A little bit of Asheville Small Plate Crawling

I've been so buried in Greenville Small Plate Crawl and some of my other projects that I'm just now getting around to telling you guys about the AMAZING food I had at Asheville Small Plate Crawl last month! Shame on me!  I tried so many new restaurants, a couple of which, I cannot wait to get back to for the full meal experience.  I'm just going to run down my passport and give you a wrap up with some of my favorite stops and dishes. Here we go.

I totally have a strategy when it comes to crawling, being that this was my third Small Plate Crawl.  I print out my passport and then list the places I want to go to.  The crawl website has a nifty tool that lets you put in the addresses of the places you want to visit and then plots your best path. I number my stops. Print out the menus, pick out the dishes I want to try ahead of time, and I'm ready to go.

Red Stag Grill at Grand Bohemian
If you haven't been in the Grand Bohemian smack dab in the middle of Biltmore Village shopping, you are missing out.  It's like a mini-Grove Park Inn.  Seriously.  It's small, but grandiose inside.  I swear they spent millions on just the furniture.  But we're here for the food, right?  After sitting down in the dining area we had to wait forever before ordering.  This is not optimal when crawling, but the food was amazing. I can't pick a favorite, so here's both.

We ordered the Elk Carpaccio with Blackberry powder, Celtic sea salt, Theros olive oil, farm fresh ventures micro arugula, and lavash.  It was quite the gastronomic experience!

Our second dish here was the Brioche Doughnut with Black truffle cream, caramelized white chocolate mousse, zinfandel gastrique. This was (insert expletive) fantastic.  

 

A commercial break: 

If you're headed to the Greenville Small Plate Crawl (< click) March 24-26, here are some crawl tips to remember: 

1) Pay with cash because it's faster.  

2) Order your drinks and food together and ask for your check when the food comes.  

3) Tip well. Remember your servers are working twice as hard so let them know they are appreciated and please tip them well.

4) Don't sit down with a group of 15 and order two plates.  Now, that's just rude.  Sharing is encouraged, but don't take up valuable real estate with a large party for only a few dishes. 

5)  I think the optimal crawl number is 2-8.  If you're traveling in packs larger than that, you might want to split up so you can crawl faster.

6) Ask about drink specials! Many of the crawl restaurants are running drink specials during the crawl.

French Broad Chocolate Lounge

I absolutely love this place.  There was a lady working on her computer at one of the tables and I told her I would gain a thousand pounds if I sat in a chocolate shop and worked!  I guess I really would be a kid in a candy store. (She laughs.)  We ordered the Chocolate and Wine offering: two half-pours of wine, each paired with a truffle and a caramel.

A glass full of chocolate fluffiness caught my eye in the case so we ordered the chocolate moose, too. Mercy! The candy bar (see picture above) was not included, but they are heaven, too and available at Kitchen Arts and Pottery at McBee Station in Downtown Greenville!  (I just temporarily borrowed it for special effects.)

Strada Italiano

Gnudi della Casa, the house made ricotta dumplings in Sherry Tomato Cream sauce was silky and savory and magnificent. My favorite dish of the entire crawl. We also ordered the Tuscan Stuffed Figs with Basil Whipped Goat Cheese and Prosciutto, which completely convinced me that I absolutely must get back there as soon as possible to tour the whole menu.

Blue Kudzu Sake Co
Blue Kudzu Sake was our last stop of the morning.  We ordered several items off their crawl menu including the Chinese Deviled Tea Eggs, but the Mini Fukuoka style Tonkatsu Ramen with pork broth, slow roast pork, fresh Ramen Noodles, pickled ginger, roasted sesame seeds and poached quail egg stole the show.  Blue Kudzu is in the process of making their own Sake!  It should be ready some time next month.  A must visit for Sake lovers.  They also have Sake Education classes here and have three Certified Sake Professionals on staff.  They know their stuff.

My friend Nina accompanied me for the first part of the day.  We hit 5 restaurants before 3pm.  And we were stuffed.  I came back down the mountain, switched friends and cars and headed back up for round two with my bff Kim in tow to hit five more restaurants.

