re: Asheville in July

It's changed plenty in 10 years. The quality of the beer and food has only gotten better and it's a great place to be outside and hike and float and swim. Go into it knowing you're gonna see many folks with piercing and tattoos and combat boots and you'll be fine. It's a fun, American town. And make some reservations- that was the only thing my parents complained about- hipsters and restaurant reservations.

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restaurant reservations

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Can’t stress this enough. Get a game plan down and see what’s available ASAP. The last few years have gotten crazy. Very few options the weekend of. Not saying you still can’t have a good meal. Just maybe not what you wanted.

Wanted to come back and report on my trip.

Food wise: We did Zambra, Twisted Laurel, Cucina 24, The Blackbird, and White Duck Taco.

Zambra is a tapas place, and the food was fantastic. We did easily 15 items (4 of us) and 3 bottles of wine and the bill was still very reasonable. Everything was fantastic.





Twisted Laurel was your basic regular food, which is all I was looking for. We did meatballs, a burger, and a caesar salad. All were great for just getting food into the belly after a night out.

Cucina 24 was interesting. They are only doing a 5-course fixed menu currently. The food was beautiful and unique.









We did the $40 per person wine pairing, however, and I am almost positive the girl waiting on us just.. stopped giving us the wine because we were drinking slow?

She started us each with a glass of sparkling red during the first course and then we didn't get another glass until the main course, which was a rose for me because I had fish and a red for him since he had meat.

Then.. no other wine? Very strange for $80 total. I have a feeling it was a server error and not true to the pairing. Still, I'd recommend ordering your own bottle.

The Blackbird was another interesting experience. We arrived at 12:20 for a 12:30 reservation and the place was nearly empty, but the fellow at the door asked us to wait until 12:30. So we stepped outside for 10 minutes and when we came back in, he said "I'm going to be totally honest with you.. the food is taking forever. The kitchen guy right now is new and very slow." This almost sent us back to Wicked Weed where we had been drinking, but we decided to just stay.

The food took 8 minutes to come out

The waitress was very sweet, but definitely new to the industry which I guess is a symptom of the unemployment stuff going on. She couldn't get the wine bottle open, which is no biggie, but then she halved the entire bottle between our two glasses up to the rims

Food was good though. Burger was so massive I think 3 people could have eaten it.

Finally, White Duck Taco is just a short order taco joint but it was awesome. We tried to go to the original location but it had a very long line. The downtown one was super easy to get in and out of, though, and would be where you likely are if you're walking around anyway.

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Bens tune up
Buxton hall
Mayfels
White lab
Luella

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We ended up at Ben's late Friday night when it was a complete nightclub We stood in a line of like 60 other people and once we got in, the place was packed and had a live DJ in the middle of the crowd.

Didn't go to Mayfel's, but it looked popular. It is Louisiana themed, which we tend to avoid on vacation just because we can get that here.

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Bhramari
Burial
Green man
Wicked weed

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Did all of these except Green Man, and thoroughly enjoyed them all. Burial is just all around an awesome place to hang out.

Crave dessert bar was a nice spot for drinks and hookah. It seemed like there were a good bit of cocktail bars we missed, but just couldn't swing them all.

A lot of the bars close at 11 still.

Asheville Yacht Club was my favorite bar of the trip. Open until 2AM every day, a complete dive bar, had metal playing, and fun tiki drinks. Great people watching too.

Made reservations for Curate. Not my usual dining choice but wanted to try something new. Thanks for all the tips. The duck taco shop is on my list.

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Made reservations for Curate

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They just open their lunch spot back up. It’s directly behind.

la bodega

So good.

Also, the Asheville food hall just opened.
SW Market

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Sierra Nevada brewery is great but you'll have to drink Sierra Nevada beer.

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Pretty sure Sierra is still doing limited capacity. Place is amazing but I wouldn’t mess with that.