Asheville

Wednesday, July 8. 2009

This past weekend Melissa and I drove to Asheville, NC for a mini break. We had decided to hit the mountains instead of the beach to avoid the heat and the crowds. Asheville was about 15 degrees cooler than this inferno most commonly referred to as Columbia.

Melissa will let it be known if the accomodations are not up to speck, therefore the choice of shelter was priority numero uno. We love quaint BUT we abhor the overly precious frippery so often found at bed-and-breakfasts. Teddy bears? I don't think so. Lace hanging off the bed? No thanks. After an hour or so on the computer I found the Princess Anne Hotel (www.princessannehotel.com), which seemed like a perfect choice. I crossed my fingers and reserved a room.

Next--where to have brunch when we arrived? Back to the computer and a little bit of research, using the websites www.opentable.com and www.tripadvisor.com. When we do go out to eat, my wife and I tend to go for broke: cocktails, wine, multiple courses. Research is vital for avoiding expensive mistakes. It has happened before and it's not pretty. We settled on Rezaz in Biltmoore Village with a 12:30 reservation. We had heard good things about the restaurant from other restaurant folks, which is a damn good sign. For the rest of our dining we decided to rely on local recommendations.

Sunday morning we got up early to pack. The cats were pissed when they saw the suitcase emerge from the closet. However, I think they would be far more pissed if we tried to take them with us. (Plus, that would make us Crazy Cat People, which we obviously are not, by virtue of having only two.) We were on the road by 10:00 and at a comfortable cruising speed toward our destination and our 12:30 reservation with Mary. Bloody, that is.

The host at Rezaz informed us that our table would be ready in a few minutes so I started to take in the scenery. I noticed that I could not see any Bloody Mary's on the tables! Panic set in. It's kind of silly to be eating eggs and bacon in the afternoon without cocktails. Disaster was averted when I saw a Bellini (prosecco and white peach nectar) cross my path and I settled back at ease.

The dining room is nicely-decorated and a bit on the trendy side with comfortable chairs and inviting booths. The menu at Rezaz is a mix of North African and Mediterranean, with a splash of French to round it out. After securing cocktails we started with a Mediterranean dip sampler that consisted of baba ganoush, a puree of roasted red pepper and walnuts, and a red bean puree served with grilled pita. This hit the spot after a few hours in the car with the only thing keeping me going was my coffee.

We settled on our entrees--the skirt steak with sauce choron and the crab cake benedict. I was a little shocked to see sauce choron on the menu and had to dig back in my brain to remeber what it was. Sauce choron is a tomato-infused hollandaise. It's a delicious sauce, well worth trying at home if you know how to make a hollandaise. The entrees were good. My wife loved her dish, though she fussed over being served cold fruit on a hot plate. I swear, women sometimes.

A fine meal. Good service. Recommended. Check it out: www.rezaz.com

Continue reading below.

We left Rezaz with a nice and tasty food buzz and headed into the city proper looking for our hotel. At the end of Chestnut Street stood a beautiful three story hotel painted in warm greens. We walked into lush hardwood floors and a very helpful front desk employee. She gave us a map and listed some of her favorite dining spot and locations, all of which would prove helpful in the future. After cocktails in the library, we headed back to the room and popped open the laptop to look at menues. After a few dead ends I stumbled upon a restaurant called "table". The menu looked awesome and I had made up my mind before I was done reading the first courses.

We were off to table. We walked in the front door to see an open kitchen and were greeted by a the hostess and led to a nice table for two. Out came my "murse" and a stellar bottle of wine. While the server opened the wine we brought we ordered some cockails from him to start the night and settled in knowing we would camp for a few hours. Melissa orded a Pimm's Cup and I had a variation of a Campari and soda called an Americano, both made perfectly. Now for the hard decisions, what to eat?

The list of local ingredients was refreshing. Like at Motor, I bet the chef could tell you where most of his produce comes from. We started with a salad of three colored beets, local pea greans, and a dill creme fraiche as well as a salad of local arugula, speck ham, SC peaches, and house made ricotta. Both salads were fantasticaly simple and reflected their ingredient structures well. For the second course Melissa ordered the seared duck hearts, heirloom tomatoes and a sweet balsamic sauce. I ordered the sweetbreads meuniere with fried green tomatoes. Both dishes were great, but I won the "Dish of the Night" contest with the sweetbreads; they were awesome! (As a side note--it is always priceless to sit back and watch restaurant staffs when Melissa orders and then consumes random pieces of organ meat--they all hover for the first bite and then go about their business.)

The entree choice was easy even though we debated it for ten minutes: roast venison (the cut is called Denver Leg) with chorizo and pinkeye peas. The venison arrived perfectly cooked and the spicy richness of the sauce went perfectly with the wine. The wine, by the way, was a Tikal Malbec named "Amorio." I have on the list at Motor for $50. (2007 was a really good year in Argentina. And you can take that statement at face value.) To finish off the meal we ordered a shortcake dessert, which was baked to order and arrived steaming. Yummmmm.

If you are in Asheville, this restaurant is a must. www.tableasheville.com

Posted by Tim Peters in Local Food at 07:41 | Comment (1) | Trackbacks (0)

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We LOVED Rezaz, as well as Fig Bistro in the Biltmore Village. And we stayed at The Black Walnut B&B, and will DEFINITELY return. http://www.figbistro.com/# and http://www.blackwalnut.com/

#1 rox on 2009-07-16 17:12 (Reply)

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