Carmel's Kitchen and Bar
I was disappointed when the waiter said they were out of the Apple Tart at Carmel's (what?!), but he totally redeemed himself quickly by telling me that I COULD still have a scoop of the Vanilla ice cream from Asheville's Ultimate Ice Cream that was supposed to top off that dish.  YUM! I love their ice cream.  And being that we were already sipping on Biltmore Estate Wine's Chardonnay, we found out that Vanilla ice cream and Chardonnay go quite well together!

I was really there for the Mini Chicken and Waffle with Sriracha syrup with a side of greens.  Eye rolling good. I am so recreating this at home one day.

Isa's Bistro
I was not over the moon about any of the dishes at Isa's but it's totally worth a mention because they have Charles Krug Cab by the glass on their wine list.  No one ever has my favorite red by the glass.  I was so excited. They had some pretty good risotto on their menu, too.

The Lobster Trap

I finally made it to The Lobster Trap. I've been wanting to go for a while.  Kim ordered the Oysters and Pear Mignonette. I'm not a fan of raw oysters, but they were really pretty and paired with Biltmore Estate Chateau Reserve Blanc de Blancs 2010. I ordered the Jumbo Sea Scallop with Lime Caviar, Duck Confit, and Blood Orange paired with Biltmore Estate Riesling 2013 NC. Lovely.The Butter Poached Lobster Claw with Citrus, Gnocchi and Beach Mushrooms was pretty fantastic, too. This was one of our last stops and I was already stuffed and a little tipsy on the three glasses of Biltmore Wines I'd had that day.  I want to go back for a tour of the menu. (And better pictures.)

Greenville Small Plate Crawl is coming March 24-26.  I hope you'll get out there and crawl. Check out the menus on the website, print out your passport, plan your path and crawl!  So much fun.  I'll see you out there.

My birthday dinner at Curate Tapas Bar in Asheville

 Last night my husband and I went to Curate in Asheville, North Carolina for my birthday, and I was scheduled to meet Chef Katie Button.  I always go into panic mode when meeting a new chef.  Can I say their name correctly? Do I know enough about them? Last night's big hurdle was learning to pronounce Curate right before I stepped in the door.  Four years of Spanish and COO-ru-tay was the best I could do, so we went with it.  

Chef Katie is a rock star in my world.  She was a James Beard semifinalist for Rising Star Chef of the Year in 2013, for goodness sakes!  They don't hand those nods out to just anyone. She was in full planning mode since her and husband Felix Meana's second venture, a speakeasy of sorts they are calling The Nightbell, is slated to open in Asheville February 2.   But, she did take some time to talk with me and I was so thankful!

The James Beard Awards, in case you are wondering, are like the Oscars of the food world.  I'm always glued to my Twitter feed during finalist announcements and during the Awards Ceremony.  I cheer our Carolina chefs and authors on like I'm there.  (Strangeness confirmed.)

Six stops for info about the brilliant Chef Katie Button:

Anne McBride wrote a fab article called "The Accidental Chef" for Food Arts

People's Best New Chef Southeast by Food and Wine

Sound Palate with Kitty Kinnin Chef Series Podcast with Katie Button (really great podcast!)

 Interview with Chef Katie Button and Felix Meana by BunkyCooks.com

"Chef Katie Button on her Noma Internship" - CarolinaEpicurean.com

Meet the family behind Curate and Heirloom Hospitality Group

I feel like I am systematically checking off every restaurant on Biltmore Ave in Asheville. In the past two months I've hit Chestnut and Posana, too.  The more I get to know the talent in Asheville, the more I am absolutely floored.  Did you know Asheville made Forbes Travel Guide's Five Secret Foodie Cities list? Of course, Curate and French Broad Chocolate were mentioned in the write up.

We were ushered to two stools at the end of the bar overlooking the wide open kitchen, last night.  They are totally the best seats in the house, though you can't go wrong with any seat at the marble bar.  You are front and center to all the action. I counted six chefs working stations at the slowest time last night.  I swear there had to have been 10 or 12 people behind the bar cooking and fixing and shaking and delivering at one point.  They were butt to butt but it was pure magic.

