THE PODCAST
The podcast above was originally recorded on 12/15/2024 with my usual co-host Chef Tom LaFauci from Twisted Laurel Downtown Asheville as well as special guest Chef Maureen LaFauci from Bear’s Smokehouse BBQ…
00:00 - 04:10 INTRO: Chef Maureen In The House & Otto In The Trash
04:11 - 16:38 BEAR’S BBQ & WCK: Chef Maureen Was Boots On The Ground
16:39 - 20:05 LOOKING FORWARD: And Hoping For Better Weather
20:06 - 20:46 MANNA SPOT: Please Donate to MANNA Foodbank
20:47 - 23:48 CHEF JOSE ANDRES: And Maureen’s Memorable Ride
23:49 - 39:12 TO TAX OR NOT TO TAX? F&B People Weigh In On Taxing Tips
39:13 - 41:58 BYE! Thanks To Maureen & Tom & Deb WPVM 103.7fm!
56:09 - 57:47 DING DONG! The Pizza Guy is Here! It’s That Time of Year!
THE NEWSLETTER
Happy New Year, Y’all!
Let’s do some end-of-year type of stuff…
2024 RESTAURANT ROUND-UP: In 2024 I ate food at or from 211 different restaurants, cafes, bars, food trucks, food carts, caterers, ghost kitchens, market places, food events and food makers of all sorts. Here they are…
12 Bones River, 12 Bones South, 4D’s Sweet Dreams Ice Cream On The Go, 5 Points Restaurant, 67 Biltmore, Abeja’s House, All Day Darling, All Souls Pizza, Aloha Cafe, Altmont Deli & Grill, Andale Way, Apotheca, Appalachan Chic Food Truck, Arturo Ristorante, Asheville Airport, Asheville Club, Asheville Pizza South, Baabals Ice Cream, Baba Nahm, Back Porch Baking Co., Bargello, Batter & Whisk Baked Delights, Bear’s BBQ, Bee Thai Kitchen, Ben’s Backdraft BBQ, Bier Garden, Bird’s Eye Oufitters Cafe (Sault Ste Marie, MI), Bite Me Chef’s Cook-Off, Black Bird, Bodega, Bold Rock, Botanist & Barrel, Botiwalla, Bouchon, Bridge & Tunnel, Bun Intended, Burger Bliss, Burgerworx, Burial Beer, Buttermilk Bakery (Winter Park, FL), Buxton Chicken Palace, Capella on 9, Carmel’s, Centreville Luncheonette, El Centro, Chai Pani, The Chemist, Chestnut, Crater City Coffee Co., CFA Cafe, Clean Street Food (truck), Clyde’s Drine-In, Contrada, Coriander Farm & Kitchen, Corner Kitchen, Corto y Lima, Cúrate, Dancing Crane Coffee House (Sault Ste Marie, MI), Delish Food Truck, Delta Sky Club, Dilbar, Dizzy’s Glizzies, Domu (Winter Park), Don Juan Caffe (Winter Park , FL), Dos Gatos, Double D’s Coffee Bus, Early Girl, El Mariachi Restaurant, Farewell Coffee, Farm Burger, Farm Dogs, Fitzgerald’s, Fletcher Village Bakery & Cafe, Flour, Folk Method Kitchen, Frank’s Place (Sault Ste Marie), French Broad Chocolate Lounge, The Giddy Chick, Goodale’s Bakery & Deli, Good Hot Fish, Grateful Roots Deli, Grayling Coffee & Tea Company, The Grayling Restaurant, Green Sage Cafe, The Grind, Happy Belly Food Truck, Hemmingway’s Cuba, High Climate Tea Room, High Five Broadway, High Five Coffee Rankin, High Five River, The Hop Ice Creamery, The Hound, Huli Sue’s Hawaiian BBQ, Huli Sue’s Hawaiian BBQ Food Truck, Hygge Market, Infuso Dinner at The Green Room, Insomnia Cookies, Izzy’s Coffee Den, Jack of the Wood, Jam Hot Chicken (Winter Park), JD’s Meals To Go, Jettie Rae’s, Jimmy, Josie’s Restaurant, Juicy Lucy’s, La Bodega, Laila Indian Restaurant, Laughing Seed, Le Supreme, Lineage Coffee Roasting (Orlando, FL), Little Amsterdam Cafe & Smoke Lounge, Little Bee Thai, Little D’s, Loott House, Lost Flamingo, Lothrop & Sons Fishery, Luminosa, The Madness, Mamacitas, Mane Street Bar & Cafe, Manicomio, Maguro, The Market Place, Marriott-Bonvoy Hotel ATL, Mary’s Mountain Cookies, The Med, Mëhfil, Mela, Mera Brother Oyster Co., Mikasa Criola, Milltown Brick Oven Pizza, Mission Pizza / Terra Nova Beer, Miyako House, Modesto, Moofinfries, morE mod•diSh, Mother Bakery South Slope, MRE (Meals Ready to Eat), The Mule, New Stock Pantry, Nightcrawler, Nisu Bakery & Cafe, Noodle Shop, Old Europe, The Original Conella’s, Palate Coffee Roasters (Sandford, FL), PennyCup RAD, PennyCup YMI, Penny’s Cafe (Sault Ste Marie), Peterson’s Fish Market, Pierre’s Marketplace, PlantBar, Pollen Flowers & Cafe, Pon’s Thai Cuisine, Posana, Provisions MQT (Marquette, MI), Pupuseria Paty, Quench, Rabbit Hole, The Rankin Vault, Red Ginger, Red Hook Cafe, The Rhu, Rite Rite cafe, Rocky’s Hot Chicken Shack, Roman’s Deli, The Roof at The Radical, Rowan Coffee, Sabora Food Truck, Sage & Spice, Sakshi’s Roasted Chestnuts, Sedo’s Premium Ice Cream, Session Cafe @ Citizen Vinyl, Sinbad’s, Shanghai Dumpling House, The Soda Fountain at Woolworth Walk, Soprana Rooftop Cucina, Sovereign Remedies, Spike’s Keg o’ Nails, St. John’s River Seafood & Steak (Sandford, FL), Static Age Records, Storm, Sugar (Sault Ste Mari, Canada), Summit Coffee, Sunshine Sammies, Suomi Home Bakery & Restaurant, Superior Coffee Cafe (Sault Ste Marie, MI), Sweets & Seats, Table, Tall John’s, Taste of Asheville, Thirsty Monk, Tienda Los Nenes, Times Bar, Trenary Toast Cafe, Tupelo Honey, Twisted Laurel Downtown Asheville, Ukiah Japanese Smokehouse, Ukiah Japanese Smokehouse Hot Box, Velodrome Coffee Co., The Vierling Restaurant, Vivian, Wafu, White Duck Taco, Winter Park Biscuit Co. (FL), World Central Kitchen, The Worthy Baker, Yamaneko Bento, Yalla Food Truck, Zambra, Zephyr Wine Bar (Marquette, MI)
I enjoyed (almost) everything I ate in 2024, and had very few bad bites, lame dishes, or meals I didn’t like along the way. Thank you to all the food growers, makers, providers, and servers. I appreciate you, and I’ll see ya in 2025!
