In 2001, someone had the audacity to write that Charlotte would never be considered a "real" metropolitan city until it got a 24-hour restaurant. At least said writer understood the importance of late-night eating, as it is a major factor in the quality of nightlife for a city. A 24-hour restaurant is typically the universal after party for a night out. There's nothing like going for an edible night cap at a diner after a night out to prolong the night ... and coat your stomach from a hangover the next morning.

Luckily, Matt King and Steve Estes read said article and decided to open a 24-hour diner in Charlotte, right in the middle of the N.C. Music (and nightlife) Factory.

Because surely the Waffle House and Skyland restaurant (all the way down) South Boulevard don't really count in regard to 24-hour-nightlife. And they tore down Athens, which was like taking a trip to Narnia late at night.

Speaking of Skyland, I'm not exactly welcome there anymore. A bunch of my friends went after karaoke night at Gin Mill, and we were apparently still drunk off the performance because we were still singing — and getting others in the restaurant to sing with us. We broke out into a real-life scene from a musical in a classical rendition of "Baby Got Back." And this apparently warrants eviction from a diner.

But we are a big city now with Mattie's Diner, which is literally out of the big city. Mattie's is a 1948 diner from New Jersey rescued after Hurricane Floyd ... and it rescued me one early morning when I found myself with a broken down car in the parking lot of Reel Works studio behind the N.C. Music Factory waiting for a tow truck.

Stone cold sober, I went in and ate so much I could've skipped the tow truck and rolled home. You can't pay me, or even dare me, to go to the Waffle House before 2 a.m. But Mattie's is a 24-hour diner with food that's good 24 hours ... making it even better at 2:30 a.m. after a night out at the factory!