The Weekend in Asheville

For Jessica's birthday weekend, we went to Asheville, NC with friends to visit the Biltmore and sample what the rest of the city had to offer.  Located about four hours west of Raleigh, Asheville is a "hippie" town with a cool downtown scene that has countless bars and restaurants... perfect for a weekend away.

We began our trip with dinner at Lexington Aveneue Brewery, or LAB (http://www.lexavebrew.com/), in downtown.  LAB brews their own beer and also features a variety of cuisines on their menu, including several spin-offs of standard dishes.  I tried their beer flight, which was excellent and had several that I'd order again, before ordering my Buffalo duck wings. 

I was a bit apprehensive with my order, as I'm not huge into Buffalo sauce, but our waitress gave me a sample ahead of time and I found it to be more Asian-influenced than the typical flavor.  The duck wings, which are big but not overly meaty, came served with some fried duck skin tossed in the same sauce, all on top of a bed of fried brussel sprout leaves.  The duck skin was sublime and the highlight of the dish; the crispy texture and strong duck flavor were amazing and made up for the mediocre wings themselves.  The brussel sprout leaves were shockingly good... I HATE brussel sprouts but the individual leaves fried crisp were quite tasty.  Our table mowed through the huge pile I was served.  Others at the table tried the pho, the sliders, and a flatbread pizza, with generally good results.

Our night continued at a small French bistro for drinks and dessert, where I felt slightly out of place, and then ended at the Bier Garden.  The Bier Garden feels like a bar attached to an empty food court, but the menu was plentiful for any drinks you'd want and the large screen televisions allowed us to watch Oklahoma State mess up the whole BCS this year!

We began Saturday with a trip to the Biltmore.  The whole scope of the place is ridiculous; the land on which it sits is huge and the house is comprised of 250 rooms!  My favorite rooms in the house were the swimming pool (shockingly advanced with a heating system) and kitchen (which actually had various rooms for baking / cooking / storing foods).  I'd recommend a trip here for those who love historic landmarks.

Bistro pizza

After the house tour, we went to another area with their winery and shops.  Our group settled on the Bistro for lunch, a slightly overpriced and fancy lunch locale that delivered with their food.  I had the beef short rib pizza, and wasn't disappointed.  They added caramelized onions, bacon, and BBQ sauce to the short rib and cheese, all of which really combined for good flavor.  My only minor criticism would be that the braised short ribs not be cooked down in tomato sauce, which didn't seem to mesh as well with the other flavors.  Had they just gone with a sweet BBQ sauce alone for the pizza, it would have been a bit more successful.

After lunch, we enjoyed a wine tasting and tour of the winery (all included in our Biltmore ticket!).  I am not huge into wine but thought their testing was well done; the server seemed knowledgeable even if he did slosh wine on my friend.  The tour was okay but would have benefited from a better guide as the girl didn't seem to know too much about the process.

Before dinner, our group visited the Grove Park Inn, which seems to be the crown jewel hotel in Asheville.  Overlooking the city from the top of a hill, the Grove Park Inn had a cool veranda area, a nice looking golf course, a great indoor bar / sitting spot, and even a fantastic gingerbread house competition!  We had a drink here, enjoyed the competition, and went on our way to dinner.

Butter chicken at Mela

For arguably the best meal of the trip, we tried the Indian restaurant Mela for dinner.  While the wait lasted far longer than we were told it would (more like 45 minutes instead of 20, so make reservations), it was well worth it.  I tried their chickpea-batter fried calamari to start, and was impressed.  The batter itself packed a lot of flavor, and the crispiness held strong through the course of eating.

I chose the butter chicken (a special that night) for my entree, along with garlic and regular naan.  The butter chicken was, to me, like a better version of chicken tikki masala.  The sauce was slightly sweeter but still very similar to the creamy tomato sauce I'm used to.  They packed my bowl with chicken, made tender from simmering in the tomato cream sauce, and served with white rice.  Everything was prepared perfectly, with the naan (as always for me) the star of the show.  I really enjoyed the chicken but probably preferred the naan dipped in the sauce better! 

After dinner, our night ended as the wear from the day and the night before hit hard.

The final stop on our food tour was the Tupelo Honey Cafe (http://www.tupelohoneycafe.com/), an Asheville staple in downtown.  The restaurant fits in perfectly with the city's atmosphere... hippie and organic with an open kitchen showing all of the chefs hard at work.  We were seated at the high-top "bar", giving us a perfect view of the cooking and food preparation!

I chose their fried chicken and biscuits for breakfast (pictured at the top of this post).  The fried chicken breast was killer; heavily flavored from seasoned flour and crisp without being greasy.  On a biscuit or sandwich, this would blow any other version I've had out of the water.  Instead, though, they serve the chicken over two split biscuits covered in milk gravy.  First, I had zero chance of finishing with all that was on my plate (especially since they served Jessica and I each a biscuit beforehand).  Second, I've never had ANYTHING that better showed off the Southern style of cooking.  The biscuits were great and the milk gravy was beyond rich.  It was creamy and seasoned well, making the whole biscuit concoction seem almost more like mashed potatoes!  After hearing so much hype for the Tupelo Honey Cafe, I was worried I'd be disappointed.  Surely, I was not and I've love to try it for dinner sometime.

Our trip to Asheville was great.  We enjoyed a wonderful weekend with friends and sampled such a wide variety of cuisines, from modern American to Indian to true Southern.  While the Biltmore is the main attraction for tourists making the trip to Asheville, I think the downtown area and Grove Park Inn are worth the drive alone.