My husband ordered the Curate Manhattan with a crazy liquid cherry in the bottom! A blog post is seriously not enough space to go into the science behind the food served here.  I was so torn between the Sangria they make tableside and a simple glass of red, so I handed the decision over to our server/bartender, Jessica, and she picked out an awesome glass of red, a 2008 Beronia Reserva.  I loved it so much, I had a second glass! (The whole finger pointing at the item thing was a last minute decision.  I hope you find it helpful if you want to hunt down a bottle.)

I always like to see what other people are ordering before I make a decision.  The thing is, everything headed off the line looked so beautiful!  I couldn't choose.  We left it up to the chef and our server, and they totally rocked it out.

Our first course was the brandada de bacalao, a traditional cod and potato puree served hot with crispy bread.  It was an incredible savory, garlicky dish. I think I ate most of this one myself.  Don't let the "tapas" description of this restaurant keep you away!  The servings are not tiny and the prices are reasonable.

This colorful dish was the ensalada de invierno - a salad of belgian endive, vaideon blue cheese, candied walnuts, orange, pomegranate with walnut champagne vinaigrette. I'm not a huge salad orderer, but this was gorgeous.  And the flavor mixture was perfection. I fought to get one of everything on my fork every bite.  

Yes.  This is octopus. Don't make that face!  It was really, really good.  And I even ate the pieces that resembled a sea creature like the tentacles and suction cups, which I usually pick around.  According to the menu listing it is pulpo a la gallega or galician style octopus served warm with sea salt, olive oil, spanish paprika and yukon gold potato puree.  They could have just said tasty sea critter...

This plate of charcuterie was really awesome.  The meats were in line from your left to right: jamon serrano fermin (dry, cured spanish ham),  jamon iberico fermin (cured ham from the famous black-footed iberico pigs of spain), and jamon iberico de bellota (100% pure iberico pigs, acorn fattened and free range).  The first ham was a lot like a country ham.  The second was not as salty and a little more fatty.  The third, was sweet, fatty and amazing. Almost nutty.  After we sampled them all, Jessica told us that the last two hams were basically the same meat except for the fact that the one on the far right, the iberico de bellata was free range and fed tons of acorns. A very cool experiment on how the diet of an animal changes the way the meat tastes!  

The toasts to the side were topped with shaved tomato fresca with rosemary and garlic.

The special of the night was Rabo del Toro.  (Sounds like a wrestler, doesn't it?)  It's actually oxtail Sous-vide in a veal and red wine demi-glace for 18 hours. Sous-vide basically means it was cooked in an airtight plastic bag to hold in all the flavors and keep out all the air. 

The potatoes took were rich and creamy, like no potato I'd ever eaten before. For potato espuma they put potatoes and cream in a siphon, then charge it with nitrous oxide and it comes out all whipped. Then, it's drizzled with vanilla infused olive oil.  There's probable a few more steps in there, but that's the gist of it. 

The Chef de Cuisine of Curate is Frank Muller.  I guarantee he won't forget me. He was at the end of the line last night and delivered most of our dishes.  I entertained him with my crazy questions such as, "Why do restaurants serve oxtail but not ox? You never see ox on a menu!"  He was a good sport and pretty dang successfully avoided my camera.

Pimientos de piquillo con queso de cabra (piquillo peppers stuffed with spanish goat cheese).  Not my favorite dish due to my indecisiveness on whether or not I like goat cheese, but a beautiful dish, none the less.

At this point, my husband announced that he was done.  Terminado. Bummer.  Our server said she would have definitely sent out the sauteed mushrooms next.  I guess this means another trip, like way soon. 

We asked for dessert to wrap things up, and man, did they end on a strong note!  This amazing dish of pistachio heaven landed in front of us. Tarta de pistacho. A pistachio sponge cake, candied pistachio, pistachio praline (like pistachio butter) with lemon thyme ice cream and blackberry coulis. Wow! What flavor.

And to end our night: Curate says happy birthday (to everyone, not just me) with a giant chocolate pig ear.  No, not really. (I'm laughing.) It's panuelo de chocolate, house made chocolate melted and poured on a potato starch paper, topped with hazelnuts and dried cranberries. As it cools, it is folded into the shape of a napkin, something Chef Katie learned during her time in Spain. 

The night was absolutely awesome, and I totally met Chef Katie Button. Did I mention that? (Grins.)  Happy birthday to me!

