Adam Bannasch, the chef and part-owner of Zambra, is a seafood kind of guy. Before coming to Asheville, Bannasch lived in New Orleans where he became addicted to all-things finned and on the half-shell. "I'm just a seafood guy," he says. "I never really eat much red meat. Everything from the sea just seems so much more natural to me — of course, there's no basis for that. For some reason, I see a fish, and it makes so much more sense to eat that than a cow."
Course 1: Maryland blue crabs — smashing the crabs is fun.
Course 2: Gumbo.
Course 3: Shrimp salad sandwich. I hate chicken salad, but I love shrimp salad.
Course 4: Caesar salad.
Course 5: A pork ramen bowl with an egg dropped into it — not poached, not fried on top, more like an egg-drop soup.
Course 6: Cheddar Bay Biscuits from Red Lobster. It's been so long since I've had them. I want some sort of bready thing. I'd dip the … biscuits into the ramen bowl. Man, foodies are going to kill me. The locals are going to be like, “Red Lobster? What?”
Course 7: Mint chocolate chip ice cream. I feel like some of the best I've had has come from Ultimate [Ice Cream Company]. Their coffee Heath bar has made me a believer too, but if it was my last meal, I might have to go with the mint-chocolate chip.
Course 8: A bag of Sour Patch Kids.
Where? I just want to be doing it in my flip flops and my bathing suit with sand somewhere on my body, stuck to it. I would rather have my meal at the Salty Dog than Per Se. That's me. I would want it coursed out and brought to me politely, and sat in front of me, but I'd like the setting to be old-school Styrofoam life preservers and taxidermied fish everywhere.
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