Heirloom Restaurant, Charlotte

The wait staff at Heirloom Restaurant can tell you exactly where every last egg, cut of steak, and sprig of herb on your plate has been—and not just the easy answer that they come from North Carolina. That's a given. Chef and owner Clark Barlowe is a lifelong forager, both in his literal penchant for venturing into the woods to track down ingredients that never make it to the supermarket and in his broader attention to finding the best fishermen, farms, and livestock coddlers in the area.