Shavuot, the Jewish holiday which commemorates the day the Torah was given at Mount Sinai, is almost always celebrated with a meal of dairy-derived foods. Nobody knows exactly why: According to Orthodox scholar Avraham Sutton, whose posted his thoughts at desiretoshare.com, the connection might have something to do with the ancient Jews’ sudden realization upon […]

Blueberry pie is a great summer dessert, but first you have to grow the berries (OK, you could buy them, but that’s not quite as fun or tasty.) Berry maven Walter Harrill of Imaldris Farm is offering an afternoon workshop in blueberry management through the Organic Growers School. The class, geared toward backyard growers, includes […]

Flavor: Classic lunch-box fare Ambiance: Imagine if Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm opened a café Tomato Jam isn’t the easiest restaurant to find. When I first visited for lunch, I circled the parking lot of the Biltmore Avenue medical center where it’s located so many times I began to wonder whether the café‘s owners were in […]

Buying a Mother’s Day gift for your mom is the right thing to do. Buying a discounted Mother’s Day gift is the smart thing to do. From now till May 13, the Swannanoa School of Culinary Arts is offering a 10 percent discount on its weeklong summer sessions, bringing the cost of “A Total Approach […]

Flavor: Grains in their finest guises Ambiance: Like stepping into an Ikea catalog There are no prerequisites for being one of my reviewing companions. (Conspiracy theories aside, I don’t seek out diners who bear blood grudges against Asheville restaurants or have lost their taste buds in a tragic accident.) I pretty much look for cheery, […]

The Western North Carolina AIDS Project is making Dining Out for Life even more convenient this year with more than 90 restaurants participating in the annual benefit. Restaurants in Asheville, Black Mountain, Hendersonville and other local communities will contribute 20 percent of their Thursday, April 26, sales to the project, which supports local AIDS-services programs. […]

Cackalacky isn’t just a great place to live: Now it’s a zippy sauce for your steak. The versatile Cackalacky condiment, which its Chapel Hill-based inventors pitch as an all-natural dressing, dip and topping, is now available at Greenlife Grocery. Cackalacky corporate isn’t revealing its secret 20-ingredient recipe, but the company will trade a Cackalacky bumper […]

Flavor: Cali-Mex at its fresh best Ambiance: Vibrant Southwestern I know, I know. You’re tired of all the talk about Papas & Beer. How good can one Mexican restaurant be, anyhow? There are dozens of local restaurants offering serviceable versions of South of the Border standards, so going on and on about a taco is […]

Noted Appalachian food scholar Mark Sohn is offering a weeklong cooking class at the John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown this June. “Great American Cuisine” will include instruction in baking, searing and steaming, using locally grown produce to create garden frittatas and double-crust apple pies. To register, visit the Folk School’s Web site at […]

Drinking can complicate wayfinding, which may be why the NC Wine & Grape Council has issued such a handsome map of North Carolina Wineries. The brochure, available from www.ncwine.org, features winery descriptions, addresses, Web sites and hours, making it the most useful tool besides a corkscrew for enjoying the state’s vino. The council, by the […]

Flavor: Chinese-American in all its glory Ambiance: Grand Central Station with eggrolls Back when eating Chinese was still an exotic pastime, menus at most Chinese-American restaurants instructed diners to order “one from column A, one from column B”—a mix-and-match approach that meant two chop sueys would never grace the same table. But as Americans became […]

Buy your breath mints now—ramp season is back. The wild leek will be the guest of honor this weekend at a Cherokee festival featuring music, horseshoe throwing and a trout-and-ramps feast. Cherokee’s Enterprise Waters—30 miles of stocked streams and ponds—open for trout fishing on March 31, one day before the season begins elsewhere in the […]

All overplayed puns aside, it doesn’t take yeast to get a rise out of a baker: It takes a groundbreaking recipe for no-knead bread. Flour power: Nationally known bread master Jeffrey Hammelman will headline the festival. Mark Bittman, who writes “The Minimalist” column for the New York Times’ dining section, last November ignited the bakehouse […]

Asheville-area food and restaurant news Hendersonville is now home to another sports bar, which, the owners say, will distinguish itself with fresh foods and live music. Eleanor’s Sports Tavern and Grill opened last month at 430 N. Main St. and features nine oversized, high-definition televisions. The restaurant is open every day from 11 a.m. until […]

There’s no better way to lower my expectations for a meal than to have it emerge from my own oven. Keep your kitchen out of it: Super Suppers owner Tamara Benton. Hers is one of at least two Asheville businesses riding the meal-prep wave. photos by Jodi Ford I’m not a naturally talented cook. I […]