Dripolator: Asheville’s Dripolator has vastly expanded its breakfast offerings in a menu makeover that debuted last month. Available selections now include a breakfast burrito, spinach-and-goat-cheese frittata and an focaccia breakfast sandwich featuring blackened tomatoes, all made with local eggs from Farside Farms. The lunch menu has also been revamped: While the devastatingly delicious Freakwich of beets and feta is no more, new items include a raw wrap and portabella sandwich. The downtown café also has “new coffees and new teas,” owner Jay Weatherly adds.
Ed Boudreaux’s Bayou Bar-B-Que: Good things come in threes, and—for one day only at ED Boudreaux’s—with $3 price tags attached. The downtown Asheville Cajun-tinged ‘que joint is celebrating its three-year anniversary in Asheville on Wednesday, Aug. 27, with $3 sandwiches and $3 draft beers. “We want to thank all of our patrons and suppliers for a great three years,” owner Dustin Vanderbunt explains in a release.
Café On The Square: The downtown-Asheville institution Café on the Square, which has acquired a minor reputation as a celeb destination, was taken over this month by Vonceil and Michel Baudouin, owners of Lexington Avenue eatery Bouchon. According to an e-newsletter penned by jazz musician Sharon LaMotte, who has performed at the restaurant since 2002, owner Tracy Adler is leaving for personal reasons. Although Vonceil Baudouin said they’re not ready to discuss plans for the restaurant, she confirmed that Michel—who formerly operated The Grape Escape, just across Pack Square from the cafe—will continue running Bouchon.
Brixx Pizza: Another restaurant chain has announced plans to become a tenant of the new Biltmore Park Town Square development: Brixx Wood-Fired Pizza will join P.F. Chang’s in providing upscale international fare to patrons of the Long Shoals Road shopping complex. Brixx opened its first location in Charlotte in 1998 and began franchising last year. Company plans call for 16 outlets by the end of 2009. The restaurant specializes in fresh focaccia, craft beers and pizza. To learn more, visit www.brixxpizza.com.
Slow Food Asheville: The perpetual problem with the 100-mile diet—as enthusiastic locavores annually discover—is winter. But as sustenance farmers long ago learned, endless potato suppers can be staved off with skillful preservation techniques exercised at harvest time. That’s why Slow Food Asheville has organized an afternoon event dedicated to canning, freezing, drying, fermenting, root-cellaring and cheese-making demonstrations. The fun begins at 2:30 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 24, at the Woodfin Community Center; donations of $5 to $10 are suggested. And in yet another way to handle your harvest, organizer Bob Bowles suggests “bring[ing] your own tomatoes to share” as snacks.
Help Wanted In Biltmore’s Kitchens: The Biltmore Estate is taking its search for culinary professionals down the road to A-B Tech, which has long supplied the estate’s kitchens with externs from its hospitality-education program. Biltmore will be conducting interviews on the school’s Asheville campus next week to fill a number of open line cook, pastry cook and supervisory positions. Applicants should arrive at the Wednesday, Aug. 27, event between 2 and 5 p.m. with a résumé and be ready for an interview. For more information, call 225-6122, or e-mail employmentquestions@biltmore.com.
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