Stu Helm: Food Fan

Podcast Contents

Talkin’ about food with my fellow podcasters Max Trujilo and Matt Weiss of NC Food & Beverage Podcast, who are reimagining their successful “Bubbles & Brisket” festival for October with “Bubbles & Brats” happening right here in Candler, WNC! Also, I reviewed some restaurants, at home and abroad!

* 00:00 - 10:25 INTRO: 1 Person 3 Stop Asian-themed Food Tour

* 10:35 - 40:45 INTERVIEW: Max Trujilo and Matt Weiss from

* 40:55 - 51:24 TRAVEL BLOGGER: Sault Ste Marie, Michigan

* 51:34 - 55:13 OUTRO: Back Home, Eating Things

1 PERSON 3 STOP ASIAN-THEMED FOOD TOUR, Part One: Yum Sushi Burrito & Poke. I decided to walk around downtown Asheville the other day, and I ended up eating at three different places, all Asian themed. First, I got some shrimp shumai, deep fried dumplings, w/ sriracha aioli & unagi sauce, at Yum on Ashland Ave. I friggin’ loved it!!! 8 pieces of piping hot, soft, tasty bites, slightly crispy on the surface, and perfect with the two sauces. Truly YUMmy!!! Five stars and an instant dark horse contender for my 2023 Deep Fried Thing of the Year Stoobie award! 🔥

1 PERSON 3 STOP ASIAN-THEMED FOOD TOUR, Part Two: High Climate Tea Company. Next, on my walk around downtown Asheville, I popped into High Climate Tea Company on South Lexington Ave for delicious milk tea, some spicy pistachios, and a very good tea egg. Great atmosphere, great food, nice people. I loved it!

1 PERSON 3 STOP ASIAN-THEMED FOOD TOUR, Part Three: Red Ginger Dimsum & Tapas. My final stop on my self-guided food tour of downtown was Red Ginger Dim Sum and Tapas, one of my fave places in Asheville. I got a little outside my own comfort zone by ordering the “tropical ocean nest,” and I’m really glad I did!

It was wild and crazy and super good! It was basically a stack of fresh, perfectly ripe mango, crunchy cucumbers, sashimi tuna & salmon, all topped with cooked imitation crab, crispy fried leeks, and a savory warm pepper dressing. By the end of this dish, and this 1-person food tour, I was STUFFED! So I waddled home. What a perfect day in Downtown, Asheville, WNC, Food City, USA! 🔥

MAMA’S FIXIN’ SUMTHIN’: If you sensed that there was more food for you to eat in Asheville than usual one week last month, that’s because I was out of town! I took a trip to Sault Ste Marie / Bahweting in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, to visit family, attend a wedding, and eat a bunch of food. One day, I noticed a daily pop-up, called Mama's Fixin' Sumthin', in a parking lot across the street from my favorite cafe, so I got a “walking taco,” which was all the stuff: Meat, cheese, lettuce, etc, on top of some Fritos, still in the bag! I don’t know if this is a trend or not right now, but it was the first time I've had something like this. I enjoyed it very much and if I'd had more room in my stomach, I would have ordered more things off of their menu! Mama and her crew are doing these pop-ups in order to raise enough money for a food truck. They told me that so far, it was going real good, and people dig their food. I know they’re gonna be successful!

COFFEE IN SAULT STE MARIE: Of course I had a ton of coffee from a bunch of places in Sault Ste Marie, Michigan on my visit there last month. My fave cafe in The Soo is inside a shop called Bird's Eye Outfitters. I also enjoyed the drinks I got from Superior Coffee Roasting Company, and was stunned that the coffee from Cup of the Day was only $1.00! One of the best days included a trip to the Dancing Crane Coffee House in Brimly, MI where I had a perfect cappuccino and some very rich and delicious vanilla iced cream.

FRANK’S PLACE: On another day, I was near the famous Soo Locks, and I got kinda hungry, so I wandered into Frank's Place and ordered a Smashburger, with American cheese, period. No lettuce no tomato no onion no french fries. Just a little bit of ketchup. Cut in half, consumed while hot, and enjoyed to the maximum! If I was hungrier I could have eaten 10 of them. I enjoyed every bite of its flat patty perfection, cheese melting into a gooey sauce, steam rising from the middle.

I don’t know how I could have made a better choice than to pop into Frank’s for this burger. Thanks, Frank’s!

LOCKVIEW RESTAURANT: It wouldn’t be a trip to Sault Ste Marie without a visit to the Lockview Restaurant for white fish! Super old school. Super enjoyable! It’s the quintessential Soo Locks dining experience.

Be sure to go to all these places and more the next time you’re in The Soo!

WILD GINGER PHO NOODLE BAR: The first thing we did when we got back to Asheville from our trip up north was EAT!!! We went to Wild Ginger Pho Noodle Bar for spring rolls, pho, and bahn mi sandwiches. If you’ve been there, you know how great it is, and if you haven’t, I recommend you just go.

It was just what the doctored ordered. Nothing fixes me up after a day of air travel like a nice fresh meal at one of our favorite local places.

BENNE ON EAGLE: Paddy and I went on an Asheville Food Tours dinner junket to our newest (returning) tour partner, Benne on Eagle, located in The Block neighborhood in downtown, and we loved it!

We started with the super creamy & comforting grit cakes, which had some frisée salad w/ bacon vinaigrette & pepper jelly on the plate. Next we got the Berbere spiced, French cut, “lollipop” chicken legs w/ house made ranch. Perfectly cooked and very easy to eat. Too easy! LOL I kept eating them well past being full!