TerraFin Station in Garner

After hearing many great things about TerraFin Station (http://www.terrafinstation.com/TerraFin_Station/Home.html) at 40/42 in Garner, I finally had a chance to try it myself a couple of weeks ago.  I went with a group of friends after a day of golf and sampled several of their best known dishes.



Lobster and shrimp mac and cheese



The restaurant is split into two areas; one main dining area and then a more pub-style bar area.  The dining room looked nice enough but the casual atmosphere and quality juke box in the bar area was great.  We were served by the bar tender and never had issues getting more drinks or having food come out quickly.

To start, we all sampled their calamari, wings, and fried shrimp.  Each was good in its own right; crisp from the frying process without being greasy and generally fresh-tasting.  I didn't really notice anything that stood out from the group, but I enjoyed the BBQ wings best for the sweet flavor and crunchy texture.  For bar food, all three certainly held their own.

On special, the chef was offering Guinness-braised short ribs with mashed potatoes.  Our table split an order to sample, and I was quite impressed.  The beef was extremely tender and plentiful, with good flavor and great marbling.  While I typically prefer short ribs to be finished in a sweet sauce to compliment the beef flavor, I found the gravy-style sauce perfectly suitable and quite good actually.  The mashed potatoes were fairly standard, but also tasty.



Ribeye (shown with mashed potatoes



For my main course, I chose the ribeye and had lobster and shrimp mac and cheese as my side.  To the steak first... TerraFin specializes in hand-cut Angus beef and they certainly didn't disappoint.  The ribeye was perfectly cooked medium-rare and extremely juicy.  The marbled fat, my favorite part of this cut, was melt-in-my-mouth delicious and was taken over the top by the butter finished on top.  For the cost (less than $20), I am not sure I can think of a better steak.  Compared with the major steakhouses charging $35-40 for various beef cuts by themselves, I'd call this a steal!

The lobster and shrimp mac and cheese, another TerraFin specialty, was different than I expected but still very good.  It's clear the chef knows how to cook the shellfish as both the shrimp and lobster pieces were perfectly cooked, still tender and flavorful which is tough to do with a hot pasta dish.  Both are served in great quantities in the dish, which is a surprise given the cost and the common method of skimping on lobster in particular.  As far as the pasta goes, I'd rather they use either macaroni or spirals.  The penne didn't hold the cheese sauce very well (which also had great flavor) and generally looked odd on the plate to me.  While the whole flavor profile of the dish was spot-on, I found it somewhat visually challenging, which always makes a difference.

Overall, TerraFin Station delivered consistently good food with quality ingredients.  I didn't find the creativity in dishes that can separate good from great, but I enjoyed everything I tried and felt that the prices were beyond reasonable.  While it's a bit of a drive for anyone living west of downtown Raleigh, I'd highly recommend TerraFin Station for those in the Clayton area looking to find upscale food that won't break the bank.

Second Empire in Raleigh

For Jessica's birthday, we went to one of our favorite restaurants in downtown Raleigh, Second Empire (http://www.second-empire.com/).  Second Empire was the first "nice" restaurant I ever tried in Raleigh (with my mom on one of her visits here) and it is probably most to credit for my love of food and fine dining.

The restaurant is split in two pieces; there is a more formal upstairs dining room and a more casual, but still very nice, Tavern in the basement.  In the main dining room, I'd recommend that you wear a jacket so I always lean towards the Tavern as the menu is the same (actually, you get more options!) and it's not quite as stuffy.  I have never been dissatisfied with the food or service, which is probably second to the Fearrington House only, eating downstairs.

Pork belly

To begin the meal, Jessica and I tried a cheese plate.  Our server recommended one and we added two of our own, all of which ended up being delicious.  The cheese is served with crisps and small baguette pieces, as well as fruit.  I found the baguette to be best with the cheese, as I could make a sandwich.  I'd also mention that the bread and butter service here, with freshly baked bread, is amazing.  One of my friends once said that he could be fine just eating their bread and I'd be hard to disagree.

For appetizer, Jessica and I split their pork belly, which came over top of a bean and tomato ragout and a green tomato and mango salsa.  Pork belly is quickly becoming one of my favorite foods, and this was a great example why... the belly was both crisp and tender, with bacon-y flavor magnified many times over.  I find that sweet Asian glazes are the perfect compliment to the pork, and Second Empire followed suit perfectly here.  I wasn't into the bean ragout (as I don't like beans) but Jessica seemed to think it was okay.

Beef short rib and cheek

For my main course, I went with a duet of beef short rib and cheek.  It's hard for me to verbalize the difference in the two, as both are very tender and flavorful, but I'd say the short rib is a bit more "beefy" while the cheek is more tender and refined.  I personally prefer beef (or veal) cheek as it seems to be a but more buttery, but both are always great, especially with a sweet reduction.  Again, Second Empire more than met my expectation for this with their brown ale reduction from a local brewery; the sweet flavor from the beer raises the dish to another level.  As my sides, I had butternut squash mash as well as mashed potatoes.  Both were good, but nothing overly unique or mind-blowing.  The clear stars of the dish were the meats, just the way I would want!

Jessica had delicious scallops for dinner as well as a gingerbread cake with pear and maple ice cream for dessert.  I tried the scallops, which were very good although again nothing new, and Jessica claimed dessert was an all-time great!

For me, Second Empire will always have a special place in my foodie pecking order.  It's ultimately what began my food journey in Raleigh and I've never had a bad meal here in eight or so visits.  Some may complain that prices are too high but I don't really agree; I've never once felt robbed with my meal.  Time and again, the food, service, and atmosphere at Second Empire deliver for me a great dining experience, both for special occasions and a surprise night out.