Charlotte's Lady Funari Brings Handmade Pasta and Family Tradition to South End

The former Futo Buta space in Charlotte's South End will soon house Lady Funari, a roughly 1,600-square-foot pasta-focused restaurant announced March 31 by B-Side Group, the hospitality company behind Vinyl and The Story of Mi Cariño.

Chef Vince Giancarlo is leading the culinary program, and the name tells you exactly where the concept originates: Claire Theresa Funari, his grandmother, whose table shaped both his palate and his cooking philosophy. The menu centers on fresh, handmade pasta, Italian beverages, and an all-day coffee program intended to give the space a rhythm beyond the dinner window.

The most personal item on the menu is the Spaghetti & Blue Crab two-course experience, a direct revival of a family ritual. Giancarlo's grandmother would simmer a tomato sauce with fresh blue crabs, serve the crabs as a first course, then follow with spaghetti smothered in the same gravy. That specific sequence, carried from a home kitchen to a 40-seat restaurant, is the kind of culinary biography that either lands with full conviction or collapses under its own sentiment. Given that it's the anchor of the entire concept, Giancarlo is betting on the former.

The pasta bar is where the craft becomes visible. Rather than positioning it as a theatrical novelty, Giancarlo calls it "an up-close look at the craft," a working counter where guests can watch pasta being made and plated in real time. The interior is designed around warm wood and marble finishes to evoke a European cafe feel, and the outdoor patio, with room for another 40 guests overlooking the Rail Trail, is designed to read as an extension of the dining room rather than an afterthought.

The broader menu will round out the experience with light shareable plates built from locally sourced, seasonal produce, keeping the kitchen grounded in regional availability rather than defaulting to a fixed canon.

B-Side Group has Lady Funari on track for a spring 2026 opening, bringing a handmade pasta program, a documented family recipe, and a live pasta bar to a South End neighborhood that lost Futo Buta and gained something considerably more personal in its place.