When The Admiral restaurant lights 17 candles on its birthday cake on Saturday, Dec. 7, new executive chef Austin Inselmann will be celebrating alongside founder Drew Wallace. Both are now partners in The Admiral and its sister restaurant, Leo’s House of Thirst, a couple of miles west on Haywood Road.
The Admiral’s story began in 2007, when Wallace and Jonathan Robinson bought the B&D Bar at the corner of Michigan Avenue and Haywood Road when the only nearby sit-down eateries in the scruffy West Asheville neighborhood were Sunny Point Café, Tastee Diner and Westville Pub. The Admiral was a pioneer in full-service, elevated, adventurous Asheville dining and before long became a nationally known culinary calling card to the city itself. Wallace went on to open Bull & Beggar in the River Arts District in 2013, Leo’s House of Thirst in 2020 and Baby Bull, also in the RAD, in 2021.
The Admiral boasts a history of bold chefs who made their mark on the restaurant and in the industry, but this past summer, Wallace found himself pondering his firstborn’s future. He looked down Haywood Road to Leo’s and homed in on rising young chef Inselmann, who has led Leo’s kitchen from the start.
Inselmann moved to Asheville from Portland, Ore., in October 2019 and helped open Leo’s as kitchen manager in September 2020 with a small-plates menu aimed at not overwhelming the business’s primary intent. “Leo’s has always been a wine bar first that happens to have really good food,” he says. His bright, inventive creations — all made from a basement kitchen equipped with only four induction burners and a panini press — soon earned him his first executive chef title.
“Austin was doing such great work at Leo’s, but in order to reach his full potential, he needed a bigger kitchen,” Wallace explains. He shared with Inselmann his vision for an The Admiral refresh, and by the end of summer, they had reached an agreement.
Inselmann moved Leo’s lead line cook Josh Williamson to The Admiral in the role of sous chef. At Leo’s, he promoted sous chef Connor Flaherty to chef de cuisine. Inselmann will spend most of his time for now at The Admiral doing recipe development, management and quality control for both restaurants.
They closed The Admiral Sept. 9-13 to deep-clean and renovate the kitchen, installing new equipment, including a flat-top for the popular dry-aged burger and a four-burner grill for making one of Inselmann’s favorite, old-school classics — steak frites. After being shuttered by Tropical Storm Helene, The Admiral reopened on Oct. 25 with a pared-down menu that will gradually evolve.
In addition to the burger and steak frites, diners will find Admiral’s legacy steak tartare and arugula salad. “They are both classic, and we stay true to them but gave them a little face-lift,” Inselmann says. “It was a fun project to make a menu that suits The Admiral’s dark and moody dining room. It’s classic entrée food for a sit-down dinner place.”
Wallace is happy with the changes. “We wanted to reopen The Admiral with comfort and stability,” he says. “Having a chef as a partner changes the dynamic in your relationship; it’s more teammate-oriented.”
The Admiral, 40 Haywood Road, avl.mx/9za. Leo’s House of Thirst, 1055 Haywood Road, avl.mx/9f1.
Asheville Tea Co.’s comeback
Asheville Tea Co. lost its 6,000-square-foot building on Thompson Street near Biltmore Village on Sept. 27, when floodwaters from the Swannanoa River lifted it off the foundation and carried it away, strewing product and equipment for blocks. Since then, founder and owner Jessie Dean and her sister, Melissa Dean, director of sales and marketing, have taken the first steps toward resurrecting the company with the release of its annual Holiday Trio collection, featuring Snow Day, Spiced Apple Butter and Winter Wonderland teas. Online sales of the 20-count boxes as well as gift certificates are available on the website. One of Asheville’s most high-profile success stories, Asheville Tea Co. is woman-owned, founded in 2016 as an incubator program at Blue Ridge Food Ventures and fully committed to local sourcing. avl.mx/don
Gobble up without cooking
No bird in your oven’s Thanksgiving plans? Several area restaurants have been cooking for days so you don’t have to and might have a seat at their tables for fowl and fixin’s.
Pack’s Tavern’s Thursday, Nov. 28, Thanksgiving Day buffet (gluten-free, dairy-free and vegan dishes available) is a local favorite, and reservations are already full, but the cavernous two-story restaurant leaves room for walk-ins 11 a.m.-7 p.m. The cost is $49.99 for adults and $24.99 for children ages 10 and younger. 20 Spruce St.
