Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Asheville



Asheville, I understand, had loads of debt from the 30s to the 80s and so didn't develop in the way that other cities did. This means that it's an art deco paradise. And just a lovely little town in the mountains. With great food.


On the first night, we ate at Chai Pani, an Indian street food restaurant with a southern twist. The Okra chips were amazing, as was the tandoori fish wrap.

Afterward, we went to French Bread Chocolate Lounge where we enjoyed their Indian Kulfi drinking chocolate (with rose, pistachio, and cardamon) and their exquisite homemade vanilla bean ice cream. And their gender neutral bathrooms: "this gender neutral bathroom is equipped with a urinal; this gender neutral is equipped with a changing table." That was a bit confusing, since I require neither a urinal, nor a changing table, so I played it safe and stuck with the changing table.


In the morning, we went to Tupelo Honey (also the name of a record we just bought), where we had goat cheese grits (must remember to make these at home!) and eggs benedict on biscuits and sausage. Yum. Plus, we had a waitress with a Southern accent so strong that we literally had no idea what the specials were.


Next time we visit, I hope we can also hike the Appalachian trail and work off a bit of that delicious food.




1 comment:

Miss Self-Important said...

I didn't know about the historical debt situation. It also struck me as weirdly ghost-towny, not b/c there was actually no one there, but b/c it seemed like the downtown was like a wholesale recreation of the past, like Colonial Williamsburg but for the 1920s, and with incongruent bourgie dog bakeries lodged in what were once obviously more purposeful buildings. I guess it's a good place to set up shop if you want an amazing facade to sell your hipster knickknacks.