Customshop, the Michelin-recommended restaurant on Elizabeth Avenue, has reopened with a remodeled dining room, a redesigned kitchen and a refreshed menu built around seasonal, locally sourced ingredients. The Charlotte spot at 1601 Elizabeth Ave now features a green velvet banquette in place of its old booths, a reconfigured bar without the split down the middle, and new light fixtures, comfortable seating and fresh decor throughout the dining room.
According to the Charlotte Observer, chef-partner Andres Kaifer led the overhaul, which also touched the kitchen itself. Crews moved a few walls, added an oven and upgraded other equipment along with the restaurant's HVAC and sound systems. Fairwood Construction served as general contractor on the project, the same firm that worked on Customshop's sister wine bar, Emmy Lou's, in Dilworth.
Kaifer said the front-of-house renovations are meant to improve flow through the restaurant and make room for larger parties, while the kitchen changes were designed with collaboration in mind. He said the goal behind the updates overall is to improve the experience for both guests and employees, and the restaurant plans to keep inviting industry-leading partners for special dining experiences and events going forward.
A Menu Built on Local Farms and Seafood
The reopened menu leans on ingredients from a roster of regional purveyors, including Urban Gourmet Farms, Barbee Farms, Adrina Farms, Deep Roots Farm CPS, Boy & Girl Farm, Seven Sisters Farm and Stone Seafood. New dishes include a $18 wagyu beef tartare with preserved chiles, black garlic, yuca and Calvander cheese, and a $25 arroz meloso made with Carolina Gold rice, blue crab and Oishii shrimp.
Also on the menu is a $44 seared tuna finished with coconut, brown-butter sauce and Jimmy Nardello peppers, alongside a $12 mamey pie topped with chantilly cream, white chocolate and a Maria cookie crust. The dining room now displays prints by Ryan Allen and custom art by Audra Harman, rounding out the refreshed look.
From Neighborhood Trattoria to Michelin Recommendation
Customshop's roots go back to March 2007, when chef Trey Wilson opened it as a seasonal, European-inspired neighborhood trattoria and ran it for 15 years, per Unpretentious Palate. Wilson later went on to launch Flour Shop and co-found Pizza Baby in Charlotte. Kaifer, a Miami native of Cuban descent and a Culinary Institute of America graduate who previously worked as chef de cuisine at The Durham Hotel and executive chef at Vidrio in Raleigh, acquired majority ownership of Customshop from Wilson in 2022 after first eating there as a customer.
Kaifer was named one of Charlotte Magazine's 2025 Charlotteans of the Year for his culinary leadership, and he chose to retain and train Customshop's existing kitchen staff rather than replace them when he took over. His cooking blends his family's Cuban heritage with classical European technique, a style now reflected across the restaurant's updated menu.
Riding the Michelin Wave in Charlotte
The remodel arrives months after Michelin made its official debut in North Carolina as part of the inaugural Michelin Guide American South, which covered six Southern states starting in November 2025, according to Visit North Carolina. In that first Charlotte selection, west-side tasting menu restaurant Counter earned the city's only Michelin Star, while Customshop was named one of nine Michelin Recommended spots in town, per WCNC. Travel + Leisure has also named Customshop one of the best places to eat in Charlotte.
Kaifer and business partner Alex Bridges have been building out a small hospitality group around Customshop in recent years. In May 2024 they launched Marina's Tapas, a Spanish tapas stall inside Optimist Hall, the food hall housed in a restored 1892 industrial mill, as reported by Axios Charlotte. Then in December 2025 they opened Emmy Lou's, a Dilworth wine bar and bottle shop offering more than 20 wines by the glass alongside seasonal small plates, with Customshop pastry chef Adriana Cavazos promoted to chef de cuisine there.
A Kitchen Built for Guest Chefs
The newly reconfigured kitchen is meant to support the kind of high-profile collaborations Customshop has already been hosting. Back in March, the restaurant welcomed guest chef Troy Guard of TAG Restaurant Group for a one-night dinner previewing dishes ahead of Guard and Grace's expansion to Uptown Charlotte, a partnership Hoodline first reported in its piece on the Denver steakhouse’s Queensbridge move. Emmy Lou's has served a similar role for the group, hosting a preview pop-up in February for Uchi's upcoming Uchibā rooftop izakaya concept ahead of its launch in Plaza Midwood.
Customshop's evolution now spans nearly two decades, from Wilson's original European-leaning trattoria to Kaifer's Michelin-recommended, farm-driven kitchen. With the remodel complete, the ownership group appears set on using its cluster of Charlotte venues, Customshop, Marina's Tapas and Emmy Lou's, as a launchpad for more chef collaborations and events in the months ahead.
