GOOD MORNING, FRIENDS…
On the Podcast this morning, I talked with my friend and AVL Food News reporter, Micah Molinari about his recent trip to Winston-Salem! He has four recommendations for that city, plus we talked about “the world’s best brownie,” found right here in Asheville.
DINNER WITH THE DEAN
On Tuesday night I had dinner at Benne on Eagle with a person named Katie Dean. Katie is running for congress in the 11th district, for the office currently occupied by the ever-petulant David “Madison” Cawthorn. Katie’s campaign strategist, who I know from other stuff, asked me to meet the candidate, and I was like, “Uhhhh… hell yeah!”
I’m not fooling myself into thinking that I’m the least bit important, LOL, but I do know a lot of people who really are important, plus I have a pretty big local following on my combined social media, as well as on Ashvegas, and with this here newsletter, so I’m a good conduit for reaching an audience. Also, people seem to trust my opinion on cheeseburgers, so why not a congressional candidate! Ha ha!
I told Katie that I have not decided on who I will vote for, or publicly endorse yet, but we spent 2 1/2 hours eating a delicious meal together, talking almost exclusively about politics, healthcare, small business, workers needs, housing, bringing the people of WNC together, and food of course. From my perspective, Katie Dean is a smart, capable, caring, down-to-earth person, who is also a bad-ass (ask her about her operation sans anesthesia!) with a positive mental attitude, and she’s a totally viable candidate to represent ALL of District-11. Check her out on your own, we have a big decision to make in November 2022! I don’t know what’s gonna happen, but I do know that we deserve someone way better than the one we’ve currently got.
BUT HOW WAS THE FOOD?
It was fantastic! We shared wings, and I ordered the Haitian Griot (pork shoulder) served with polenta, beans, something called “pikliz,” which is pickled cabbage, carrots, and peppers. It’s kinda sorta like chowchow, if you’re familiar with that. :) The wings were great! I recommend them, I’ll talk about them on the Wing Thing with Rick Crelia soon. The pork shoulder was sooooo good. I powered my way through it like a John Deere combine through a wheat field. It had a lot of savory flavor to it, and lots of depth and texture! For those who don’t like fatty pork, do not get it. For people like me, who do like fatty pork when it’s done right, GET IT. It was done right.
We also got to meet the new Chef de Cusine, Cleophus Hethington, who was kind enough to visit our table. He was very nice, soft-spoken, and gracious. He’s brand new to town, he’s been here for just 8 weeks, so please pay him and all the staff at Benne on Eagle a visit!
The picture above is from the Benne website, the pictures I took were really bad, but if want to see them, you can look on Facebook.
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Good Morning, Friends