Podcast Contents…
00:00 - 5:05 INTRO: What Thanksgiving Means to Me
5:15 - 25:06 INTERVIEW: Chef Alex Bax from Feta Flav Food Truck
25:16 - 35:55 REVIEWS: The Worthy Baker & French Broad Pantry
36:37 - 56:55 X-MAS IN ASHEVILLE: Grove Arcade, Hemmingway’s Cuba, Madam Clutterbucket’s, Lexington Park Antiques, L.O.F.T., The Cottage Collections, chocolate shops, Botanist & Barrel, and Cultivated Cocktails.
HAPPY NEW YEAR, Y’ALL! As I write this, it’s January 2nd, and I’m already scrambling to catch up ! LOL. That being said, the podcast above has segments about Thanksgiving and Christmas, but is still fun and very much worth listening to, especially the interview with Chef Alex Bax, so please give it a listen when you have a chance! In the meantime, I hope you had a great 2023, and that 2024 is going to be even better! I have some personal “resolutions,” such as complaining less, staying positive, working hard, saving money, keeping fit, as well as some professional goals for the upcoming year, which include, branding a product as a "Stoobie Snack" with a local food maker, staying at 4 local inns, hotels & B'n'B's to blog about them, producing & hosting one, super low key food event, eating at as many as 200 different venues, and of course, pointing more and more people in direction of as much of the great food that makes up our amazing local food scene as I possibly can! Thanks for coming on this gastronomic journey with me, Y'all. Please tell me your goals, and cheers to another delicious year!
YEAR END RESTAURANT ROUND-UP! In 2023 I ate food at or from 180+ different restaurants, cafes, bars, food trucks, food carts, caterers, ghost kitchens, market places, and food makers of all sorts. Here they are...
67 Biltmore Downtown Eatery + Catering, All Day Darling Cafe, All Souls Pizza, Altmont Deli & Grill, Andale WAY Mexican Grill, Anoche, Archetype Brewing and Kitchen, Asheville Pizza South, Axum Coffee (Winter Park, FL), Azalea Bar & Kitchen, Baba Nahm, Bargello, Barley's, Bear's Smokehouse BBQ (Asheville, NC), Benne on Eagle, Bird's Eye Outfitters (Sault Ste Marie, MI), The Blackbird, Blue Ridge Biscuit Company - Black Mountain, Bomba, Botanist & Barrel Tasting Bar + Bottle Shop Asheville, Bouchon Asheville, Brasilia Churrasco Steakhouse-Asheville, Bull & Beggar, Bun Intended, Buttermilk Bakery (Winter Park, FL), Buxton Hall Barbecue, Capella on 9, Centreville Luncheonette, Chestnut, City Bakery, Contrada ,Cousins Cuban Cafe, The Crunchy Baker, Cultura, Cúrate, Daddy Mac's Down Home Dive - Asheville, Dancing Crane Coffee House (Sault Ste Marie, MI), Deep South Kitchen, Del Vecchios, Dilbar Restaurant, District 42, Doc Brown's BBQ, Don Juan Caffe (Winter Park , FL), Double D's Coffee and Desserts, Downtown Farmer's Market, Dripolator - Black Mountain, ELDR Restaurant, Empanada & Co. (Winter Park, FL), Farewell, Farm Dogs, Food Experience, Frank's Place (Sault Ste Marie), French Broad Chocolates, French Broad Food Co-op, French Broad Pantry, The Funkatorium, Gan Shan, Garage BBQ Food Truck, Gemelli Restaurant, Gourmand, Grateful Organic Diner (Marshall, WNC), Green Tea Japanese Restaurant, The Grocery (Black Mountain), Guajiro Cuban Comfort Food Food Truck, Havanna Miami, Hemingway’s Cuba (Cabana Experience), High Climate Tea Company, High Five Coffee, HomeGrown, Honey Badger Bakes Pop-up, The Hop Ice Cream, The Hound, Hubs Virginia Peanuts, Huli