(*Blogger won't let me do the whole accent over letters thing. I apologize. If you have a fix, send it to me!)

A look back at 2013.

We're five days away from a brand new year, so I thought I would share some of my highlights of 2013 with you.  Here we go!

In January I surprised my mother with a visit from my aunt who lives in California.  It was a perfect birthday surprise for Mom.  We had a blast bebopping around together.

Last winter my daughter and I decided to make donuts.  While we were baking, it started pouring snow outside.  She ran out and made a snowball.  It was one of those perfect little memories. And those were really great donuts.

Dan and I spent our anniversary this year in Charleston.  We had an incredibly special dinner at Husk complete with sparkling wine and a special menu just for us.  We also walked on the beach in the freezing cold and ate fresh oysters at Bowan's Island. (I'm not a fan of oysters, but it was a neat first time experience.)

 

I battled a case of severe depression during the first part of the year. (Booo!) It was rough, but one day during my funk, I had the absolute pleasure of babysitting my God-daughter.  She is a complete joy and brightened my world.  It's the little things sometimes...

My daughter and I were walking on the beach during spring break and she bent down to write something in the sand.  When I saw it, I almost cried.  We are at this neat stage before boys, before she starts claiming her independence and Mom becomes uncool.  Sierra + Mom = love.  

Joy. Joy. Joy.

We were blessed to spend a TON of time at the beach this summer. Isle of Palms is my second home of sorts and a wonderful, wonderful place to cool out and spend time with my family and friends.  

Life is not always rainbows and moonbeams.  But sometimes it is. 

My family from DC and Tampa visited!  I was so stoked to meet new additions to the family and spend some time with my cousins.  I can't wait until I see them all again! Love you guys!

Chattooga Belle Farm Dinner.  One of the coolest things I have ever done in my life. (Thank you Edible Upcountry!) 

Euphoria 2013 was a blast!  I met Kat Kinsman from CNN's food blog Eatocracy.

I held a baby pig.  I checked that off my bucket list!

Renegade Vittles Dinner.  The best chefs in Greenville cooked one of the most amazing meals of our lives. 

I met Chef John Currance, got his cookbook, then made my first homemade Guinness Whole Grain Mustard,  and brined and smoked my first beef tenderloin. Holy moly that was good eatin'! Best thing I made all year.

I made eggnog with my chef buddy John Malik and drink master at Bacon Bros, Jason Calloway. (Really, I watched and documented, but...)

I spent a lot of time at Bacon Bros this year!  Standing beside Anthony Gray while he shaved paper thin pieces off of his country ham for me to eat was pretty dang amazing. 

I hung out with Passerelle Chef, Teryi Youngblood.  One of the coolest chicks in town. 

For the first time I made a cheesecake that didn't crack.

I had the pleasure of visiting Posana in Asheville and was over the moon happy that owner and chef Peter Pollay sat down and joined us for dinner.  

The new addition to our family. 

The most awesome thing to happen this year?  I am partnering with Carolina Epicurean blogger, Laura Huff, for Greenville Small Plate Crawl 2014 coming March 24-26.  I'm excited to be partnering with her to bring her popular WNC food crawl to the Upstate.  Restaurants are already signing up and I keep hearing how excited people are about the crawl.  

Here's to more excitement and joy in 2014!

Asheville's Posana Cafe is gluten-free bliss

Gluten-free people, pick up the phone right now and make your reservation for Posana Cafe in Asheville.  It's a 100% gluten free restaurant in the heart of downtown, and I swear it will be one of the best meals you've eaten since you cut gluten out of your diet.  An entire menu of crazy awesome gourmet dishes made with you in mind. I went gluten-free for about two months.  It sucks.  It is expensive and it is extremely hard to find cuisine that will make you swoon.  You often get stuck with the salad. Am I right?

How does Lobster Mac and Cheese Sound (made with ricotta gnocchi)? Or Crispy Chicken Confit with sweet potato biscuit, Gran Marnier maple syrup and confit pear.  What about Pan Roasted Scallops with celery root puree, almond-brown butter crumble, cauliflower, crispy kale and truffle jus. Folks, we're talking serious food here. This restaurant is going straight to the top of my list and I'm not even gluten-free!