We ended our meal with the exotic, unique, vegetarian Southern fried banana blossom! I’d never had or even heard of a banana blossom until this meal, but I crushed it and loved every bite! All in all, another great experience at Benne on Eagle!

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Talkin’ about feelin’ good about the things we put in our bodies, with Wren Lizabeth from Mertails Elixirs and the NOHM Collective! Also, musing about food competitions out loud to myself, plus Unsolicited Advice, TWO Pizza Guys, and some old breaking news.

* 00:00 - 2:30 INTRO Should We Do a Rib Rumble?

* 2:40 - 36:00 INTERVIEW: Wren Lizabeth from Mertails Elixirs & NOHM Collective

* 36:50 - 45:45 Unsolicited Advice

* 45:46 - 48:10 The Pizza Guy is Here!

* 48:20 - 50:30 Downtown Farmers’ Market

* 50:40 - 54:49 Outro & Breaking News

RRRIB RRRUMBLE? I miss the food competitions we used to have in Asheville. From big events like the Wing War and the Battle of the Burger produced by All American Food Fights, to smaller events like the WNC Pizza Fight and Punk Rock Hotdogs, co-produced by Shay Brown and myself.

I miss the build-up to competition day, I miss the zombie hoards of over-stuffed eaters engorging themselves on a dozen different versions of the same thing, I miss the feeding frenzy peppered with exclamations of love and hate at the judges’ table, and I miss the excitement when the winners are announced and the cheesy prizes are given out!

The fun & fanfare of a good old fashioned food throw down has been sorely lacking as of late in my opinion, and I sometimes day dream about bringing food competitions back. (And by “sometimes,” I mean “constantly.”) But then I always come up against the same issue, the same brick wall, the one thing holding me back: STRESS.

The stress involved with organizing and producing a successful food-centric event is more than this old man can take anymore, and might literally might make me loose my mind or even tip over dead.

All that being said, I’m thinking about doing a Rib Rumble. And here’s why… it ain’t complicated…

Ribs are real good.

I’ve been eating a LOT of really great ones lately too, in several different styles, from the basic, but perfectly prepared baby back ribs from Bear’s Smokehouse BBQ and the 100% wood smoked spare ribs from Doc Brown’s BBQ, to the super-fancy “costillas” from La Bodega, the sorghum apple ribs on a cornmeal hoecake from Benne on Eagle, and the peach BBQ pork ribs from Little D’s! There are currently a LOT of great ribs in the town, many I which I have yet to try! I need them all. I want you to try them all. I want to do a Rib Rumble. Even if I end up with emotional scars, physical bruises, BBQ sauce all over me, and both feet in the grave. Maybe.

I’m on the fence about this Rib Rumble idea. I guess public interest could be a driving factor for me. If the restaurants are into it, and the eaters show an outpouring of support for it, then maybe I’ll be ready to rumble. Let me know hat you think. Are you down for a Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrib Rrrrrrrrrrrrrumble? (Saying it like that helps get me more pumped.) Let me know your thoughts in the comments, on social media, and in person if we talk.

BIRTHDAY PIZZA! My mom turned 83 last Month, and when I asked her what she wanted for her birthday, she said “pizza!” I still hadn’t had the September pizza of the month from Asheville Pizza South yet, so I asked Drew if he would be into bringing one by, and I ordered three more online.

The pizza of the month for September was an amazing Cuban style pizza with a Swiss cheese béchamel base, ham, pulled mojo pork, pickles, more Swiss cheese, and Dijon mustard! It was incredible and my whole family loved it! I recommend that you try it this month. (Shout out to Drew’s friend Chef Marissa who’s idea it was!) My sister ordered an old favorite from their menu called “Shear Delight,” that has a sesame seed crust, walnuts, and pesto.

My mom wanted one with artichoke hearts and mushrooms, so I ordered one of those for her, and I got a plain cheese pizza for myself! All of the pizzas were awesome!!! Everyone in my family really loved them, and Asheville Pizza South has become a true tradition in my house!

Chef Drew is a true pizza genius in my opinion. Get the Pizza of the Month every month if you can, or just try the other specialty pies on the menu, or build your own! It’s alllll goooood. 🍕🤘🔥 PS - Drew also brought my mom a piece of his really delicious cheesecake! My mom said to me later, "He's a good boy." ❤

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Talkin' about three new restaurants and two old ones with one of my favorite people and one of the best chefs in Asheville, Chef Jacob “7 Days a Week” Sessoms from Table, All Day Darling, and the soon-to-open restaurants of the Radical Hotel in the River Arts District.

* 00:00 - 7:14 INTRO: Corrections, Chow Chow, Darë Vegan Cheese, Botanist & Barrel, Downtown is Waiting…

* 7:24 - 37:16 INTERVIEW: Chef Jacob Sessoms from Table, All Day Darling & The Radical Hotel

* 38:07 - 50:30 REVIEWS: 67 Biltmore Ave, Buxton Hall BBQ, All Souls Pizza,

* 47:00 - 51:30 OUTRO: Rebel Burger & U Joint WAVL

67 BILTMORE AVE I went to 67 Biltmore Downtown Eatery + Catering for lunch the other day and got 1/2 a fried chicken “shazamwich,” with chips and a pickle and it was exactly what I wanted. I ate every molecule of food in wire basket it came served in, and it was the the perfect amount of food!

