Small bites: Food news to go

Biscuit Head rising

Biscuit Head is spreading the love. Soon Ashevilleans who don’t happen to live in on the west side will no longer have to drive to Haywood Road to get their cat-head biscuits on. (Yep, that means biscuits as big as your kitty’s noggin.) As of June 1, owners Jason and Carolyn Roy are opening a second location near Mission Hospital in the Biltmore Avenue location previously occupied by Tomato Jam Café.

Chef Jason Roy says the menu at the new place will stay about the same, with a few additions including a country-fried steak dish and some new desserts. The décor, he says, will echo the relaxed, homey feel of the original restaurant, with plenty of mix-and-match recycled furniture.

According to Roy, Biscuit Head had been looking for a home farther east for some time — the owners had considered the building next to Creekside Taphouse in Haw Creek before settling on the Biltmore Avenue location.

Roy says he doesn’t feel like the new spot’s less-than-visible geography — it is tucked into an office complex off the main drag — will present any problems. “I think we have a good name,” he says. “And we’re excited about the neighborhood.” He plans to offer delivery service — perhaps via golf cart — to Mission, and is looking at collaborating with some area businesses, including a partnership with Fairview Road’s French Broad Brewing Co. to create a Wee Heavy-er hot sauce.

The new Biscuit Head is slated to open June 1 at 379 Biltmore Ave. Hours will be 7a.m.-2 p.m. weekdays, 8 a.m.-3 p.m. weekends.

Asheville Wine & Food Festival

Tickets are on sale for the sixth annual Asheville Wine & Food Festival, scheduled for Aug. 21-23. The main event is the Grand Tasting and Asheville Culinary Competition finale 2-5 p.m., Saturday, Aug. 23, in the U.S. Cellular Center downtown. The Iron Chef-style contest features four regional chefs vying for the title of 2014 Asheville Wine & Food Festival Top Chef. A tasting of desserts and confections made by local chocolatiers, bakers and pâtissiers will be held 7:30-9:30 p.m. Friday, Aug. 22, at the Grove Arcade, and a mixology competition featuring local bartenders battling it out with regionally produced spirits will take place Thursday, Aug. 21 (time and place to be announced).

Tickets for the Grand Tasting are $70 VIP and $55 general admission. Tickets for the dessert tasting and craft cocktail event are $45 each. Ashevillewineandfood.com

International Culinary Center award

Elizabeth Button, CEO of Heirloom Hospitality Group and co-owner of downtown Asheville’s Cúrate, received the International Culinary Center’s 2014 Outstanding Alumni Award for Entrepreneurship during the center’s 2014 commencement ceremony on April 26 at New York’s Carnegie Hall. During the event, Button, a 2007 graduate of the ICC’s Culinary and Restaurant Management program, also took part in a food-and-media panel moderated by Alan Richman, the school’s dean of food journalism and food media.

A-B Tech Craft Beverage Institute grant

The Duke Energy Foundation recently presented a grant of $195,000 to A-B Tech for expanding its Craft Beverage Institute of the Southeast. The funds will be used to buy and install a 7-barrel brewhouse, distillation system, wine-making system and sensory lab. Located at A-B Tech in Enka, the institute will provide entry- and enterprise-level training, business development and quality-control testing in the craft beverage industry sectors of brewing, distillation, viticulture and natural products, including degree and continuing education options.

Transylvania Farmers Market benefit dinner

Wild Indigo Catering will present the Spring Fling farm-to-fork dinner 5:30-9:30 p.m. Saturday, May 17, at the Haen Gallery Brevard in the Brevard Lumberyard Arts District. Local chefs Anne Somich, Kate Renner and Neal Mitchell will create a menu incorporating springtime ingredients such as ramps, strawberries, edible flowers, nettle, early peas and more. Nonalcoholic drinks will be served, and guests are encouraged to BYOB. A portion of each $75 ticket will be donated to the Transylvania Farmers Market.

Reservations are required by Monday, May 12. wildindigocatering.com/farmtofork.html, anne@wildindigocatering.com or 553-6640.

Natural foods job board

NaturallyAsheville.com, a free online job board for WNC’s natural foods and products industry launched the end of April. Local companies can post open positions on the site, and community members can browse and apply for posted jobs or sign up for weekly email updates.

naturallyasheville.com

 

 

 

 

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