West Asheville has been booming lately. Within the past year, Haywood Road has seen some significant changes to its dining and bar scene, the latest of which is the highly anticipated Buffalo Nickel, which opened March 18 to a packed house.

It all started with a letter from an 8-year-old to his school principal. “I wish the cafeteria were healthier,” wrote Liam Miller to Gordon Grant, Hall Fletcher Elementary’s principal. As a third-grader, Liam struggles with reading and writing, and his mother, Misty Miller, who knew that “every sentence of that letter was a struggle for […]

What originally started as a married couple’s ploy to meet baking superstar Peter Reinhart has since turned into the Southeast’s largest baking and bread festival, drawing local and international world-class bakers and bread-lovers alike on Saturday and Sunday, April 12-13.

Every few minutes, a mallet struck a gong in the gymnasium, followed by cheers and applause. Each sounding of the gong, on loan from the Asheville Symphony, indicated that 5,000 meals had been assembled and packaged for hungry families in Western North Carolina. The sound rang down the halls of the Reuter Family YMCA in […]

Some of Asheville’s best but least expensive eateries have a history steeped in Greek flavors. Name a longtime diner or recall one that’s no longer around, and it’s quite likely it was owned and run by Greek immigrants to the area. Athens Restaurant and Three Brothers come to mind, though both are gone. But (to […]

Look down Eagle Street from Biltmore Avenue, and you’ll see the historic YMI Cultural Center and on the corner, a little coffee shop. Eagle Street Coffee Emporium moved into the neighborhood last November, pulling up roots from its Wall Street location to join a neighborhood with a rich, African-American history. Owner Teresa Johnson says her […]

This Saturday, UNC Asheville’s Sherrill Center will be transformed into a state-of-the-art gluten-free education center with 55 vendors offering tastings, cooking demos and the latest information. Organizers hope the Gluten-Free Expo will help dispel some of the popular myths surrounding why people choose the diet. The media’s portrayal of gluten-free as just another fad diet […]

Fermentation on Wheels Traveling food-preservation-education project Fermentation on Wheels will bring its mobile classroom and fermentation lab — a converted 1986 International Harvester school bus — to Asheville for a donation-based food starter-culture exchange, workshop and community potluck the weekend of April 5-6. The visit is one stop on a joint tour with the nonprofit […]

We are lucky to live in one of the most family-friendly places on the planet, where fun (and often free) things to do with kids of all ages abound. So after your day hike to Graveyard Fields, afternoon at Splasheville or stroll through the Western North Carolina Nature Center, where should you and your family […]

Shutao Wang, owner of Brasilia Churrasco Steakhouse of Spartanburg, S.C., will open a second location in downtown Asheville any day now thanks to some word-of-mouth promotion from traveling Ashevilleans. “We were debating between Charleston, Charlotte and Asheville,” says Wang. “Asheville people would come into my Spartanburg restaurant talking about how great their city is.” Wang […]

Many local farmers left their work behind on Thursday, Feb. 27, to attend the WNC AgOptions 2014 Award Ceremony at the Mountain Horticultural Crops Research and Extension Center in Mills River. According to AgOptions Project Coordinator Jennifer Ferre, 2014 marks the 10-year anniversary of grant-giving for the organization, which has awarded more than $1.7 million […]

The smell of healthy, home-cooked food wafts through Sharing House in Brevard. As meat simmers in the pot, the students taking Sharing House’s newest cooking class slowly add fresh produce, taking care not to boil away the nutrients. “I was just trying to think of ways to help people eat better — eat more nutritiously,” […]

I once read a science fiction novel where quiche was the pizza of the future. I don't remember much else about the book, but the quiche idea stuck with me. The beauty of quiche, much like pizza, is that you can eat it with your hands. What differentiates it from pizza is the protein-and-veggie-to-carbohydrate ratio. […]

Food Truck Showdown This year's Asheville Tattoo and Arts Expo will host the inaugural Asheville Food Truck Showdown in the parking lot of the Masonic Temple on Saturday, March 15. Organizers say at least a dozen local trucks, including El Kimchi, Gypsy Queen Cuisine, Pho Ya Belly and Farm to Fender, will present their signature […]

The highly anticipated King James Public House opened this winter on Charlotte Street to a jam-packed house, and the crowd didn’t die down for several weeks. The tiny, 45-seat restaurant and bar from Zambra owner Peter Slamp has seen lines out the door for considerably longer than the usual honeymoon period of a new restaurant.

Looking to live the idyllic farm life, yet still be able to pop into downtown Asheville on a whim for dinner and a show? John Swann, owner of Katuah Market, is seeking an experienced grower to take charge of his farm, 106 acres of mountains and valleys about a 35-minute drive from Asheville in Yancy […]

If I had a nickel for every time my daughter asked me for a snack, well — you know how the saying goes. Snacks are a big topic when you are a little person. They can be a great way to fill nutritional gaps and can help a child from getting too hungry and cranky. […]