Crown Point Restaurant, Charlotte

Since serving up the first order of their now-famous fried squash in 1981, Crown Point Restaurant’s chefs have earned local renown for their platefuls of hearty, made-from-scratch comfort fare. Nearly every day for more than three decades, the restaurant’s kitchen counters have played host to fresh ingredients such as hand-cut pork chops and chicken livers. Though the menu culls its most obvious inspirations from America’s heartland, a Mediterranean undercurrent is apparent in offerings such as baklava and chicken stuffed with feta cheese and miniature Greek soldiers.