Asheville, North Carolina and The Land of Good Eats

Asheville, North Carolina was on our list of places to visit on this trip because of… FOOD! Last year when we were on our way back home from our ill-fated attempt at this cross-country trip, we dined at a restaurant called the Tupelo Honey Café in Charlotte, NC. It was really good and we learned they had about a dozen restaurants. We hoped to find time to dine at another one on a future trip. Then we found out that their flagship restaurant was in Asheville. Asheville is home to many great chefs and fine dining restaurants that have been written up in magazines like Food and Wine and Bon Appetit.

Fast forward to this year…

Prior to arriving in Asheville, I went online and found a guided, walking foodie tour called Eating Asheville. It would include stops at six eating establishments, three paired alcoholic beverages and dessert. It sounded good and had good ratings from Trip Advisor so I booked a tour for the two of us.

When we arrived in Asheville, NC, we began our food fest with a stop at Tupelo Honey Café. Pete and I ordered a few small plates to share. I ordered Fried Green Tomatoes served on a bed of goat cheese grits with a red roasted pepper coulis and some basil. They were amazing! I also ordered a house cured, dry rubbed Pork Belly that was served over goat cheese grits and topped with a caramelized sweet onion sauce. Pete ordered the Crispy Brussels Sprouts topped with fresh herbs, lemon, bacon, and served with a garlic buttermilk ranch dipping sauce. He also ordered Southern Seafood Tacos which had blackened white fish, a corn and jalapeno slaw and green tomato salsa. Everything was as good as we hoped it would be. Unable to find room for dessert, we opted to take home a piece of their brown butter pecan pie with dark chocolate sauce. Think… late night snack!!! It was a great start to our food fest.

Top L to R - Southern Seafood Tacos, Pork Belly

Center - Crispy Brussels Sprouts

Bottom - Fried Green Tomatoes

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I had not yet had any southern fried chicken on this trip, so I went online and found a place that is frequented by the locals. It is called Moose Café and that is where we dined on our second night. Moose Cafe is a farm to table restaurant situated right next door to the Western North Carolina Farmers’ Market. Unlike farmer’s markets in New Hampshire that are mostly open on specific days of the week in the summer and fall, this one is open everyday, year round. Moose Café purchases much of the restaurant’s provisions from the farmers’ market. The café had a real country ambiance with checkered oil cloth covered tables. Our waitress had a southern drawl and was very attentive. I ordered the Southern Fried Chicken with mashed potatoes, chicken gravy and a spinach salad that had bacon, egg and a warm bacon dressing. Pete ordered the All You Can Eat Seafood Platter with fried white fish, fried shrimp, green beans and cole slaw. The prices were unbelievably reasonable. Pete’s Seafood Platter was only $14.95. My fried chicken dinner was only $10.95. All meals came with cornbread and fresh baked biscuits with apple butter. My Southern Fried Chicken was excellent. It was crispy on the outside with perfectly spiced breading, and the chicken was moist and tender. Pete’s seafood platter arrived and it was loaded with fish and shrimp. He said it was really good but decided early on that he wasn’t going to be able to finish the first platter, let alone any additional fish and shrimp. He no sooner said that when our waitress arrived at our table with a second platter loaded with fish and shrimp. Pete told her that he was never going to be able to finish the first platter and she told him she was just trying to stay ahead because many people eat three or four platters! She brought over a take-out container so Pete could take the rest of the fish and shrimp home. Pete ended up with four large pieces of fish along with about 20 large shrimp. I don’t know how they could possibly make a profit on that meal.

Southern Fried Chicken and All You Can Eat Fish Platter

 at Moose Cafe

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After we finished dinner, the farmers’ market was still open so went in to check it out. There were many local vendors selling herbs, honey, jams, jellies, meats, cheese, vegetables, fruits and beverages like cider. I don’t think I have ever seen so many different kinds of cider. There were also vendors selling things like baskets and crafts. We bought a couple pounds of honey, a pound of Amish salted butter, and some ground savory that I will use in some tomato and goat cheese tarts when we get back home.

The next day was our last day in Asheville and the day of our foodie tour.

