Introducing “CRW: The Morning After”

Bruce and Jill Hensley, the power couple responsible for bringing Charlotte Restaurant Week to town, will be commandeering the blog for the next week. They're dining out every night of CRW, and they'll be regaling us with their dining exploits. It promises to be a week of overindulgence, in eating, drinking, and storytelling. Hold on for the ride. (Don't worry, though, regular Daily Buzz readers, if a current event demands comment, I'll slip something in.)

Here's Bruce and Jill's first entry: 

Greetings Gastronomes,

Bruce and Jill Hensley reporting here.  We are the couple (and company) that has developed, executed and promoted the inaugural “Queen’s Feast,” Charlotte Restaurant Week (CRW).

Our company, Hensley Fontana PR/Marketing, specializes in hospitality and tourism, and we learned about the “Restaurant Week” concept via one of our restaurant clients that participates in  these events in other major cities throughout the country.  Given the ever-expanding quality and choices on the local restaurant scene, we thought it was high time for Charlotte to have a restaurant week of its own.  We began researching and developing CRW last summer, and now, after an incredibly laborious — but ultimately rewarding — development period, it’s here!

Since CRW is “our baby,” we of course feel compelled to help nurture and perhaps even bottle-feed (wink, wink) this newborn by supporting our restaurant partners and conducting field research — i.e., dining at a participating CRW restaurant on each of the seven nights from July 12-18.  We know, tough duty, huh?  Each day we’ll report back to you about our prior night’s overall dining experience — where we went, what we ate and drank, whom we saw, and any interesting anecdotes that we can dish up.

Our restaurant choices for the week consist mostly of establishments where we either have never dined, or at least haven’t in a very long while.  That’s a large part of what CRW is all about – trying new places.  We’ll also be crisscrossing the region from Huntersville to Ballantyne to forage for fabulous dining experiences in every corner of the metro area.  For the opening night of CRW, we’ll be partaking at Ratcliffe on the Green for the first time.

We hope that you will embark on your own Foodie Fantasy during CRW.  We’d love to hear your feedback at info@HensleyFontana.com.

Cheers,
Bruce & Jill Hensley