Thanks, 67, you’ve been one of my all-time fave local spots since way back when you were Laurey's Cafe and Catering, and to this day, every time I choose to eat there, I choose joy! <3

BUXTON HALL BARBECUE: Errrbody… I love food. Gimme gimme giant piles of food. Oh, did you also want food? I’m sorry. I. Ate. It. All. Or at least it felt that way the last time I went to Buxton Hall Barbecue for lunch! I ordered the combo plate with super moist and tender pulled pork, with very flavorful and delicate chopped brisket, tangy collards, dank AF meat gravy (aka hog hash) ‘n’ rice, plus house made pickles & fresh watermelon w/ bbq rub. Good lord. It was more food than I expected!

Plus Chef Nick sent me a plate of shishito peppers with pepper jelly, grilled lime, and Alabama sauce! Holy moly.

I ate until I literally died, then I came back to life, got a large to-go box, and brought the rest of it home with me, where I’ve pretty much been eating it ever since! 😂😂😂 So, if you’re wondering where all the food went, it went in my stomach. Thanks, Buxton! I lervvvv you! ❤️❤️❤️

ALL SOULS PIZZA: I went to All Souls Pizza with my fam, and it was great, as always! We got some salt & pepper shrimp, a couple of great pies. It’s our neighborhood restaurant, and we love it!

Yes, the pizza was great, but those salt 'n' pepper shrimps were divine. Battered and deep-fried in the shell, they were as crunchy as could be on the outside, and sweet, tender, moist and meaty on the inside. All that green stuff in the bowl was tasty AF as well! We love All Souls!

REBEL BURGER: Alright, y’all… I tried every item from the limited menu of the brand new Rebel Burger AVL! They offer three things: A burger, a bowl, and French fries. I ordered all three.

The burger was fantastic! A nice combination of classic & unique flavors. I ate half, and was going to save the second half for lunch the next day, but ended up eating the whole thing, because it was so dang good!

The bowl was excellent too. Very fresh and delicious, with punchy flavors and a lot of crunch, and a nice variety of textures with the black rice and cashews. The fries were excellent too, and remained crispy even after they had cooled a bit. 🙂 The two owners asked for my feedback and I suggested that they add a sweet / dessert option to their menu. Something small, made with chocolate or salted caramel would have been perfect! They commented on Facebook that they plan to do just that, as well as adding a few other items!

Give Rebel Burger a try, Asheville! The prices were right, and the food was very delicious! 🍔🥙⚡️

UNIVERSAL JOINT: I went to Universal Joint in West Asheville with my LEGENDARY friend Scott the other day, and engorged myself on the Steinbeck burger and tater tots. Yom!

The Steinbeck is a big ol’ burger, piled high with pimento cheese, pickled jalapeño wheels, and bacon. It also comes with LTO, and I took of the O. The Steinbeck is my usual go-to burger at U-joint, and Scott is my usual go-to lunch partner there as well, and it had been a long time since I’d seen Scott, so it was a pretty much a super perfect day! ❤️🍔🥔

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Talkin' about working in bars and kitchens and food trucks with Crystal Capettini, the owner of the Burger Bar and Handlebar Bar & Grill, along with the crew from Altamont North & Altamont West about real good, cheap food and why we fuckin’ love it!

* 00:00 - 12:37 INTRO: Chow Chow & The Future of Festivals

* 12:47 - 37:10 INTERVIEW: Crystal Capettini & The Altamont Drew

* 37:58 - 53:20 Altamont Review, Messages from the Readers & Unsolicited Advice

* 53:30 - OUTRO: Goodbye

CHOW CHOW: I had a blast at the Chow Chow Food + Culture Festival this year! The weather was beautiful, the food was fun, exciting, and delicious, and I saw tons of my friends in the food biz as well as my fellow food fans!

It was a great day of hugging, eating, talking about food and catching up with everyone! This year, Chow Chow felt like a good old fashion, food festival! I loved it and I can’t wait for next year!

Thank you, to all the organizers, volunteers, and food makers! Y’all put on a wonderful event! ❤️

— please listen to my segment on the future of festivals in the podcast above —

ALTAMONT: Folks… I’ve got a great tip for you this time, on some really tasty & really affordable food! I ordered delivery via Kickbackavl from the Altamont Deli & Grill and boy howdy! I was more than happy with the quality & price of this delicious grub!

I got a cheesesteak, a Rueben hotdog, a classic egg sandwich, a “Royale with Cheese,” and a side of cabbage & ham. Everything was exactly what I wanted it to be, and even though I was really full after sampling a little bit of everything, I went back and crushed the cheesesteak, hot dog, and cabbage! 😂😂😂

I had the rest of the egg sando & burger to reheat for breakfast and lunch the next day. This food is really frickin’ GOOD, and as I said, very affordable in my opinion. I give it super-high recommends.

The cabbage and ham was a surprise super-star side dish! Excellent texture and flavor. The Altamont has two locations, one in inside the Handlebar Bar & Grill in West Asheville, and one on Montford Ave, in the convenient store, where the Montford Deli was, and the Montford Pull-up before that. They do take-out & delivery, as well as offering some dine-options.

You can go to their website to check it out for yourselves & order online. 🔥🍔⭐️⚡️🤘

If you're already a fan of The Altamont, please give them a shout-out in the comments, and recommend your fave item from their menu!

From a post I made in an online group called Dude Food…

I ate a bunch of brown and beige things from a place here in Asheville called the Altamont Deli & Grill, and it was all fucking fantastic. I want to officially nominate Brown & Beige as the most delicious colors in the food rainbow. Green can get the eff outta here, obviously. Red is okay, but isn't red just a really reddish shade of brown? Yes. Blue is the least delicious color. Even blueberries are purple on the outside and white on the inside. And, purple is just a really dark red, pretty much, and as I mentioned, red is brown. And white is just a really light shade of beige, so we'll allow it. Anyhoo. Brown & Beige: Making this world a tastier place, one deep-fried heart-attack burger at a time. ❤

— please listen to my interview w/ crystal, nick, jake & josiah from handlebar, burger bar & altamont in the podcast above —

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Talkin' about life in the restaurant biz, with a 30 year veteran of professional kitchens, my friend & my Chef of the Year winner from 2022, as well as my two-time Burger of the Year winner, Chef Tom LaFauci from Twisted Laurel Downtown Asheville.