The Moose Café dining room is walk-in-only on Thanksgiving Day. Open 11 a.m.-4 p.m., the restaurant will serve a special Thanksgiving menu — either an all-you-can-eat feast for $18.99 or a traditional Thanksgiving platter for $15.99. 570 Brevard Road
Downtown fine-dining restaurants Bargello and Posana are offering seated, prix fixe Thanksgiving Day menus. Reservations are required and filling fast at both. Bargello (7 Patton Ave. in the Arras Hotel) will serve three courses family-style, plus dessert, noon- 8 p.m. at $89 per person for adults, $49 for ages 10 and younger. avl.mx/eba Posana (1 Biltmore Ave.) will serve four courses family-style noon-6:30 p.m., $90 per person/$45 12 and younger. avl.mx/ebb
Go fish!
No telling what will be on the plate when Affrilachian and Spanish flavors meet to throw a Pintxo Party on Thursday, Dec. 5, at Cúrate.
Good Hot Fish owner/chef Ashleigh Shanti will collaborate with the Cúrate crew for the eats, while Rise Over Run will provide Spanish wine pairings. Cinco Jotas will also be in the building for a live jamón iberico carving. Copies of Shanti’s new cookbook, Our South: Black Food Through My Lens, will be for sale, and the chef will be available for signings. Tickets are $125 each.
Cúrate, 13 Biltmore Ave. For more information and tickets, visit avl.mx/eb8.
Happy Paw-lidays
It’s time for Fido and Daisy to don their gay apparel and get fancy for the fourth annual Historic Seventh Avenue District Pup Crawl Paw-liday edition noon-5 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 7, in downtown Hendersonville. The canine-centric fundraiser for the Blue Ridge Humane Society was rescheduled from Oct. 19 due to the impact of Tropical Storm Helene. The silver lining: Santa will be on-site and available for selfie photos with pets and their people.
Participants who buy a “Pawsport” receive a pet giveaway or treat and pet-themed activity at each dog-friendly food and beverage business on the Pup Crawl, earning stamps at each stop for a chance to win a grand prize. Participating businesses include Brandy Bar + Cocktails, Celtic Creamery, Guidon Brewing Co., M&T Distilling, Southern Appalachian Brewery and White Duck Taco Shop.
If bought by Wednesday, Dec. 4, Pawsports are $20 for one dog and $40 for two or more dogs from the same household. On the day of the event, Pawsports are $30 for one dog, $50 for two or more dogs from the same household. Human-only Pawsports at the same price will allow participants to collect all six stamps for entry into the grand prize drawing. Dogs must be leashed at all times and current on vaccinations.
For information and to buy Pawsports, visit avl.mx/eb7.
And the winners are…
Eda Rhyne Distilling Co. was among the Biltmore Village buildings severely impacted by Helene, but founders Chris Bower and Rett Murphy’s spirits were buoyed with the news that their Appalachian Fernet was named the drink winner in Garden & Gun magazine’s 15th annual Made in the South Awards. The magazine’s write-up lauds the duo for “crafting a highly bitter style of amaro called fernet, using about forty herbs, roots, barks, and other plants.” Eda Rhyne’s second location, Eda’s Hide-A-Way, at 1098 New Stock Road in Weaverville was unharmed by the storm and remains open. avl.mx/ebl
Chef Ashleigh Shanti’s Good Hot Fish has been named one of Eater’s Best New Restaurants in America for 2024. Shanti opened the casual eatery in South Slope in January 2024 and has been reeling in the accolades ever since, including being the only North Carolina restaurant listed among The New York Times list of 50 Favorite Restaurants in America 2024. GHF has reopened post-Helene, adding daily land-based specials like oxtail and fried chicken. 10 Buxton Ave., avl.mx/dbr
Oprah Winfrey’s annual Oprah’s Favorite Things holiday gifts list is out, and French Broad Chocolate is in. On the recommendation of her longtime bestie Gayle King, Oprah chose the Asheville-based business’s Classic Hot Chocolate Collection, a trio that includes classic, vanilla bean and cinnamon flavors. The holiday edition trades cinnamon for peppermint. avl.mx/pryk
Pour a round of doubles for restaurateur Eric Scheffer and the Scheffer Group to celebrate the inclusion of Vinnie’s Neighborhood Italian South and Jettie Rae’s Oyster House in Tripadvisor’s 2024 Best of the Best Awards. In the “Casual Dining” category for the United States, Vinnie’s South earned the No. 6 spot, and Jettie Rae’s ranked No. 8. View the full list at avl.mx/ebm.
Sourhouse, the Asheville-based startup founded by Jennifer Yoko Olson and Erik Fabian that aims to make sourdough baking accessible to all, has earned a Good Housekeeping 2024 Best Kitchen Gear Award in the “Reliable Prep Tools” catgory for its sourdough warming device, Goldie. Selected from over 300 contenders, Goldie was named the “Just-Right Sourdough Starter.” avl.mx/ebf
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