Wrap It Up: A Change of Scenery In Asheville
I miss travel. The excitement of packing for a week-long getaway, the anxiety of getting struck in traffic and/or airport security, and that first sip of airport bar wine when it hits your lips — I miss it all. But these days, I’m too afraid to go outside of my surroundings and my bubble of people for a weekend getaway. There are a lot of preexisting conditions in my family and I simply don’t want to risk it.
So when I do travel, I do so by car. (Or by foot via the long run, which typically ends at a bar.) Last fall, I drove four hours north of the city for a weekend in Lake Placid where I would launch myself into doom by hiking for nine hours with two of my best friends. Thankfully we are a team of intelligence and had microspikes to charge through the several inches of ice. (Constant vigilance!)
A few weeks later I returned down south for another extended visit with my parents in North Carolina. This time, there was one thing at the top of my To Do list: visit my brother, Rob, in Asheville, and see the kennel he and my sister-in-law opened last year.
For those not in the know, Asheville is located in the mountains of western North Carolina, has a ton of art space, a great food scene, and a fuckton of hiking trails, none of which we were going to use. Regardless, Asheville is certainly not a shabby place to live in normal times; the city likely saw an influx in both the buyer’s and renter’s market mid-pandemic. (Also I don’t know what I’m talking about here, I’m just making an educated guess with what I’ve seen in New York real estate.)
Furthermore, Rob’s birthday also falls in the first week of February. Last year we celebrated a big milestone — ::cough, over the hill:: — so if there was a time I was going to see him during this pandemic, it was certainly going to be for his birthday.
And so, along with one of the members of our NC Pod Squad, QLP and I made moves due west to Asheville for what would be my second Coronavirus vacation. We swept the state, first making a pitstop in Raleigh to see my folks, eat my favorite nachos at Raleigh Times, and also eating shit in the mud while trying to keep up with high school kids on trails in Umstead State Park.
The Raleigh breakup was needed. After a largely uneventful drive where I took in the great views of nothing (literally just trees) and listened to podcasts while Brian slept, we were finally settled in Asheville. Our itinerary for the week consisted of a To Do list of restaurants, breweries, coffee bars, and bar bars, as well as a trip to the grandiose Biltmore Estate. (Gotta get in those steps before day drinking in your finest athletic attire, after all.)
We took the bars of Asheville by storm, wearing as many layers of workout clothes as possible.
Cold weather be damned, it was the change of scenery we so desperately needed this winter.
So let’s wrap it up.
Where to Eat:
A fun fact I remembered as we were crossing into Buncombe County: The sale of alcohol is prohibited in Asheville on Sundays.
Asheville is located in Buncombe County.
It also happened to be Sunday.
Lucky for us, we arrived just in time for happy hour, and we needed to be as North Carolina has a 9:00 p.m. curfew. So we walked into downtown in search of something to aid our parched selves.
Thanks to the rain-snow-slush, we swiftly settled upon The Market Place, which proved to be the right move. We ponied up next to the bar (not at the bar, as sitting at the bar was prohibited); I gleefully ordered the Benton’s Old Fashioned (the bourbon was infused with Benton’s bacon, natch) while Brian ordered a Manhattan. Our excitement grew when they landed in front of us, and upon the first sip, we both went into a giggle fit — when was the last time I had a proper cocktail that wasn’t made by myself? We were officially on vacation, and this set the mood for a pure week of “treat yo’self.”
With merch like sweatshirts stating “Hustlin and Brussel’in” and a biscuit initiative donating profits to its 88 employees, It’s hard not to love Tupelo Honey Cafe. It’s been at least a decade since I’ve been to the original location; we ended up eating here twice, the first being for dinner, and inside, as outdoors was not an option. Thankfully Asheville is a sleepy town on Sunday nights even without a pandemic and a 9 p.m. curfew, and we were two of four patrons sitting for dinner. We had the aforementioned Biscuits for a Cause, as well as fried green tomatoes, spicy cauliflower bites, fried pickles, and pimento cheese dip, because we like to keep our health in check. We were jovial at this point, so much, so, that we overheard that the other couple dining across the room were on their honeymoon, and so we bought them a round of Champagne and cheersed them. (It’s also worth noting here that the bartender poured me a glass of wine that makes my Lewis pour look weak.)
I am here to impress no one.
Airbnb No. 1 was situated a stone’s throw from the River Arts District wherein lies Ultra Coffeebar, a super hipster vegan coffee shop. We were at Ultra so frequently that we became not only regulars but loyalty members. (I did not, however, become a vegan.) Aside from coffee splashed with various in-house flavors like lavender-honey and cinnamon-cardamom, I purchased delightful “energy balls” consisting of peanut butter, oats, espresso powder, and I don’t know what else. Regardless, I wish I still had those balls in my possession.
(That’s what she said?)
When SB jumped on board for this vacation, I strategically planned our nights out, and our first meal together was to be had at Rhubarb. Here, chef/owner and North Carolina native John Fleer has been serving up dope shit since opening the restaurant in 2013. We were the only ones seated in the enclosed(ish) patio, and we did what we do best — order almost everything off the menu. Pimiento cheese hushpuppies; burrata with apple compote, red onion jam, and crispy shallots; toast topped with a smattering of South Carolina Royal Red Shrimp and Benton’s country ham; pork meatballs with Farm and Sparrow grits and garlic confit; and a board of local cheeses for dessert.
