The Best Asheville Restaurants

When it comes to food—I am pretty open to trying new things—even if it’s not something I would typically like.  I always say “don’t knock it until you try it!”  Cruises are always a great place to try new foods because you can usually try small portions and if you don’t like it, you’re not wasting a bunch of money.  I’ll have to say, this mindset has made our kids pretty adventurous when it comes to food!

Eating Asheville Food Tour

When my husband and I booked our trip to Asheville, NC, we were looking for things to do.  A friend of mine mentioned a food or brewery tour.  I am not a beer drinker, but I am always down for some good food.  I found a tour through Eating Asheville that had great reviews, so we booked it!

If you’ve never done a food tour, I highly recommend it!  And if you’re coming to Asheville, definitely consider booking through Eating Asheville.  Our tour guide, Sita, was fantastic!  We booked the High Roller tour, which consisted of 6 restaurants and 3 alcoholic beverage pairings in the course of 2.5 hours.

The food was absolutely amazing!  What’s great about a food tour is that you get a sampling of what the restaurant has to offer so if you find something you really like, you can always go back for a full-course meal.  Although, in a place like Asheville, there are so many choices available!  Asheville’s food scene really is top-notch, with over 350 restaurants to choose from.  And most of them source their food locally for that true farm-to-table experience.

Zambra

Our tour started at Zambra, which is a tapas and wine bar.  They focus on tastes and traditions of the Western Mediterranean.  When I looked at the menu, I honestly didn’t know what many of the dishes really included.  On the food tour, the menu items are pre-selected for you so you don’t have to worry about not knowing what to choose.

We started off with their signature sangria, which is a mix of white wine, juices and winter spices like clove and cinnamon.  It was a really good drink with a very unique flavor.  Next, we tried their Pomegranate Braised Pork Spring rolls, which are served with Avocado Za’atar and Mango Mojo.  All of the food we had on our tour was delicious, but this was certainly a favorite!  The depth of flavor was incredible—from the crunch and saltiness of the spring roll to the braised pork and the avocado and mango sauces on the side!

We also sampled the Deviled Eggs, which had Boquorones, Manzanilla, EVOO, Sea Salt and Chives.  They were also full of flavor!

Blue Dream Curry House

The next restaurant on our list was the Blue Dream Curry House.  Prior to this, I don’t think I’ve had curry and my husband isn’t a curry fan so he wasn’t super-excited for this stop.  They provided us with Pisgah Panang curry paired with an ale.  The curry is a gentle sweet spiced Thai red coconut curry with chicken, squash, broccoli, red peppers and lime; it’s served with white jasmine rice. 

We may not have been curry fans prior to this stop, but wow did this restaurant change our mind!  My husband and I were blown away by this dish!  The heat was subtle, but intensified as you continued to eat it.  It wasn’t overly spicy, but a perfect amount.  I would come back for this curry over and over again.

Strada

Our next stop was Strada Italiano, which is an Italian restaurant.  Their staff is wonderful and you can tell they truly love what they do!  We had their Grilled Florentine Ravioli, which is stuffed with spinach and ricotta set on a bed of Arugula with a sherry tomato cream sauce, balsamic reduction, basil and pecorino Romano cheese.  They had this sampling paired with a dry, red wine.  What’s really cool about this restaurant is 90% of their menu is gluten free!  You don’t normally think of Italian pastas and breads as gluten free, but this restaurant pulls it off! 

Many of the restaurants book up fast in Asheville so it’s a good idea to make reservations.  This restaurant is one of them!  They do have a few tables that are available each night, but if your heart is set on some delicious Italian cuisine, be sure to make a reservation!

The Rhu

We traveled “around the world” for this food tour—so far we’ve had Spanish Tapas, Thai Curry and Italian!  Our next stop was traditional American fare at The Rhu where we had a fabulous biscuit sandwich with sausage and their house-made pimento cheese paired with a side of southern sweet tea!  We stayed in Asheville for a few days and biscuits are everywhere, but I am telling you, if you want a good biscuit, come to The Rhu!  You will NOT be disappointed!

And if you’re planning a day off in the mountains, driving along the Blue Ridge Parkway, consider ordering one of The Rhu’s Picnic Baskets!  Choose from several varieties—they will pack up your lunch in a picnic basket with everything you need.  Just drop the picnic basket back off once you’re back in town! 

The day after our tour, we ended up stopping here again for lunch before heading out for our drive and our food was again AMAZING!  I had the Appalachian sandwich, which consisted of house roasted turkey breast, bacon, spinach, cheddar, and caramelized onions on Levain.  It was so good—I can’t tell you how many people I told about that sandwich!  My husband had the Pastrami Reuben, which had house smoked pastrami, Ashe Co. Gouda, comeback sauce, and slaw on Levain bread.  It did have a little spice to it, but also phenomenal!

El Gallo

When I booked this tour, I didn’t know how much food we’d actually get.  My husband and I were planning to grab dinner after the tour figuring we’d still be hungry.  At this point of the tour, we were getting stuffed!  And we still had one more savory sampling, plus a sweet stop to go.

The next restaurant was El Gallo, which focuses on authentic regional Mexican cooking.  The restaurant started as a pop-up restaurant and eventually opened a brick and mortar location.  Executive Chef Luis Martinez talked to our group about the restaurant’s history and provided us with a tostada with guacamole, watermelon rinds, carrots and cilantro.  It was delicious!  They use watermelon rinds as a ceviche.  The tostada was full of flavor and it was paired with a traditional margarita.

French Broad Chocolate Lounge

Our last stop was to French Broad Chocolate Lounge.  Even if this food tour didn’t include this restaurant, it was on my list since we started planning this trip!  There is no way I can pass up chocolate!  We got to try the Nibby Brownie, which has their bean-to-bar chocolate and cacao nibs along with their malted milk chocolate and their chai masala milk chocolate.  This was a perfect end to our awesome food tour!  We ended up coming back to French Braoad and giving the Chocolate Crème Brule a try too, which was also yummy!

Asheville History

On our tour, Sita also provided us with some wonderful history of Asheville.  A lot of the buildings are from the early 1900’s and have really cool architecture.  We learned that Asheville is known to have tunnels under the city that were once used during prohibition.  If you enjoy a little history, consider following the Urban Trail.  This walking tour will provide you with interesting information about the city’s history with 30 sculptural trail stations positioned around the city.  You can use the interactive map or print a copy of it to follow.

With Asheville having so many fantastic restaurants, what are some that we haven’t tried?  I have a feeling another trip to Asheville is in our future so we’d love to sample some other great eateries!

Looking for more food recommendations? Check out these other posts my favorite restaurants: Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, Gulf Shores, Alabama and Youngstown, Ohio