Brunching on double-tortilla tacos at El Pulgarcito, which serves food from Mexico and Central America, he says the East Charlotte dining phenomenon was “not planned. On the side of Pulgarcito is Thuc Pham A Dong, a tiny Vietnamese grocery known for Oriental veggies and cooler-kept pot sticker skins. Across the small parking lot are three restaurants: Cuzcatlan (El Salvador fare), Queen Sheba (Ethiopian) and Jamile’s Cuisine & Grocery (Somalian). Central Avenue was lined with conventional commercial outlets in the 1960s, according to Hanchett, but by the 1990s, its mom-and-pop stores were decimated and East Charlotte was less desirable than booming South Charlotte. “When the Mexican border began to tighten in the Reagan years, many Hispanics in Texas spread out from that area, and many came to Charlotte for construction and entry-level work, and older apartments in East Charlotte were affordable.

Source: Ethiopian News June 25, 2019 15:56 UTC