THE PODCAST
The podcast above was originally recorded on 07/26/2025…
00:00 - 02:04 INTRO: Stu Flying Solo, Mostly
02:05 - 05:45 CORRECTIONS: No Theme Song And Latin Fare at Tienda El Quetzal
05:46 - 18:55 WHERE’D YA EAT PART 1: The Rhu, Old Europe, Mamacitas, Wadadli Desserts, Cúrate, Miyako House, Mother & Dram
18:56 - 26:30 THE PIZZA GUY! Beer City Pizza’s Saucy Hawg is Back!
26:31 - 34:26 WHERE’D YA EAT PART 2: Birthday Boogaloo The Market Place and Happy Belly Food Truck
34:27 - 35:07 MANNA SPOT: Please Donate to MANNA Foodbank
35:08 - 46:46 LUNCH WITH LUCHO: An Asheville Multicultural Road Trip To Ay Caramba! Mexican Grill [sorry about the chainsaws]
46:47 - 49:13 OUTRO: Chainsaws & Big Wieners
49:14 - 52:37 BYE! Thanks To Deb & All The Listeners and WPVM 103.7fm!
THE NEWSLETTER
Asheville’s food scene is amazing, and like the universe, it is ever-expanding, which is awesome, but creates a dilemma for locals and visitors alike: Where to eat? With so many choices it can be overwhelming! Here are some recommendations…
THE MARKET PLACE: Where to eat when you want a special experience.
My wife and I were both born in July, and we celebrated with a wonderful meal at one of the best restaurants in the whole dang country, The Market Place, where every bite, from the local meats and cheese board to the Pavlova for dessert! The meat & cheese board was huge, and at first we were, like, "let's take half home," but nope! We pretty much crushed it. It was too good not to!
Next we got the tuna crudo with a very mild and delicious aji amarillo sauce, plus plums, purple potato chips, benne seeds, coriander, and olive oil. Super fantastically yummy! I could have eaten 10 more plates of it.
For our entree, we got the pork coppa steak, aka slow roasted cheshire farm pork with Mexican-style street corn, coriander crema, blistered shishitos & spicy tomato relish.
It was great, especially the street corn & crema, which I could eat by the bucketful. We were stuffed by the end of the entree, but what could a little ol' pavlova hurt? Oooftah! It was huge, but light & airy, and the cold sharp fruit sorbet contrasted perfectly with the super-sweet & crunchy meringue.
It was the best pavlova I've ever had & I'll probably have a pavlova-ian response whenever I think about from now on! Ha! Sorry. Anyhoo, this meal was excellent all around, including food, drinks, service & atmosphere! It's a large and very lovely space with a lot of diverse seating. Thanks, Chef Dissen and crew! Y'all are doing great things and we appreciate you! ❤
HAPPY BELLY FOOD TRUCK: Where to eat when you want to treat yourself to an awesome decadent smash burger!
One Sunday morning in July I received a text from my friend Dave, who owns The Happy Belly Food Truck Company inviting me to come grab a free burger for my birthday. I was very very excited by that invitation and quickly beat it on down to the Hi-Wire Brewing RAD Beer Garden on Lyman Street, where I found the truck, ordered the deluxe slap burger, and enjoyed it to the absolute max!!!
The only word for Dave's burgers is "gah." It's a five-gah burger. Huge, messy, cooked perfectly & absolutely packed with flavor! The deluxe has dressed LTO, American cheese & happy belly sauce. I added caramelized onions, aaand totally CRUSHED it. I stuffed the entire thing into my tiny body, commenting to Dawn the whole time. "Good lord, that's a tasty burger." "Fuuuuhhhhck me." And of course, "Gah." If you like big, messy, decadent, indulgent & super duper delicious smash burgers, I highly recommend this one! Thanks, Dave, you're the best, Mang! ❤️❤️❤️
AY CARAMBA! Where to eat when you want to real Mexican food.
Y'all, I did something super fun that I haven't done in a while: I went on an Asheville Multicultural tasting with my good friend Lucho! We drove out see Chef Enrique at Ay Caramba Mexican Grill in Leicester, where we sampled a bunch of delicious Mexican & Meximerican foods!
Chef Enrique Pérez (L) is from Jalisco, Mexico and is a graduate of the Centro Integral De Gastronomía in La Piedad, Michoacán. To say that I feel very lucky to be able to eat this chef's food way up here in Asheville, WNC would an understatement! It’s always a pleasure to see him, and this time I had the extreme honor of meeting Don Federico (R), who is the patriarch of what might be Asheville's biggest family-owned restaurant dynasty. Of course the food was amazing, as always from this Chef! The highlight of the tasting was definitely the whole fish with shrimp and octopus, or "mojarra con mariscos y salsa cucaracha" which was smothered in a deep red spicy sauce. It was truly spectacular!
The octopus was cooked perfectly and was very tender, and likewise, the shrimps were also cooked just right, as was the fish itself, which was white, and chunky/flakey. Everything was offset by the sliced avocado and other fresh crispy vegetables and rice. It had a "wow-factor" for sure, and is a superstar dish in my opinion.
Lucho and I both enjoyed the very authentic Mexican style street tacos (above), and I also really loved a dish that I was told is not a Mexican thing, but is on the menu, because "Americans like a lot of melted cheese!" 😂😂😂 It was bubbling when it came out and was essentially a piping hot cauldron of cheese and crumbled up house made chorizo with a little bit of salsa fresca on top. I called it a "deconstructed Mexican cheeseburger," and Lucho did not disagree.
Chef said he thought I might like it, and I felt seen. So, folks, whether you want sone of THE most authentic Mexican food in Asheville, or some more Americanized fare, Ay Caramba and Chef Enrique have you covered. Super nice and friendly people, really great food! Thanks, Chef, Don and Lucho for another fun and filling Multicultural adventure! 🙏❤️🌮
ASHEVILLE FOOD TOURS: Experience Asheville the way that I do: THROUGH FOOD! Sign up for a food tour with me, and I’ll feed ya some real good stuff.
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