Smoked meats at Sweet Lew’s | Sweet Lew’s Barbeque/Facebook

From barbecue to banh xeo

Everything old is new again in Charlotte. The wide, sprawling metropolis divided into four wards circling microcosms of neighborhoods redefining residents’ attitudes and injecting life with contemporary dreams and suburban wishes. North Carolina’s largest city captures the whims of diners looking for a range of cuisines encompassing everything from nouvelle regional classics to eclectic modern global trends. Beyond the wards, the tendrils of urban sprawl draw in tight-knit suburbs with little fanfare or flourish to announce they’ve stepped into another town, much less another county.