believe Pimento cheese was invented in the south, as that’s where you’ll find it nowadays. As I started to research where exactly it all began, I stumbled on to the fact that Pimento cheese is actually from the North! Can you believe it?
It started in the late 1800s with the invention of cream cheese, a knock off of the French Neufchâtel and the importation of sweet Spanish peppers called Pimientos. They started mass producing the peppers in the North and dropped the extra “I” and they were known as Pimentos. It wasn’t long before there was a marriage of the two new exciting foods were produced and packaged together to be called Pimento Cheese.
So, how did it become known in the south? During the 1920s, Pimentos were still high in demand and Georgia started producing them for two decades, becoming the largest producer. Many say that the production of pimentos just made the cheese all that more popular. However, in the following decade, interest in Pimento cheese started to decline. It was still served at family gatherings but in no way, served at classy restaurants as it is today.
With a revitalized interest in Southern foods, in the early 2000s Pimento cheese became popular once again. But this time it was different. It would no longer be mass produced and over processed. It would be made from scratch and chefs would craft their own recipes to top burgers with or add into deviled eggs or on eggs Benedict.
Here’s where you can find amazing dishes with pimento cheese in Charlotte, NC:
1. Bang Bang Burgers Pimento Burger: homemade pimento cheese and fried pickles *As seen on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives
2. The Asbury’s Southern-Style Benedict: country ham, poached egg, pimento cheese gravy atop a biscuit
Benedict topped with pimento cheese
3. Haberdish’s Pimento Cheese Ball: rolled in toasted, spiced pecans and served with fresh applies and housemade benne seed crackers
4. Reid’s Fine Foods Shrimp & Grits: blackened shrimp, jalapeno pimento cheese corn grit cake, creole gravy with tasso ham
5. Pinky’s Westside Grill Pimp’n Fries: homemade pimento cheese melted over crispy, seasoned waffle fries; option to add chili and bacon
Pimento Cheese fries
6. Common Market Pimento Cheese Sandwich: homemade award-winning pimento cheese—hot or cold
Common Market’s Pimento Cheese sandwich
7. The Cowfish Sushi Burger Bar’s Granny’s Southern Pimento Cheese Burger: half-pound beef burger, housemade pimento cheese, fried green tomato, jalapeno bacon, red onion, lettuce, Duke’s mayo on marbled rye
8. Nellie’s Southern Kitchen Pimento BLT: a heapin’ stack of bacon, pimento cheese, mixed greens, tomato on white bread
9. Good Food on Montford Beef Carpaccio: fried pickles, pimento cheese and ranch gastric
