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The Best in Charlotte: Best in the Nest 2025

Let's take a trip

Q.C. Nerve Staff November 3, 2025

3 minutes read

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The Seventh Wonder

We made it this far thanks to community

As we prepare to send out our 7th annual Best in the Nest issue and look back on seven years in business coming up in December, this year feels a little different from others.

Save for the trying times of the pandemic, each of our previous years have seen nothing but growth and optimism as a newspaper. But I’m not going to lie to you, this one has kicked our ass. The economic uncertainty that has followed Trump’s second inauguration along with cuts to arts funding and other programs have affected our bottom line in regards to advertising.

We’ve survived with the help of our most loyal advertisers and our readers, who join us through our subscription and membership program because they value the important work we do in covering government at a hyper-local level, showcasing the city’s creative scenes and highlighting small businesses that are worth supporting in our community.

We are one of those small businesses, after all, and we appreciate every bit of support we get from our readers. I don’t aim to make this year’s Editor’s Note a fundraising call, per se, but … hell, maybe I do. If you value the work we’ve put into this paper and our reporting throughout the year, it would be awesome if you could visit our membership page and learn about the ways you can help us bounce back from what’s been a rough year.

But let’s not get too sidetracked. Our annual Best in the Nest issue is about looking back on a year that also saw a lot of great shit go down and a ton of people busting their ass to make sure our city continues to be a hub for culture, community and cuisine.

Each year I make it a point in this introductory Editor’s Note to emphasize that what follows is not about gatekeeping. All takes are subjective and just because we name one thing the “Best” of any given category doesn’t mean there aren’t a dozen others working in the same field, medium or industry who are doing great things as well.

That’s why I think of this issue as more of a guide to everything that we thought was awesome about 2025 as a team of journalists who make it our mission to spend all year seeking out such things.

The people, businesses, organizations and establishments named in the pages to come are worth your time and exploration. The hope is that, while doing so, you’ll run into any number of others doing similar work, because that’s how community builds.

Like I always say about this time: Don’t ever let anyone tell you there’s nothing going on in Charlotte, that only means they’re not looking.

As always, I must wrap this up by thanking my business partner, publisher Justin LaFrancois, and the great team behind us, specifically my editorial team of Annie Keough and Pat Moran, without whom this issue — nor any other we’ve printed this year — would be possible. Our staff and contributors have worked tirelessly to put together our most comprehensive Best in the Nest issue yet. I couldn’t be more thankful for their work.

And a big thank you to our readers and the Charlotte community for casting over 30,000 ballots in this year’s Readers’ Picks awards in each of our five categories. We have never seen this kind of engagement and it helps remind us where we are, and where we plan to go.

Staff Members and Best in the Nest Contributors: Annie Keough, Pat Moran, Matt Cosper, Joshua Robbins, Erin Tracy-Blackwood, Clayton Sealey, Dezanii Lewis, Jonathan Golian, Maveah Griffith, Clayton Sealey and Kayla Bullock.

Plus reporting by: Perry Tannenbaum, Michaela Catoe, Kayleigh Ruller, Darrell Horwitz, Bethany Ivan, William Kassebaum, Jeff Hahne, Tyler Bunzey, Nellie Shortreed, Davis Cuffe, JD Bray, Cyndy Etler, Tim DePeugh, and Ethan Rohrbaugh.

With photography from: Grant Baldwin, Will Jenkins, Wonderin Jones, Taylor Jones, York Pimiento, Dan Russell-Pinson, Rico Marcelo, Nick Will, Leigh Blanton, Kevin ‘Surf’ Mitchell, Andy Majors, Remy Thurston, Matt Cosper, Fenix Fotography, Kori Hoffman, Heidi Bee, Daniel Villa, David Flower, Galen Bacharier, Scott Gardner, Kenty Chung, Ethan Rohrbaugh and Timothy Duffy.

– Ryan Pitkin
Editor-in-chief, Queen City Nerve