Today’s Podcast was originally broadcast by WPVM 103.7fm on November 18 & 19, 2022, and features an interview with Chelsea Herre from Rhubarb & The Rhu, and one with Chef Molly Cook from Marble & Steel Craft Chocolates. I also review Abeja’s House Cafe, and Asheville Pizza South’s Pizza of the Month! If you have time to listen, I hope you will enjoy!
Today’s Newsletter (below) features Asheville Pizza South’s Pizza of the Month, breakfast ramen from Ukiah Japanese Smokehouse, holiday gift ideas from Marble and Steele Craft Chocolates, and of course, dessert!
PIZZA OF THE MONTH
Every month, the owner of Asheville Pizza South, Drew Peterson comes by my house with his newest Pizza of the Month for me to try, including his November Pizza Birria! It was super delish! Here’s his description:
“We start with an in house made dough made with birria sauce. Cold ferment that for around 3 days. Then we deep fry it. We then take stew beef sourced from Warren Wilson College farm and slow cook it with our spicy birria sauce for 24 hours. The Saucy beef goes on the fried dough, then we cover that with Oaxaca and fresh mozzarella cheese. It's served with an extra birria dipping sauce, salsa verde, chopped onion and cilantro, and some lime wedges all on the side.”
It was frickin’ delicious!!! Super meaty, and satisfying! The birria dough has a really nice unique flavor & texture. The toppings are dense & dank, and weigh about a ton! I eschewed the onions, but the dippin’ sauces were great, the fresh lime was just the right touch to cut through all that cheese and beef!
It was a LOT of pizza for one person, so I brought some to my mom and she loved it too!
BREAKFAST RAMEN
Good lord, Y’all. The breakfast ramen from Ukiah Japanese Smokehouse is one of my favorite dishes in downtown, and so perfect for the cold Fall & Winter days ahead! Also, while I was there, I noticed that they the kimchi scallion potato pancake is still on the menu too, though I’ve heard it’s going away, so go get that while you can, and definitely hit up this ramen too. They would taste great together, actually. Mmmm… I’m gonna do that next time! 🙂❤️🔥👍🤘
COME ON A FOOD TOUR WITH ME
LIMITED TIME OFFER! Come on a food tour with me this week, and use the "Friend of Stu" code FOS2022 to get 20% OFF! I have bookings available for Sunday (11/27), Tuesday (11/29) & Wednesday (11/30)! My tours go from 4pm - 7pm, and we eat a metric ton of food! This is the time of year for locals to take advantage of the lower tourism rate and enjoy downtown ourselves! It's beautiful this time of year, and the restaurants love to see locals! Sign up with me and Asheville Food Tours TODAY and get a nice discount, just because you know me. 🙂 Book your tickets & redeem your discount at www.ashevillefoodtours.com
HOLIDAY GIFT IDEA
YUM!!! Marble & Steel Craft Chocolates makes some of thee cutest and most delicious chocolates, truffles, and treats in town, if not the entire country! Chef Molly Cook brought me a bunch of samples, and I highly recommend alllllllll of this stuff to everyone! Holy moly. The “S’mores bar” was fantastic, and included toasted mini marshmallows to give it a caramelized touch!
All of the chocolate and white chocolate is of the highest possible quality and just melts on your tongue. The cookies and cream bar was super creamy and cookie-y, and had a real close-your-eyes-while-you-eat-it-because-it’s-so-good factor going on. And now let’s talk about what’s inside those boxes.
The smaller box is specifically their holiday box, the other is one of their perennial assortments. I have been eating them one at a time, trying to make them last, and I’m telling you what, they are amazing. The flavors are punchy, and each one is very unique. The ingredients are all top notch, and every single one of them is so dang cute I wanna die. (many more pictures available on Facebook.) You can order these chocolates online, and contact Chef Cook through the website. Get them for yourself because you deserve it, or get them for someone else because you really really like that person! Aaand, anytime you want to slide one of those under my Christmas tree, you can go right ahead! 🙂
MANNA FOODBANK: THE NEED HAS GROWN
The Need for Food in WNC is Nearly Double Pre-Pandemic Numbers. To put it in plain terms: MANNA is currently working very hard to overcome significant challenges right now to meet the historic need for food that exists in our region.
While a lot of the world is returning to some sense of normalcy since the pandemic began, MANNA is continuing to serve nearly the same number of people that they served during the peak of the pandemic: An average of over 127,000 neighbors each month. This is 95% higher than pre-pandemic levels due to the high cost of living in our region, and increased costs for food and other essentials.
With your help and that of all of the incredible volunteers, partners and supporters, MANNA is doing everything they can to ensure that our neighbors have access to food. If you are able to give, please do so by clicking this button, and contributing to our annual fundraiser. We are just a little more than halfway to our goal of $5,000 for MANNA, and we sure could use your help!
DESSERT
Cooooooookieeeeee!!! I dropped into the brand new Morsel Cookie Company on Rankin Ave recently and I picked up a giant-sized birthday cake cookie, that I brought home and shared with Dawn. We couldn’t stop eating it! We’d eat a couple chunks, and be all like, “Whoa, so much cookie,” and push it away. Two seconds later, we’re sliding it back in front of us to break off another chunk! The cookie part is crunchy on the outside and sof’ ’n’ doughy on the inside. The frosting on this one goes deep inside the cookie — like a cookie volcano — and had a delicious buttery flavor & texture.
These are some high end, bangin’ cookies! 🔥🔥🔥 Recommended for all cookie lovers out there! 🍪❤️
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Good Morning, Friends...