Stu Helm, Food Critic on Social Lounge, Nightbell in Asheville

Jason Sandford

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

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By Stu Helm

Hello Asheville!

I have two reviews for you this week, and in both cases I did something I almost never do.

First I went to party. And it was actually fun!

Next I asked for special treatment, and received it! And THAT was fucking fun as FUCK.

GRITVEGAS PARTY – The Social Lounge & Tapas – Broadway, Downtown Asheville

I get invited to a lot of parties. Or, at least I used to, until all my friends figured out that I never show up. I fucking hate parties, but when Dawn and I got invited to the Asheville Grit launch party — because I contribute to Ashvegas — I wanted to at least show up and be like, “Yeah, Man! Here I am, making the scene, rubbing elbows, eating free grub. I love your dress, by the way.”

One thing I like almost as much if not more than food is fashion. Believe it or not, I’m very into cute fashions! I gotta give it up to the ladies of Asheville: You guys rock. For real. I love the way the women in Asheville attire themselves, and the attendees at the party were no exception.

There were a lot of cute dresses, good hair, pretty accessories, and just an abundance of really nice women. I loved it! There were men there too, and some of them were probably dressed-up nicely, but for the most part it’s always the same old shit with you guys: t-shirts, jorts, and Tevas. Golf shirts, chinos, and sneakers. Blue, white, & tan. Yaaawww(excuse me while I pause halfway through this yawn for another yawn: YAWN!)aawwwnnn.

I wore black. Always. Black shoes, black pants, black sunglasses, and a black, pearl-snap, cowboy shirt with my name embroidered on it. I am Stu motherfuckin’ Helm, and no thank you, I do not need a name tag. Name tags are for suckers. Dawn looked awesome in her black dress, and giant sunglasses. She rules. We totally rule together. FTW. Stu and Dawn at a partay! Whoo!

Okay, whatever. I realize that all of the above is completely useless information to most of you, so here’s the real reason I’m even mentioning this party: The food was fuckin’ aye good, Yo!

I showed-up really hungry, and started eating food the minute I got there. It was being offered on trays by roaming servers and I made dang sure that those servers roamed over towards my hands and mouth. I’m not too proud to gesticulate if that needs to happen.

The venue was the Social Lounge downtown which used to be Sazeracs and is not to be confused with The Social out on whateverthefuck road. The basic decor and set-up have remained almost exactly the same, which is good, because I always found it to be a nice place, if somewhat small in area, and narrow in layout. When I used to drink, I used to drink there occasionally. The upstairs is even smaller, but also nice, and when the doors are open to the rooftop, it’s much bigger and REALLY nice. One of the best outdoor venues in downtown Asheville, I’d say. It was blazing fucking sunny and hot the day of the Gritvegas party, but there were some very merciful awnings, and a pretty nice breeze going. If you’re looking for quiet, pleasant, outdoor seating, and well made drinks, it’s a good place for that.

The food was all hors d’oeuvres style, provided by the house, and I scarfed it the fuck DOWN. There were bacon wrapped figs with goat cheese, there were little (steamed?) mussels with creme fraiche, there were tiny little pastry cups with fresh berries and Nutella or some such. I was too busy shoving it all in my facehole with both hands to write any of this shit down, so I’m kinda winging it here, but nothing wasn’t good. The servers were awesome too, mostly because they kept it coming, but also because they were all very nice, friendly, professional, and attractive. One male bartender started out a little cooler-than-thou, but Dawn said he got better with time… or maybe she just felt that way because of the drinks. I ain’t sayin’.

Did you know: The Social Lounge is now owned and operated by Anthony, who owns Strada right next door? I did not know that until Anthony himself told me so. It was great to see him! He is a REALLY nice guy. I used to book Punk Rock Sundays at Fred’s when they were still around, and got to know Anthony and his Dad a little bit. Then some shit went down, and Fred’s and Fiore’s (Anthony’s other restaurant) closed down abruptly. Bummer. But then, not too long after that, Anthony opened Strada, and has now annexed The Social Lounge. Ya gotta love this guy!!! Go see him at Strada and The Social Lounge and tell him Stu says hi!
Thanks, Anthony, Ashvegas, Asheville Grit, and everyone involved with throwing the party. If I’m gonna go to party, I’m glad you guys were there. With food and cute dresses.

