One-Stop for Local: The new Reid's

Now that the newest incarnation of Reid's is up and running on Selwyn Avenue, I made a quick stop last week to take a look. A few notes:

- If you've been around Charlotte a while, you'll know the spot has food karma. It's the location of the old Fresh Market. When you pull into the parking lot, the old neon Reid's sign is there. One warning: Those have got to be the skinniest parking spaces in town.

-- Both the front and back entrances lead you into a nicely set up wine bar and eating area, with an extensive wine section. It's a nice spot for a leisurely lunch before you shop and a good stage for Heidi Bilotto's cooking classes, which continue.

-- The meat department is as good as the old Reid's. Yes, Bucky Frick and Mac McDonald are back behind the counter if you need special cuts and/or meat-cooking advice.

-- The food products section is small, but it's a nice showcase of locally made stuff. I spotted a long list of familiar names - Yah's Salsa's, Litl Taste of Heaven biscuits in a number of flavors, Beverly's Gourmet, Tizzerts cakes by the slice, Penny's pimento cheese, Polka Dot Bakery crackers. Our local-food scene is getting so lively, it's nice to have a one-stop place to find a bunch of different makers.

Two interesting things I hadn't seen: They have multicolored Chester Farms eggs raised by Edwina Willis-Fleming of Eastover (there's a chicken farmer in Eastover? Yes, but apparently her chickens actually live in Chester. Now there's an interesting commute.)

And, for pepperoni-roll fans and West Virginia transplants, we now have locally made pepperoni rolls. They're made by Heidi Ebert of LOL Kitchen on Laurel Avenue.