Places to eat in Asheville NC

The Admiral. No question. Next pick would be Curate. Both are casual.

I ate at Luella's BBQ this past weekend. It was pretty good.

Or stay at the Inn at Biltmore.

If you don't do Tupelo Honey you're surely missing out. Papas and Beer is pretty dang strong Mexican. I highly recommend trying out their downtown area and just walking around. It feels like the French Quarter without all the funk nastiness. Many of the restaurants around that area will be solid.

For beer, Thirsty Monk will be the standard suggestion, and for good reason. Barley's Taproom is another good place to visit. If you do Thirsty Monk you can also hit Green Man if I recall correctly and there are definitely a number of other bars in the area that all feature local beer. It's a truly glorious city. If you're there on a Friday night, accept the pot smell and check out the drum circle. You can find it easily by the sound and, well, the smell. It's a fantastic way to pass an hour just watching the locals not give a shite.

I'm super jealous you're there, it's one of my favorite places and I'm sad to have moved away from an area that had convenient access to Asheville's glory.

ETA: You don't really have to worry about attire there. Most places won't be like some of the nicer places in NOLA and frown upon you not having a jacket. A polo shirt or button down is perfectly acceptable.