In my quest to visit a few more National Parks before international travel opens up more widely, we headed to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park a few weeks ago. But instead of camping or staying on the nearby Cherokee Indian reservation, we decided to make a home base in Asheville, North Carolina.
As one of those cities I feel like everyone knows about, Asheville had eluded me for quite some time. I’m a northern urban gal so it had never really been on my radar being it’s a small southern town. But sometimes low expectations can lead to pleasant surprises.
Food in Asheville, NC
West End Bakery
We stayed at an Airbnb in West Asheville so this was our first breakfast stop on our way out to the Smokies for a couple hikes. The breakfast sandwiches were perfect and we even grabbed a cookie for a mid-hike snack that was exactly what we needed.
OWL Bakery
So good we went twice and waited in line both times. You know we love the quirky stuff we can’t find anywhere else. The menu is extensive for a bakery and we tried almost a dozen items between my partner and me. One favorite was the pasteis de nata, a Portuguese egg custard tart. We missed those so much from our visit to Portugal in 2017 that I tried to make them myself couple months ago and they turned out surprisingly okay. My partner also raved about his everything danish, similar to an everything bagel, but a fluffy croissant instead. Do not miss this place! Go early to minimize waiting in line, but it moves quickly.
Hole Doughnuts
This one took two attempts since the first time we were in a hurry and they are doing a weird ordering situation for COVID-19. You have to order in advance online and the soonest you can get your donuts brought outside is 15 minutes. There are only four flavors but I can tell you they are all delicious! Traditional yeast donuts with fun flavors that rotate weekly.
Crave Dessert Bar
Another place that took two attempts but this time was because it was so busy. We are still being very cautious about crowds and Asheville was bursting with bachelor(ette) parties all weekend. Part hookah bar, part dessert bar, this place has a very trendy decor that just felt fun. Pillows with Christopher Walken and Mr. T made me giggle. I don’t know why, because I can make s’mores at home, but the idea of getting s’mores at a restaurant is just so fun, so we chose that of course.
Twisted Laurel
Another great breakfast spot, we enjoyed our breakfast sandwiches on the patio out front. Yes, most of the places we dined at were breakfast because we usually ate lunch and dinner at breweries which traditionally have awesome local food trucks.
Laughing Seed Cafe
We just had a smoothie here, but I thought I’d mention it because I rarely have vegan restaurant recommendations. It’s smelled like bananas inside and if you know me at all, that is unacceptable, so we enjoyed the patio for a bit. There happened to be a really awful pianist across the street so we didn’t stay long.
Drinks in Asheville, NC
The Funkatorium and Wicked Weed Brewing Pub
If you like sour beer, you absolutely must visit Funkatorium! It’s owned by Wicked Weed which has other beer that isn’t sour for your less fun friends. Both patios and food menus are incredible too.
Noble Cider & Mead
My partner was super excited about this place but they didn’t open on time so we had to check back later. It ended up being fine. Feel free to skip it. I regret not trying out Urban Orchard Cider Co.
The Times Bar & Coffee Shop
They had some fun specialty coffee drinks we enjoyed and as with most of these places it was in the heart of the downtown area so a perfect pit stop.
Battery Park Book Exchange
Are you wondering why a book store is on my list in the drinks section? This place is actually a champagne bar. Most of the building is a charming old timey used book store, but the front section and the patio serve an extensive menu of food and wine. We ordered the charcuterie board because cheese is life! But the best part was the flight. I splurged and got the fanciest one because how can a woman say no to Veuve Clicquot?! But surprisingly the bottle I came home with wasn’t the Veuve. It was the house champagne that was served on the Titanic. It was delicious and I have no regrets! Who wants to come drink it with me?
Catawba Brewing Company
Nice big warehouse-style taproom indoors and a mediocre patio out back with a food truck of course. Beer was fine but there are better options.
Antidote at Chemist Spirits
There are few things I’ll wait in line for, seriously. Willie Mae’s Scotch House in New Orleans and.. That’s it. This very cool-looking cocktail bar had an amazing menu so when we arrived and there was only one other couple in front of us, we were told it would be 10-15 minutes. An hour and a half later! It was such a tease because we were “next” for the whole time. I didn’t want to give up on it. While the cocktails were good, we were too tired to make an evening of it so we had just one. Definitely go early to avoid the rush!
DSSOLVR
Artsy and industrial with a patio out back, they had a variety of beer and seltzers we enjoyed as well as some local popcorn.
Things to do in Asheville, NC
There are so many excellent art galleries downtown. Some of them are big market-style galleries so we saw some duplicates where artists had a booth at each of them, but still a very cool way to blow a couple hours. We visited Bender Gallery, Woolworth Walk, Kress Emporium, Horse + Hero, Contemporaneo Asheville, and Momentum Gallery.
Have you ever seen the chill reality TV show called Forged in Fire on Netflix? We binged it this winter and so it was top of mind when I was scrolling Airbnb Experiences near Asheville. We basically did an episode of the show. We spent three hours on a family farm with Jeremy in his forge making knives from railroad spikes. He showed us around, we got to choose what project we wanted to tackle, we heated up our spike, hammered it into shape, then used a grinder to make it sharp, and buffed it to make it shiny. Once we were done we even got to quench it in oil. We felt so accomplished working with big tools like an anvil and wearing leather aprons. Oh my goodness! I cannot recommend this experience enough. We would absolutely do this again and even browsed classes near us so we can. Nothing will be as fun as our time with Jeremy though!
Overall, Asheville was lovely if you’re into small town charm and beer.