¡THE QC LOCAL!

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

🎢 Mother’s Day is this Sunday, and if you’re a terrible child like me, you haven’t gotten your mom anything. However, fear not, because I came prepared this week. I polled 5 of the most organized people I know to see what they got their moms this year:

• Juli: “A blanket with family pictures on it!”

• Sarah: “A monogrammed boat bag for the beach, a new bath robe and flowers.”

• Cullen: “The classics - A card, flowers and an IOU for when our family goes to Portugal.”

• Sophie: “A custom mug from Anthropologie!”

• Wes: “Delivery Flowers. Classic and easy for folks that don’t live close by.”

As I’m on my way to the one and only Paper Skyscraper to pick up something for my mom after I send this out, it’s not like I’m doing any better. Mom, if you’re reading this, I’m just kidding, I purchased your gift weeks ago.

🌹ROSE

• Last night after playing basketball, I stopped into my favorite budget meal in the city, PIE.ZAA, which I’ve mentioned before. This time, I opted for their monthly special, a Buffalo Chicken Slice with a ranch drizzle, and it was absolutely unbelievable. The torrential downpour forced me to eat it in the shop and stay another 15 minutes after I finished, until I mustered up the courage to sprint to my car. Stop in before the end of May to grab a slice and try to convince them to permanently keep it on the menu.

🪷BUD

• I have yet to find the best breakfast burrito in Charlotte yet. Rhino Market’s is solid, as is the Common Market’s. As a breakfast burrito snob myself, I hope that a CLT spot knocks it out of the park soon. Send me breakfast burrito recs. Maybe I’ll even start doing reviews like the Chicken Caesar Wrap guy on Instagram.

(I could give you a thorn but we staying positive out here)

DEAL OF THE WEEK

🍔 One of the better spots in Southend, Tremont, runs some great deals during the week to pair with their weekly events. All around good food, check out the deals below:

• Tuesday: Name that Tune Music Trivia, $4 pints & $9 appetizers

• Wednesday: Survey Says Game Night, half off Wine Bottle & $10 cocktails

• Thursday: Trivia Night, $15 domestic buckets & $18 seltzer buckets

Return of the River Jam

‼️One of the best summertime Charlotte activities made its return last Thursday.

River Jam at the National Whitewater Center is officially back, with performances Thursday-Saturday during most weekends until the end of summer. For those of you who aren’t aware, River Jam is a completely free live music event in which traveling bands stop through to get more of an audience. I remember several years ago; we saw Moon Taxi back when they had just started out and now, they have more than half a million monthly listeners on Spotify.

Bring lawn chairs, blankets and a couple friends, and it makes for a great summer evening activity. I try to make it out once a year. You can see the band schedule here.

UNDERRATED IN THE 704 🏀

Since the weather has been great over the past couple of months, basketball has been common evening or Saturday morning activity for me. While this is great during the months with good weather, it’s pretty tough to keep up during the winters. There are a couple spots with open gyms on certain days, but usually these get overly crowded since they are few and far between.

With developers building apartments, breweries and pickleball facilities all over the place, you’d think there would be a couple decent indoor courts in old warehouses in Southend. However, this is not the case. What Southend really needs is a Carolina Courts style layout with 3-4 indoor courts where people pay a fixed fee to show up and play. For all developers who think this isn’t a good investment, I encourage you to go out to Clanton Park on a Thursday evening or a Saturday morning to see how many people are out there playing basketball. Plus, special events and recurring teams would allow for weekly fixed income. Build indoor basketball courts in Charlotte. We need them badly.

other goings on 🔥

• The Sedgefield neighborhood will host their annual “Sedgefest” this weekend, with local beers, food trucks and vendors.

• Leluia Hall, a new Dilworth restaurant, is making waves for booking out reservations for the next several months. If you don’t want to fight for a table, just go to 300 East across the street, where my friend Finn makes the specials.

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.

— A 22 year old local who’s shoes are untied most of the time