GOOD MORNING, FRIENDS
Today’s Podcast was originally broadcast by WPVM 103.7fm on November 11 & 12, 2022, and features two great interviews about important stuff: Open Enrollment in the ACA (Affordable Care Act) with Kelsi Jo Christensen from Hummingbird Insurance Co., and awesome updates on affordable parking for downtown workers with Jennifer Hampton from Asheville Food & Beverage United. In addition to those conversations, I went on the road with Sam Kosik from Mother Ocean Market and tried the Pasta & Prana food truck, Gemelli Italian restaurant, and then Lucho from Asheville Multicultural and I went to the Ginger’s Revenge South Slope Lounge where we sampled N/A beverages and ate food from Green Man’s ghost kitchen. If you have time to listen, I hope you will enjoy!
Today’s Newsletter (below) features fresh hot delicious fancy food delivery, a tasty brunch item, a nearly forgotten favorite, and dessert at the very end, of course!
ADVENTURE DINING
Below are some pictures and words about the food that Sam, Lucho and I experienced in one day of adventure dining here in Asheville, which is also featured in the podcast above, and you can see more pictures from all three of these stops on Facebook.
11:30 am - My friend Sam & I went on a food adventure yesterday that started with the Pasta & Prana food truck parked at Franny's Farmacy on Biltmore Ave just outside of downtown. We had a gluten-free hemp flower gnocchi, along with a serving of hemp flour linguine with red sauce and vegan Parmesan. It was all very delicious, and I would recommend this food truck to anyone, whether you’re gluten-free or vegan or not!
12:30pm - Stop two on the food adventure that Sam & I went on was Gemelli, the new Italian Restaurant over in the Earthfare plaza, and it was excellent! Like, really great! We ordered from the breakfast menu, which goes until 2 PM, and we shared a bunch of stuff. Including the Benedict hash, which is a lot like steak and eggs, and the Tuscan poached eggs, which are eggs and tomato sauce with ciabatta bread, and that was an outstanding hit! Everything was great, super high recommends for Gemelli’s breakfast menu!
3:00pm - My third adventure that day was with my friend Lucho from Asheville Multicultural. He & I went to the new Ginger's Revenge Craft Brewery & Tasting Room’s South Slope Lounge where we shared a burger and a cheesesteak and a couple of non-alcoholic flights of dry soda, tea, and shrub. The whole experience was really fun, and delicious! The cheesesteak was particularly savory and tasty and soft and cheesy and steaky and awesome. The food at the Lounge is provided by the Green Man Brewery's ghost kitchen, which serves food to Ginger’s, Urban Orchard Cider Co. - South Slope, Green Man Brewery, and Dirty Jack's. Such a fun concept, and really great food! Check it out yourselves if you can, it wasn’t crowded at all on a Thursday afternoon, but they get pretty bumpin’ on Fridays and Saturdays according to the staff!
WHO NEEDS NEW YORK?
Dawn and I had planned a trip to New York City months ago, but whent he time came to leave, our flight was delayed and delayed until it was finally canceled, due to some crazy weather in New York, so we just stayed here in Asheville! To make ourselves feel better about our missed trip, we immediately went to one of our favorite local joints, All Souls Pizza! We had an amazing arugula salad, with Parmesan, as well as their “honey” pizza, which has jalapeños, banana peppers, pepperoni, and local honey! Then we ended with chocolate vanilla swirled soft serve ice cream! Gah! Everything was outstandingly delicious, and we immediately felt better about being turned away at the airport!
The lighting inside of All Souls is very dark, and very colorful, so I did the best I could to take pictures and then adjust them later so that they didn’t look too strange! You can see above the pictures that I adjusted, as well as two that I didn’t! 🙂 Thanks for welcoming us home, All Souls, even though we never left!
The day after our trip to NYC was cancelled, Dawn & I popped into Tall John's and were lucky enough to find two seats at the bar, where we shared a small meal of warm peel & eat shrimps with whipped dippin’ butter, and a plate of fancy meat & cheese.
Dawn also got a special “Jasper” martini, and Jasper himself brought me a non-alcoholic soda called Crodino that was sweet & bitter and super tasty. The tea cup was a nice touch. Everything was excellent and we loved the experience! You can see already why we weren’t too upset about missing a flight to New York.
The final thing Dawn & I did to make-up for our missed trip to NYC was attend a really special dinner at Citizen Vinyl featuring Chef Sunil Patel from Patchwork Urban Farms. It was five courses, and every dish held something new and unique for me! There were things I’d never had before, as well as some very comforting flavors. I ate every single molecule of food you see in these pictures, and Dawn enjoyed some tasty drinks as well. This was all part of the Turntable Supper series at Session Cafe. Look for the next dinner in the series, and purchase tix if you can! I’ve been to two now, and they were both great! I’m looking forward to more. ❤️🔥
MANNA FOODBANK FUNDRAISER
Y'all, I've been doing these annual MANNA FoodBank fundraisers for a few years now, and I think I've noticed that there seems to be two kinds of donors: There are those folks who donate right away, to get the ball rolling, and then there are those who like to wait until the end, to get us over the finish line. It’s the MEATY PART OF THE MIDDLE of the fundraiser that is most difficult to push through, and that’s where we are right now. So, please, as you prepare for your own various holiday feasts this season, consider using his link to make a generous donation to MANNA Foodbank through this fundraiser if you can, and BE THE MEAT IN THE MIDDLE! It’s the best part of any meal.
DESSERT
The best dessert I’ve had since my last newsletter was part of the above-mentioned Turnable Supper, so, again, be sure to sign-up for one if you can. The sounds boring, but was outstanding! It’s a chocolate torte with popped amaranth, raspberry puree, and Asian pears. I don’t usually gush over chocolate torte, but this thing was unbelievably delicious. The torte itself was creamy & chocolatey AF, while the puree added tang & freshness, as did the pears, which also brought a very nice crispy crunch to the plate.
Desserts can often be the low-light of a ticketed dinner, but such was not the case here. I commend Chef Patel and his crew on the entire meal, with extra gold stars for this wonderful dessert.
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Good Morning, Friends...