by TM Petaccia

John’s Country Kitchen is one of six iconic Plaza Midwood restaurants remembered in the latest Paper Plate dinner. Poprock Photography

Amanda Cranford, chef and owner of Paper Plane Deli + Market, is a Charlotte native who grew up going to many of the small, family restaurants that once defined the Queen City, especially its eclectic Plaza Midwood neighborhood. She watched as many closed, giving way to out-of-state franchises and corporate eateries.

This weekend, she pays tribute to six former Plaza Midwood restaurants with the latest of her Paper Plate Dinner Series – themed food and beverage events served on paper plates.

Paper Plane Deli + Market chef/owner Amanda Cranford, Photo courtesy

“This is a dinner that I’ve wanted to do like I said for a long time,” Cranford says. “I watched the Charlotte landscape change and I think that there’s a lot of conversation that needs to be had around what it means to have a small restaurant and what small restaurants do for communities.”

The six-course dinner with wine and cocktail pairings will feature dishes inspired by John’s Country Kitchen, Ho Toy, Soul Gastrolounge, Sammy’s Deli, The Penguin, and Dairy Queen.

“They are all personal favorites of mine,” Cranford says. “They created a lot of the environment we now have in Plaza Midwood. They were the meeting points for people to come together in the neighborhood.”

The menu consists of Cranford’s takes on some of the former restaurants’ most iconic dishes: a “breakfast plate” from John’s Country Kitchen, Ho Toy’s chicken chow mein, the gyro from Sam’s Deli, burgers and fried pickles from The Penguin, and Soul’s watermelon pork belly tacos.

A special dessert course created by Wentworth & Fenn’s Samantha Ward is a riff on a Dairy Queen favorite. Opened in 1950, the drive-in stand was valued part of Plaza Midwood’s identity until it closed in 2019. Ward will be doing an interpretation of a banana split Blizzard.

“Sam came to the first plate series dinner I did this year and asked if she could be involved in the next dinner. I was flattered,” Cranford says.

“I wanted to bring something familiar, but with a new look,” Ward says. “I hope this dinner opens conversation of the restaurants once in Plaza Midwood and why things go out of business and how things turn through time.”

The dinners will take place Friday and Saturday, April 21-22. Tickets are $80/person and can be purchased via Eventbrite.

“If we don’t pay attention to some of the smaller locally owned spots still with us that we love, they are going to go away all too quickly,” Cranford says.