GOOD MORNING, FRIENDS

Today’s Podcast is another full-length episode of the Food Fans Radio Show, which airs every Friday and Saturday on WPVM 103.7fm, Asheville’s Progressive Voice of the Mountains! This week features three interviews, and a pizza! First, I had the pleasure of talking with Asheville City Councilperson, Antanette Mosley about her background, her love of food, and her major issue: Housing. I also talked with my friend Robyn Josephs, who is the interim manager of the Black Mountain Tailgate Market about the job and their search to find a permanent manager. I also caught up briefly with Jennifer Hampton from Asheville Food & Beverage United about their upcoming Labor Day parade, and jammed in between all that, I reviewed the fantastic Umami Pizza from Asheville Pizza South.

Top: Asheville City Councilperson Antanette Mosley. Bottom: Robyn Josephs from the Black Mountain Tailgate Market.

Today’s Newsletter contains words and pictures of and about a fantastic meal that Dawn and I had at a brand new restaurant in West Asheville, as well as tacos, hot dogs, ribs, and CORN!

NENG JR’S

Y’awwwlllll… omg… Dawn and I just ate thee most fantastic, exciting, and delicious meal at a new Filipino restaurant called Neng Jr’s, that’s run by Chef Silver Cousler, and wow...

INSTANT Meal of the Year contender. INSTANT new restaurant of the year contender. INSTANT: Best side of fruit EVER. That last one wasn’t an actual category until I ate this fruit. Daaaaaaang that’s good fruit! Everything was awesome! The flavors were unique, the plates were attractive to look at, the drinks were perfect, the service was great, the faces were friendly and familiar, the atmosphere is cute AF, and even the music was good! Super high recommends for this tiny restaurant in West Asheville. It’s something very special, get in when can, order ANYTHING. order EVERYTHING. Hours are limited but expanding soon and you can book a table thru Resy. Neng Jr’s doesn’t have a Facebook page, but you can follow them on Insta. 🔥🔥🔥🔥

TACO TRUCK

Are there any two more perfect words when paired together than taco and truck? That’s why I was super-excited to find out that Asheville’s favorite restaurant (literally voted as such in the Mountain X) Mamacitas has a new truck that is parking on Depot Street in the River Arts District. I went there recently with my friend Lucho from Asheville Multicultural, and we shared two crazy hot dogs, and two specialty tacos, all of them delicious! I will in particular recommend the Mexican street corn hot dog, which is basically two of my all time favorite things combined into one genius food item! Roasted corn, Cotija cheese, cilantro, and salsa, all on a beautiful, snappy-skinned long-dog from Snap-O-Razzo, in a soft, white, grilled hot dog bun. YOM! A bonus is that the skin on the ends of these long boys gets kinda turned into a crunchy little Chicharrón on each end! Ding ding ding!

So get on down to the RAD, the truck is parked in front of Amber Arthur’s soccer bar, which is called Olde London Road, but don’t let that confuse you, it’s all on Depot Street.

THE RIDESHARE FOODIE

I met recently up with Kreskin Torres, aka The Rideshare Foodie, who has traveled to and eaten his way through all 50 states. He’s in Asheville, so we got together for a late lunch, and popped into Huli Sue's BBQ and Grill because A. I know Kreskin loves ribs, and Huli’s has some of my faves, B. Huli’s is open on Mondays, C. The owners are real nice, and D. Bonus: Kreskin wanted Brunswick stew and loves pineapple drinks, both of which Huli’s has in abundance! He was super impressed and, so was I. I’m telling you what, Asheville, do not sleep on these ribs. So dang good!!! Kreskin will in town for about a week, and he’s super friendly, so keep an eye out for him, and treat him right! He’s also an actual Uber/Lyft driver, who is working while here, so he might be your ride this week! And of course, follow him on Facebook and Instagram. ❤️🔥❤️🔥

And the answer to your question is, yes, those ribs are deep fried.

THIS CORN IS CAKE

Daaaaaang, y’all. This dessert was the most clever and delicious thing I’ve seen in a long time. Dawn and I attended another Chow Chow event, this time a brunch CORN: A Cross-cultural Celebration + Bluegrass Brunch, which was, as you may have guessed, all about CORN! The menu included things like fried corn with lime butter + pistachios, corn macque choux hoecake with succotash, smoked pork, pickled corn relish + smoked corn sauce, corn + cardamom mazamorra with pickled blackberries and peaches, mini buttermilk tarts with caramelized corn, etc etc corn corn corn, including the dessert pictured below…

So, right before dessert was served, I left the table momentarily, and when I got back, here it was… and I said to myself, “Okayyyy, this appears to be a piece of raw corn on the cob, and some ice cream… and… I like ice cream… and… corn… so…” I shrugged my shoulders, kinda poked suspiciously at the corn cob with my spoon, and to my great surprise and relief, it was not corn, it was cake. More specifically, it was buttermilk and vanilla sweet corn cake with sweet corn diplomat cream inside of a white chocolate shell that mimicked corn kernels, all served with bourbon caramel sauce and butter ice cream. Fuck yes. It was insanely tasty, and pretty dang cool too! It was made by Chef Tie Whittaker of the Buttermilk Boutique located in Clayton, NC. It was truly one of the best surprises I‘ve had in a while!

There are a bunch more Chow Chow events coming up in September, including the Food Stories dinner, at which I will be one of the speakers!

SUBSCRIPTION DRIVE!

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By the end of August, if I have exceeded my goals by 25 subscribers, I'll publish three more coloring pages from my "Besties" series: Shrimp 'n' Grits, Chicken 'n' Waffles, and Biscuits 'n' Gravy. If I crush my goals by 50 subscribers, I'll add my "Forbidden Love" Pineapple-Bacon Pizza coloring page.

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Stu Helm: Food Fan

Good Morning, Friends...