January 25, 2008 – The Charlotte Observer – Helen Schwab
You could think chef-owner Chris Edwards is prescient, the way he’s timed the revision of his menu to this week’s global stock market tremors.
But then you’d look again and note that foie gras is still there. And that among the entrees — now accompanied by three sides, rather than costing extra — there are both classic comforts like meatloaf and contemporary creations like tilapia with lump crab.
Edwards’ place at the Arboretum, New South, is a reconception of Dakotas, the heartland-food place he and Sue, his wife, opened in ’98. A physical renovation cracked it open into a more airy, light and colorful space, with digitized and colorized old family photos and framed cooking implements and a central bar displaying bottles cleverly. The first menu redesign split offerings into somewhat-Seuss-sounding plates (small plates, cheese plates, side plates, green plates). This week’s menu shift modifies the “big plates,” which had been a la carte, to include choice of three sides: a New South meat-and-three, if you will. Read more >>