One of the best food carts in the country is opening a restaurant in Charlotte
A popular local food truck has officially found a permanent place to call home.
Q’s Culinary Cart, known for its specialty hot dogs and sandwiches with creative topping combinations, is opening its first storefront location soon.
Sapp originally started serving his specialty street food back in 2020, when Q’s Culinary Cart was just a hot dog cart — run by Johnson & Wales culinary arts school graduate Kwindarius “Q” Sapp.
“With the cart, that just kind of came out of the blue,” Sapp, the creative mastermind behind Q’s Culinary Cart, told CharlotteFive. “As far as the food industry period, I’ve always had a passion for cooking … I always knew that being in the kitchen for a living was what I wanted to do since forever.”
With an expanded menu, food truck pop ups and now its first restaurant space on the way, it’s quickly become a local hot spot over the years — so much so that it was even named one of the best food carts across the country.
“Honestly, it’s like it still hasn’t hit yet … In 2020, if someone would’ve said ‘Hey. Just keep doing what you’re doing and you’ll have a restaurant in four years,’ I would’ve been like ‘Yeah, right,’” Sapp said.
The new location has been in the works for over a year, after the team started their search for a permanent space in the spring of 2023.
“The team had desires to be able to do more than we could do with the food truck … The storefront kind of gives us our own leverage to just be open when we want to be open. We don’t have to just knock out a lunch event if that’s all we have on our books,” he explained.
“It all just kind of came about on its own. We were looking. We were being open. We weren’t in a rush but we said when that opportunity came, we were ready to move and when it came about … We just went forward with it.”
Now, Sapp hopes their new spot will serve as the “neighborhood hotdog and burger joint” serving its specialty smash burgers and hot dogs including the BLT Dog, Cobb Burger and more — with the goal of keeping food truck available for local events too.
“I’ve got combinations that I came up with myself … Even though I know the traditional thing is like a New York-style or a Chicago-style are kind of like hot dog staples, I didn’t want to fall under that umbrella of you just go to another hot place and see how they make this one thing,” he told CharlotteFive. “I’d rather people get something that I made up and that they can only get it from me so when they have a taste for it or the urge for it, they think of me only.”
Q’s Culinary Cart’s storefront will start serving its classic bites with a soft opening on Friday, August 2 and will officially open its doors with its grand opening on August 3.
Q’s Culinary Cart
Location: 8432 Old Statesville Rd #100, Charlotte, NC 28269
Instagram: @qsculinarycart
This story was originally published July 23, 2024 at 5:00 AM with the headline "One of the best food carts in the country is opening a restaurant in Charlotte."
.jpg)