Peppervine Shines in SouthPark

Background: 
Peppervine opened last February in Piedmont Row shopping center to much fanfare, as owners Anita and Bill Greene were already loved by many Charlotteans for their Banner Elk restaurant Artisanal. Since we are trying to be more Kathleen Purvis in our review style, we waited until July to visit Peppervine to give them some time to get their service and menu sorted out, and we went in on two separate occasions to make sure we were getting an accurate representation to present to you fine folks. 

Eat This: 

Pimento Cheese Scones

Sorghum butter, pepper jelly, baked to order

These scones are the stars of the show. Definitely get two orders if you’ve got any more than three people. Or even if you’re by yourself. You won’t regret it.

Vadouvan Cauliflower

Cucumber, raisin relish, labne

A slightly spicy and flavor-packed rendition of my least favorite vegetable. It also inspired me to go and buy a bag of golden raisins.

Tuna Tartare

Shoyu, yuzu gelée, Fresno chili

To quote Vicki Gunvalson, tuna doesn’t fill my love tank. So I let my table-mates enjoy this one, and everyone said it was a top dish of the meal.

Shrimp & Grits

N.C. shrimp, Farm & Sparrow grits, maque choux, tomato jus

Every bite of this was bursting with savory and rich flavor. A very well done take on the Southern favorite.

“Fried Chicken”

Thai flavors, papaya, burnt lime

This was our favorite of the savory dishes. Peppervine’s Thai fried chicken puts traditional fried chicken to shame.

Carbonara

Pappardelle, truffle cauliflower cream, Nueske’s bacon, 62 degree egg

Although our server told us this one was a customer favorite, we weren’t blown away by this carbonara. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t noteworthy either.

Halibut

Warm quinoa salad, corn & kaffir lime emulsion

The halibut was fresh and perfectly cooked, and the succotash-style mixture that accompanied it was very well seasoned.

48-Hour Short Rib “Pastrami”

Giardiniera, smoked bearnaise, potato mousseline

The short rib and potatoes had all of the flavors of traditional comfort food with an elevated flavor profile. I loved the freshness the herbs and tomatoes brought to what could have otherwise been a heavy dish.

Drink This: 
The cocktail menu here is pretty tempting, but they also stock my favorite Espolon tequila, so you know I had to go with that, straight up. I also enjoyed my first-ever glass of Fernet at Peppervine, which, safe to say, is an experience I’ll never forget. It was terrible at first, then palatable, and then four or five sips in I downright enjoyed it. Not much of a shock, as I live for bitter flavors. Which is one of the traits I have in common with serial killers. Cool.

Dessert: 
The dessert menu at Peppervine is just winning, winning, winning. Normally, we can’t choose just one dessert, so we get two or three. Here we couldn’t resist four on our first visit. Yes, we finished them all. And no, we didn’t regret a single bite. The creativity on each and every offering was just too irresistible to pass up. 

Cherry Dessert

Cherries. Meringue.

Heaven help me, I can’t remember what this dessert was called, and I can’t find it online. It was, however, my favorite of the night. It was only barely sweet and the cherry chutney had a very bold flavor for dessert.

I think this one was perhaps too out there for many diners, but it was everything I look for in a dessert: fruity with varied textures and moderate sweetness. I want it again.

Peach Cobbler

Vanilla creameux, pear butter, gingersnap streusel, and blueberry dumplings

I will never in a million years not order a dumpling when it’s available. This was great, but I did feel like there were so many flavors going on that some got a bit lost, making this my least favorite of the desserts.

Vanilla Cake

With corn ice cream

Can you tell I’m getting over my corn fear one kernel at a time? Pre-corn fear, corn ice cream was one of my faves, and this dessert was light and summery with ample toasted, caramel notes.

S’mores

Chocolate mousse & graham cracker ice cream

I am not a huge chocolate dessert fan, but everyone we dined with was loving this. And it was quite a stunner to boot.

Atmosphere:
Peppervine is massive, and if you ever visited the restaurant formerly in this spot, AZN Asian Cuisine, you know that the space boasts stunning tall ceilings and towering glass wine cellars. Peppervine is much brighter and lighter than AZN was, and they’ve added a lot of lovely artwork, like a paper chandelier hanging from the high ceiling and a giant wood installation. 

The entire effect feels very earthy, and gives the restaurant an upscale farmhouse vibe. Plus, there is a window to the kitchen, which we always love (I can’t remember if that was there when AZN was open, but it’s a lovely touch either way).  

SouthPark Hospitality: 
We had white tablecloth service on both of our visits to Peppervine, and we didn’t experience a single snafu. Top notch. 

When you’ve had three glasses of Espolon you recreate American Gothic with your pug.

Frankie’s Notes: 
Your first taste of Fernet has more ups and downs than an episode of This is Us; Could someone loan Ollie and me a pitchfork to complete this classic lewk? We just want to say that AZN was underrated, but Peppervine is still an upgrade; Three glasses of Espolon = my sweet spot; I want to marry Peppervine’s pastry chef, whoever he or she may be; Trying to be more Purvis-like is a tough job, but we’re up to the challenge.

Rating: 5 out of 5