As I’m the only one that has a flexible schedule (that freelance life), I decided to do my long run on Friday morning while my comrades were working. And so I did, launching myself on a course that took me through the River Arts District, French Broad River Park, West Asheville, and back. Ten miles with nearly 600 feet of elevation gain can make a girl hungry; by mile eight I shot a group text stating that I would finish my run at the Mexican restaurant located on the same block as Airbnb No. 2. Oddly enough, Mountain Madre was the only restaurant we visited during our week-long stay that only offered outdoor seating. And the setup was great — the colorful back patio was adorned with space heaters for all. (Our table of three got two!) As we had several upcoming calorie-bomb reservations, we all opted for salads and then washed it down with queso. Balance.
She loves me, I swear.
“We have completely been eavesdropping — y’all seem like fun people,” were words coming from a neighboring table at Vivian, Josiah and Shannon McGaughey’s retro chic eatery in the River Arts District. The patio setup here is a great one, and we were warm enough to the point where we almost didn’t need our coats in the 20˚ weather. As for the food, SB and I took charge of the menu, choosing Nordic deviled eggs, French onion soup dip (which I have already recreated at home — recipe to come), a blanquette de veau that was not served as a traditional stew but instead as a massive veal chop with all the stew accompaniments, and the steak tartare, which is served in a smoked bone marrow bone. When it arrived at the table, our server asked if we’d like a Cognac side car. For what, pray tell? For turning that bone marrow bone into a DIY liquor luge — sign us up.
Indeed kind sir, we are, in fact, truly fun people.
Our last hurrah in Asheville would be at Cúrate, the wildly popular Spanish tapas bar by Katie Button and her family. Housed in an old 1920s bus depot, Cúrate has been a prominent fixture in the local dining scene since it first opened in 2011, and a restaurant I’ve been geeking out over since Button graced the cover of Food Arts magazine back in 2013. With Button and her husband Félix Meana’s resume including stints at heavy hitters like el Bulli and Jean-Georges, it’s fairly safe to say that you’re in for a really good — if not great — dining experience. And so our last meal included gambas al ajillo; setas al jerez, a variety of mushrooms sautéed with Sherry; migas con verduras, a combination of roasted Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, raisins, and fried breadcrumbs atop a celery root and yogurt mousse; patatas bravas; and a molten corn nut cake with apple cider caramel and toasted rice ice cream for dessert. The only downside of the meal was that we all had a long car ride immediately following the meal, and thus couldn’t take advantage of the wine list.
If you can’t make it to Cúrate or aren’t in the area, Cúrate at Home packages of cheeses, meats, and other specialty goods, are available for nationwide shipping.
Behold, the outdoor setup at Antidote.
Where to Drink:
Throw a stone in any which direction in Asheville and you’re sure to hit one, if not two, breweries or bars. At the top of our drinking To Do list was Bhramari Brewing Company in the South Slope Brewing District, and we knocked it off almost immediately. There’s a Covid-friendly system at Bhramari that includes a socially-distanced line, check-in kiosk for your choice of indoor or outdoor drinking and/or dining, and plenty of QR codes for menu perusal while you wait. And what Asheville lacks in outdoor dining spaces is certainly made up by its plethora of outdoor drinking hubs; our host directed us to a spacious tent that was fully heated while also having the required cross breeze. With beer names like “Press 1 to Speak With Someone About Extending Your Cars Warranty” and “The Big Le’Stout’ski,” it’s easy to stay awhile. (We stayed long enough for an order of pre-dinner cheese fries.)
Antidote & Urban Orchard Cider
Also on our Saturday day drinking list was The Funkatorium by Wicked Weed Brewing. Unfortunately, it was also on everyone else in Asheville’s list. After we put our names in, we meandered next door to Antidote, a swank cocktail bar that I personally wanted to hit up. Antidote opened sharply at 2:00 p.m., and our host took each party back for either indoor or outdoor seating. We were the first — and likely the most excited — to be seated outside for craft cocktails under a personal heat lamp. After a round of white Negronis, we decided to cancel our reservation over at The Funkatorium and try again after our second round of drinks.
This then led to an unforeseen pitstop of the day, something that wasn’t on our list: Urban Orchard Cider. What was supposed to be one drink while we waited for our (second) Funkatorium reservation turned into several rounds of cider and wine. (In our defense, it did start snowing, and we were still in our athleisure wear.) I’m not as well-versed in ciders as others, but it’s worth noting that Urban Orchard offers an entire series of ciders that have been infused with hot peppers of all shapes and sizes. (The Sidra Del Diablo, in particular, was quite tasty.)
The unplanned bar stop also led to an unplanned dinner destination, and in a time where the term “pivot” gets thrown around more often than Tom Brady winning a Super Bowl, we adjusted accordingly.
Vacations these days may look different than the norm, but if it gives me the opportunity to forget about the pandemic — even if for a few moments while slugging back Cognac out of a bone marrow luge — I’ll take it.
Asheville, you were the breath of fresh air we most certainly needed.