We met our tour guide, Kasey, at a place called the Bier Garden. We found out that there were 14 people on the tour and that our guide had managed to get eight establishments booked for our tour instead of six. I was already beginning to think we would be very full by the end of the tour. The Bier Garden served us samples of a cappuccino beer along with a serving of their mac and cheese with beef short rib. I’m not a beer drinker so I passed on that, but Pete likes beer. He said it was good. The mac and cheese was very tasty. From there we headed outside on a rainy and blustery walking tour.

Mac and Cheese with Short Ribs at the Bier Garden

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Our next stop was at an Ethiopian restaurant. We were greeted by the owner and ushered to our tables. We were served a small cup of Ethiopian coffee along with a flatbread called injera. The bread was a dark gray color, spongy and rolled up like a small jellyroll. It was served with two sauces and some vegetables. The first sauce was called Miser W’at and it was made from red lentils cooked in a sauce made with a spice mix called berbere. It had quite a bit of heat to it. The second sauce was called Kik Alitcha W’at and was made from yellow peas simmered in a mild sauce of onion, herbs and spices. It was not spicy at all and had a very mild flavor. The last accompaniment was called Alitcha Vegetables. It was beets and carrots cooked with onion, ginger and garlic.

Next, we walked to a restaurant called Mojo. There we were served their version of fish and chips which was a small crispy tortilla topped with some cabbage slaw and catfish.

Mojo's version of fish and chips

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After Mojo, we went to an Italian restaurant called Strada Italiano. We were served a delicious large ravioli appetizer that was filled with spinach and ricotta cheese. They make the ravioli themselves. After boiling the ravioli, they place it on a gas grill to brown it a bit and then serve it with arugula and a cherry tomato cream sauce. It was so tasty, but we would have liked it to be a bit warmer. They served us as soon as we sat down at our tables, so I think the food was plated and sat in the kitchen before we arrived. The appetizer was also served with a red wine.

Ravioli at Strada

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Right next door to Strada was The Social Lounge where we were served a Pork Cheek Sarnie slider topped with applewood bacon, vegetable slaw and shoestring fries. They also served us a cocktail that was on the rocks called the Thalia. It was made with gin, pineapple and lime juice, bay and basil leaves and a floating layer of Angostura. It is one of their most popular cocktails and was very refreshing along with the slider and fries. We were beginning to feel full with three more places to go.

The rain finally subsided and after walking a couple of blocks, we arrived at Creperie Bouchon. We were served a small sandwich called a Croque Monsieur along with their award winning Pomme Frites and a glass of red wine. The sandwich was made on tasty bread that reminded me of brioche, the ham was very flavorful and the Guyere cheese was melted and browned on top of the sandwich. The Pomme Frites were tossed with Herbs de Provence and served with a red roasted pepper aioli. We were told that they have been voted as having the best “fries” in town five years in a row. They were yummy but I could not finish the sandwich or the fries. Six down and two to go!

Croque Monsieur and Pomme Frites

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A short walk brought us to the Gourmet Chip Company. They served us their Parisian chips which were Idaho and Sweet Potato kettle style chips tossed with rosemary, thyme, sea salt, a white truffle spritz and goat cheese crumbles. They have 12 different “flavors” and will ship their chips anywhere. Couldn’t eat too many chips, we were stuffed and had one place left on our tour.

Parisian Chips

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Last but not least, we ended up at Chocolate Gems where they make their own truffles, chocolates and gelato. We were served peanut butter truffles with small scoops of chocolate and matcha gelato. Matcha is a green tea powder they use to flavor one of their gelatos. Not sure how we managed, but the truffles and gelato were consumed pretty easily.

Chocolates on Display at Chocolate Gems

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So here we were at 4:30 in the afternoon, we had spent two and a half hours eating our way through some of Asheville’s local favorites. I don’t think we could have eaten another bite of anything else.  What a great ending to a few days in Asheville, NC! We said our good-byes to our fellow foodies and our guide and waddled back to our car. Neither one of us needed anything to eat for the rest of the day!

Kasey, our foodie tour guide

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This was our last big hurrah before we begin making the trek north and heading for home.

Only one blog post to go after this one!