Ladybird Taco opens in Dilworth in the former Lebowski’s space

A breakfast taco shop that started in Nashville now has a Charlotte location: Ladybird Taco opened on Sunday, October 25, at 1524 East Blvd. in Dilworth, in the former Lebowski’s Neighborhood Grill space, the Charlotte Business Journal reported. The shop is open every day from 6:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., according to the company’s website.

The menu is built around 12 numbered tacos on flour or corn tortillas made in house, priced from $4.05 to $5.30. Coffee comes from a full espresso bar run in partnership with Charlotte’s HEX Coffee, Scoop Charlotte reported.

Ladybird Taco at a glance

The basics for a first visit, from the company’s Dilworth page:

• The address is 1524 East Blvd., Charlotte, NC 28203.
• Hours are 6:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. every day, so the shop covers breakfast and lunch but not dinner.
• The phone number is (704) 702-2128, and orders can be placed online for pickup.
• Dilworth is one of five Ladybird shops and the only one in North Carolina. The others are three in Nashville and one in Mountain Brook, Ala.

A musician, a craving and a taco company

Co-owner Gabe Scott was working in music when his then-pregnant wife, a Texas native, told him she missed breakfast tacos, the Charlotte Observer reported in a CharlotteFive story on October 24. Scott is a professional hammered dulcimer player, according to the Business Journal. He started making tortillas at home to fill the gap, and the effort grew into the business. The name is a nod to former first lady Lady Bird Johnson, whose legacy includes wildflowers planted along Texas highways, according to the Observer.

A reunion with chef Andrew Wiseheart and his business partner Ben Edgerton helped turn the idea into a company, the Observer reported. Wiseheart and Edgerton owned an Austin restaurant, and the partners spent three years developing the menu before the first shop opened in 2020 in Nashville’s 12 South neighborhood, CEO Brooks Veazey told Village Living in 2022. Veazey, who knew Wiseheart and Edgerton from Austin, joined the business about five and a half years ago after Scott became seriously ill, according to the Observer.

According to the company’s website, Ladybird is modeled on the taco scene in Austin, with tortillas, queso and salsa made in house and barista service all day. The Charlotte shop makes salsas in house, including roja, verde and a spicier green version, the Observer reported.

Why Dilworth

Scott had played music in Charlotte over the years and grew to love the city, and the company’s Charlotte-based consultants helped find the East Boulevard space, the Observer reported. Veazey told CharlotteFive that the company looks for places where the team can contribute to the neighborhood. “And Charlotte just checks a lot of those boxes,” he said.

Veazey told the Business Journal that people need a consistent, reliable place to gather and that the company’s first goal in a new neighborhood is to build a connection with it. “We like to be part of what we call enduring neighborhoods,” he said.

What’s on the menu

Prices below come from the Dilworth menu on the company’s website as of October 29. Tacos one through six are breakfast tacos, and seven through 12 are lunch tacos.

A few of the numbered tacos and what they cost:

• The No. 1 is Tender Belly bacon, scrambled eggs and Monterey Jack for $4.30.
• The No. 6 is migas with house-made chips, pico, green onion, avocado and cheese for $4.25.
• The No. 7 is house-smoked brisket with potato, rajas and queso for $5.30.
• The No. 9 is salsa verde braised chicken with cotija and pickled red onion for $4.50.
• The No. 11 is a vegan taco of black beans, avocado, potato and pico on a corn tortilla for $4.15.

Sides include esquites, a Mexican street corn, for $5.05 and black beans for $3.25. The kids’ menu has a bean and cheese taco for $3.50 and a cheese quesadilla for $3.95, and bunuelos, fried house-made flour tortillas in cinnamon sugar, are $2.95. In 2022, Veazey told Village Living that the bacon, egg and cheese taco was the No. 1 seller on the breakfast menu.

Queso and chips with pico is $6.95, and a stack of six tortillas with queso is $8.75. The Good’Bird Bowl of eggs, roasted sweet potato, black beans, pickled red onion, salsa macha and avocado is $7.25, and salads run $11.25 to $13.25. Tortillas are sold by the stack, $5.50 for six or $10.50 for 12.

On the coffee side, the espresso bar is listed under HEX Coffee on the menu:

• Espresso is $4, a cortado $4.30 and a flat white $5.50.
• The Carmadillo is the shop’s Texas take on a salted caramel latte, made with house caramel.
• A white chocolate sage cortado with smoked sea salt is $5.50.
• House-made watermelon agua fresca, limeade and hibiscus tea run $4 to $4.50.

The Lebowski’s space

Lebowski’s Neighborhood Grill was founded in 2009 by Buffalo, N.Y., native Kirk Weaver and became known for dollar wing nights and a beef on weck sandwich, Axios Charlotte reported in a story published by WBTV. New owners bought Lebowski’s in 2023 and renovated the space, then announced on the morning of March 31, 2025, that the restaurant was closed effective immediately, Axios reported.

The same day, WhatNow Charlotte reported that Ladybird was taking over the space for the company’s first shop in the Charlotte market. In a statement then, Veazey said the company was “honored to step into a space that has meant so much to this community.” The opening took another 19 months.

What’s next

The company hasn’t announced a second Charlotte location. As of October 29, the company’s catering page was still titled for Birmingham and Nashville and the private-events page listed only the four Alabama and Tennessee shops, while the Dilworth page carried the shop’s hours, phone number and full menu.

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