Sue's BBQ and Grill, Ingles Markets, Isa's Bistro, Ivy & the Poet (Marshall, WNC), Jimmy's by The River, La Bodega by Cúrate, Laughing Seed Cafe, Leo's House of Thirst, Little Bee Thai, Little Chango, Little D's, Little Louie's Asheville, The Lobster Trap, Lockview Restaurant (Sault Ste Marie, MI), Loott House, Louise's Kitchen (Black Mountain), Luella's Bar-B-Que North Asheville, Lulu's On Main (Sylva), Mac's Burgers & Cheesesteaks (Black Mountain), Malaprop's Bookstore/Cafe, Mama's Fixin' Sumthin' (Sault Ste Marie, MI), Manicomio Pizza, Marble & Steel Craft Chocolates, Mariscos Seafood Shack, Mary’s Mountain Cookies, Master BBQ AVL, Mayfel’s, The Med, Mëhfil, Mikasa Criolla Avl, Milton's (Black Mountain), Miyako House, Mizu Ramen & Poke, Modesto Asheville, Morsel Cookie Co., Mother Bakery South Slope, Mother Ocean Market Asheville, Mother's Pizza, Moziac Cafe, Mynt (Winter Park, FL), Neng Jr’s, The New York Butcher Shoppe (South Asheville), Oak and Grist Distilling Company, The Odd, Old Europe Pastries, Olde London Road Food Truck, The Open Oven (Black Mountain), OWL Bakery (Charlotte Street), Pasta & Prana (food truck), PennyCup Coffee Co., PennyCup Coffee at the YMI, Penny's Kitchen, PIE.ZAA, Pollen Flowers & Cafe, The Pure & Proper - Black Mountain, Rabbit Hole, Rebel Burger AVL, Red Ginger Dim Sum & Tapas, Red Stag Grill at The Grand Bohemian Hotel, The Restoration Asheville , Rockys Hot Chicken Shack, Rowan Coffee, The Rhu, Rhubarb, Ritmo Kultural (pop-up), Sabora Food Truck, Salsa's, Sand Hill Kitchen, Sassafras - Black Mountain, Sawhorse, Session Cafe / Citizen Vinyll, Shin Jung Korean (Winter Park, FL), Sisu Bread, Smoky Park Supper Club, The Soda Fountain at Woolworth Walk, South Slope Cheese Co., Sovereign Remedies, Storm Rhum Bar and Bistro, Summit Coffee, Sunny Point Café, Superior Coffee Roasting Company (Sault Ste Marie, MI), Sweet Plantain Grill, Sweets and Seats Cafe, Stay Glazed Donuts, Table, Tall John's, Tastee Diner, Taste of Asheville, The Times Bar & Coffee Shop AVL, Tiny Fish Co. (product), Trade and Lore Coffee, Tupelo Honey Southern Kitchen & Bar, Twisted Laurel Downtown Asheville, Ukiah Japanese Smokehouse, Universal Joint, Rankin Vault Lounge, Veranda (Black Mountain), Village Pub, Well-Bred Bakery & Cafe Grove Arcade, The West End, White Duck Taco Shop, Whole Foods, WILD Ginger PHO Restaurant, WNC Outdoor Collective - Black Mountain, The Worthy Baker', Yum Sushi Burrito & Poke, and Zella's Deli
I ate out a lot in 2023, more than any other year of my entire life, and I still didn't make it to half the places I wanted to try! There's such an awesome food scene going on here in WNC, it's hard to keep up with it all. Please recommend places I didn't get to in 2023, so that I can pay them a visit in 2024!
STOOBIE AWARD NOMINEES TO BE ANNOUNCED SOON! I'm working on the final nominees for the 11th annual Food Fan Awards, AKA The Stoobies right now, which will feature the best of the best what I ate all year in 2023, in 25 categories! When I get the nominees figured out, I'll release them on my blog, and here in my Substack newsletter over the next couple of weeks. In the meantime, you can refresh your memory about LAST YEAR’S (2022) nominees and winners, as well as for every year since 2013, which are all currently archived on my blog.
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Episode 133: On Track w/ Chef Bax