The Lexington Avenue Brewery invited folks to come out on a chilly Wednesday afternoon and sample its food as the new microbrewery prepares to open to the public.
The LAB’s beer has certainly been a focus for lovers of all the craft beer made here in Asheville. But the brewery also has an extensive menu, featuring everything a remarkably tender pork shank to a hearty meatloaf, as well as a tender grilled chicken and brie sandwich and a chunky grilled cheese sandwich paired with a zesty tomato soup. And the house-made pickles were completely delicious.
Most menu items are in the $8 range, with big portions. General Manager Joe Culpepper said the lunch was good practice for kitchen staff and servers to work with the food.
And regarding the question of the much-anticipated opening to the public?
“If everything goes well today, we’ll be open possibly tomorrow — maybe lunch, maybe dinner,” Culpepper said. “If not tomorrow, then definitely on Friday.”
— Jason Sandford, multimedia editor
How much are they paying for these ads?
The food is excellent and the beer too!
My only complaint is that it is awfully loud with crowd noise on the inside …. maybe some noise muffling devices could be installed … it was hard to carry on a conversation at our table last night because of the volume level of the noise.
One other side note …. please do something about all the smokers standing right outside the door so that when the door is opened the smoke wafts inside!
With deep, L.A. producer pockets footing the bill, they could care less about the cost of ads.
I especially like how the smug, left coast, “We’ll be open when we feel like it and you are gonna just have to keep checking because you know you want to come here and be seen.” attitude translates so easily to the “Mountain-time, we’ll be slack as **** and you can be slack as **** and then everybody is happy.”, attitude.
Oh yeah… buy local.
It seems like the same attitude from echo mountain prevails at the brewery, with that as the bench mark should expect more mediocre products, served with an attitude of how lucky we are (the customer) to be there. I really hope that I am wrong, we will see, time will tell, but like I said if it is based on what echo mountain has done for the music scene I think I’ll fill my growler with some organic local brew from another, and cook at home,
You have to move out of town to get something local these days it’s all caught up in a bought up gold rush to judgment a snap decision an investor’s dream a bubble, it seems and seething underneath it is the long still suffering and standing overhead is the giant of capital and in capital letters, he is calling out “buy, buy, buy and try, try, try, there’s so much to do before you die, die, die.”
This place is awesome! The food, the scene, the beer is just wonderful. I expect it to be PACKED every weekend and doing some really nice, brisk business for a long time. Kudos to the LAB! Thanks for breathing life into Lexington Ave. Also, I’ve been friends with the cats at Echo Mountain and they are good peeps, really awesome guys. There is no “attitude” there or at the LAB, just in your mind Justin.
What Echo Mountain “has done for the music scene” around here? Oh, like attract multiple high profile acts that have only increased awareness of our area as one of the region’s premiere music spots? Shame how that’s devastated our local “scene”…
It seems like a lot of people instantly equate money with smugness. I have never met the owners of The Lab/Echo Mountain, but from my perspective they are professionals who have added some extra class to the downtown area. To have only just opened, the Lab seems to have suffered very few hurdles while hitting the ground running – I look for them to hit their stride and never look back. People are always going to have over-the-top expectations for a place that’s been this hyped for so long, but all things considered I’m impressed with their start.
Hasn’t Mat Catastrophe been living in Charleston for at least a couple years now?