A well-known restaurant team is bringing barbecue, upscale bites to Waxhaw
A new restaurant from a Charlotte-area team known for delectable brunch, burgers and pasta is opening this week in Waxhaw.
Sip & Cinder has taken over the space recently occupied by Veggeez Plant Based Eatery. The standalone building shares space in the Old Hickory Shopping Center with Stacks Kitchen, El Vallarta, China II and Queens South.
The doors will swing open at 4 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 12. And brunch service will begin Saturday, Nov. 21.
It’s the latest concept from The Flipside Restaurant Group, which includes well-known spots in Fort Mill and Rock Hill: The Flipside Café, The Flipside Restaurant, Salmeri’s Italian Kitchen and Fortes Mill Eatery.
With that much restaurant experience under the belt of chefs and owners Jonathan and Amy Fortes, it’s fair to expect good things. And good things are exactly what you’ll find.
The food at Sip & Cinder
While Sip & Cinder is the kind of place you’ll feel comfortable dining in jeans, the food trends more upscale. Case in point is the variety of small plates you can start with, offering smoked trout and crab dip, cherry-smoked burrata and PEI mussels.
Fans of the Fortes’ other restaurants will spot a few familiar — and highly popular — items, such as The Original Flipside Burger, The FM Eatery Smash Burger and The OG Shrimp & Grits. But as the Cinder half of the name indicates, there’s a big emphasis on smoke here.
Pulled pork, smoked chicken, beef brisket, smoked kielbasa and dry rubbed St. Louis-cut ribs are teamed up with traditional barbecue sides such as mac and cheese, Southern green beans, braised collard greens and coleslaw. There are five sauces to choose from — Piedmont vinegar, Beale Street 901, Cheerwine chipotle, Alabama white and Carolina Gold — and they come on the side, so you can try more than one.
Customers can also choose to branch out and get barbecue-style tacos, or give the blackened redfish or Fun Guy tacos with chimichurri slaw, poblano, griddled cotija and guacamole a try.
Still more options to consider are its lineup of large plates, featuring house-rubbed smoked chicken, pecan-crusted Carolina trout, grilled NY strip au poivre and even a 24-hour braised beef short rib dish served with farro risotto and coal-roasted carrots.
Sip & Cinder’s beverage menu
The sip half of the Sip & Cinder name has been given just as much care. A full assortment of beverages incorporates “outside the box” Liquid Courage cocktails and “The Standards,” which are the restaurant’s creative takes on standard drinks.
“Dad beers,” mocktails and zero proof drinks, and wines including prosecco and non-alcoholic bubbly are also available.
To round out your meal, a menu of sweets and nightcaps offers a little end note.
Among the dessert choices available are a house-made Moon Pie with cookie dough, chocolate custard and torched marshmallow, along with hummingbird cake and a root beer float. Nightcap selections include a hot buttered rum with cinnamon butter and melted ice cream, and the To Be Named Later beverage, with Averna amaro, cognac, Planteray dark rum, lemon, mole bitters and chocolate air.
Sip & Cinder
Location: 1325 N Broome St, Waxhaw, NC 28173
Cuisine: American, barbecue
Instagram: @sipandcinderwxw
This story was originally published November 12, 2025 at 6:00 AM with the headline "A well-known restaurant team is bringing barbecue, upscale bites to Waxhaw."
