Ugly but Lovable Vegan “Cheese” “Burger” from Rosetta’s Kitchen I’ve been eating a lot of burgers lately. Like, a LOT of burgers. I’m doing a “survey” of sorts, just for my own personal information, of all the basic cheeseburgers in downtown. So far — and this is all in just about two or three weeks — I’ve had cheeseburgers from[Read More…]
“DON’T PANIC. I’M JUST HERE FOR LUNCH.” Now that I lead food tours, there are certain restaurants where the staff might be triggered to panic when they see me walk in the door unexpectedly. Their first thought might go something like, “Oh fuck! Did I forget there’s a food tour coming?!?” Followed by “Holy shit, 16 hungry motherfuckers are about[Read More…]
First an apology… Ho-o-o-o-o-ly shiiiiiiiiiiiiiit, it’s been a long time since’t I wrote an “Eat of The Week” for you guys! It’s just that I haven’t eaten anything in weeks on end… just kidding. But I haven’t eaten anything good in weeks and weeks… again, I kid. Everything is business as usual, in the Stuffing-My-Face-With-Amazing-Food Department, it’s just that, well,[Read More…]
I’m a Simple Person. Gimme a hot dog, and I’m happy as fuck. My friends know that about me, and since they are my friends, they like to see me happy, so they often suggest that I eat a hot dog. Even my friends who can’t / don’t / won’t / would never in a brazillion years eat a hot[Read More…]
Stu goes to a local watering hole for some of his favorite food, and ends up using the words “the best in Asheville” in his description.
Charred Things on the Deck… When the weather is nice in Asheville, it’s really nice, and that brings out the hippy-dippy-deck-diner in all of us. Who wants to sit and eat outside tonight? Raise your hands… oh… no… on second thought… put your hands back down… y’all been sweatin’… and there ain’t no amount of “Egyptian Goddess” scented oil gonna[Read More…]
In Asheville, we call it CAAAAKE!!! Holy fuck, are you kidding me? You guys may or may not already know that 50/Fifty The Art of Dessert is the weekly “food sponsor” for my Food Fan Radio Show, which means that every Tuesday, Chef Mandy Butler whips us up something fancy and fantastic, and her husband Chris swings it by the[Read More…]
Ski Queen Me. I had a little time to kill so I decided to eat some cheese. I went to see Brenton Vasconcellos at the 5 Walnut Wine Bar’s Cheese Shop — because he’s a super nice guy, who is super enthused about cheese — and, as it turns out, I happen to be in exactly the right place, at[Read More…]
I like Bagels. This week, my Eat of the Week is… a bagel. Yep. Just a regular ol’ bagel with cream cheese, that I ordered and ate at PennyCup Coffee Co. in The River Arts District (RAD). It was frickin’ awesome. No doubt. I loved it, and it made me super happy. It was a real bagel. Like, an actual[Read More…]
Eating My Emotions… I don’t know if it’s just because I’m getting old or what, but I feel more and more emotional these days when I eat the food that I enjoyed during earlier times in my life. The soft-serve ice cream from Frostbite, for example, [ LINK ] that reminds me so much of my happy childhood Summers spent[Read More…]
WARNING: If you don’t like soft-serve, read no further. And if you don’t think that the term “soft-serve” is frickin’ hilarious, especially because the end product is very doo-doo shaped, please never read one of my columns again. If you don’t see the connection, then… y’know… wake up. Aaanyhoooo… now that we’ve dispensed with that, let’s get on to The[Read More…]
I love balls! Meatballs, hushpuppies, fritters, falafel, doughnut holes… dippin’ dots… even gum balls, atomic fire balls, and other ball-shaped sweets, snacks, bites, and bits. Gimme a ball that I can put in my mouth, and I’m happy. True story, you can ask my mom, the first word I ever said in my life: “Ball!” And yes, Wiseguy, I have[Read More…]
Not that kind of Southern Comfort, Numbskull. No no no, I’m not talkin’ about the sweet, sweet… sickeningly sweet… alcoholic beverage long-popular with America’s under-aged drinkers [ LINK ], I’m talkin’ about the kind of pure emotional comfort that I feel when I tuck into a really effing good, hot, fresh, hearty, wholesome dish of Southern cooking! Fuck, yeah. When[Read More…]
You may have noticed… I eat a lotta food. Well, actually, I probably eat as much food as anyone else, maybe even a little less than some people — because I’m very small — but I do go out to eat a lot, and I take and post a ton of pictures of what I eat, so you may have[Read More…]
Best Bread, Best Views, Great Balls of Bison! Last week I wrote the first installment of a new feature here on Ashvegas that I’m calling “The Asheville Sandwich Report,” [ link ] and I went on and on and on and ON about how much I love a particular kind of bread being made by Chef Kaley Laird of The[Read More…]
Daily food intake is a requirement of my continued existence. Okaaaay… So, despite the fact that reality seems to be upside-down and inside-out, and facts are no longer facts, and I found out that there are people in this world who chew and swallow 35 pieces of gum… every day… before noon [ link ]… and that makes me wanna[Read More…]
Stu says Red Ginger’s Szechuan wontons were so good, that they’re bound to become one of his favorite dishes for lunch.
Hot Brown is the Description that’s also a Dish. I absolutely love that there’s a traditional plate of food which is actually, officially, hilariously named “hot brown.” I love it for so many reasons. Let’s leave aside any obvious comparisons to a “dutch oven,” a “philly steamer,” or a “rusty trombone.” …yeah, no, let’s not bring up those things at[Read More…]
Everybody say “Ho-oh!” As in hoe cakes. Also as in “ho ho ho,” for the Holidays, or in this case: HO-leeee shiiiiit, that’s good food! Last Tuesday, I ate a “Holiday Confit Ho Ho Hoe Cake” from the Root Down Food Truck that was so insanely tasty, I ate it again on Thursday. I ferkin’ lerved it both times and[Read More…]
Livin’ The Imperial Life, or Gittin’ Shrimpy Wid It In the recent past I have awarded my Eat of the Week to a taco, a calzone, and a hot dog. It’s time I gave some love to the fancy food in this town, which I also eat the shit out of on a regular basis. I have some fave places[Read More…]
EVERYONE IS TALKIN’ TACOS It’s no secret that about 15 or 16 new taco places are opening up in your neighborhood next week, and close to a thousand or more are slated for the greater Asheville area in the next month or two. The County Commission has approved a taco bar for every school, and Mission Hospital will soon replace[Read More…]
CAN I CONFIDE IN YOU? Almost nothing seems more trivial to me right now than writing about food. Like many of you, I am still stunned by the election results, and can think of almost nothing else. To be a writer who writes about food at this moment in American history feels a little bit to me like showing up[Read More…]
I Had Never Eaten a Bao Bun Before. Then I Did. Then I Wanted a Million More. This week’s Eat of the Week is a little bit of a cheat of the week, because I ate it a few weeks ago, but I’ve been saving it for a rainy day, and as I write this, it is literally raining, so…[Read More…]
In July of 2015, I ate some lasagna in Venice, Italy that was so good, I cried. That is a 100% true story. Dawn and I went to Europe last Summer, and visited Italy among other lovely spots. In Venice, as you can well imagine, they know how to make some fuckin’ pasta. And some sauce. And they know how[Read More…]
Stu loves the thali, too.