Chef Hector González-Mora Starts New Chapter at The Story of Mi Cariño

Scanning the menu during a recent preview dinner at The Story of Mi Cariño, a new venture from the team behind VINYL in South End, my wife and I were both drawn to the oyster section.

That’s a natural enough place to start, as we’re both fans of the mollusk in most of the ways it’s prepared. What we hadn’t expected was the description under the Madonna selection: white chocolate emulsion and caviar.
From then on we knew we were in for something different.

The Story of Mi Cariño opened its doors on Jan. 30, the night before Charlotte saw the fourth largest snowstorm ever recorded in our city. Even that unfortunate timing could not slow the momentum of this gastro-cantina and mezcalería, thanks in large part to the mind behind the menu: Chef Hector González-Mora.

González-Mora built a loyal local following in recent years, first with his hugely popular Chilito pop-up followed by residencies of sort inside established businesses: El Toro Bruto in Resident Culture Brewing’s now-closed South End location then Noche Bruta inside HEX Coffee, Kitchen and Natural Wines at Camp North End.

Now he’s joined B-Side culinary director Vince Giancarlo and beverage director Henry Schmulling to build something new from scratch. With a menu that is structured like chapters of a story — openers (Apertura), tacos (Con Tortillas), oysters, ceviches (Con Tostadas), entrees (Optima Cena) and desserts (Postremus) — The Story of Mi Cariño serves as a critical chapter in González-Mora’s own epic journey.

“Things always settle,” he told me over the phone, stealing away for a few minutes during the hectic lead-up to the Jan. 30 opening. “I was going from place to place for the past couple of years … I feel like, what happened after all the work that I put in to do what I was doing earlier on, this is where it feels like it’s naturally settling.”

Building the menu at Mi Cariño

Mi Cariño is inspired by a love for Mexican and Left Coast Latino culture including mezcal, movies and music. The name translates to “my darling” in Spanish, serving as a love letter not only to those traditions but the Queen City of the present day.

“Mi Cariño is our culinary homage to the flavor and complexity of Mexican and West Coast Latino cuisine and mezcal culture,” said Ankoor Patel, B-Side Group partner. “We wanted to create a place that feels immersive and inviting, somewhere guests can linger, explore and feel part of the story.”

Served in handmade pottery made by the Burlington-based Haand Ceramics, all of the menu items are built on a foundation of tradition with innovative twists added here and there, explained González-Mora, who was born into a Mexican immigrant family living in Los Angeles.

“I wanted to dig into what it really means to have Mexican heritage,” he said. “For me, I came across it as being more of a reference to the past. So, yeah, Mexico is cool, everybody knows it, but where does Mexico actually come from and how does that tie into the present? It’s really tracing that lineage back to its origins, from its tradition all the way to where you are now.”

Highlights from my trip included the rajas con crema ($16), a mix of roasted onions, poblanos, garlic cream and queso Oaxaca served with housemade sourdough tortillas; and the Taco Vaquiero ($14), a bacon-wrapped banana pepper stuffed with queso fresco and surrounded by picanha steak in a large sourdough flour tortilla.

While there are a few pricey entrees — the Elegante is a dish centered on a seared and smoked wagyu ribeye dry-aged for 48 days in mezcal and will run you $125 — much of the menu is surprisingly affordable relative to similar establishments in the area.

Then there are those Madonna oysters, a hybrid that González-Mora said he came up with based on two popular trends he decided should be combined.

“When we were coming up with those specific oysters, it was about doing something different,” he explained. “I’ve heard of white chocolate and caviar, and I’ve heard of caviar and oysters, so I wanted to pair that up together. I think the salty and sweet is something that can go really well with oysters.”

His intuition was correct, though unlike any style of oyster I’d ever tasted. Other oyster options include the Bloody, infused with mezcal and submerged with smoky tomato sauce; and the Golden, fried oysters served with pickled slaw and habanero mayo.

“We wanted to do the whole caviar thing, the truffle thing, to stand out, stand apart, to be more elevated in a way where people, when they recognize that they have these ingredients on the menu, they know that we’re a certain type of restaurant,” said González-Mora.

B-Side Group puts together the right team

The chef’s previous partners have all been incredibly supportive, he said, but not especially experienced in the restaurant industry. His new project sees him at the helm of a team that knows what it takes to build out a restaurant.

“What’s different about this place is that I’m working with people who are vets in the industry,” he told me. “This group, specifically, is very bar-centric and restaurant-centric. I was able to work really hard to build some trust in the community. Without realizing that that’s what I was doing, I was actually doing that. And now to be able to work with this group, it’s a little bit more refined because of where we are and what we want to be in this little corner.”

One key piece of that team is Henry Schmulling. Launching with more than 225 agave-based spirits and planning for further development, Schmulling’s agave spirits program spans mezcal, tequila, raicilla, bacanora and agave-adjacent spirits.

House-made cocktails have been specifically developed to act as a gateway into agave appreciation, with a mezcal tasting board awaiting those who wish to explore further.

Specialty cocktails include the Yellow Bandana, with Mezcal Vago el Manantial, Tempus Fugit creme de banana, Lustau Pedro Ximenez sherry, and Bittermans xocolatl mole bitters (it’s not actually yellow); and the Chili Con Carne, with Mezcal Vago elote, Cruzan Blackstrap rum, Fernet Branca, pineapple, morita chile, cinnamon, and 18.21 Havana & Hyde tobacco and leather bitters.

“We’re building a cocktail list that’s both adventurous and approachable,” Schmulling said in a release. “It’s all about balance, tradition and a sense of discovery.”

The beverage program also features traditional and house-made non-alcoholic offerings, including aguas frescas, low-ABV options and other alternatives.

Blending Latin and Mexican culinary traditions with a West Coast aesthetic and Charlotte’s unique vibes, Chef González-Mora now finds himself in the driver’s seat, sharing The Story of Mi Cariño with the Queen City one dish at a time.

“Every dish starts with tradition, but we’re not afraid to play and evolve,” he said. “The food feels vibrant and alive, just like the space itself.”

Get comfortable, because this promises to be a long chapter.

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