DNC Watch: Need a gift?

What do you give the delegate who has everything? How about a Queen Charlotte salt cellar and a bottle of Red Sea Salt? Savory Spice Shop has two limited-edition gift packages with Charlotte themes:

The Queen City Collection, $25, includes Lake Barkley Fried Chicken Seasoning, Smoky Hills Cheese Powder ("pairs nicely with potato salad and macaroni & cheese"), Frying Pan Pork Sausage Spice and Black Hills Barbecue Seasoning, a dry rub for slow-cooked barbecue.

The Queen City Set, $45, which includes a crown-shaped salt cellar and a 4-ounce bottle of Red Sea Salt.

Both are available at Savory Spice locations at Atherton Mills, near South Boulevard and Tremont, and in Birkdale Village.

A taste of Savory Spice Shop

Getting away from my desk in these post-social media days sometimes means picking the lock on my ankle manacle. I managed it a week or so ago and galloped happily off down South Boulevard.

That's how I finally had a chance to stop into Savory Spice Shop at the Atherton Mill complex in South End, which opened last wwinter.

It took a few minutes to find it. Since the original announcements came in the Atherton Market newsletter, I thought it was a kiosk inside the market. Actually, Savory is in a storefront, around the corner from Zucca Pizza, facing on South and nearest to the end of the mill building by Tremont Avenue. (Sorry, that's the best description I can come up with.)

Savory is a franchise of a spice company based in Colorado. They stock more than 400 herbs and spices, most in glass jars so you can buy anything from a 1/2 ounce up. You're also encouraged to taste and smell samples and just brush them into the floor when you're done.

There's a staff-picks shelf with recipes (someone named Steven apparently really like mustard seeds) and they're doing wedding favors in tiny bags. Clever idea if you're looking for a party favor option. During the summer grilling season, it's also a good place to look for rubs for grilling.

The official address is 2000 South Blvd.; hours are 10 a.m.-6 p.m. weekdays, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday and noon to 4 p.m. Sunday. There's also a location in Birkdale Village in Huntersville.

Find more about the shops (and maybe get a better idea on those directions) on Facebook; look for SavorySpiceShopCharlotteSouthend.

Wilco wants you to help with local food

Chicago band Wilco is supporting the latest Farmer Foodshare Challenge. Farmer Foodshare is a program that started in the Triangle to get donations of money or fresh food to use for community efforts to feed the hungry.

Starting Sept. 24, Wilco will challenge shoppers at 10 markets, including the Atherton Mill and Market in Charlotte, 2104 South Blvd., to donate money to support Farmer Foodshare.

Unfortunately, Wilco won't actually be at the market in Charlotte: They're playing the Raleigh Amphitheatre on Sept. 27, the same day they're releasing a new album, "The Whole Love." But if you donate to Farmer Foodshare at Atherton on Sept. 24, you get a free Wilco tote bag. The market organizers are hoping you'll fill the bag with food and drop it off at the Farmer Foodshare Donation Station at the front of the market. Wilco will donate proceeds from the sale of show posters to Farmer Food Share.

So far, the Atherton Market has 500 pounds of fresh food for Friendship Trays and the Dilworth Soup Kitchen. With the Wilco promotion, the market hopes to double that.

In other Atherton market news, Savory Spice Shop, a franchise based in the Denver, Colo., area, plans to open in the market in November. Savory Spice Shop, which also has a location in Raleigh, carries more than 400 freshly ground herbs and spices, 140 hand-blended seasonings, organic selections and gift sets.

The Atherton Mill and Market, in the former Charlotte Trolley Barn in the Historic South End, near South Boulevard and Tremont, is open 3-7 p.m. Tuesdays, 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Wednesdays and 9 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturdays.