More new uptown " 'Que"

Look for Queen City ’Que: Shrine of Fine Swine to open at the 7th Street Public Market when that venue gets up and running. That’s likely to be mid- to late-November, says Christy Shi, executive director of the nonprofit Charlotte City Market. Longtime barbecuer/caterer/restaurateur Dan Huntley plans to offer pulled pork, beef brisket, ribs, smoked chicken and boudin balls at the Shrine: “like souped-up hush puppies” is how he describes the rice-and-pork-sausage fried goodies.

He’ll be ensconced in the former Reid’s kitchen (at 225 E. 7th St.), with a gas-and-wood cooker that’s been approved for the space. The market will offer a wide array of produce and proteins, with local stuffs emphasized, and conversations are ongoing about how everything will work. Customers might be able to buy food and ask Huntley to cook it; there might be some kitchen-sharing; and other approaches. Various vendors will offer grab-and-go foods as well, and there’ll be open seating for those buyers, as well.

Huntley says he hopes to put a whole hog outside on a rotisserie and wood-fired grill he got in Argentina to demo some barbecuing, as well, and that there’s some discussion about marketing barbecue sauces with Democratic National Convention labels. For the convention, market folks “want people to come in there and see we live in pig country here, and it’s high art,” he says. “I like to think I can bring some of the funk” to Charlotte barbecue.