ESO Artisanal Pasta adds invitation-only tasting menu at Optimist Hall

Four seats on the left side of ESO Artisanal Pasta at Optimist Hall marked a sharp turn from quick counter service to something closer to a chef’s table. The invitation-only tasting menu gave Charlotte diners a chance to experience AJ Sankofa and Kristina Gambarian’s pasta stall in a far more deliberate way, with wine pairings available as an add-on and a pace designed for a structured progression of dishes.

That move mattered because ESO had already established itself inside one of Charlotte’s busiest food destinations. Optimist Hall bills itself as the city’s premier food hall, with more than 20 food and beverage spots under one roof, and ESO had joined that mix after opening there on Aug. 8, 2025. Sankofa, a Charlotte native, and Gambarian spent months building out the stall after signing the lease in 2023, then launched with fresh pastas, locally made focaccia, gluten-free options, sparkling Italian sodas, Italian beers, wine, Aperol spritzes, and portions sized small or large for $9 and $15.

The tasting menu showed a different ambition. Instead of leaning on speed, ESO leaned into intimacy, giving the kitchen room to move through courses and giving guests more direct contact with the people making the food. That kind of shift can change how a stall is perceived. In a hall where many concepts compete on convenience, ESO signaled that it believed its pasta, its pace, and its audience were strong enough to support a slower, more exclusive format.

The previewed menu made the point clearly. One standout course featured lion’s mane mushroom with dashi, sesame, leeks braised in butter, asparagus, and herb sauce verte, paired with Cantine Russo “Contrada Crasa” Etna Rosso. That dish, in particular, underscored how far ESO could stretch beyond a standard bowl of pasta without losing its identity. A 2025 local food preview had already noted that the business planned reservation-only tasting menus alongside cicchetti, focaccia, dolci, and vino, suggesting the stall was built with more than one lane in mind.

For Charlotte, the significance was bigger than four seats. ESO was no longer just another stop in a crowded market hall. It had started acting like a destination, one that could turn handmade pasta into a reservation and make a food-hall stall feel like the hardest table to get in the building.