NIGHTBELL – South Lexington Ave, Downtown Asheville

Holy shit. SO GOOOD!!! I could just leave it at that, tell you the hours, and say “Go, Motherfuckers, GO!!!” And that should be enough to make you go.

I should also be able to say, “This is Katie Button’s new place,” and THAT should be MORE than enough to prompt you off your asses, out the door, and over to Nightbell. Katie Button is an awesome chef!!! Holy fucking shit. I do not have enough swearwords in my vocabulary to describe how good her food is, or how diggity-dang NICE she is. You know her from Curate, which is — IMHO — the best, most consistent, well run, friendly, and professional restaurant in Downtown Asheville. Dawn and I love it, and I also go there on my own for lunch when I can. I gave it a couple of Stoobie awards last year.

So, one day, Dawn and I are settin’ at the Curate bar for Sunday brunch — fresh grapefruit mimosas with cava and lemon air for Dawn, the best fuckin’ Americano in A-town for me, plus torrijas and tortilla española for both of us — when I swear to God, I heard one chef tell the rest of the kitchen staff that “The Food Critic” was sitting behind them. They all turned around and looked at me, and the next thing I know, Katie Button pops up from nowhere and says hi to us! Whoa. Rock star. I mean, we’s Facebook friends ‘n’ shit, but meeting her in person was a real treat for me, let me tell ya. The best part: She’s awesome. Super friendly and down to Earth, she invited us to her new venue on South Lexington called Nightbell, and suggested that we let her know beforehand that we’re coming in. I don’t usually do that, but in this case… uh… FUCK YES!!!

I’d been wanting to check out Nightbell. I’d heard good things, and I knew they had a lot of tasty items on the menu, including some nonalcoholic cocktails that I wanted to try. I didn’t want to over-indulge though, so I asked Katie if Dawn and I could get a sampling of small bites, and she was very open to the idea! I made the reservation, and Katie said to “Just tell the hostess to let me know when you arrive.”

I didn’t mind asking for special treatment, because I know that no matter who you are, you’re going to get the same level of excellence from Katie and her staff. The hostess met us with a very friendly smile, welcomed us, and led us upstairs into the main room. She would do it exactly the same for you, or anyone else. They don’t judge on appearance at Curate, so I wouldn’t expect them to at Nightbell.

The decor at Nightbell is a little hard to describe without getting into a lot of detail. I’ll just say it was awesome. Dark and comfy with a modern salon-style approach to the furniture, which consisted of very comfy couches, low tables, overstuffed chairs, glass lampshades, colored lights, billowing curtains, original wood floors, high ceilings, and a super-awesome sound system with music that was perfect for dining, and got a little louder and more upbeat as the night went on. Huh, whataya know. I did describe it. Good for me.

We enjoyed the atmosphere quite a bit. I noted to Dawn that it was an added bonus — as someone with a case of screaming tinnitus — for me to be able to eat somewhere that doesn’t have concrete floors and stark metal furniture reverberating and amplifying every sound made in every corner of the room. Ahhh… I could actually hear Dawn and Katie talking. Nice.

