Good Morning, Friends
adult language warning: this newsletter contains adult langue.
Good morning, Friends!
I hope you are doing well, and enjoying the somewhat cooler weather! It was 5 years ago around this time that my partner Angie Rainey and I produced the very first Asheville Coffee Expo together. Gosh, what fun! And a shit-ton of work! Holy moly. Angie & I produced A.C.E. for two years, then she decided to go back to school, and thanks to her, we were able to sell our event to Abby Dickins, who continued it for two more years, then COVID hit, and now, unfortunately, there is no more Asheville Coffee Expo. I asked Abby and she said the concept is up for grabs if someone else wants to run with it. I originally started the event because I wanted to ATTEND it, so I hope that someone grabs ahold of the idea and goes for it. It was super successful and a vert strong concept!
Anyhoo, Fall always makes me think of the Asheville Coffee Expo. Good times.
SEAL OF APPROVAL
For no reason at all, I’ve started making these Seal of Approval graphics for various restaurants that I think have fucking great food. They are not the same as my annual “Food Fan Awards,” they’re just extra sauce. I’ve only given out three so far, and all of the restaurants I chose have a long track record of excellence with me: Black Bear BBQ*, Chai Pani, and Rocky’s Hot Chicken Shack.
Not everyone will agree with my choices of course, and that’s okay. I don’t always agree with everyone else’s choices either. ;)
*Black Bear BBQ’s Chef, A.J. Gregson gets carry-over cred for all the years of excellent food he cooked & served at Mojo Kitchen.
FOOD POD UPDATE
Fam, I’m gonna need your help with this Food Fan Food Pod that I’m putting together. I can’t do it alone! Yes, I have great partners already: The person who owns the land, who’s name is Josh, and my good friend Jason Sandford from Ashvegas, but I want this pod to be more than just a place where food trucks park, I want it to be a place where people have fun. FUN! Gotta be fun, or fuck it, right?
Right now Food Fan Food Pod is a barren, dusty lot with some big rocks on it, but one day soon, it’s going to be a wee little oasis of awesomeness on I-26/240, and I want all y’all to to start thinking of it that way! In your minds, it’s already awesome. Say it with me, “It’s already awesome.”
As always, you can watch it being developed as you cruise up and down the highway in and out of the west side of town, just close your eyes, and visualize the good times. Wait, no! Don’t close your eyes! Driving.
above: Watch for the signage soon! below: The big rocks you can go see now.
PUKE POP-UP
During the height of the early shut-downs in 2020, I started an imaginary punk rock restaurant called Puke, just for laughs on Facebook. Posing as the drunken owner of Puke, I posted outrageously ugly pictures of shitty food, horrible drink specials, and run down buildings, all with bad graphics and even worse spelling.
I did a lot of “world building” around Puke, with a rival imaginary restaurant called Pip-Pip Cheerio’s, a liquor store called Dick’s, and a topless bar called Gaye’s all in the imaginary neighborhood, on a street called Long Coxe Ave.
I even printed and sold Puke t-shirts, and at Punk Rock Hot Dogs 2021, Puke was forced to compete when one of the real competitors was a no-show! My compadre Bennet from Brass Town Beef stepped up and squirted streams of mustard on hot dogs all day long.
Well, now it’s time for the first-ever Puke Pop-Up! And I couldn’t think of any better place than The Odditorium and no better person than Chef Ben Hester to get us started. It’s gonna happen every Tuesday in November and we’ll keep you posted on the deets as they develop.
See you there!
BAD PLAYLIST
This week’s playlist of truly awful music that I actually like and listen to is a “Heavy Set” that I put together for myself on Youtube back in June. It features SUNN0))), High On Fire, Dopethrone, and more. It’s about 75 mins long. It’s practically unlistenable. Enjoy!