At Optimist Hall this week, AJ Sankofa quietly rolled out a new tasting menu at his stall, ESO Artisanal Pasta, that feels less like a food hall grab-and-go and more like the kind of neighborhood trattoria regulars whisper about. The invitation-only service seats just four guests at a snug counter, serving multi-course plates with optional wine pairings. A preview for critics featured a seared lion’s mane "steak" and a ravioli stuffed with coffee-roasted squash, finished with a deep wine reduction.
Tasting Menu Sneak Peek
As reported by The Charlotte Observer, food critic Timothy DePeugh said the menu made him feel "the earth moved" during a recent preview and called Sankofa "the best new chef in Charlotte." The Observer describes the lion’s mane course as marinated in dashi and sesame, seared, then topped with leeks and sauce verte. The same writeup notes that the coffee-roasted squash ravioli is finished with braised radishes and fried Swiss chard. According to the paper, the four left-side counter seats are reserved for invitation-only tasting nights, with wine pairings available for those who want the full experience.
From Delivery Kits To A Chef's Counter
ESO started as a pandemic-era pivot, selling frozen pastas and sauces before growing into a brick-and-mortar storefront and then a stall at Optimist Hall, as Axios reported when the stall opened in August 2025. Axios also noted that the stall includes a Chef’s Counter reserved for tasting menus by reservation, while Optimist Hall lists ESO among its tenants and highlights its made-to-order pastas and slow-simmered sauces. The move allowed the husband-and-wife team to scale their home-kit operation into daily service inside a busy Uptown food hall.
A Rocky Start And A Community Lifeline
Sankofa and his wife, Kristina Gambarian, hit a serious setback when a business associate withdrew funds, forcing them to briefly close their original shop. A community GoFundMe later raised roughly $20,000 to help, Scripps News reported. The couple pivoted to private events and secret dinners while they rebuilt, which kept the business alive until the Optimist Hall opportunity came together. Their profile got another boost from appearances on Food Network shows such as The Great Food Truck Race and Chopped, which increased demand for both their pasta kits and their ticketed dinners.
What It Means For Charlotte
The move from take-and-heat kits to a reservation-only tasting counter reflects a broader shift in Charlotte’s dining scene, with food-hall operations increasingly serving as test kitchens for chef-driven experiments, a trend noted when ESO was first announced in Charlotte Business Journal. Critics have already taken notice. ESO landed on a Charlotte Observer list of the year’s standout meals, with the stall earning praise for its elevated, made-from-scratch pastas, underscoring that a food-hall concept can still deliver a genuinely memorable meal. For locals, the tasting nights offer a rare up-close look at a chef with Italian training and national TV exposure working just across the counter.
For reservations and the latest menus, ESO shares updates on its website and social channels. Check ESO Artisanal Pasta's site for ticketed tasting nights and day-to-day service details. If the preview is any indication, Sankofa’s little four-seat counter is on track to become one of Optimist Hall’s most talked-about spots this spring.
