Asheville, North Carolina
Asheville has a great arts, hiking, and food scene. People flock here to hike the Blue Ridge Mountains and Great Smoky Mountains National Park as well as to visit the Biltmore estate. It seems like lots of people come to visit, discover it, and never leave. We expected Asheville to be a small mountain town, but this is a mellow city with lots of upscale hotels, a Barnes and Noble, Whole Foods and Trader Joes. Should it rain when you visit, there is lots to see and do.
Getting oriented: There are two main areas to the town of Asheville—downtown and the River Arts district. You will need to drive to get from one to the other. In the warmer months, there is a free red trolley connecting the two. The Biltmore Estate is also nearby. This magnificent mansion was built by George Vanderbilt and is the largest home in America. Tickets tend to be over $100 per person to access the mansion and the grounds. Just outside the estate is the village Vanderbilt built for the workers building his estate. That village is now a shopping area with many upscale stores and some good restaurants, including the ever-popular Well-Bred Bakery, winner of the best bakery in North Carolina every year since 2014. The most common question people ask is, “Can you visit Biltmore Village for free — without paying the entrance fee for the mansion and grounds?” The answer is yes. And the parking there is free to boot!
Here are some personal notes to help you plan your visit as well as links to some great websites that helped us plan ours.
Downtown
Downtown is a very walkable area where you will find many upscale shops, bakeries, cafes, and restaurants. (The bakeries were especially plentiful and delicious.) You can spend hours wandering in this area. Here are a few of our favorite finds:
The Grove Arcade. Conceived as “the most elegant building in America” in the 1920s, this impressive and, indeed, elegant structure was America’s first indoor shopping mall. It has an outpost of Well-Bred bakery. The Page Street side of the arcade has so many restaurants (most with outdoor seating) that it is known as “restaurant row.”
Morsel Cookie Company makes huge cookies, each of which is filled and topped with something special. Our favorite was the coconut macaroon.
The Rhu (10 S. Lexington Ave.) is a cafe and bakery from the owner of Asheville’s Rhubarb restaurant. It is known for its biscuits and makes great sandwiches and picnic provisions. It is very nice to sit inside as well.
French Broad Chocolates. This is their main store and cafe where you can buy chocolates, baked goods and ice cream.
Old Europe Pastries is a beautiful café. Think upscale, marble, elegant and with front windows that open wide to the street. It is the longest-running café in Asheville for a reason. It opened in 1994 and is still going strong. If I was meeting a friend for coffee, this would be my go-to place.
Some day we would love to come back and do a bakery crawl. If you feel similarly, here is a list of 26 stores with the best cookies in Asheville. (And Morsel isn’t even on it! Imagine the discoveries you will make!) Here is a guide to the best restaurants in Asheville, many of which are downtown.
River Arts District
This district is full of artist’s studios and funky eateries. On the second Saturday of every month, you can visit with many of these artists in their studios. There are gallery walks with demonstrations, workshops, live music, wine tastings, and more! Meander the mile-long district housing more than 250 artists in its 23 buildings. Most of them will be on hand to describe or show you their techniques and share their inspirations.
We ate at:
12 Bones BBQ (5 Found St., #10) Obama ate here when he was campaigning for president. It has a nice vibe and good music. The dining room is divided into several rooms with lots of windows. We had a nice time and were glad we came but would not return. The BBQ ribs were just okay. (Sorry, but we compare all BBQ to Mighty Quinns in Manhattan and Rodney Scott’s in Charleston.) We had the brown sugar dry rub (made the ribs crisp up as if they were fried) and the blueberry BBQ sauce (tasted too much like blueberries). The collard greens were lousy (again Rodney Scott’s reigns here). The pulled pork, smoked turkey, and cornbread were okay. The cornbread got bumped up to an okay rating once it was spread with lots of butter. The only standout was the smoked potato salad, which was great.
To note: You place your order at the register and then choose a table once you have ordered. There was only one register and the woman taking orders were very slow. All the people ahead of us seemed to be tourists (like us) and had lots of questions. She gave very long answers. Her answer to, What is the corn pudding? was “It’s like corn and bread pudding went to Vegas and had a love child. That’s the best explanation I’ve come up with yet.” The line takes a LONG time. Because the line takes so long, the kitchen is very efficient and your food comes out very soon after you sit down.
White Duck Taco (388 Riverside Drive). They have several locations, but this is the nicest. There is indoor seating and also picnic tables along the river. Here, too, you order and then find a table. The shrimp tacos were very good. The others were okay. Our frame of reference is Velvet Taco in Dallas and Chicago. Those folks know how to make a great taco. Same experience here as at 12 Bones. We were glad we went but would not return. But we had a nice time and liked the ambience. As you know, sometimes that is as—or more important – as the food when you go out to eat. And, as with all food, your taco taste may be different than ours. The place was certainly packed.
Another RAD food option:
Foothills Food Truck. This truck has a few locations and we checked out the one parked in from of the Hi-Wire brewery at 2 Huntsman Place. We had read that the truck made a great Reuben sandwich, but that is no longer on the menu. We were going to get one of their hot dogs, but it was raining and we would have needed to eat it inside the brewery and the brewery smelled funky, so we left. But this could be a great option on a nicer day.