Press

No one can deny that fries are one of the most loved side dishes, but a pair of Charlotte entrepreneurs have elevated them to main-dish status and developed a cult-like following along the way. Chefs Gregory Williams and Jamie Barnes have been friends since 2004

Charlotte calls itself the Queen City, but sometimes it seems more like an adolescent princess with a slipping tiara, trying to get attention from the rest of the court. Atlanta is bigger. Asheville is cooler. Durham is the hipster. And Charleston? It’s been a long time since it was a tired tourist town. In the last 20 years, chefs like Sean Brock, Craig Deihl, and Mike Lata buffed a new shine on its genteel traditions, winning attention from the likes of the James Beard Foundation and national dining critics.

After graduating from Johnson and Wales Charlotte, friends and chefs Jamie Barnes and Greg Williams launched the What The Fries food truck out of a former FedEx delivery truck in 2015. After years of long lines, in March the duo opened their first brick-and-mortar location where they hand cut each and every fry. Standouts include their hibachi shrimp fries (topped with bok choy, carrots, scallions, and homemade yum yum sauce) and over-the-top bread pudding tots, and the owners are hoping to expand with additional trucks and a second physical location in 2022.

All French fries are not created equal. You won’t be the same after sampling the Smokey Bacon Fries with Boursin cheese sauce, diced tomato, scallions, and ranch drizzle. The same goes for the lobster mac & cheese fries with Conchiglie pasta, Boursin cheese sauce, Gouda and Asiago cheeses, parsley, and red cabbage. You get the picture. Yum. These extra special fries are the creation of chef/owners Jamie Barnes and Gregory Williams, Johnson & Wales University classmates and former roommates. They started What The Fries as a catering company in 2014 and a year later retrofitted a FedEx delivery truck into a food truck. Last March, they opened their first brick-and-mortar restaurant in Charlotte and put the food truck on hiatus.

Charlotte calls itself the Queen City, but sometimes it seems more like an adolescent princess with a slipping tiara, trying to get attention from the rest of the court. Atlanta is bigger. Asheville is cooler. Durham is the hipster. And Charleston? It’s been a long time since it was a tired tourist town. In the last 20 years, chefs like Sean Brock, Craig Deihl, and Mike Lata buffed a new shine on its genteel traditions, winning attention from the likes of the James Beard Foundation and national dining critics.

Since 2004, the Johnson & Wales University Charlotte campus has been a fruitful contributor to the local food scene; in 2021, alums Jamie Barnes and Greg Williams opened What the Fries in South Charlotte, serving tasty loaded fries and burgers at a restaurant that's the latest expansion of their catering business of the same name. Chefs have also come from outside the region to plant the seeds for new concepts.