We had two servers that night: Angela, who was totally awesome, and Katie Button herself who brought out the cutest little parade of bite-sized incredibleness I have ever been witness to in my frickin’ life. It came straight outta the kitchen and onto our table in the hands of this world class chef, and she described each dish to us in detail. We kept telling her how great everything was, because, yeah, it was really fucking great. There was a lot of it, and I could write a fucking novel about each item, but I’ll just bullet point it for you:

• Deviled Eggs – Dawn hates deviled eggs. I love them! She won’t eat them, ever. I’ll eat every dang deviled egg at the party! So, I looked at Dawn, I looked at her deviled egg, I looked back at her, and was like, “whatcha gonna do?” That’s when she said the sentence that was the theme of the evening. “I’ll eat anything this chef puts in front of me.” These deviled eggs were so fucking good, I coulda peed on the couch right then and there out of happiness, and Dawn LOVED hers. First of all, they are a far cry from that mayonaissy thing with a sprinkle of paprika on top that we all see in our minds when we think of deviled eggs. These were warm, served in the shell with the top broken off, like a tiny bowl, that we ate out of with a tiny spoon. They were creamy, not solid, almost the consistency of a thick chowder, and had so many rich and comforting flavors going on we were kinda moaning and stuff while we ate them. Sweet, savory, smooth, smoky… holy shit, I’m not kidding, I could have eaten a bucket of them. Dawn agreed.

• Steak Tartar w/ horseradish air – Dawn HATES horseradish. Oh my God. She gets angry at it. I don’t eat steak tartar. It’s RAW steak, for fuck’s sake. But as previously stated: Anything from this chef. We tucked into our little individual crispy cones, filled with steak tartar and topped with this delicious, subtle, but bright horseradish air, and… yeah… so fucking good. We both loved it. There are pictures of all this stuff on my Facebook page. (https://www.facebook.com/pages/Stu-Helm-The-Food-Critic/177099939155507)

• Raw Oysters — Some of you may recall my whole journey with raw oysters from a while back… I went from nearly vomiting at the very idea to pretty much loving them in a matter of months with the help of The Oysterhouse in West Asheville, contest winner Santa, and reader James, who told me how to eat them. Dawn had still never tried one, so I told her what James told me : “Slide it in, bite down once or twice, maybe three times, get that briny good flavor, and swallow that fucker before you start to think about it too much.” (I added the last part) The oysters were served with “tinctures” of cumin, lemon, ginger, and horseradish. I learned about myself that I’m still learning to love oysters, because although I enjoyed them, they were a little tough for me get down this time. Dawn enjoyed them too, but we agreed that we both still need time to develop our palettes.

• Boneless Chicken Wings with Blue Cheese Air – Dawn hates blue cheese, and most of the time, she doesn’t eat deep fried things. She ate the shit out of her wing-ding, and loved it! I ate mine so fast, I was sad it was gone before I even swallowed the last bite. The wings were cooked perfectly, the blue cheese air and the wee pickled topping were perfection on top of perfection.

• Caesar Salad – This was a very cute dish and one of the stars of the evening. It was a “taco,” in that the salad was served in a large, thin slice of jicama. That touch was awesome, and unique, and Dawn and I agreed that it elevated the salad to another level in its cleverness, and by adding flavor, crunch, and just the right amount of natural sweetness. Each taco had a big ol’ anchovy on top. Dawn and I both hate anchovies. This anchovy was fucking awesome. When we told Katie that, she commented — and we agreed — that the quality of ingredients makes all the difference in the world. “You can’t get these anchovies at a grocery store,” she said. You know where you can get them, though? At Nightbell. YUM!!!

• Grilled Cheese – Kid food, right? Well, if you were the most spoiled little rich kid brat that ever lived, maybe your live-in chef made you these grilled cheese sandwiches. Ho-oh-oh-oly fuck they were good. And decadent. And good. Really good. Very crispy, crustless bread filled with amazing fondue cheese, and fresh herbs. We detected a small amount of dill, and Italian parsley? Maybe. We were guessing. There was some truffle oil involved, and thankfully it was very very subtle. Holy fuck with the truffle oil, People. One drop is enough to truffle-ize a whole fucking meal, if not the world. Katie, of course, knows how to use that shit with a delicate touch and it was perfect.

