This past weekend I took a trip to Asheville, North Carolina. It was a wonderful weekend full of fantastic food. I am always looking for new and interesting places to eat, but I have to make it work with my extreme dietary restrictions. I thought I would share with you the things that we enjoyed, both those I was proud for choosing and those that I was not so proud of. If you are ever in western North Carolina you must must go to Asheville. It, and the surrounding towns, are so friendly and fun. There is great dining and lots to see and do.
The whole trip started with my amazing boyfriend cooking dinner for me. He bought some oatmeal stout from Highland Brewing Company to go with the dinner. It was delicious and brewed mere hours from Atlanta. He has a coworker who telecommutes from Asheville who had offered us a place to stay and we decided to take him up on the offer. It was great staying with people who live in the area, they showed us all the great spots.
Here are the places we went as well as some recommendations on some better food choices than I made.
Haus Heidelberg - Hendersonville, NC: Jager Schnitzel with Spatzle and Salad
Just half an hour outside of Asheville. The place is decked out with German trinkets and pictures. They serve very authentic German dishes. On thing I highly recommend to post ops who like to dine out is to find someone with whom you can share dishes. This way you don't feel wasteful and you end up saving money in the end. For post ops looking for some German deliciousness, I recommend eating the salad first. The vegetables are marinated in yogurt dressing and are super tender. There are probably much better options than schnitzel here, like a roasted pork dish, but the schnitzel is not very greasy so I didn't feel too bad about it. Go light on the spatzle, skip all together if you are carb sensitive.
Highland Brewing Company - Asheville, NC: Beer and lots of it
We got to try to the Thunderstruck Coffee Porter and it was awesome and highly caffeneited. The tour includes samples of each of the 5 beers that Highland is known for. If you are sensitive to alcohol just have a few sips of each and don;t down the whole sample. Be warned, the beers are a little higher gravity than some may be used to. You can get pints for $3.50 before the tour if you like. Pack a high protein snack so you don't get too intoxicated, I recommend peanuts.
Curate: Tapas
Tapas restaurants are great for post ops. They are meant for sharing so you can have a bite or two of a couple of different dishes and not feel like you are missing out. Go easy on the breads that they serve, you don't want to fill up on that and make sure to order at least one high protein dish that you can feel good about. Here is what we had:
Pan con Tomate (ciabatta bread with tomato bruschetta, warm and crisp bread literally melted in my mouth)
Tabla de Quesos (cheese plate, skip the bread with this just sample the delightful cheeses)
Patatas Bravas (fried potatoes with romesco sauce, go light but a few won't kill you)
Espinicas a la Catalana (sauteed spincah with apples, raisins and pines nuts - post op perfect)
Gambas al Ajillo (shrimp sauteed with garlic - more post op perfection)
Ensalta de Tomate a Ytun (tuna on a tomato salad, skip this it is canned tuna and not that great)
12 Bones : Ribs, Beef Brisket, Corn Pudding, Jalapeno Cheese Grits, Coleslaw, and Cornbread
First let me say that I did not eat all of that, I shared it. The corn pudding was amazing, crispy in spots creamy all over and quite sweet. Post ops you can try it, it didn't hurt me, but don't go crazy or you will regret it. The grits are amazing and quite spicy, again go easy. The coleslaw was my post op approved side, it didn't have mayo but was rather marinated in vinegar. So good! It was almost like eating pickled cabbage but much milder than kim chee would be traditionally. The brisket was very lean so I focused on that. Go light on the sauce as they do have a good bit of sugar, but the pineapple habanero ribs were to die for and the blueberry chipotle sauce was surprisingly spicy and blue.
Wedge Brewing Company: Beer, Peanuts and Fried Cauliflower (Gypsy Queen Food Truck)
We tried the Golem, the Russian Imperial Stout and the Iron Rail IPA. The cauliflower was tender but not greasy. This is a great place for a very chill drink, we played corn hole and chatted. Dog friendly as well!
White Duck Tacos: Spicy Buffalo Chicken, Bangkok Shrimp, BBQ Carnitas and Lamb Gyro
Again, sharing is key. Here is where I went wrong. We had some chips and queso, and I just ate without thinking. Then the tacos showed up and I had ordered too much. I felt terrible about it and I didn't want to waste all those tacos. So I ate a few bites of each taco and I got really sick. For post ops, skip the chips. Then order one taco with grilled meat, not fried, then eat the filling and not the corn tortilla shell.
Sunny Point Cafe: Esquites Scramble with Chipotle Grits and a Biscuit
Scrambled eggs, ricotta cheese, corn and jalapenos. Delish! Give away most of your biscuit, especially the sugary top part. But do try a bite cause it was awesome!!!! It was like a yeast roll meats a biscuit. The grits were good, quite spicy. Again go easy cause they are a carb. Go nuts on the eggs though. So yummy and packed with protein. If you don't like spicy food I would recommend trying something different. There are lots of high protein alternatives. If you want to be really good you can get a side salad instead of grits with no extra charge. This is a true farm to table restaurant. They literally have a little farm behind the premises. Everything was fresh and awesome. Bacon is normally a no-no due to fat content, but here it is also a no-no cause it is maple glazed. I won't lie, I tried a bite, but I don't recommend that cause handing away the rest of that strip of bacon took a lot of will power.
Anyway, it was a great foodie weekend. We walked miles around the downtown area. I especially enjoyed the local bookstores. Asheville has a lot of local stores and there is a big push to buy local. The downtown area has a very small town feel, but with lots of big city conveniences. If you have not been, then you should definitely make a trip.
