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.