* 00:00 - 10:10 INTRO: West Asheville: Neng Jr’s & Leo’s House of Thirst Reviews

* 10:20 - 39:55 INTERVIEW: Chef Tom LaFauci, from Twisted Laurel AVL

* 40:05 - 45:10 NEW! Unsolicited Advice: The Signature Dish

* 47:00 - 51:30 City Bakery North Review

LEO’S HOUSE OF THIRST: Dawn and I drove on over to Leo's House of Thirst for dinner last week, and had an excellent meal!

We started with a 1/2 dozen oysters with Lambrusco mignonette & chili oil, and deviled eggs with smoked honey & bacon. Super delish.

Then we ordered a 1/2 roasted chicken with chanterelles & and little gem salad.

We sat outdoors. It was really nice. Service was great. The food was frickin’ devine. That chicken was 100% bomb. ❤️🐓🍗

- Listen to my whole review on the podcast above! -

TWISTED LAUREL DOWNTOWN ASHEVILLE: Chef Tom LaFauci from Twisted Laurel Downtown Asheville is a Burger Boss in my opinion, and he’s been using me as a (very willing) guinea pig for some of his experimental burgers!

The most popular post I’ve made on social media lately was a single picture of Chef Tom’s steak burger on mashed taters with asparagus & demi-glace. It’s not on his menu, and according to him it won’t be any time soon. I might be one of the very few people on planet Earth who has even tried it. It was insanely good! I’m sorry.

Another experimental off -menu burger Chef Tom tested out on me was a beautiful beast that was grilled on top of a bed of crispy onions, and topped with bleu cheese crumbles. It was a frickin’ umami bomb, and even though I already ate dinner today, just thinking about it right now is making me feel phantom hungry pangs! Again, sorry it’s not available.

I’m sure you’re hating me right now, because I ate amazing burgers that are more myth than reality, but don’t hate me too hard, my fellow burger-fiends, because Chef Tom’s two award winners are currently on his menu, and according to him, they always will be! Get his Smash Burger for lunch, then go back and get his “JC burger” for dinner.

- Listen to my whole interview with Chef Tom on the podcast above! -

CITY BAKERY N. CHARLOTTE STREET: I got a very nice pressed “Rachel” sandwich at City Bakery on N. Charlotte Street last week, as well as a sweet, delicious apple fritter and coffee of course!

The Rachel was piping hot when it came out of the kitchen, and was very crispy and buttery in the outside. I loved it! ❤️

- Listen to my whole review of this meal on the podcast above! -

BREAKING NEWS: Seems like something called “Laila Asheville Indian Cuisine” is going into the space where Holeman & Finch was.

Can you name all of the restaurants that have occupied that space?

Mo Daddy’s, Baja Kitchen, 7 Sows, Local Provisions, The Continental, Holeman & Finch… am I forgetting any?

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Talkin' about life after the pandemic years & after receiving a James Beard Award with Molly and Chef Meherwan Irani, from the Chai Pani Restaurant Group. They were very candid and forthcoming about the struggles they’ve faced, costs & rewards along the way.

* 00:00 - 12:15 INTRO: All Day Darling, Sweets & Seats, Rankin Vault Reviews

* 12:25 - 42:10 INTERVIEW: Molly & Meherwan Irani from Chai Pani Group

* 42:20 - 52:20 OUTRO: Breaking News & Rhubarb Review

ALL DAY DARLING: I went to All Day Darling Cafe the other day with my friend Lucho from Asheville Multicultural, and I had a ***really*** tasty breakfast sandwich with egg, cheddar, herb mayo & bacon on a very delicious soft roll. I loved it!

I also got an excellent fruit danish. Lucho & I both enjoyed our meal very much, thank you, All Day Darling! High recommends.

SWEETS & SEATS: I went back to Sweets and Seats Cafe last week, and got a variety of delicious treats to go with my cappuccino! I got the French cheesecake, the chocolate hazelnut dacquoise, and the humble-looking-yet-insanely-tasty caramel cream puff. I really like this place and will be seen there regularly in the future, I’m sure.

PS - A dacquoise is a dessert made with meringue and buttercream. The meringue is crunchy on the edges, and chewy towards the center. The whole thing is dreamy.

ASHEVILLE FOOD TOURS LUNCH JUNKET TO RANKIN VAULT LOUNGE: Paddy & I went on an Asheville Food Tours lunch junket to the Rankin Vault Lounge the other day, where he got a slider and I got a cheesesteak with tots.

It was pretty funny when they brought out our food and put the comically small burger in front of the big guy, and a giant-ass cheesesteak in front of the little guy! 😂

I shared my cheesesteak, and my tots, with Paddy of course. The cheesesteak was frickin’ awesome. Meaty, melty, cheesy, flavorful AF. I enjoyed it very much! The tots were superb. Thanks, Vault!

THIS JUST IN: From the folks at The Radical…

“Hi Stu. Hope you’re having a great week so far! I’m excited to reach out about Chef Jacob Sessoms’ upcoming three food & beverage concepts inside the new Asheville hotel The Radical, opening in October in the heart of the River Arts District. The hotel will include restaurant Golden Hour AVL, a coffee bar and cocktail lounge called Afterglow, and a scenic rooftop bar called The Roof. All are set to open alongside The Radical in October.”

