Americans have a way of worrying when things get smaller. The merest hint of something shrinking—be it the size of a burger or a ballplayer’s pecs—makes massivity-minded folks suspect something sinister is afoot. So there were a few raised eyebrows when Marco’s Pizzeria recently reopened, after a 17-day hiatus, with 45 fewer seats. To accommodate […]
Author: Hanna Rachel Raskin
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Small Bites
Dripolator: The Dripolator will leave its food menus behind when it heads north to its new location next month. “The theme is taking what we do really well, which is espresso, and putting more focus on it,” owner Jay Weatherly says. That means no more tempeh reubens, pesto-egg plates or any other kitchen-made fare, although […]
Get yer locally grown hot dogs here
McCormick Field’s peanuts and Cracker Jack will likely take a back seat to hot dogs this baseball season—which will be made from locally pastured pork and organic ingredients. Meats and treats: The Hickory Nut Gap Farm store in Fairview. The farm’s latest offerings are an assortment of meat products. Photos by Jonathan Welch The Asheville […]
Small Bites
Scully’s: Paige Scully was among the many Asheville residents frustrated by not having “a great burger place downtown,” but one of the few to do something about it. She recently overhauled the menu at her namesake bar and grill with an eye toward becoming that very place. Scully’s now features 10 burger options, including burgers […]
Sugar Beet Cafe
By Jonathan Welch Flavor: American Food 101 Ambiance: Bustling diner, degreased and organic Price: $6-$9 Where: 1185 Charlotte Hwy. #B, Fairview Contact: 628-0094 Hours: Wed-Fri, 7:30 a.m.-3 p.m.; Sat-Sun, 8 a.m.-3 p.m. Food writing isn’t exactly a science, but there are a few rules that seem to make the whole rigmarole work: Don’t make a […]
Small Bites
Red Stag Grill: Adam Hayes, recently of Greensboro’s lauded (and LEED platinum) Print Works Bistro, will serve as executive chef of the Grand Bohemian Hotel’s restaurant in Biltmore Village, slated to open this week. The Red Stag Grill’s dinner menu, posted online at www.bohemianasheville.com, spotlights a wide selection of steaks and a variety of old-world […]
Pass the Shakespeare, please
Even the most fervent hobbyists rarely have the opportunity to indulge two of their passions at once: The market isn’t exactly throbbing with demand for crafty mash-ups like decoupage decoys or stained-glass postage stamps. So Reynolds Mountain resident Joyce Miles, a baking instructor and amateur bookmaker, was understandably delighted when Asheville BookWorks put out a […]
Feeding kids cheap: the new taste of value meals
Today’s “gastro-kids”—a generation of diminutive epicureans who can knowledgeably critique a recipe before they’re literate enough to read it—have been raised by foodies who’d rather risk their toddlers’ digestive comfort than expose them to an oh-so-unhip medium-well hamburger. These young eaters dote on sushi, goat cheese and quail, among other sophisticated offerings. Child labor works: […]
Small Bites
Looking Glass Creamery: With North Carolina’s reputation as a wine-maker region already well-established, Jennifer Perkins is hoping to add cheese to the state’s collective menu. “I would love to see Asheville become the Napa Valley of cheese, with lots of thriving cheese makers specializing in different types of cheeses and dairy products,” enthuses Perkins, who […]
Taking your pick of local produce
I am definitely not a gardener. After years of exuberant experiments with tomato plants and rows of radishes (which, as I recall from my grade-school days, even 4-year-olds can be trusted to grow) produced nothing but heaps of weeds and a popular venue for rabbit conventions, I finally realized my future didn’t lie in farming. […]
Small Bites
Rocky’s Hot Chicken Shack: The secret to surviving the recession isn’t selling something people want: It’s peddling what they need. Think sex, drugs and blazing-hot chicken. Photo by Jonathan Welch “It’s literally one of those addictive things,” Rocky Lindsley, owner of the brand new Rocky’s Hot Chicken Shack in Arden, says of his signature dish. […]
Cultivating organic growers
As recently as 20 years ago, organic farming was a rather shaggy enterprise. Its practitioners were a freewheeling bunch of mostly self-taught visionaries who sometimes surfaced at tailgate markets with a limp head of kale or soil-caked radishes. When the mainstream media took note of them at all, it usually mockingly depicted them as Luddite-leaning […]
Small Bites
Taqueria Jalisco: The tacos and tortas featured at West Asheville’s newest Mexican restaurant are rooted in a cuisine associated with a place 1600 miles away, but the eatery got its start a little closer to home: Taqueria Jalisco last month relocated from east Asheville to the Patton Avenue storefront vacated by 28806 Deli and Catering. […]
Resetting the Purim table
There is nothing better than a poppy-seed hamantaschen. The soft, buttery pastry, crammed with achingly-sweet, figgy poppy-seed filling, is so ridiculously delicious that it’s the highlight of a holiday on which Jews dress up in costume, exchange gifts and—according to Talmudic tradition—are commanded to get so drunk they can’t tell good from evil. They’re that […]
Small Bites
The uncertain future of restaurants in today’s battered economy has led many savvy restaurateurs to try new schemes, but Bavarian Restaurant owner Doc Homburg’s latest plan to lure diners is positively Paleolithic: Homburg this month debuted “Das Wild Beast Fest,” a menu featuring forest creatures rarely seen on Asheville plates. According to Homburg, customers have […]
North Carolina’s underground economy
Black perigord truffles have a tendency to embarrass foodies. Their flavor is so intense, so exquisite, that gourmands lapse into highfalutin’ gobbledygook trying to describe them, making the enthusiasts seem slightly snobbish and very silly. Truffle team: Franklin Garland, who harvests truffles near Chapel Hill, will bring his goods to the Truffle Fest. Truffle grower […]
Small Bites
Indoor Tailgate Market: Recognizing that the best incentive to buy local food—at least in February—is a warm, dry place to shop, Appalachian Vintner has introduced a weekly indoor “tailgate” market. The new South Asheville beer-and-wine shop partnered with the Appalachian Sustainable Agricultural Project to launch the indoor market, featuring honey, trout, cheese and other Western […]
Small Bites
DIne To Be Kind: This year’s edition of “Dine to be Kind” is the “most important one yet,” according to the local animal-welfare organization that sponsors the annual dining-out fundraiser. “With the current state of our economy, many families are struggling and their pets are often the silent victims,” Animal Compassion Network Executive Director Eileen […]
Scratch
Flavor: Fine-dining amuse-bouches writ slightly larger Ambiance: Coolly cosmopolitan Price: $6-$26 Where: 109 Broadway Contact: 505-2152 Web site: www.scratchasheville.com Hours: Mon.-Sat., 11 a.m.-3 p.m., 5:30-10 p.m. Late night menu served after 10 p.m. Sunday brunch, 9 a.m.-3 p.m. It’s worth knowing that restaurateur Eric Backer briefly considered christening his new downtown eatery “Menlo Park,” in […]
Small Bites
Sugar Beet Cafe: The hardy sugar beet, a plant known for successfully sprouting in seemingly adverse conditions, lent its name to Sugar Beet Café, a breakfast-and-lunch spot that last month bravely opened in the face of a deteriorating economy. But the recession has proven no match for the casual restaurant’s sandwiches and egg plates, which […]
Small Bites
Clingman Café: Clingman Café‘s hard-working staffers are giving up their Sunday mornings to serve brunch from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. The popular River District eatery (pictured) has had an intermittent record of Sunday service since its opening, but returned this month to the open-on-Sundays schedule. Offerings include breakfast sandwiches, pastries and fair-trade organic coffee. […]