by TM Petaccia

Outside of a one-year California hiatus to work with Josiah Citrin at Mélisse and Charcoal Venice, Vince Giancarlo has been part of the Charlotte food scene since 2005. First, as part of the second-ever full four-year class to graduate Johnson & Wales Charlotte, then shepherding menu programs at a number of Charlotte restaurants, including Zeppelin, Angeline’s, Merchant & Trade, Suffolk Punch, The Jimmy, and most recently Haberdish and Supperland for Tonidandel-Brown Restaurant Group.

Today, he begins a new role as culinary director for B-Side Group, which includes South End’s Vinyl as well as an upcoming concept in the former Vana space next door, and other restaurants currently in development.

“In a way, I was working at Vinyl even before opened,” he says. “I did a little bit of consulting for them back then. Recently, I rekindled my early conversations with Ankoor and Kamal (Patel, no relation, B-Side partners), and the idea of a culinary director position came up. From there, it all moved very fast. This group is growing and wanting to grow very quickly. It’s all super exciting.”

At Vinyl, Giancarlo first focus will be as he says, “upticking” the menu.

“Vinyl right now has a great feel. It’s very accessible and we don’t want to lose any of that,” he says. “The cocktail program here under Henry (Schmulling, beverage director) is above and beyond and we want to match that with the food. We want to take it to the next level so that people not only want to come here for cocktails, but also know they are going to sit down and have a great meal as well.”

The word that keeps popping up in conversations with Giancarlo is “community” — both in terms satisfying South End appetites as well as where the food is being sourced. “We want to keep the craft cocktail ideology Vinyl is known for in mind with our food and really up the ante as far as sourcing our product, furthering our relationships with the community and our relationships with farmers,” he says.

In his two decades of working in Charlotte restaurants, collaborating with local farms has been a core value of Giancarlo’s approach to his menus. “I’ve been in the city for a while and have built strong relationships with people like Isaac Oliver at Harmony Ridge Farms, Ben Street at Street Fair Farm, the folks at Boy and Girl Farm and Fair Share Farms, as well as Jesse Leadbetter at Freshlist, and others.

“I want to share our momentum with the farmers,” he says. “One of my favorite things about this industry is that when you get to know the farmers, they’re willing to do anything for you. We’ll be sharing our concepts with farmers to help them to strategize what they plant next and where they build out. If I think we can be successful with something, a particular ingredient or dish, farmers I’ve worked with will go out of their way and give me some acreage to do that — and if we can guarantee that we’re going to purchase X, Y, and Z from them, it makes our whole industry as sustainable as possible.”

Originally from New Jersey, Giancarlo got his first restaurant experience, like many teens, working at McDonald’s at 14. “I didn’t grow up getting an allowance or anything,” he says, “so as soon as I got my worker’s permit and I could make some money, I was like, ‘Yep, I’m doing it.’ I rode my bike every day after school to McDonald’s.” His family soon after moved to the Outer Banks where he spent his high school years working the flat top grill at a bagel shop. “I kind of cut my teeth there,” he says. Later he began his full service restaurant experience on the North Carolina coast before enrolling at Johnson & Wales.

What followed was his impressive resume of restaurants where he not only honed his cooking skills, but gained a deeper knowledge on how a kitchen is run; administrative skills which he will fully utilize in his new position.

“We are fine-tuning the systems that are in place at Vinyl, making sure that those are replicable as we build our new concepts out,” he says. “We have a handful of things in the pipeline. If you can make finite decisions with your systems and make them replicable, then each new concept should be a little bit easier and a little bit more profitable as you get there. We want to make sure we can move those systems into the new spaces and develop further.”

The kitchen at Vinyl will also serve as an R&D menu space for the former Vana space and other future B-Side projects. “Having a fully operational kitchen helps,” Giancarlo says. “But each new concept comes with a new layout, new kitchen, and new equipment, so there’ll be some tweaking once we get into those spaces and have our feet on the ground there. We’ll be bringing in chefs for the new concepts to start to build their menu and create new profiles. I’m excited about the potential.”

While each new concept will eventually have its own culinary team, Giancarlo has no plans to become a full-time administrator. “I’m a trenches guy,” he says. “I like to be on the line. I like to get my hands on the product. In my 20-plus year career, my palate and what I’ve learned will be integral to what we do as a group. I’m a cook first. I will be as hands-on as I need to be and then I’ll step back into that 30,000-foot perspective, give the teams their space, and oversee each unit as we move forward.”

Moving forward includes keeping an eye on James Beard and Michelin accolades. “I think the city is ready, I think I’m ready,” Giancarlo says. “We want to be a catalyst for where Charlotte goes next. Again, I think local sustainability is the key. We want to showcase the region. I think people are starting to understand the fantastic product you can get within a 100-mile radius of this city. Take what we have right here and push the boundaries.”

However, Giancarlo stresses happy diners are the best awards. “When you hit a note perfectly on a plate, people tend to giggle and smile and laugh. That’s culinary goosebumps. That’s what I really want. That’s what I strive for every day — to make people smile and enjoy a great meal.”

“It’s all about the community.”

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