Fans of West Asheville’s Frostbite Ice Cream Bar will still find house-made soft-serve ice cream, funnel cakes, brownies and coffee floats at the business’s new North Asheville location. But unlike the flagship store, the new space — which occupies the former site of Northside Bar and Grill and, more recently, Nectar vegetarian restaurant — will offer alcoholic drinks and a full lunch and dinner menu, as well as weekend brunch.
Co-owner Misti McCloud describes the theme of the new menu as “a balance between sweet and savory.” The WaffaLotta, for example, is a waffle twist on classic sandwiches and entrées with varieties such as the Cubano, kids grilled cheese and buffalo chicken. Created by the Frostbite owners, the WaffaLotta’s trademark is pending. “It’s essentially all the ingredients you would find in a wonderful sandwich, but cooked into our amazing savory waffle base,” explains McCloud. The Cubano WaffaLotta, for example, combines chopped ham, pulled pork, pickles and Swiss cheese — all mixed into the batter and served with a freshly whipped mustard butter.
There will also be more traditional offerings, such as smoked chicken ribs with a tangy black raspberry barbecue sauce, as well as Frostbite’s own version of mozzarella sticks, known as Lotzarella Logs.
On the sweeter side, a highlight of the dessert menu at the Merrimon Avenue store will be dessert nachos. This sugary take on the original replaces nacho chips with waffle cones and ground beef with homemade brownie crumbles.
And for the grown-ups, alcoholic slushies will be available in flavors including Jack and Coke, margarita, piña colada and strawberry daiquiri. There will also be beer floats. “And since we make our ice cream in small batches in-house, we can make custom flavors that pair specifically with beers from local breweries,” McCloud says.
Happiness, she adds, is the restaurant’s goal. “We want the [Frostbite] Ice Cream Bar to be a really fun, happy place where there’s something for everyone in the whole family.”
Frostbite Ice Cream Bar will open at 2 p.m. Friday, May 26, at 875 Merrimon Ave. Regular hours are yet to be determined. The original Frostbite will continue to be open daily at 1475 Patton Ave. To learn more, visit avl.mx/3qm.
Blue Dream Curry House celebrates two years
On Saturday, May 27, Blue Dream Curry House will celebrate its second anniversary by donating 10 percent of its daily proceeds to Homeward Bound of Western North Carolina, a nonprofit working to end homelessness in Buncombe and Henderson counties. Attendants will be able to buy $5 raffle tickets with prizes from local establishments, including Empire Tattoo, Wonderland Asheville, Ten Thousand Villages, Asheville Food Tours and more. On tap that day will be Burial Beer Co.’s Yuzu Lemongrass Saison, Bhramari Brewing Co.’s Passionfruit Milkshake IPA, Urban Orchard’s Spiced Asian Pear Cider and Olde Hickory Brewery’s Cherrywood-Vanilla Stout. “The last two years have been an amazing journey,” says James Sutherland, the restaurant’s marketing director. “When we began, we had a vision of a restaurant that could be a productive part of this vibrant community … but still bring in new flavors and a new experience to the scene.” As far as the future is concerned, Sutherland notes upcoming changes that will include “new menu items, a focus on international comfort food and a revamped look.”
Blue Dream Curry House’s second anniversary party runs 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Saturday, May 27, at 81 Patton Ave. For details, visit avl.mx/3qk.
Put It Up! Youth Food Preservation Camp
The N.C. Cooperative Extension will offer a six-day, hands-on food preservation workshop in June for children ages 9-12 at the Henderson County Extension Center. The class will provide instruction on making jams and pickles, freezing and drying foods and canning tomatoes and green beans. At week’s end, kids will take home samples of their work. “I hope [participants] will take away an interest to continue with preserving foods for themselves and their families,” says Renay Knapp, family and consumer sciences extension agent. “This is an art that has been lost, but there is an increased interest in learning how to preserve food.”
Put It Up! Youth Food Preservation Camp runs 9 a.m.-noon, Monday-Friday, June 19-23, and Monday, June 26, at the Henderson County Extension Center, 100 Jackson Park Road, Hendersonville. Each daily class costs $5. Space is limited. For more information, contact Knapp at renay_knapp@ncsu.edu.
A Taste of Portugal
Black Mountain restaurant La Guinguette offers monthly wine dinners that highlight various regions of the world. Each event begins with hors d’oeuvres followed by a five-course meal. On Thursday, June 1, A Taste of Portugal wine dinner will feature green collard soup, piri piri salmon with avocado cream, mussels in red wine, bean and pork stew, and Portuguese custard tart. Each course will be paired with Portuguese wines selected by Andrew Miller of Ecovalley Imports.
A Taste of Portugal wine dinner begins at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, June 1, at La Guinguette, 105 Richardson Blvd., Black Mountain. Tickets are $60 per person, plus tax and gratuity. For details and tickets, visit avl.mx/3qj.
Asheville chef rides in Chefs Cycle for No Kid Hungry
Gan Shan Station chef and owner Patrick O’Cain was one of nearly 250 chefs to participate in the 2017 Chefs Cycle for No Kid Hungry. During the three-day event, which took place May 16-18 in Santa Rosa, Calif., chefs from across the U.S. rode 300 miles to raise money for No Kid Hungry, a nonprofit that works to end child hunger in America. With his ride, O’Cain raised more than $5,700 for the organization.
To learn more about No Kid Hungry, visit nokidhungry.org.
I am not trying to be a drag here…but the “WaffaLotta” sounds like a terrible idea. Oh, and what meat do you intend to get from a “Chicken rib” exactly?
Second sentence…..LOL! Good point.