Small Bites: Pisgah Brewing co-owner joins new gastropub venture

Happy trails: The Trailhead restaurant and bar is a collaboration between owners of Pisgah Brewing, Nine Mile Restaurant, the Lucky Otter and restaurant veteran Mike Flanagan. Photo by Anne Fitten Glenn

Brews News writer Anne Fitten Glenn reports:

The Trailhead restaurant and bar opened last week in Black Mountain, in the space which most recently housed The Watershed bar and music venue. The new venture is a collaboration between four friends and local small-business owners: Jason Caughman of Pisgah Brewing Company in Black Mountain; Aaron Thomas of Nine Mile in Montford; Roland Knoll of the Lucky Otter in West Asheville; and Mike Flanagan, restaurant-business veteran.

The Trailhead currently offers nine Pisgah Brewing beers on draft, with another 10 taps waiting to be filled on the funky concrete tap wall (shaped like the Seven Sisters mountain range, of which Black Mountain is one). Caughman says he wants to offer other North Carolina beers, such as those brewed by Asheville’s Green Man Brewing and Foothills Brewing in Winston-Salem. The restaurant probably will offer locally brewed Buchi and root beer made by Heinzelmannchen Brewery in Sylva, he adds.

The food menu offers a variety of high-end pub food, from wings to burgers to a cocoa-rubbed tuna steak, served with mashed potatoes and asparagus and marinated fried chicken with kale and sweet-corn pudding. The huge bowl of mussels in a spicy Thai coconut broth is worth every penny (priced at $9.95). Caughman says the owner team developed the menu together, with each person bringing certain must-have food items to the table. From conception to renovation to opening took about a year, according to Caughman.

The décor is a hodgepodge of arts-and-crafts meets Appalachia meets modern gastropub; the bar made of old barn wood. Natural rhododendron railings grace the corners while red glass drop lighting provides ambiance. The venue has a small stage for music and a porch where music may be offered on weekends. The Trailhead is located at 207 W State St. in Black Mountain. Hours are 10 a.m. to midnight, seven days a week. Check their Facebook page for more information.

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One thought on “Small Bites: Pisgah Brewing co-owner joins new gastropub venture

  1. LOKEL

    Visited this place on Friday evening at 7:30 and waited more than an hour for fish tacos, and the aforementioned mussels which were not hot when they arrived at the table.

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