by Kristen Wile

With its new South End restaurant, B-Side Group is taking a step into the fine dining scene. The Story of Mi Cariño, slated to open later this year, will feature chef-driven fare inspired by Mexican cuisine under executive chef Hector González-Mora.

González-Mora became a beloved fixture of Charlotte’s restaurant scene during the pandemic with his pop-up breakfast taco concept. It was during those pop-ups he first got to know B-Side partner Ankoor Patel. The two kept in touch over the years, and when B Side — the group behind Vinyl — signed a lease on the nearby former Vana space, the timing and the concept was right for González-Mora to join the team as they expand into new styles of dining.

“Half the fun is re-educating or continuously educating, and then letting the food speak for itself, but we know when it comes to our operations group, customer service, knowledge of the product — that’s going to be a big step up when we do Mi Cariño versus Vinyl as well,” Patel says.

B-Side recently announced the hire of Vince Giancarlo as culinary director as the restaurant group expands. Giancarlo will work closely with González-Mora on the development of the menu and the menus of upcoming concepts.

“Obviously, it’s a home run with Hector,” Giancarlo says. “You don’t really come across opportunities like this very often, and so we want him to really shine, be the focus, be the screenwriter, if you will, write the story — and his passion kind of does that.”

González-Mora most recently comes from Hex Coffee where he led the culinary efforts under the brand Noche Bruta, though he has also worked in restaurants such as Comida and The Asbury. With the support of Giancarlo, González-Mora’s menu will have flavors that are familiar to his Noche Bruta regulars.

The group initially discussed a fast casual concept, but ended up heading in a direction more in line with that of Comida — a restaurant many believe was ahead of its time in Charlotte’s culinary scene — and Noche Bruta than the fast-casual service at El Toro Bruto, formerly inside Resident Culture in South End.

“The more we talked about it, the more it made sense to do something more as to what it’s gonna be today, which is a little bit more of a polished approach to the food I’ve been doing,” González-Mora says. “It’s still more similar to the style of Noche Bruta, if that makes sense, where it was more sit down, more of a connection with the beverage program. … This whole thing started to shape up to be a bit more experience-based dining.”

The menu will feature a heavy seafood selection, including several ceviche and crudo options, as well as a few tacos, small plates, and composed plates. Flour tortillas will be made in-house. González-Mora is hesitant to label the concept as Mexican, as it won’t feature the more Americanized dishes we’ve come to expect of restaurants with that label. Instead, he says it will be inspired by his heritage and the current culinary scene in Mexico — the story of his culinary history, fitting the name of The Story of Mi Cariño. Mi cariño translates to “my darling.”

“People here have an idea of what Mexican food is and so this kind of just pushes the boundary a little bit further for them to see what the dexterity of Mexican food can be,” González-Mora says.

The Story of Mi Cariño will seat about 85 guests, with a slated opening this fall. An agave-heavy beverage program will be led by Henry Schmulling.

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