Some local restaurants push culinary boundaries, with palate-challenging dishes like cricket tacos, mustard ice cream, liver pudding and more.

Some local restaurants push culinary boundaries, with palate-challenging dishes like cricket tacos, mustard ice cream, liver pudding and more.
Twisted Laurel announces a series of new menu items and events. Also: Tex-Mex menu comes to Buxton Hall; New brunch menu at Butcher Bar West; Hopey & Company to close Sweeten Creek location and more.
From pies to chocolate to ice cream yule logs, it’s dessert season in WNC.
Black Death ice cream, Corpse Reviver cocktails and chocolate sugar skulls are just a few of the Halloween goodies on the menu around Asheville.
On Tuesday, Aug. 28, The Hop Ice Cream Café celebrates its 40th year with free kiddie scoops of ice cream for all patrons and a musical performance by Sirius.B. Also: BaconFest Asheville returns, as does Vegan Awareness Week and plenty more.
Craft cocktails made quickly comes to the Five Points neighborhood. Also, The 14th annual Taste of Compassion Gala returns, the WNC Cookbook & Food Writing Festival comes back for a second year, a new cookbook celebrates local inn recipes and Nightbell and Cúrate host a benefit dinner for Homeward Bound.
Local ice pop pros have creative suggestions for making cool treats at home.
Seven area restaurants will support women’s health organization Planned Parenthood on Tuesday, May 16, through the third annual Chow for Choice initiative.
A multitude of outdoor water games, including a 20-foot tall slide, plus live music and food make the second Slide the Fletch fundraiser appropriate for adventurers and spectators alike. Hall Fletcher Elementary hosts the benefit event on Saturday, Aug. 20.
“I wanted an excuse to play with seafood,” says Sarah Cousler, creator of Dive, a seafoodcentric pop-up dinner series happening in the Remington Room at Buxton Hall Barbecue.
Luella’s Bar-B-Que will duplicate its pork-purveying efforts with a new location in Biltmore Park; Asheville Wine & Food Festival has announced its first Asheville Cocktail Week; Local Provisions is serving Italian wines with the flavors of winter at a pairing dinner; and The Hop Ice Creamery is celebrating its first year with free kiddie scoops for all.
Urban Orchard’s specialty ciders are used by The Hop to make several frozen treats; Foothills Meats has added another business partner and announced a CSA with meat and house-made deli products in addition to expanding into Charlotee; MG Road will host a wintery dining experience with the help of guest chef James Grogan; and MetroWines donates a portion of select sales to combat muscular dystrophy.
CiderFest brings local and regional hard ciders together for a third year. Plus, Ashley English stops into Asheville to lead a lesson on DIY dairy; The Hop West celebrates five years with free ice cream for all; and Season’s at Highland Lake welcomes executive chef Steve Boeger to the kitchen.
Poppy Handcrafted Popcorn is offering fans free popcorn and more during the company’s first anniversary celebration. Meanwhile Standard Pizza Co., has a new downtown location; Asheville’s gluten-less population convenes for an educational event; Black Mountain Ciderworks is throwing a Halloween bash and Bomba is rolling out a multi-cultural menu.
“Since 2006, Mountain BizWorks has participated in the SBA microlending program. In that time, it has provided SBA loans to over 80 startups and 150 existing businesses,” Mike Arriola commented. “But beyond the statistics, they are helping to create the American dream for individual entrepreneurs like Greg who just spoke.”
Madison County’s Root Bottom Farm welcomed guests to its first farm-to-table dinner on Saturday, July 11. The dinner — one of three that Root Bottom Farm will be offering this summer — combined produce from the farm with other locally sourced foods to create a unique seasonally menu for the evening’s 30 diners.
In many ways, Jacob Blankenship is a typical 23-year-old: He likes video games and anime, and he works part time at Pizza Hut. But one look at Blankenship’s sketchbook reveals that beneath his affable façade lies a talented and focused artistic soul.
Asheville is a hotbed for culinary entrepreneurship, but the path to success can be rocky. What does it take beyond a tasty product or a knack for cooking to build a flourishing food business?
The party, with eats by Pho Ya Belly food truck, kicks off at The Bywater on Friday, June 5, with feisty rock band Red Honey starting at 9 p.m. and DJ Biig Poppa taking over at 11 p.m.
Organizers say Mountain Sports Festival is a come-one-come-all event and that attitude is echoed in the multitude of nonsports attractions — in addition to extensive athletic programming — for participants and spectators of all backgrounds.
The Hop rolls out Hopsicles, winter tailgate markets are underway, Asheville Art Musuem readies for Toast Asheville and a local garden shop and wine store partner for a unique happy hour.