You can read the full press release with descriptions of the cafe, bar & restaurant on Facebook.

RHUBARB: Dawn and I sat at the bar at Rhubarb last week and had a great meal! We initially went in just to try the pimento cheese hush puppies, which were exactly as awesome as I thought they would be.

Then we decided to order the goat cheese burrata (with Duke's Mayonnaise!) and a plate of wood oven cooked flounder with bacon fat-roasted taters & dill aioli to share. Both were super delish! The flounder was tender and flakey, and flavorful.

The kitchen also sent out two amazing dishes, the "eggplant" smother," with crispy okra chips, eggplant, cherry tomatoes & lavash, and an off-menu dish of fresh local peaches, tomatoes & onions.

Everything was outstanding, and I can’t wait to go back! The cornmeal-country ham spoonbread pancake is calling my name! 🤪

Please share this post with friends and colleagues who you think might enjoy it!

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Talkin' about feeling good in the space around us with Lisa Wagoner, with Of Wand & Earth and Two Brooms Teahouse, in Marshall, NC. She is also a co-host of the Mystic Tea Podcast, and the author of a book called Positive Pagan. Lisa and I groove on several topics, including favorite restaurant spaces, and, bonus: She recommended a specific crystal to improve one’s relationship with food. I love it!

* 00:00 - 8:00 INTRO: Bye Bye City Bakery Downtown

* 8:00 - 16:24 The Pizza Guy is Here!

* 16:35 - 44:00 INTERVIEW: Lisa Wagoner, The Positive Pagan!

* 44:15 - 53:55 OUTRO w/ review of Contrada & Bear’s BBQ

BYE BYE CITY BAKERY DOWNTOWN: Sad news, Y’all… City Bakery is closing their downtown location. Next Saturday will be their last day of operations. The Charlotte Street location will remain open as will their baking facility. The owners sited a slower than normal Summer, and high overhead as the primary reasons for closing the Biltmore Ave shop. I went this morning and got a cup of Dynamite Roasting Company coffee and a super delicious raspberry vanilla cream croissant.

I’ll miss the downtown location of City Bakery! It's been one of my fave spots for most of the time that I’ve lived in Asheville! 🙏❤️😢

THE PIZZA GUY IS HERE! Chef Drew Peterson from Asheville Pizza South brought me his pizza of the month for August yesterday, and it was awesome, as always. It’s a super-flavorful middle eastern influenced pie, and Dawn & I both loved it.

Here’s Drew’s description: “It’s called Baba Ganoosh Manoosh. It’s a Lebanese inspired pizza with a baba ganoush and roasted red pepper base. Spinach, feta and fresh Mozzarella. After the oven it gets a tabbouleh flavored greek yogurt swirl and crispy deep fried garbonzo beans tossed in smoked paprika!” I’m telling you what. It’s delicious!!!”

I recommend this pizza 100%, but if it’s gone by the time you see this, don’t despair, there will be another one every month!

CONTRADA: Dawn & I took my nephew to Contrada (2 doors down from Cucina 24 on Wall Street, downtown Asheville) for his birthday, where we had two excellent pizzas and a really great panzanella.

The neph had never had panzanella before, and a few days later he said, “I like hanging out with you guys because I get to try new foods that I never would have tried on my own.” That’s sweet music to these old ears!

Thanks, Contrada, for the kick-ass pizza, super pro service, and an all around wonderful experience! ❤️❤️❤️

BEARS BBQ: Paddy & I went on an Asheville Food Tours lunch junket the other day to Bear's Smokehouse BBQ and STUFFED ourselves.

We ate pulled pork, ribs, mac n cheese, pimento cheese, and my favorite, the Impossible meatloaf sandwich with queso & slaw! We. Ate. Until. We. Popped!

I went home and fell asleep for an hour and didn’t need to eat again until the next day. Thanks, Bears! 🙂❤️🔥

CONSULTATIONS AVAILABLE: I've decided to offer restaurant consultation, not because I’m an expert at running restaurants, but because I’m an expert at eating in them!

As a fairly well-known, and generally well-regarded professional eater, I’m sometimes asked for my opinions and advice by owners and managers of new or struggling restaurants, cafes, food trucks, and other food & beverage venues.

On average, I eat at 150+ different restaurants annually.

I see them come, and I see them go, and when they go, I hate it, but I’m usually not surprised. In a lot of cases, the writing was already on the wall.

The restaurant that served me the worst meal I had in 2022? Gone.

The restaurant that I said was “never gonna make it?” Didn’t make it.

If you’re interested in a free 1/2 hour online consultation, you can email me at [email protected].

You can read the details about what I offer by going to my web site.

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Talkin' about growing up around nuts with Marshall Rabil, current co-owner and grandson of the original founders of Hubs Virginia Peanuts, in Franklin, VA...

* 00:00 - 3:25 INTRO

* 3:36 - 27:40 INTERVIEW w/ Marshall Rabil from Hubs Virginia Peanuts

* 27:50 - 47:10 Field Report from The Hop Creamery

* 47:20 - 53:55 OUTRO w/ review of Grateful Organic Cafe in Marshall*

* It is pure coincidence that this podcast & newsletter feature both an interview with a man named Marshall and a trip to a town named Marshall.

