Valentine’s Day: Plan B

If you’re a true Romeo (or Romea), you’ve no doubt got everything worked out for celebrating Valentine’s Day: flower delivery scheduled, champagne chilling and—most importantly—dinner reservations made. If you’re like the rest of us workaday schlubs however, your dinner reservations for the Big Day Of Love are no more real at this point than a bow-wielding winged baby—and your chances of getting any are pretty slim (we’re talking about the reservations, you dog). Fear not! The Love Doctors at Mountain Xpress are here to help you pull off an improvised Valentine’s Day that might not involve white tablecloths and violins, but should make an impression all the same. Here are some options:

KEEP IT CASUAL

When your paramour asks you where you made reservations for The Big Night, respond with a swarthy, “Reservations? We don’t need no stinking reservations!” It’ll make you seem bold and secure and cover up the fact that you totally forgot to plan ahead. Then, keeping with the Latin Lover theme, head out to one of the tacos joints that take walk-ins like White Duck, Mamacita’s,The Local Taco or Zia Taqueria. There’s likely to be a line at all of them, so if you really want to earn some points, bust out your best karaoke version of Foreigner’s “I Want to Know What Love Is” in front of all the waiting patrons and tell your date that it was part of your plan all along.

SWEETEN THINGS UP

Speaking of dessert, the best part about Valentine’s Day is that there’s an official dispensation from Hallmark to abandon whatever kind of food regimen you’re on and give into the devil’s delight: sugar. So why not make the night all about eating dessert? Start with a divine truffle “appetizer” (or three) at The Chocolate Fetish, head over to Karen Donatelli for a “main” of cheesecake or cream puffs, then pop on in to the French Broad Chocolate Lounge for an after-dinner drink of luscious sipping chocolate. Then be sure to get your special someone to bed fast because after all that sugar, you’re gonna crash hard. (What were you thinking?).

GO TO THE MARKETPLACE

No, not that Market Place, silly—they’ve likely been booked for weeks. We’re talking about the Katuah Market at Biltmore Station. For Valentine’s Day, their Village Café will be serving a “fancier” hot bar 5-9 p.m. There are also dessert and drink specials throughout the day, including two-for-$6.99 cakes. Even though the cake special is geared toward couples, marketing director Nicole White says the real theme of the café will be on the singles who visit, promising that “the lonely hearts will be getting some special treatment.”

SHARE

Thanks for reading through to the end…

We share your inclination to get the whole story. For the past 25 years, Xpress has been committed to in-depth, balanced reporting about the greater Asheville area. We want everyone to have access to our stories. That’s a big part of why we've never charged for the paper or put up a paywall.

We’re pretty sure that you know journalism faces big challenges these days. Advertising no longer pays the whole cost. Media outlets around the country are asking their readers to chip in. Xpress needs help, too. We hope you’ll consider signing up to be a member of Xpress. For as little as $5 a month — the cost of a craft beer or kombucha — you can help keep local journalism strong. It only takes a moment.

Before you comment

The comments section is here to provide a platform for civil dialogue on the issues we face together as a local community. Xpress is committed to offering this platform for all voices, but when the tone of the discussion gets nasty or strays off topic, we believe many people choose not to participate. Xpress editors are determined to moderate comments to ensure a constructive interchange is maintained. All comments judged not to be in keeping with the spirit of civil discourse will be removed and repeat violators will be banned. See here for our terms of service. Thank you for being part of this effort to promote respectful discussion.

Leave a Reply

To leave a reply you may Login with your Mountain Xpress account, connect socially or enter your name and e-mail. Your e-mail address will not be published. All fields are required.