The podcast above features me and my co-host Chef Tom LaFauci have a bit of a Pizza Party
Podcast Contents
00:00 - 03:22 INTRO: Let’s Try Not to Sound Like Idiots
03:23 - 24:30:19 PIZZA PARTY! 13 Places to Buy Pizza in Downtown Asheville*
24:32 - 25:17 MANNA SPOT: Please Donate to MANNA Foodbank.
25:18 - 29:59 TURDUCKEN: And Other Delights
30:00 - 46:33 WHERE’D YA EAT? Delish Food Truck, Luminosa, Bee Thai Kitchen, Andale Way, and coffee from Old Europe, Pollen, Summit, Back Porch Bakery, The Rhu, plus a party at the new Chai Pani and Wing Wonderland
46:34 - 52:30 OUTRO: Goodbye and the Importance of Lists
* UPDATE: There are now 16 places to get Pizza in Downtown Asheville
PIZZA PIZZA PIZZA PIZZA: There are currently at least 16 places to get yourself a pizza of one kind or another in downtown Asheville. Just downtown. There’s dozens more in all over Asheville, including several trucks and trailers.
The 16 places downtown are (in alphabetical order): Bargello, Barley’s, Carmel’s, Contrada, Flour, Luminoso, Manicomio Pizza, Mellow Mushroom, Mission Pizza, Modesto, Pack’s Tavern, Pie.Zaa, Soprana Rooftop Cucina, Strada, Twisted Laurel Downtown Asheville, and White Labs all serve pizza, whether it’s their main thing, or just a section on their menu.
I have not been to all of them, but I’m eating my way through the pizza options of Asheville! Most of the venues are doing California style pizza, which is essentially , except for Flour, which seems to be doing a version of Grandma style or Sicilian style on Focaccia.
Manicomio has my favorite New York Style pizza, but on occasion they do a Detroit style that’s thicker, breadier, sweeter and spicier than an NY pie, and cut square. I love it! The biggest pie is at Pie.Zaa. The highest pie is on the 6th floor of the Embassy Suites Hotel at Soprana. My mom’s new fave is at Flour. So, try some pizza while you’re downtown! There are a lot of choices!
DELISH FOOD TRUCK: The Delish Foodtruck was parked on S. French Broad Ave. recently, and I got a bunch of food! I ordered the Venezuelan start pack, which was full of a variety of deep fried delights! There were 2 mini plain arepas, 2 mandoca, 2 cheese tequeños, and 2 mini cheese empanadas!
Whoa. Lotta food. I ate one of each and will save the rest for the hockey game later tonight. Everything was tasty, especially with the sauces, but my favorites were the cheese tequeños, which were very crispy and salty and appealed to the little kid in me. The mandoca are very sweet, BTW, so I saved them for dessert.
The chef / owner also wanted me to try his most popular item, so he put a giant stuffed arepa in my bag too! It was fantastic! Very flavorful and extremely filling. Ooftah! I'm stuffed. Thank you, Delish! Cute truck, cute packaging, nice people, great food! 🔥 Thank you Hatch Coworking, for bring food trucks to South French Broad Ave!
BEE THAI KITCHEN: I recently went to the new Bee Thai Kitchen on South French Broad Ave, and had a fun and tasty meal. First of all, I ordered Penang curry and pad Thai, and totally forgot to take pictures of both of those. So I'll go back to get them, and take pictures, but both were very tasty and I enjoyed them a lot. In these pictures, you will see their version of crab Rangoon, which come in these little ball shaped packets, very enjoyable. There were also some pork filled Gyoza, which were excellent, and I got their very unique crispy shrimp tacos.
The tacos were very delicious, with a combination of fresh veggies, and some nice shrimp that were cooked inside of a crispy wonton. I love this concept, my only critique is that the wheat tortillas were a little bit thick for me. I would love to see these tacos done with a fresh jicama tortilla. Does anybody remember when Chef Katie Button made her Caesar salads on jicama tortillas at Nightbell back in the day? I feel like that would be perfect vehicle for these Thai tacos! 🙂
POLLEN & SUMMIT: One of my favorite cafés is Pollen. They always make a very nice cappuccino, and they always have really nice baked goods. I got a tasty, hefty, Very satisfying cardamom roll there the other day, baked by Back Porch Baking.
Pollen also sells fresh flowers, a little bit of cute merchandise, and they always play really good music there. So I like it a lot! I also really like going to Summit Coffee in the Grove Arcade, where I had an excellent cappuccino, and a very yummy pear danish at the other day.
Once again, the Danish was from Chef Hayette at Back Porch Baking Co. who is making some of my most favorite cafe snacks in town these days! And is a really awesome person. ❤️
ASHEVILLE FOOD TOURS: Take a food tour with me, or my fellow tour guide, Sarah and Asheville Food Tours! Our walking tours of downtown take about 3 - 3.5 hours, typically include 6 or 7 stops, a meal+ worth of food, as well a couple of alcoholic beverages along the way too if you want them, or mocktails if you don’t! The sign-up process is easy, and if you have any Q’s you can contact me at stuhelmavl@gmail.com or The Boss aka Paddy at info@ashevillefoodtours.com. Click the button below to visit our website and book your tour!
“Sara the guide was an excellent. The timing and the restaurants chosen plus the food taste was extraordinary. We had a great time!!!!” - Julio
“Stu was awesome. One of the restaurants was crowded so we couldn’t all sit together - Stu didn’t let that bother him. He still went to each individual table and gave us the detailed list of the food and served us super well! Stu had so much energy and took us to all the best spots. I will be recommending this to all of my friends.” - Micah
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