Charlotte's plant-based cooking is not one scene, it is two. There is a Caribbean and West African thread that runs through most of the city's fully vegan kitchens, and there is a separate, smaller set of restaurants doing vegan fine dining. They barely overlap.
Fully vegan: Sun Burger on Elizabeth Avenue calls itself 100 percent whole foods, 100 percent plant based, African and Caribbean fusion. Oh My Soul in NoDa cooks African-inspired soul food and says it was the first vegan restaurant in the Arts District. Bean Vegan Cuisine in Plaza Midwood, Dee's Vegan To Go, Romeo's Vegan Burgers and Soul Miner's Garden at Camp North End.
Vegan fine dining: Sanctuary Bistro out on Rea Road.
Not vegan, but worth knowing here: counter- holds a MICHELIN Green Star, which is awarded for sustainability rather than for being plant-based. More than twenty local farms, and a preservation programme built so that nothing is wasted. If the reason you eat plant-based is environmental rather than dietary, that is the Charlotte restaurant that has published the most about it.
Reliable vegan menus elsewhere: Cilantro Noodle and Abugida, where the fasting menu does the work.
More on vegan.bellyupcharlotte.com.