Ashvegas Dish du Jour: New Asheville food truck, new Italian eatery on Tunnel, sake on the way, more

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Jason Sandford

Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.

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Restaurateur Laurey Masterton leaves a towering legacy

We got the news on Tuesday. What bigger restaurant news will we have all year than the death of Laurey Masterton, owner of Laurey’s, downtown farm-to-table pioneer, cyclist, beekeeper, cookbook author and all-around local hero? This loss hurt.

Local photographer Max Cooper offers a charming remembrance of her here: Laurey Masterton changed my mind. There might not be a better introduction to Laurey than this.

Masterton had a knack for life as well as cooking, and moved from early tragedy (the loss of both her parents to cancer when she was only 12) to extraordinary personal and professional success, living her bumpersticker motto “Don’t postpone joy” like it was easy.

It’s a safe bet that Asheville has seen few outpourings of love and gratitude like that which flowed from the community when word went out that she had entered hospice care.

LaureyLivestrongHer many achievements include biking across the entire U.S. to raise cancer awareness and funds for cancer research, walking the Camino de Santiago in Spain, publishing two cookbooks, designing the Asheville YWCA’s children’s garden, running a popular and successful restaurant, contributing to multiple boards, receiving recognition as the 1999 Small Business Leader of the Year for both Asheville and the state of North Carolina, working with Michelle Obama and her “Let’s Move” campaign against childhood obesity, and raising $16,500 for the medical expenses of the child of two of her employees.

Masterton was a talented newsletter-writer, with her restaurant’s newsletters reading like occasional missives from a very interesting friend. The restaurant has issued the first newsletter since her death, one composed by her sisters and employees.

It was lovely. Read it here.

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New Asheville Sandwich Co. opens on Haywood Friday Feb. 28

Part of the Haywood Road restaurant explosion Ashvegas details here, this tasty sandwich shop closed down its State Street location, and shared on Facebook that it’s opening its new 794 Haywood Road location this Friday, in the former Digable Pizza location. Asheville artist Gabriel Shaffer is painting a quilt mural on the front of the building.

Anybody know what happened to Digable (and its gluten-free pizza)?

Odd’s Cafe begins construction

The coming-soon Haywood Road coffee shop is moving in next door to Asheville Sandwich Co., and construction is slated to start this month. Odd’s is hiring baristas.

Gondolier Italian restaurant set for Tunnel Road

Word on the street is that Gondolier Italian Restaurant is coming to 1360 East Tunnel Road, in the former location of Latin Flavor.

RAD sake on the way

Blue Kudzu Sake on Depot street announced this week that it’s started brewing its own sake. It’s been a long process, and locals have been eagerly awaiting Asheville-brewed sake since Blue Kudzu opened last year.

Short Street Cakes now open until 6 p.m. on Sundays (instead of 2 p.m.), YAY!

Cupcakes and cakes that can’t be beat, and now we can feed our faces four hours longer!

And don’t miss Short Street’s 5th anniversary celebration, Tuesday March 4 from 5-8 p.m.

On Mardi Gras day, Tuesday, March 4th, 2014, from 5pm to 8pm, Short Street Cakes will celebrate our 5th birthday with a block party co-hosted by our neighborsUrban Orchard Cider Company and Bar. Proceeds will benefit Pawnstorm- Hall Fletcher Elementary Chess Team!We are so incredibly thankful for these five years of magic and cake, and we look forward to many more! We want to take the opportunity to thank you with free Birthday Cake, Cocktails, and Mardi Gras Beads at the Cake Shop. We will be launching our newly expanded 2014 cake and pie menu, and Urban Orchard will be serving up a special Mardi Gras Cider brew across the street, with all proceeds going to Pawnstorm!

There will be a DJ at the Cake Shop and live music and food trucks at the Cider Bar. The raffle commences at 7pm at the Cake Shop- you don’t have to be present to win. Raffle tickets are $1 each or 6 for $5 and are for sale at the Cake Shop all month, or at the door.

Raffle Prizes include:
King Cake from Short Street Cakes
Copies of Cake Ladies by Jodi Rhoden

New in the shop: gluten-free hand pies!

Lex18

Goodbye BoBo Pho? Hello Lex 18?

Not many details yet on what Lex 18 is, but on Feb. 20 we reported that it’s a moonshine bar, eatery and music venue coming to 18 North Lexington. Unfortunately that’s the address of BoBo Pho, which can’t be good news for the still-new pho restaurant.

Tod’s Tasties remodeling?

That’s the word regarding the Montford eatery with the challenged layout. Ashvegas food reviewer Stu Helm laid out his issues with Tod’s here last October.

Cheers to better customer Feng Shui at the otherwise excellent Tod’s. If you’ve been there, you know what I mean.

Punk Wok pop-up now open Mondays and Tuesdays at MG Road

According to MG Road owner Meherwan Irani, the pop-up Punk Wok will also host more chef collaborations (like Octo Wok, where Punk Wok chef Elliott Moss collaborated with chef Angus Brown of Atlanta’s Octopus Bar ).

And FYI, MG Road is now closed Sundays.

Meet the new food truck: Sunshine Sammies

Ice cream sandwiches go mobile. It’s a little cold for this, but by March, I’ll be down.

SunshineSammies

Nona Mia revives lunch service

From the Nona Mia newsletter:

After long planning and a lot of preparation, we kicked off our lunch hours last month. We’ve been serving lunch for several weeks now, and more and more patrons are stopping by and putting Nona Mia on their weekly lunch rotation. That’s a good thing, because there’s nowhere else in West Asheville where you can get sandwiches like these: artisan sandwiches like the Rustic Italian (capicollo ham, Genoa salami, and prosciutto on house-baked ciabatta, with marinated-roasted red peppers, lettuce, tomato, fresh oregano, olive oil, red wine vinegar and aged Provolone cheese), or the Porchetta (classic Italian slow-roasted pork shoulder on house-baked ciabatta roll, soaked in natural pork jus with garlic ripini and aged Provolone picante), or our Reuben or Italian sausage sandwiches featuring house-cured pastrami and house-made fennel sausages. Plus, there’s soup, salad, and pizza available, plus sides like potato salad and pasta salad.

And not only that…but we’ll now be making pizza all day long! Even when the dining room is technically closed in late afternoon, you can still order one of our fantastic pizzas between lunch and dinner hours. (Takeout only during that time.)

West side on Haywood Road.

Curate wins again, but for something different this time

The restaurant that keeps on winning got a shout-out from Denver blog 5280 for its great table service. 

But don’t worry, Katie Button still wins everything (or at least gets nominated for it): The top chef is a 2014 James Beard nominee for Rising Star Chef. And Meherwan Irani, the chef mastermind behind Chai Pani and MG Road is also a James Beard nominee, for Best Chef Southeast.

Best of luck to Katie and Meherwan!

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Jason Sandford

Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.

  • 1

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5 Comments

  1. BL March 1, 2014

    The link to Stu’s rant re: Tod’s links to the ‘5280’ blog about Curate. Just sayin’.

    Reply
  2. Doug Cegelis February 27, 2014

    The owner of Sammies is just the nicest girl. i highly recommend them!

    Reply
  3. Nichole February 27, 2014

    I’m fine with ice cream sandwiches in any weather!

    Reply
  4. JTC February 27, 2014

    mmmmm sounds amazing!

    Reply
  5. Mike February 27, 2014

    Sandwiches, sandwiches, pizza, sandwiches…enough bready food already!

    Reply

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