¡THE QC LOCAL!

Charlotte’s a busy place. Here’s the best of it.

🎢 The score is 10-8. Our team is down 2 points and there’s 30 seconds left. My fellow coach and longtime friend, Statton, calls our last timeout.

We huddle up our 5 & 6 year old basketball team, looking to us for wisdom, and try to give them directions about the order in which they should pass it to each other to get a shot. After ten blank stares from our team, we simplified our message to “Go get a bucket so that we don’t lose,” which was an easier concept for them to grasp.

Sure enough, we had 2 completed passes in row (a season high), to feed one of our guys wide open in the post for an easy lay-in, to make it a 10-10 tie. When we asked the ref for overtime, he laughed and said, “Game over!”

Anyways, it’s Super Bowl week. If you haven’t been paying attention, Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs will battle it out with the Philadelphia Eagles at the Superdome in New Orleans on Sunday. Kendrick Lamar highlights the halftime show, with NOLA native Jon Batiste singing the National Anthem. I’m feeling heads on the coin toss this year.

In the same vein as the Super Bowl, our gathering this year is featuring two things that I am very excited for, which are Super Bowl Squares and Table Nachos. If you aren’t aware of what either of these things are, check out the Rose and Bud for the week.

🌹ROSE

• Super Bowl Squares: Take a sheet of paper and draw a big box. Label one side with the Chiefs, and the other with the Eagles, and write the numbers 0-9 on each side, dividing your box up into 100 little boxes. Get everyone at your party to throw in $5, and each person puts their name on several boxes, depending on how many people you have. Whoever’s name is on the box of the last digit of the final score, takes whatever money is in the pot.

🪷BUD.

• Table Nachos: While seemingly heinous, these are a ton of fun and great for big groups. It starts by putting tin foil all over the table in which you plan to make your nachos. From there, you assemble with Tostitos, Doritos, or whatever tortilla chip you prefer. Once you’ve laid down your chip base, you spread taco seasoned ground beef, shredded cheese and queso all over the chips. The bowl toppings act as the centerpiece in which the table nachos are spread around, featuring Pico de Gallo, Guacamole, and sour cream for people to dip into, which really ties it together. Highly recommend doing them if you are hosting this year!

🧊Thorn (Inaugural)

• Despite our awesome playoff win in Flag Football on Wednesday night, I didn’t fare quite as well. Defending a simple stop and go, I planted a cleat wrong and landed square on my ass, which allowed a first play touchdown by the opposing team. If there was a recording, it would have been submitted to ESPN’s “Not Top 10.” After licking my mental wounds and going back on the field, I wish I could say that drive had a better ending. Unfortunately, a wrong bump with the opposing team’s receiver while trying to play the ball ended me up with a dislocated shoulder on contact. Thankfully, it popped back in about a minute later after some writhing on the ground. Bad night for me.

DEAL OF THE WEEK

🌮 Sabor sent me an email just in time for the deal of the week, which would be great for the Super Bowl!

• At any Sabor location in Charlotte, you can get a Family Taco Box for $38, with code FRB JX9 or RAZ 61S

• This family taco box includes 3 proteins (8oz each), 12 tortillas, Chips, Salsa (8oz), Rice (16oz), Beans (16oz), and a choice of 8oz of Queso, Pico or Guac.

Living in CLT: Part 1

‼️In the late ‘90s and early 2000s, when people like my parents were navigating the same challenges that my friends and I are navigating now, Charlotte was not nearly in the boom phase that it is in right now. That meant that houses in shady areas at the time (Dilworth, if you can believe that) were cheap and easy to come by.

As you can probably tell, that is not the case as of now. Charlotte home prices are expensive as they have ever been, and interest rates are not low at all right now. The result is dozens upon dozens of high rises begging for young Charlotte residents to rent their apartments, while trying to offer the very best amenities possible.

There are two innate problems with the Charlotte residential market right now.

Problem 1: While every young person in Charlotte would most likely love to buy a house, there aren’t any affordable options close to the city.

Problem 2: Renting the latest and greatest apartment has become something that people flock to.

We’ll stick with problem one for now, but here is my take. Most people under 30 in Charlotte want to be close to the city. Whether it be for social, work, or another reason, that seems to be the case. This generally means that people stick to Uptown, Dilworth or Southend. If you want to buy an affordable house, it’s really hard to find something that’s close to the city. However, Wilmore is an up-and-coming area with affordable options, as well as several on West Blvd that I recently saw because of technically being outside of the Dilworth boundary. There really isn’t a solution for this problem right now, besides buying in an area like Wilmore or Wesley Heights that is up and coming. Eventually, all of the areas around Uptown will be developed, so taking a chance on an area where properties are more affordable and sitting on it, like Gen X did in Dilworth, may be a great idea.

UNDERRATED IN THE 704

The Mountain Water Beer at Hi-Wire Brewing Co. 

I may get some heat from the Mountain Candy and Juicy Jay fans, but I think it might be the best beer you can purchase in Charlotte. Wish it was more available in retail stores. Hi-Wire needs to make this happen. Go try it, I promise.

other goings on 🔥

• The ever present, Rally Pickleball, is hosting a “Singles Soiree” the day after Valentine’s Day, February 15th, if you are a pickleball afficionado and tired of trying to meet people on dating apps. Get tickets here (comes with one drink ticket!)

• One of the funniest things I saw all week was on Axios a couple of days ago, when a local software engineer said he’s building out a video game based on Exit 3A in Charlotte. If you’re from Charlotte, you understand why this is hilarious. Fun fact, I was rear ended at that intersection.

• The Lovin’ Life music festival got announced this week, taking place May 2-4. 3 Day GA tickets start upwards of $350, while all inclusive Super VIP 3 day passes (food and drink) are running around $1400. Get tickets here

Let me know of anything you hear about or wanna hear about!

Hit me up at [email protected] for any q’s or debates you may have.

— Jack