• Mini Lobster Rolls – Good gawd. At this point we were started to feel slightly like Roman nobility, but fuck it! More food! More wine! More dancing girls! There were no dancing girls, unfortch, but the wine list was impressive, and they serve it by the half glass, so even you lowly plebes can sip the good shit without spending an entire month’s wages. The lobster roll was a-fucking -mazing, and that ain’t no joke. The bread was house made, soft, sweet, and buttery. The filling was incredible. Plenty of lobster, poached to perfection, and no nasty-ass raw onions or giant globs of mayonnaise to fuck everything up. Five stars.

• Duck and Waffles – Again, some of you may recall my ordeal with Chicken ‘n’ Waffles at (the currently closed) Lex 18. Too sweet and trashy for me. Katie’s duck ‘n’ waffles was neither of those things. It was savory, and fucking amazing. The duck confit was heavy duty, Man, but the waffles were the lightest waffles I’ve ever eaten in my life. This dish was satisfying on several levels. Warm, salty, crispy, greasy… I’ve been kind of craving it ever since.

• SCOOP! – In between the duck and dessert, Katie sat down with us and told us some of her reasons for opening Nightbell, and her plans for the future. Basically, as I understood it, she and her partners wanted to open another venue, but they weren’t sure they would have the time and energy to take on another full-service restaurant, so they opened up a lounge, with creative cocktails and a limited “bar food” menu as a way to test the waters. Having now developed that menu — based on Katie’s love of American food — she told us that she’s having a lot of fun in the kitchen at Nightbell and it’s time to make that leap! Starting this Summer, Nightbell will be transforming from its current bar/lounge/bites menu and hours, to a full service restaurant featuring, as she said, “a modern interpretation of traditional American food served small-plate style!” She said the stuff that’s currently on the menu will remain, but more things will be added. YAYYY!!!

• Dessert – Holy… have I already said “holy fuck?” Geeze, I need a thesaurus for this review. Holy Crapperdoodles!!! SOOOO many good things! The mascarpone cheesecake with cherry glaze (I’m guessing at terminology here) and pistachio dust… chocolate sticks… pebbles… and stuff… yeah, I need to learn more dessert terms… it was incredible, and so were the other little bombs and bites that Pastry Chef Carmen Vaquera brought to our table. Truly amazing and very creative. Another chef in town had told me that Carmen is the best in Asheville, so I knew in advance dessert would be special, and it was. Personally, I’m still sweet on Karen Donatelli as best in A-Town, but Carmen is definitely head and shoulders above the pack.

• Oh shit, I totally forgot to mention that Dawn got a super-awesome cocktail called Cold Roses that she said was fantastic, and I got two of their “mocktails” that were also very tasty! I said to Dawn that if I was a young person, full of the vim and vigor of life, I would totally hang out at Nightbell late at night and drink these “mocktails” while my friends all got wasted. Oh, sorry friends, I can’t be your designated driver. I don’t drive! HA HA HA! I have to admit that I do not like saying the word “mocktail.” It’s just not a word that makes me feel cool when I say it. Fonzy wouldn’t say “mocktail.”

• Dawn also got two of those half-glasses of wine. Katie explained that they have a super-special system for extracting wine from the bottles without opening them, so that they can serve very high-end wine by the glass or half-glass without the rest of the bottle going stale. Katie seems like she’s very into good equipment. I like that. As an artist, I always say cheap materials make shitty art. You gotta have good brushes, like you gotta have good kitchen hardware. Katie showed us her “Combi-Oven.” It was about the size of, though slightly more technologically advanced than R2D2. It bakes, broils, steams…. does convection…ing? I took a picture.

Okay, so anyhoodles, sorry for the REALLY long review, but dang it, I left out a lot of details too! You’ll just have to go to Nightbell to see for yourself.

We’ve got some great chefs in this town, but so far there’s only one who can get Dawn to eat horseradish and me to love raw steak. Katie Button, Super Star.

Stu Helm is an artist and writer living in Asheville, NC, and a frequent diner at local restaurants, cafes, food trucks, and the like. His tastes run from hot dogs and mac ‘n’ cheese, to haute cuisine, and his opinions are based on a lifetime of eating out. He began writing restaurant reviews strictly to amuse his friends on Facebook in 2013.