HUBS NUTS: You may or may not recall that way back in March of this year I got some nuts in the mail. Here’s the (updated) post I made and shared about those nuts back then…

NUTS! I got a bunch of delish peanuts and peanut based snacks in the mail from Hubs Virginia Peanuts! I love peanuts, and these are great peanuts, peanut brittle & party mix, that come in really nice tins that keep them super fresh and crunchy! The basic salted peanuts are perfect, the brittle is sweet & nutty (as expected!), and the party mix is literally the best party mix I’ve ever had. I don’t get jazzed about party mix usually, because it can be kind of weird, and not that great, but this party mix is unique, and has a lot of stuff going on, including Cheez-Its, and pretzels and sesame sticks and salted peanuts and honey kissed peanuts, and some other stuff too! Some of it has sort of a honey mustard flavor, some of it’s just straight up salty, but yeah, definitely the best party mix I’ve ever had. Hubs is a family owned business, that has been around since the 1950s, and you can visit their website here: https://www.hubspeanuts.com/ Not only do I think these make a great snack, but I also think, especially because of the nice tins they come in, they make a nice gift as well for your nut loving friends and family!

Well, as you can tell from my enthusiastic review at the, the nuts were excellent! I shold have also mentioned that I am not usually a huge fan of brittle, but, like the party mix, Hubs’ peanut brittle was a cut above and totally excellent. It was sweet of course, but also salty & kind of buttery.

More recently, I was very happy to speak with Marshall Ribal via Zoom and learn about his family’s historic peanut company, which was started by his grandparents after World War 2 and continues, stronger than ever, and family-owned to this very day. Please be sure to listen to my interview with Marshall in the podcast above, and be sure to read their whole story here and watch their charming video here.

THE HOP: Now, just in case you’re confused by this post, Tubby, the unhinged Duke’s Mayo mascot has come and gone already. I took the trip to The Hop Ice Creamery with my nephew featured in the post below and in the podcast above before Tubby’s visit to Asheville.

Okay, folks… it’s ON! My nephew, and I took a trip to The Hop Ice Cream’s creamery to talk with co-owner Greg Garrison about their Duke's Mayonnaise chocolate cake ice cream, and meet Al, the person who made it! And of course, to try some. It. Was. Insanely. Delicious! It’s as rich as can be, and has a wonderful vanilla-chocolate flavor, with a very subtle tang from the Duke’s! This ice cream will be available for a very limited time — when it’s gone it’s gone — and The Hop will be giving it away on Thursday August 3rd for Tubby’s visit to Pack Park, from 9am - 11am, or until they run out! So, yes, the ice cream, the chocolate cake, and the chocolate frosting ribbon in the ice cream all contain Duke’s Mayo! When we did the math, it works out to about 1 cup of Duke’s in every gallon of ice cream! 😋 Come get some on Thursday morning!

As I said, this event has already happened, so DO NOT show up to pack square to meet Tubby. He’s not there. The ice cream was GREAT, of course, but it’s long gone too, so you’ll have to petition The Hop to bring it back, or pray to The Almighty Twang that Tubby comes back to town. In the meantime, visit The Hop and try their blueberry kale ice cream. Settle down, un-wrinkle your nose, it’s delicious. Would I steer you wrong?

GRATEFUL ORGANIC CAFE IN MARSHALL, WNC: Dawn & I took a trip to Marshall, WNC on Friday to meet family for lunch. Dawn’s sister & her husband are vegetarian so we went to a place called Grateful Organic Diner and had a proper and delicious hippy-style experience all around! The music was 100% Grateful Dead and Grateful Dead adjacent, ie: Jerry Garcia Band, Robert Hunter, Boby & The Midnights etc etc. The atmosphere was casual beyond casual. There was no AC. And the food was frickin’ great!!! I was a long-haired, Dead-lovin’, vegetarian hippie myself once, and so was Dawn, so this was a real blast from the past for us both, and touched a lot of nostalgia notes.

Dawn got the Bliss Bowl with grilled tempeh, and let me try it. It was very fresh & flavorful, satisfying & delicious. The tempeh was grilled just right. I like tempeh when it’s good, which I guess you could say about anything! I got an iced coffee and the eggs Benedict with carrot bacon, and I loved it! The carrot bacon was a playful replacement on the piggy element usually present in eggs Benedict. The “signature biscuit” under the perfectly poached eggs was soft and somewhat focaccia-like, and the hollandaise sauce on tope was also just right. Neither too stiff nor too runny, and subtly tangy, though creamy & comforting. My in-laws both got the veggie burger, and crushed it!

Afterwards we went to Ivy & the Poet where we bought more coffee and some super-delish pastries. All in all, it was another wonderful trip to Marshall! It’s such a great little town, I think we’ll do our next WNC staycation there. The Old Marshall Jail Hotel seems like an insanely cute place to get a room. Let me know all your food, beverage & hiking suggestions for Marshall in the comments. 🙂

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Podcast Contents

Learning about quail eggs, and talking about super-cute food, art & animals with Chef Andrea Monzoni from Spring Creek Quail Farms, in Saint Anns, Ontario, Canada!

* 00:00 - 08:48 INTRO & REVIEWS: Smoked Salmon & Chili Crisp

* 8:58 - 37:45 INTERVIEW: Chef Andrea Monzoni from Spring Creek Quail Farm

* 37:55 - 48:29 MESSAGES: The Eaters Get Negative

* 48:39 - 58:00 OUTRO & REVIEWS: Birthday Dinner Downtown, BBQ & a Cookie

TUBBY WAS HERE: I wanna thank everyone who showed up on a super gray, rainy day, first thing in the dang morning, to meet Tubby and get their picture took! Especially anyone who showed up in a costume! Big thanks to my friends Jen Hampton from Asheville Food & Beverage United & Zen Sutherland for making Tubby’s “Mayor for a Day” sash, and the spatula-shaped key to the city respectively.

