Shopping for Chocolate in Asheville

This is Marie contributing an article about chocolates from two Asheville establishments: Chocolate Fetish and French Broad Chocolate Lounge.

Readers of our blog have encountered Chocolate Fetish before, as I’ve gushed about how wonderful they are for years now. They are a family-run business whose owners, Sue and Bill Foley, have been winning prizes for their chocolate for years. The business had been around since the 80s but the Foleys purchased it in 2002. Their focus is on making their blend of chocolate (from six sources) into truffles and candies that range from chocolate covered marshmallows (a weakness of mine) through sea salt caramels (another weakness) to their much-esteemed line of truffles. We have been going there for years and love their products. In strawberry season you absolutely MUST get one of their chocolate covered strawberries. Continue reading “Shopping for Chocolate in Asheville” →

Panic on the Streets of Asheville – part two

There is a lot of history in Asheville. It’s more than the beautiful mountains; when you get into the city, the shadows of Vanderbilt and Fitzgerald loom large. The buildings are old and beautiful; you can see tasteful art deco designs on so many places. However, almost all of the businesses that inhabit these buildings are much, much newer. In 2011, The Three Brothers closed after a 52-year run. That seems to have been the city’s oldest locally-owned restaurant. Now, the oldest is Little Pigs, one of a handful of survivors from the 1960s-era Little Pigs of America chain, and it’s certainly due to be visited one day soon. The second-oldest in the city is Mediterranean Restaurant, which opened in 1969. Continue reading “Panic on the Streets of Asheville – part two” →

Panic on the Streets of Asheville – part one

We have visited Asheville several times before. We have come up during the chaos and craziness of the Bele Chere Festival three times, and we’ve come to town when the city wasn’t being turned upside down by it. So we were a little surprised to see the downtown area almost as packed with people in November as it is during the last weekend of July. It turned out that we were in town at the same time that Widespread Panic was playing a two-night stand at the civic center downtown. There are street musicians all over the place in Asheville all the time anyway, but this time the whole city was singing with guitars and saxophones and dulcimers and washtub basses. Continue reading “Panic on the Streets of Asheville – part one” →

Ammons Drive-In and Dairy Bar, Waynesville NC

We agreed that it had been a disagreeably long time since we visited Asheville, and so began scheduling a trip. Earlier this month, we drove back to western North Carolina to spend a day in this beautiful country and the city that we really, really love. This time, we took a much different path getting there. Continue reading “Ammons Drive-In and Dairy Bar, Waynesville NC” →

Bell Street Burritos, Atlanta GA

Will the third time be lucky for Atlanta’s best burrito? Heck, we hope so. Matt Hinton, the owner of Bell Street Burritos, has had a run of bad luck that would make anybody else throw in the towel. After starting up as a stand in the Sweet Auburn Curb Market, each successive location has closed before it could really turn itself into a solid neighborhood favorite. Landlord issues shuttered the first two, on Howell Mill and in the Irwin Street Market, and Hinton has weathered the storms with grace and calm, with a super team in place to serve guests. Continue reading “Bell Street Burritos, Atlanta GA” →

Moe’s Original Bar-B-Que, Atlanta GA

Generalizing a little bit here, but if bloggers and hobbyists tend not to be that interested in chains, then barbecue bloggers are ten times tougher on them. The sadly-abandoned Gentleman’s Guide to Swine Dining had a term he used, “the franchise curse.” We all know what he was talking about.

A couple of years ago, I’d heard that the Alabama-by-way-of-Colorado chain, Moe’s Original Bar-B-Que, had opened a location in Atlanta. It’s on 14th Street west of the connector, about a third of a mile past The Silver Skillet and across the street, in the building that once housed Kool Korners. It didn’t seem like anything that I needed to rush to try in Atlanta. One of these days, I’d like to make another trip to the Birmingham area and visit the original Jim ‘n Nick’s, and the original Golden Rule, for example, but I’m just not all that interested in franchises. Continue reading “Moe’s Original Bar-B-Que, Atlanta GA” →

Northern China Eatery, Doraville GA

When Marie’s mother came to spend a few days with us, we knew that we wanted to take her shopping at the Buford Highway Farmer’s Market, where she was certain to enjoy looking at the aisle of Dutch foods, and also have a nice snack of poffertjes from their food court. While she isn’t especially fond of either spicy foods or, bafflingly, barbecue, she does enjoy Chinese cooking, and there are several Chinese restaurants along Buford Highway that we had not yet visited. Since Northern China Eatery has so many fans, we decided to give it a try. Continue reading “Northern China Eatery, Doraville GA” →