Peter Pollay and wife, Martha, opened Posana six years ago with the idea to create a menu reflecting the gluten-free food they eat at home. The restaurant just underwent a fancy redo at the hands of design genius Doug Stratton and it is absolutely beautiful inside.  The lighting, which is focused on the food in front of you at every table,  is magnificent for us food bloggers.  Chef Jordan Arace is manning the kitchen much of the time these days, but the restaurant holds fast to its gluten-free philosophy.

My tablemates for the evening were Laura Huff (my Greenville Small Plate Crawl partner in crime and Carolina Epicurean blogger), Landis Taylor from Asheville CVB and Chef Pollay himself!  We were stoked that he decided to sit with us for dinner and tell us all about his restaurant and his path to becoming a chef.

Career highlights of Chef Peter Pollay:

His first notable restaurant job was at City Tavern in downtown Chicago under restaurant giant Larry Levy.  Pollay says he was a "must hire" (aka Levy knew his dad) so they really put him through the ringer there.

When Levy started taking his fine dining experience to Chicago's ball stadiums,starting with Comiskey Stadium, he took Pollay with him.  The White Socks got into the playoffs that year and went on to the World Series. (Note, I know nothing about baseball, but it was exciting for the Chef.) He worked hard, met a lot of people and watched a lot of baseball.

Pollay has worked under numerous famous chefs including Chef David Burke at his Park Avenue Cafe and Wolfgang Puck at the famed Malibu restaurant Granita.  It was the first time Pollay was exposed to real "farm to table" cuisine. Puck worked with three or four local farmers and had fresh stuff delivered frequently, so the menu constantly was changing. Sean Connery, Dick Van Dyke and Nicholas Cage were a few of the celebrity regulars.

While attending school at the Culinary Institute of America, he worked at Hudson River Club under Waldy Malouf on the weekends. When he graduated, he went back to Chicago to work in the Four Seasons Hotel for a while, then headed to Las Vegas and back to the Larry Levy fold.  Levy had formed a partnership with Spielbeg and opened The Dive.  When it opened in LA, Pollay took his first management position.

After an attempted retirement from chefdom, Pollay found himself back in a Wolfgang Puck kitchen at the famed Spago under Chef Francois. Pollay became the kitchen manager there. "It was an amazing experience," he says.  "We were on the cutting edge."

It was 1999.  He was tired.  He tried to retire, but went back to work within two weeks.  Larry Levy was setting up shop in the Staple Center.  He took the spot of Sou Chef.  They were serving all of the sky boxes and two restaurants.  (Again with the sports thing, the Lakers and Kings were in the playoffs and the Lakers won.)

Levy began a partnership with Wolfgang Puck at Dodger Stadium and again Pollay was asked to be a part of the team to get the ball rolling (okay, a bad sports joke. I admit.) It was the National League and he got to see the Cubs play.

It was August 2000.  Pollay was due to get married.  A little event called the Democratic National Convention was booked at the Staple Center.  He asked for time off and was denied. It was finally time to retire.  

In 2003, he had a family, he had moved to Asheville and was working in Real Estate.  He and wife Martha were talking one day and decided it was time, they'd open their own restaurant.  And so it began again.

Believe it or not, I think I left out a few things.  Pollay is the real deal.  He is an amazingly talented chef.  Now back to the food on the table:

This picture does not do this salad justice.  This is Posana's famous Manchego Kale Salad.   Pollay was recently on WLOS sharing the recipe with viewers. Get the recipe here.  

Their Brussels Sprout Salad with pears, roasted walnuts, Three Graces feta, and honey-buttermilk dressing was also freaking amazing.  

But the gluten-free are not confined to the salads here.  Remember, the whole menu is free and clear.  What about Lamb with herb crust, charred Brussels sprouts, potato fondant and rosemary-fig gastrique? 

Or Braised Hickory Nut Gap Pork Shoulder, bacon wrapped pork loin, topped with shallot jam, and trotter, accompanied by crispy pigs feet potatoes. 

They even have a line-up of tasty desserts including ice cream, a silky, rich cheesecake and a Hot Chocolate Pot de Creme with dark chocolate and spicy walnuts.

Get out that calendar and pick up the phone.  You must make the trip up the mountain for this amazing culinary experience.  You can thank me later.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to ya!

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