Thanks as well to Twisted Laurel Downtown Asheville for giving us shelter from the rain, The Hop Ice Cream for giving away some truly special treats, and of course, Duke's Mayonnaise for being so awesome in so many ways!

Also, a very special huge thanks to Ingles Markets for their immeasurable help in making this dream come true! ❤️❤️❤️

SOMETIMES COOK AT HOME: I’ve been buying lots of tinned fish of various kinds from the Botanist & Barrel Tasting Bar + Bottle Shop Asheville, and trying different preparations. The other night I made some pasta, with Fishwife and Fly by Jing smoked salmon in chili crisp and cream sauce on a bed of arugula, and it was fantastic!

To make the sauce, I just added cream, butter and flour to the hot oily chili crisp sauce in the can, thickened it up in a pan, then poured it over the fish & pasta. YUM! Super delish. Super easy. High recommends. 🔥

MY TINY BREAKFAST: I received a whole bunch of quail eggs from the folks at Spring Creek Quail Farms and have been really enjoying them! They are CUTE, and tasty, with a slightly richer, creamier texture than chicken eggs. I like to cook a lot of things at home using my taiyaki fish-shaped press. First, I boiled some small, red potatoes, then smashed one and placed it in one side of the taiyaki press, cooked it for a little bit, then added two quail eggs to the other side of the press, cooked it all a little bit longer, flipped it, finished cooking it, plated it, and ate the whole thing in about four bites. I loved it! So I repeated the whole process and did it again!

Three quail eggs is about the equivalent of one chicken egg, and come to find out, they have a lot more nutrition in them than chicken eggs! Thank you, Spring Creek! I was already a fan of quail eggs, but had never cooked them at home, so this was a great experience, and I can’t wait to eat them all! PS - they also sent me a special quail egg opener! Apparently they are too tiny, and the membrane is too tough, to crack it like a chicken egg!

To learn more about quail eggs, please listen to my interview with Chef Andrea Monzoni from Spring Creek Quail Farms above!

BIRTHDAY FEAST: Dawn & I went to Twisted Laurel Downtown Asheville for my birthday a while back, mostly because I wanted a big fat steak, which I know they always have on their menu. I also wanted to spend some time at my favorite restaurant of 2022. In my heart, I love Twisted, but also just by the numbers, it was was my most-visited venue last year. I ate there 14 times! This meal did not disappoint. Dawn got the campanelle with lemon, garlic, parsley, crab & crawfish butter sauce, and she loved it! She kept saying she was finished, and would be taking the rest home, but then she couldn’t stop nibbling at it, until there was literally nothing left to take home! 😂

I got the New York Strip Oscar, with jumbo lump crab, asparagus, & hollandaise. Those are, like, all of my favorite things on one plate. It was fantastic! I ate everything, except about half of that giant slab of beef, which I took home & reheated and it was great again! We also shared the meatball appetizer, which is hearty, homey & delicious, and gaining its own fan-base among the eaters-in-the-know of downtown Asheville!

Service was spot-on as always, and the entire experience was just exactly what I wanted on my birthday! 🎉 One more time around the sun, and one more great meal at my fave place. Thanks, Chef Tom & the kitchen crew, as well as Vince, and my friends in the front of the house, for making this a lovely evening for Dawn and me! 🙂❤️🔥 For dessert we went to French Broad Chocolates and got a slice of their “quintessential chocolate cake,” and a pint of their salted caramel ice cream to bring home. Perfect.

DOC BROWN’S BBQ My nephew just moved back home from Portland, Oregon, and he also had a birthday last week, so I took him out to lunch, and when I asked him what category of food he wanted, he said, “Barbecue.” He’d been missing it. Without hesitation, I said “Let’s drive out to Doc Brown's BBQ!” He’d never been, but he was game, so we went, and had an awesome barbecue experience!

I got the brisket sandwich, he got the brisket plate, and we shared some dry rub ribs. Gah. All of it was perfectly cooked and tasted great! Doc Brown’s brisket is some of the best I’ve ever had. The ends are black and barky, the meat it tender and flavorful, and the fat just melts on your tongue. The ribs are meaty, moist, and very tasty! Full recommends for Doc Brown’s, from both my nephew, and myself! ❤️🔥🐂

MANICOMIO Y’aaaawwwwllll… this sandwich… was so dang bomb. Jon at Manicomio Pizza has done it again. First he dropped his Reuben on us, available with either house made corned beef or house made pastrami, and it became an instant contender for a 2023 Sandwich of the Year Stoobie award. Next, he sprang his cheesesteak on the world, and no kidding, it is THEE best cheesesteak in WNC as far as I’m concerned. Yes, I said “best,” and I mean it! Then, today, Jon handed me his BBQ brisket sandwich, and wow, it is, simply put, one of the tastiest sandwiches I’ve ever had. Perfectly cooked bbq brisket, just falling apart and melting in your mouth, with a tang of house made slaw and pickled onions, all on a soft white bun. It was heaven. I died. I cut one into four pieces and shared it with my friends at White Duck Taco Shop, and they agreed that it is a superbly delicious sandwich. Everyone was, like, “Oh mah gahhhd…”

Jon Liebowitz is really solidifying his spot as the King of Slow Cooked Meats and Sandwiches in Downtown Asheville. I know that I’m not the only fan of Jon’s new menu items, there’s an army of us out there, and if you’re in that army, or care to enlist, go try this sandwich. I promise you won’t be mad at me about it. 🙂🔥💥🦅💯‼️

CORTADO & A COOKIE: I go into PennyCup Coffee Co. at the YMI about 3 or 4 times a week, because it’s chill AF in there (especially since they got their AC fixed), and in my opinion, they are roasting and brewing some of the best coffee in WNC.

