Supperland

Supperland occupies a restored church at 1212 The Plaza in Plaza Midwood, and the building is genuinely two buildings: the cocktail bar sits in the original 1948 structure, which held about a hundred people, while the main dining room fills the larger sanctuary completed for the Church of Christ congregation in 1956. Between the congregation and the restaurant the property was a frame shop, a gallery and a bead shop. It is run by Jeff Tonidandel and Jamie Brown, a husband-and-wife team behind a handful of Charlotte restaurants — Jeff came to hospitality in 2009 after working in NASCAR. The kitchen is a Southern steakhouse: a ten-ounce prime filet at $91, a whole shelled lobster at $125, wagyu pot roast at $42, ambrosia salad at $10. It has been Michelin Selected, and it is worth booking rather than arriving, with the restaurant recommending a car service given how little street parking there is.

The reason a non-drinker should pay attention here is the person making the drinks. Head mixologist Colleen Hughes has been with the restaurant group for fifteen years, was named Cocktail Guru of the Year by Esquire in 2022, and received a 2025 Michelin Guide American South Exceptional Cocktails Award. Her spirit-free section runs four drinks, every one marked vegan on the menu — a detail almost no bar bothers to state. The Spirit-Free Italian Spritz ($13) combines Lyre's non-alcoholic Italian spritz liqueur with Freixenet non-alcoholic sparkling wine, soda, acid phosphate and orange. Golden Hour ($15) is the most unusual, built on Sentia GABA Gold, a botanical supplement, with passionfruit syrup and ginger kombucha — the menu notes plainly that it contains adaptogens. Bright and Spritzy ($15) uses verjus blanc with Amethyst grapefruit basil, and the Spirit-Free Amaretti Sour ($15) works two Lyre's expressions with lemon stock over a house-made vegan egg white. Athletic's Free Wave hazy IPA and a Lenny Boy ginger kombucha are $6, and there are three non-alcoholic wines by the glass.