Thursday (July 16) Morning Briefing: Podcasts to cellars

Is Charlotte a soccer town? Yesterday I strolled around Bank of America Stadium at 2:47pm before the Gold Cup Game at 7pm. Wow. Energy was palpable. I saw agrown man who was at least 75 pounds overweight walking around in a wrestler’s outfit (no shirt, cape, mask) like he owned the place. I freaking loved it. I consider myself a casual soccer fan, but I can feel this city getting soccer-freaky and it’s coming from the grassroots level up, which matters. I have a feeling that within 3 years I’m likely to own one of those soccer scarves. Anyways.

VITALS

Today’s Weather: 95. Sunny. 10% chance of rain.
Today’s Stat: 9th. Our ranking on the Forbes “Cities Creating The Most White-Collar Jobs” list.
Today’s Job: Live Operations Coordinator at NASCAR. Apply.
Today’s Charlotteans: John Lewis Jr, our new Executive Director at Charlotte Area Transit System, for moving here from Orlando to take CATS to the next level (fun facts: marathoner, played on a pro paintball team and has a black belt in jujitsu, salary will be $229,000).

ORIGINALS

What do Charlotte chefs really think about Restaurant Week?
Vanessa writes, “It just doesn’t do it for me…I end up leaving feeling slightly underwhelmed.” We reached out to Chef Suppa of Vivace, Chef de Cuisine Robert Reiken of Evoke and Chef Jay of ROCKSALT to get their take. Mixed bag. 

All eyes on Austin: Why I’m watching Bat City as a predictor of Charlotte’s growth
Austin is slightly ahead of us in a bunch of nerdy city rankings. Katie provides fascinating Austin vs Charlotte comparisons on: land area, transportation, development, cost of living, culture and local media. In terms of cost of living, I didn’t realize Austin is 13% more expensive that Charlotte.

The State’s new scooter laws are stupid, here’s why
New state legislation around moped regulations went into effect earlier this month and Liz is not happy. I didn’t realize scooters with a 150cc engine go 60mph. Wee, Weeee!

Cristina Wilson leaves Charlotte Observer, launches daily podcast named The Morning Stir
The editor of Carolina Bride Magazine (owned by the Observer) left the corporate publishing world and launched an uplifting, 10 minute-ish podcast aimed at women. I’ve listened to at least 7 episodes, it’s excellent. Find out how she analyzed risk and set goals. 

The Cellar at Duckworth’s: All craft everything
Very different than upstairs beer and cheesesteak vibe. This new spot is open every day from 5pm until 2am and seats a cozy 75. View 9 photos, inluding a shot of Jonthan’s 32-ounce Tomahawk ribeye. Rotating craft cocktails ($11-$13). Officially opens to the public on Monday.

My night at Corkbuzz: Perspective from a non-wine drinker
Corkbuzz is a wine studio out of New York City with master sommelier/co-founder Laura Maniec as the proprietor. As she said, “It’s not just for wine lovers.” Take a look look inside this new South Park hotspot. Jason’s cocktail photos look delightful.

Tired of 6 hour golf rounds? Tee it up at Fort Mill Golf Club
This 6,801 yard course is 31 minutes from Uptown (costs $69 for a weekend round). Tully gives you a fast tour of this course (known for pace of play). 

The Weekender: July 17 – 19
20 things to do this weekend. Red Clay Ciderworks Grand Opening to Unknown Brewing’s Small Batch Sundays to Real World try outs to cooking class at Upstream to Annie at Belk Theater to Improv at Dilworth Neighborhood Grille to Core Strength+Inversion Workshop at Y2Yoga.

TALKING POINTS

Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred listed Charlotte as 1 of 9 possible expansion cities [Crasnick/ESPN]. Other cities mentioned included Montreal, San Antonio, Portland, Las Vegas, Oklahoma City, northern New Jersey and Mexico City / Monterrey. Looks like Knights’ attendance numbers have hit the big boy radar. 

368 more apartments are coming to South End with a mixed use complex behind Lenny Boy Brewing [Portillo/Observer]. How many is too many? I guess we’ll find out the hard way. Good news is that this complex also has 6,600 sqft of retail space on the ground floor and parking.

Discovery Place bringing inaugural Mini Maker Faire to Charlotte on Saturday October 10th [Levans/Agenda]. They’re looking for anything from student projects to robotics to 3D printing to e-textiles to space projects. Nerdy and fun.

Invite: CharlottePreps.TV invites you to High School Football Kickoff Night at Memorial Stadium in the heart of Uptown Charlotte on Saturday, August 22, 2015. First game starts at 5:00 p.m. – tickets.

Have a relaxing Thursday and if you haven’t been to our 7th Street Public Marketyet, we have little patience for you – go.