Cheat's Cheesesteaks in South End is adding a new reason to show up before lunch. Starting September 18, the walk-up spot along the Charlotte Rail Trail will host Daybreaker, a weekend breakfast and lunch pop-up serving sandwiches, coffee and matcha out of the same Hawkins Street location.
Daybreaker is operated by 1957 Hospitality Group, according to Axios, which reports the pop-up will run Friday through Sunday from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. for a limited fall residency. Cheat's will keep serving its regular menu during normal business hours, with Daybreaker layered on top as a morning and midday addition rather than a replacement.
The menu was created by Ashley Bayne, Cheat's director of operations, and leans into sandwiches built around eggs, brioche and Vietnamese and Japanese flavor influences. The Crispy Morning ($12) pairs egg, havarti and bacon on a crispy scallion pancake, while The Daybreaker ($11) stacks egg soufflé, Vietnamese sausage, garlic mayo, scallion and chili crisp on brioche. The Negima, a $13 sandwich with grilled chicken and sweet soy tare, and The Emilia, a $14 combination of burrata and mortadella, round out the savory lineup alongside The Big Dill, a $13 chicken salad sandwich.
A Sandwich That Nods to a South End Favorite
One item on the menu carries extra local weight. The Lincoln, a $12 sandwich with egg soufflé, havarti, ham, heirloom tomato, pickled jalapeño and garlic mayo on a bianca bun, pays tribute to Mary's Muffin, a signature dish once served at Lincoln's Haberdashery. That South End market permanently closed in October 2023 following the death of founder Chef Michael Shortino, as WCNC Charlotte reported at the time. Shortino was a prominent figure in South End's food scene who also founded the ramen restaurant Futo Buta, per the same report.
Beyond the sandwiches, Daybreaker will pour locally roasted coffee from Javesca Coffee, which will also supply matcha in flavors including strawberry, blackberry yuzu and elderflower tonic. Javesca operates as a Charlotte-based social enterprise that funds its sister nonprofit, Javesca Feeds, to provide food relief in Charlotte, Guatemala and Burundi, donating four meals for every bag of coffee sold, according to a report on Medium. The pop-up's drink menu also includes sparkling lavender lemonade, sparkling matcha lemonade and a blackberry yuzu matcha milk.
Local Bread, Familiar Names
The bread for Daybreaker's sandwiches comes from Pizza Baby, which was founded in 2023 in Wesley Heights by Steven De Falco and Trey Wilson before expanding to a second Elizabeth location in 2024, according to PMQ Pizza Magazine. De Falco previously co-owned Sullivan Street Bakery in Miami, while Wilson also founded Customshop and Flour Shop. Wilson's Customshop, the Elizabeth restaurant he originally launched in 2007, reopened last month after extensive kitchen and dining room renovations, a project Hoodline covered in August; Wilson transitioned majority ownership of that restaurant to chef Andres Kaifer in 2022.
Daybreaker's host restaurant has its own trajectory worth noting. Cheat's Cheesesteaks began in Charlotte in 2020 as a local pop-up before opening its first permanent brick-and-mortar location in Plaza Midwood in 2022, per Cheat's own account. The South End location on Hawkins Street opened in 2024 as a walk-up and dine-in spot twice the size of the original venue, sitting directly across the light rail tracks from Atherton Mill along the Rail Trail's high-foot-traffic corridor. Cheat's has also shifted its kitchen practices, moving away from seed oils and frying exclusively in beef tallow and olive oil to align with chef-driven fast-casual standards.
Part of a Broader Elizabeth and South End Network
1957 Hospitality Group's footprint extends well beyond Cheat's. The company was established in Charlotte in 2018 with the launch of The Crunkleton in Elizabeth, founded by hospitality leaders including Gary Crunkleton and Ryan Hart, and has since grown its portfolio across Charlotte and Raleigh. In August 2023, the group opened Puerta, an agave-focused Mexican restaurant with an extensive tequila and mezcal program, in Elizabeth's former Stanley space. It also opened Rosemont in 2023, initially as a market and wine bar before shifting exclusively to a full-service dining concept led by chef Mike Long.
Whether Daybreaker becomes more than a seasonal residency remains an open question. Cheat's own history offers a template: the brand began as a temporary pop-up before growing into a full restaurant with two locations. If the fall weekend run at 2137 Hawkins St. proves popular, it would not be the first time 1957 Hospitality Group has watched a limited concept turn into something permanent.