These days I pretty much only get fancy espresso drinks in cafes — cortados, cappuccinos, lattes, hot or on ice — because I can make a regular cup of coffee at home. Pennycup’s baristas pull a great shot, and they make the drinks look cute and pretty too. The lattes have art & the cortados come in tiny mason jars. Squee! Also, one of best things about being at any Pennycup location is the house made cookies. When they run out, they make more, so if you time it right, you’ll get to smell the cookies being baked and you can eat one warm out of the oven. Nice.

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Podcast ContentsTalkin' about the persistent issue of hunger in Western North Carolina, and the world, with Kara Irani from MANNA Foodbank.

* 00:00 - 12:30 INTRO w/ review of Lulu’s on Main in Sylva, WNC

* 12:40 - 38:50 INTERVIEW w/ Kara Irani from MANNA Foodbank

* 39:00 - 45:50 REVIEWS Dirty South sandwich at The Rhu

* 46:00 - 53:55 OUTRO w/ reviews of Mother Bakery, Cultura, La Bodega & Little D’s

LULU’S ON MAIN: Dawn & I were in Sylva, NC for a visit and decided to try Lulu's On Main. It was great! The atmosphere is very casual, almost cafe style, but the food we ordered was a little on the fancy side!

Dawn got some very nice mussels in wine & garlic broth with what she described as “excellent” bread. She ate it all, so I know she loved it!

I ordered an 8 oz steak with mashed taters, collards, crispy onion and horseradish sauce, and I ate every scrap of it! It was cooked to my specs, it was tasty, hearty, olde school, and hit every single nail on the head for me! The collards were slightly sweet & tangy with nice chunks of smoky pork throughout. Sylva is a cute little town that appears to have some good food choices, including LuLu’s on Main! Recommend.

THE RHU: Daaang, Yo! I just had THEE dankest breakfast sandwich ever at The Rhu. It’s called “The Dirty South,” and it’s a buttermilk biscuit w/ pulled pork, pimiento cheese, collards, and B&B Pickles. Wow. So f*cking good! 🔥🔥🔥

It’s an instant contender for my Sandwich of the Year Stoobie Award, although I’ll have to eat it a couple more times before it becomes an official nominee.

MOTHER BAKERY ON THE SOUTH SLOPE: Dawn and I took our friend Millee to Mother Bakery on the South Slope for a light bite and some wine on Saturday evening.

We ordered the confit mushroom toast and a salad to share, and both were excellent!

This place is going to end up being one of my favorites, I can already tell! Great atmosphere, great food, and according to Dawn & Millee, great wine too! 🙂

CULTURA: Next, we took Millee to Cultura, where we had an incredible food and beverage experience! This restaurant is very special, offering creative takes on dishes both new and familiar, impeccably sourced ingredients, picture perfect presentation, and of course amazing flavors! I’m friends with Chef Eric Morris, he’s one of my favorite people in the food biz, and one of the best chefs in the country in my opinion. He sent out what seemed like the whole menu, but all in reasonable portions, so that between the three of us, we were very full, but not completely stuffed.

Cozy and comfortable atmosphere, nice lighting, great service, excellent cocktails & mocktails, and one of the most exciting & creative kitchen teams in town, if not the entire country, in my opinion. They are open Thursday through Sunday, and they have tables & booths, as well as bar & counter seats, so you can go casual or intimate depending on your mood and the company you're with.

Chef Morris and his awesome team, both front & back of the house, are top notch and I feel lucky to have them here in our tiny little town in the Appalachian mountains of Western North Carolina. Get in when you can, and experience it for yourself.

LA BODEGA BY CURATE: Yesterday I dialed in a brand new bite for Asheville Food Tours at La Bodega by Cúrate. The “Costillas” are pork ribs, with salsa kalimotxo, and confit piquillo peppers, and it was frickin’ awesome! I had one along with my tour patrons and, wow! It’s an instant contender for my Ribs of the Year Stoobie Award for 2023!

Sweet, savory, super flavorful, and cooked to perfection, every bit of meat came right off the bone, and the pepper on top was mildly piquant, and soft as butter. Super high recommends. Go get you some! 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

LITTLE D’S: I went to Little D's for dinner with my friend David last week, and we had a great meal together. The decor is lovely, the atmosphere was mellow, service was friendly & professional, the menu was very enticing, the plating & presentation were on point, and the food was delicious! We shared everything. The grilled shrimp appetizer came with a pimento cheese polenta cake, and a nice sauce, and was a very strong start to our meal! Next we had ribs. Perfectly cooked, sweet & sticky, with a little corn salad on the plate. Loved ‘em! Want more.

For entrees, we split the bistro steak and the duck breast. Both were cooked exactly to our specifications, and were very satisfying and filling! They came with small sides of taters & green stuff, that were also excellent. The steak came with house made steak sauce, which I loved,a nd the duck breast had a very crispy skin that was perhaps the best I've ever had. All in all, this was a great experience, that David & I both enjoyed very much! Little D's is located on Merrimon Ave in North Asheville, in the same plaza as 828 Family Pizzeria. Get on up there if you can! Plenty of parking outside and tables inside. Tell them Stu sent ya! 🙂❤️

TUBBY: Don’t forget that the Duke’s Mayonnaise mascot, a giant,”unhinged,” tub of mayo named Tubby will be appearing in Pack Park on Thursday August 3rd from 9am - 11am for photo ops and fun. If it’s raining, we’ll do it all in Twisted Laurel!

See you there!

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