For the next brewery in my small and slow “learning a little about beer” project, I wanted to try something from Asheville, a place sometimes called “Beer City” and home to something like a dozen brewpubs and breweries, and a place we are long overdue to return. I went with Highland Brewing because I remembered really enjoying their Oatmeal Porter. I first had that when I paid my first of a couple of visits to Decatur’s Brick Store Pub and I’ve had it a couple of times at other places. If I had a top five beer list, Highland Oatmeal Porter would be on it. Continue reading “Highland Brewing Company, Asheville NC”
Tag: asheville
West End Bakery & Cafe, Asheville NC
So we had a cunning plan to finish up our trip to That Town Where We’d Like to Live with a late morning Sunday visit to the extremely popular Sunny Point Cafe in West Asheville, followed by a return to Bele Chere to see the Stereofidelics before returning home. Nothing went right. I zonked out Saturday evening to a terrible TV movie on Lifetime – I do so adore terrible TV movies on Lifetime – feeling dehydrated despite my efforts, exhausted, sore and congested. I slept horribly, in little fits and starts all through the night, and seemed to spend more time shuffling through the corridors to the lobby to waste time online than in bed. It was a fine, comfortable hotel, but I was too uncomfortable to be happy anywhere. Continue reading “West End Bakery & Cafe, Asheville NC”
Ultimate Ice Cream Company, Asheville NC
As we wrapped up downtown during our trip to Asheville and the Bele Chere festival, the last little bit of shopping that Marie and I did was walking around the food trucks parked along Pack Square for the Taste of Asheville “food court.” There’s a more traditional, carny-style food court right in the middle of things, around that little park on Patton across from Tupelo Honey Cafe, which reminds me that Marie did stop into that beloved little restaurant to buy herself one of those wonderful rosemary lemonades that they serve there. So anyway, you’ve got all the funnel cakes and the Dippin’ Dots at that one food court, and then a few blocks away at Pack Square, you’ve got nearly a dozen Asheville restaurants serving some of their menu from trucks. You’ve also got the incredibly funny sight of desperate, overheated teens crouched underneath one of the unusual, circular sculptures in the center of the park, hiding in the shadows with bottles of water. Continue reading “Ultimate Ice Cream Company, Asheville NC”
Papa’s & Beer, Asheville NC
Not every restaurant in Asheville is a farm-to-table, low-footprint indie, although quite a few of the places in the city’s wonderful downtown are. As you get away from the downtown area and into the sprawl, you’ll find the fern bars and the chains, although there are actually a couple of decent places to eat alongside the Olive Gardens and Red Lobsters on Tunnel Road. One of these had been Fiddlin Pig Bluegrass and Blues, which had shared a parking lot with an Outback Steakhouse or something. Marie and I had eaten here on our honeymoon and we were looking forward to a return visit, but were disappointed to find that the business had closed quite some time earlier and nobody had yet updated Urbanspoon with the news. Then again, it was on Tunnel Road, and most restaurant hobbyists are not interested in what happens on Tunnel Road. Continue reading “Papa’s & Beer, Asheville NC”
Chai Pani, Asheville NC
I’ve only had a single meal here, and it was something that I’ve never tried before, but I have finally found an Indian restaurant to replace the dearly missed Moksha in my affections. Shame the darn place is all the way up in Asheville. It’s called Chai Pani and it is thunderously unlike any of the legion of boring, rule-following, horribly-serviced, tableclothed Indian restaurants that drive me nuts here in Atlanta. This place is completely wonderful, and I really am looking forward to digging into their menu and trying a few more dishes! Continue reading “Chai Pani, Asheville NC”
The Green Sage, Asheville NC
I’m not going to better one of my peers in his description of downtown Asheville’s Green Sage. Asheville Foodie calls this place “part restaurant and part ecological statement”. That’s definitely the case, and I think a guest’s experience here will mirror precisely how they feel about that statement. I think that’s an incredibly neat concept, and the more that I have read about the restaurant’s goal of minimizing their environmental footprint, through solar-powered heating of the water, through waterless urinals and through composting, the more impressed I am. We actually enjoyed very little food here, however, and I look forward to returning and trying some of the interesting things on the menu. I understand that the black bean burger is really something else. Continue reading “The Green Sage, Asheville NC”
Creperie Bouchon, Asheville NC
This is Marie, providing an overview of a cute little place called Creperie Bouchon in Asheville. It’s one of the places we stopped for our recent trip to Bele Chere. Bele Chere is a great festival for eating in Asheville, as there are more good restaurants in town than you can shake the proverbial stick at. Continue reading “Creperie Bouchon, Asheville NC”
Marie, Let's Eat! 