How to spend 48 hours in Charlotte with Katy and Joe Kindred

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Your tour guides: Katy and Joe Kindred, owners of nationally recognized restaurants Kindred and Hello, Sailor.

Kindred was recently named to this New York Times restaurant list, featuring the 50 restaurants in America that the NYT editors are most excited about.

• Keep an eye out for their newest venture milkbread, which is coming soon to Plaza Midwood and Davidson.

The perfect itinerary for: Foodie friends and family.

FRIDAY: Museum visits and a stop at Salud

Daytime activities: We’d start the weekend by renting some bikes and exploring some of the greenways, like Freedom Park. We’d enjoy looking at the architecture and green spaces that we have here in Charlotte.

Lunch: Lunch would be at Tamales La Pasadita, which is one of our favorite Mexican restaurants. They’ve got amazing tamales there, which is what they’re known for, but you can’t sleep on their pozole. It’s so good. The portions are perfect for sharing, so you can try a bunch of things. It’s a phenomenal little gem of a restaurant.

• After lunch, we’d explore some of the great museums that we have, like The Gantt and The Bechtler.

Dinner: We’d finish up at one of our favorite Charlotte restaurants, Ben Thanh. They’ve got really delicious, fresh Vietnamese food. We usually get a ton of things and then just split. Their Vietnamese crepe is phenomenal, and their pho is really good. We love their Vermicelli buns, too.

• Joe recommends the quail.

Drinks: After that, I think we’d head over to Salud. We’d get a couple of bottles of super delicious natural wine and hang out with our guests.

SATURDAY: A day on the lake

Coffee + farmer’s market: Saturday we’re exploring Davidson and the Lake Norman area. We’d start with coffee at Summit Coffee, which is right in downtown Davidson.

• Then we’d head to the Davidson Farmers Market.
• We’re going to spend the morning getting some provisions there, and then we’d pack a cooler with all of these cheeses and stuff we got at the market.

Boat day: We have a boat, so we’d use our boat, but even if you don’t have one there are plenty of places to rent one. We’d just float around and go tubing and have fun with our friends.

• We’d eat some snacks and drink some cold beer and explore the 520 miles of coastline that is Lake Norman. It’s beautiful.

Lunch: Then, of course, we’d have to pull the boat up to Hello, Sailor. We’d have a leisurely lunch, maybe with some oysters and stone crabs.

Dinner: Then we’d take a sunset cruise, get the boat put up, then freshen up and have dinner at Kindred under the twinkle lights. I’d say the best way to do Kindred is to share small plates so you can try more things.

• The big hits are the crispy oysters, all the pastas, and people always love our vegetable-focused small plates. You can get a really phenomenal bottle of wine and enjoy dinner outside.

Nightcap: After dinner, there’s Davidson Wine Company right around the corner. We love it there. They’re amazing people and they have a really cool patio.

• We’d go there and have a nightcap in a super cute environment.

SUNDAY: Coffee sendoff

Coffee: Before our guests head out, we’d get coffee and breakfast at Stablehand. Our buddies own that, and we think it’s great. They have fantastic coffee, so that would be a good way to send them off.

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