12th ANNUAL STOOBIE AWARDS! It’s time for parts 1 & 2 of the 12th Annual Asheville Food Fan Awards AKA The Stoobies! Out of allllllll the food I ate last year, the nominees below represent my top picks, my highest recommendations, my most favorite. If you made the list, congrats! Competition has never been tighter than it was in 2024! Click HERE to read about all the nominees all 24 categories, from Smash Burger to Person of the Year!
PACK’S TAVERN: To close out the year in 2024 we went on a triple dipple Asheville Food Tours lunch junket with the boss Paddy treating myself and our fellow food tour guide Sarah to a great meal at Pack’s Tavern in Downtown Asheville. Pack’s is an old school, family friendly, pub-style favorite of mine (and past Stoobie Award winner!) and we enjoyed three of their standard dishes: The Bison meatloaf, the fried chicken sandwich, and the double smash burger. There were also a lot of very crispy and delicious French fries involved, as well as mashed taters with mushroom gravy, and Brussels sprouts.
We did the mathematically challenging job of dividing it all into thirds, and sharing the shit out of everything! Oof. We ate a lot, and left feeling very full, and very satisfied. Thanks, Packs! You're a local staple, and we appreciate you!
SUMMT COFFEE ASHEVILLE: I always go a little sugar-crazy during the Holidays, with all the home made cookies that Dawn churns out, as well as all the other sweets and cookies that I get from local bakeries, plus that cookie contest I judged??? Gah. It’s a lot, and I may have gone slightly to the dark side when I ordered a large “sugar cookie latte” at Summit Coffee Asheville, and asked for it breve (that means made with half & half, not whole milk)... and topped with whipped cream... and rainbow fucking sprinkles. O - O
I’m still high.
MODESTO: My mom, my wife and I had something very special to celebrate at the end of last year, so we wanted to go someplace local for lunch that's high end, sophisticated, super delicious, and worthy of such an occasion. My mom picked Modesto Asheville, and that was more than okay with me and Dawn! Modesto is incredible, and I am a big fan. We entered and were greeted warmly and enthusiastically by Chef Hector who was very pleased to see me and meet my family. We were seated, and we got started with the warm dolmas (aka stuffed grape leaves) and they were fantastically flavorful and comforting.
My mom ordered the swordfish steak, and loved it! She ate about half and took the rest home for later, which is really nice for her.
Dawn got the grilled Romain salad, which was as beautiful to look at as it was to eat. She did about half and took the rest home and crushed it for dinner.
I got the crab encrusted monkfish which was out of this world, and was essentially the house made crabcakes, used as a breading for the monkfish, which was all perfectly cooked and smothered in an insanely savory and satisfying butter sauce, and served on top of some super creamy risotto with sautéed vegetables. It was sooo frickin' good!
I had over-ate the dolmas, tho, so I was only able to eat about 1/3 of mine and took the rest home. (It reheated really well the next day, and retained all it juiciness and flavor.) I'm glad I didn't heroically attempt to eat my entire dish, because Chef sent us a sample platter of his desserts: tiramisu, bread pudding, and cheesecake, with fruit puree and what looked and tasted like a sauce Englais to me. Wow.
Each and every bite was ecstasy. This entire meal was every bit as special as we wanted it to be, and I highly recommend Modesto for lunch and dinner, whether it's a special occasion or not, but especially if it is. 🙂
WNC PIZZA WEEK 2025 / CALL FOR PARTICIPANTS
Seeking Pizza Makers of All Kinds!
Hi Y’all! I’m organizing a WNC Pizza Week, for the week of March 10 – 16, 2025, and I’m inviting every pizza maker in Western North Carolina to participate!
If you’re a professional pizza maker, whether you own a pizzeria, a restaurant, a food truck, or even a portable pizza oven for pop-ups, I would love to include you in WNC PIZZA WEEK!
It’s very easy to participate: All you have to do is offer a specialty pie and/or slice at a special price during the week-long (7 day) event. Pizza week will be happening from March 10 – March 16, 2025.
Please let me know ASAP if you would like to participate, or if you have questions, by emailing me at stuhelmavl@gmail.com
And you can check out more details on the web page HERE!
I hope to hear from you!
— end —
Share this post