by TM Petaccia

“I always wanted to be a waitress,” says 300 East founder Catherine Coulter, “and then I quickly realized I loved making things work as a restaurant manager.”

Coulter’s hospitality career evolved at the very popular White Horse at 1601 East Blvd. when hard times hit. The owners issued two bankruptcy filings in 1985. The restaurant lost its lease, and White Horse was in imminent danger of going under.

“The staff was a second family for most of us and I was determined to save it,” she says. “I filed a plan to take over the business, found a new location, and moved all the broken down furnishings and equipment into storage. I had no idea what I was doing, but somehow in worked.”

Eight months later, on Valentine’s Day, February 14, 1986, Coulter open the doors of the new White Horse at 300 East Boulevard in a remodeled home originally built in 1900. Approximately six years after that, the name changed to 300 East with a refocused menu, but the kept the family vibe as well as the red walls.

Now celebrating its 40th anniversary, 300 East remains one of Charlotte’s must go-to restaurants, and is now run by Coulter’s daughter, Ashley Boyd, along with co-owner and managing partner, Mike Poplin.

“The restaurant has evolved a little bit,” Boyd says, “but I think the personality has come from the people who built this, my mom and the family and staff she brought up the road with her. The passion and the enthusiasm of those people is the most important part of what has made this place feel the way it feels.”

The biggest change over the years has been the transition from being mostly a sandwich shop to a more elevated, full-menu concept. “My mother made a conscious decision to make it more of a type of restaurant she wanted to go to.” Boyd says. “So the menu underwent a big transformation, but this place has its own life force, so we had to walk a little of that back.”

A lesson well-learned, that balance between innovation and familiarity continues to guide decisions today, whether reviving past dishes as throwbacks or replacing long-running favorites. Boyd recalls removing one of the restaurant’s signature dishes, the hanger steak. “It took me two years of research and trying things out before I felt at all comfortable enough to volunteer something as a replacement for it,” she says. The replacement — a weekly “market steak” supplied by Shipley Farms, a farm in Watauga Country operating since 1872 — has been met with equal success. “I was surprised on how little pushback I got from that,” she says. “It’s nice to know we can continue to offer things that will resonate with people.”

The need for balance is echoed by co-owner Poplin. “We’re excited staying relevant, but it’s a balancing act between the need to innovate with alienating our core group of customers who have supported us going through good times and bad.”

Two dishes that have stood the test of time are the 300 East’s French onion soup (“we have changed the recipe over the years,” Boyd says) and The Usual, an eclectic open faced chicken salad sandwich with cheddar cheese and mushrooms. Both date back to the White Horse days.

One constantly evolving part of the 300 East menu is its acclaimed dessert program. Boyd honed her pastry and dessert skills in Chicago, Charleston, and Detroit before returning to Charlotte, primarily to manage the restaurant, but didn’t want to give that part of her life up in her new role. “It was non-negotiable,” she says. “I felt like that would be giving up who I am.”

For years, she crafted an array of desserts that appealed to the eye as well as the palate, part of her art school training. “I liked our dessert program always,” she says. “I saw it as our way to interact with the industry at large.” That was proven with two James Beard House dinners in collaboration with other Charlotte chefs, but motherhood and increasing restaurant responsibilities led her to a decision to pass the torch.

“It really wasn’t difficult because I had complete confidence in Laney (Parish) who first took the role, and now Lex (Alexa Druhan) who currently leads the program,” she says. “They both do better than I did.”

Boyd still consults with Druhan about the dessert program, but makes it clear it’s Druhan’s show. “I tell her I want her to do what feels exciting and motivating for her because I feel trusting her gut is where it’s going to be strongest.”

Over the years, memories stand out. For Boyd, her fondest are the early days. “Day-to-day, everything is so intense, it is really hard to stop, be in the moment, and look around” she says. “But my most vivid memories are the beginning when I was a young teenager watching my mom resurrect the business down the road and move it up here.”

For Poplin, he easily recalls two events. “The night I was attacked by a raccoon behind the bar, and the night I was elbowed by a very pregnant Claire Danes.”

Looking ahead, Boyd sees no slowdown for 300 East.

“I am very grateful for all the support and good will Charlotte has blessed us with over the past four decades,” she says. “I’m also grateful for all the contributions made by our staff and customers past and present. It’s a place of treasure for a lot of people and I want to try to still be there and be here for them.

“We still have a long way to go.”