Food news to go: News of the Asheville food scene in small bites

Meat market
The Chop Shop Butchery is coming to Charlotte Street sometime later this summer. Karen Fowler is partnering with Josh Wright to open the old-school, full-service butcher shop directly next to the Blue Water Seafood Company, making that area of north Asheville a hot spot for home chefs.

The Chop Shop will only carry local — or at least regional — meats, though the butchery will also stock venison and other game meats that might not be available close to town. “The game meats are the only places that I’ll likely step out of the local box,” says Fowler. “The places where I won’t are going to be your pretty usual meats — obviously, beef and pork, things that are plentiful around here.”

“We’re also going to have a smoker so that we can do smoked meats as well as sausages. It will double as a rotisserie and a cold-smoker, so we’ll get to play with some stuff there,” says Fowler.

The Chop Shop will also provide some interesting cuts, since Fowler plans to purchase whole animals as often as possible. So, yes, if you want to make kidney pie, the Chop Shop is probably a good place to start.

The RAD is hopping
The Junction opened yesterday, May 18, in the River Arts District. One of the more interesting lunch items includes a farm egg and asparagus sandwich with roasted spring onion, poached local egg, lemon, herbs and truffle aioli. The evening bar menu offers tempura-fried whole cluster cherry tomatoes with preserved lemon-basil aioli and roasted figs with Humboldt Fog crema, bacon dust and truffle honey. Can’t wait to check this one out. The Junction is located at 348 Depot St. Call 225-3497 for more information.

The White Duck Taco Shop throws open its doors at 11 a.m. on Friday, May 20. The shop will offer steak and cheese tacos, mushroom tacos and some more unique creations like Korean beef and crispy chicken BLT tacos. The White Duck Taco Shop is located in the Hatchery building at 1 Roberts St. Visit the website for more information.

Planting new seeds
Jason Sellers, the executive chef of the Laughing Seed, is opening an all-vegetarian restaurant at 165 Merrimon Ave., in the building formerly occupied by Beans and Berries. Sellers is calling the restaurant Plant. This chef is a talented character, and we should expect this venture to produce creative, quality food. Xpress has an interview scheduled with Sellers later today. We’ll keep you posted as we learn more.

…More new restaurants
Brioso Fresh Pasta, is moving to Biltmore Park Town Square. The restaurant specializes in house-made pastas, offering a large selection of noodles, fresh-made gnocchi and ravioli, including a black truffle and ricotta variety. The pastas can be paired with any number of sauces, also made in-house. The restaurant is part of a franchise that includes locations in Clemson and Greenville, S.C. Brioso will open later this month at 33 Town Square Blvd. in suite 110, right next to Barnes and Noble. 

And on Monday, May 16, Woody’s Pizza and Hoagies opened at 84 Mineral Springs Road, off Tunnel Road. Call 255-8310 for more information. 

 

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