AVL Food Series announced; Ivory Road Cafe launches chef-driven event series; Chow Chow food fest ends on sour note; and a visit to Big J's Bubba-Q
Also, Highland Brewing will celebrate 30th anniversary this year
This newsletter sponsored by Citizens Fuel Co., a family-owned Asheville company.
Here’s more of what’s happening on Asheville’s food scene. Reminder: you can always go to the Ashevegas Hot Sheet website to see all newsletters. Most of the stories require a paid subscription to access (thank you, subscribers, for your financial support!), but everything is there. In case you missed it, here’s a reminder of a few recent food-related Hot Sheets:
-Asheville Bagel Co. launches to big demand; Insomnia Cookies coming; more
Now for the latest:
Ivory Road Cafe & Kitchen, which owner Chef Jill Wasilewski has reinvented, recently held its first brunch. (The cafe was a restaurant. Now it’s an entirely event-driven space.) The delicious four-course meal, presented by Wasilewski and Chef Terri Terrell, included an apple, rose and cardamom crisp parfait with sorghum mascarpone and kitchen pepper flank steak with scrambled eggs, caviar, lemon créme fraiche and chives, all served in the cafe’s cozy confines. Follow @ivoryroadavl on Instagram for updates.
There are early plans to renovate a small, two-story building at 166 W. Haywood St. into a restaurant/bakery/cafe. That building sits right next to the railroad tracks, near Baby Bull restaurant and Pisgah Fitness. The building was most recently a part of the Roots Hummus, which closed last year.
Nosh, an Asheville micro-bakery, offers small-batch bagels, bialys and more made with locally milled, organic flours, according to the Nosh website. “Our bagels are long-fermented for loads of flavor, boiled in barley malt syrup, and baked to a perfect balance of outer crust and chewy interior.” I can’t wait to try them.
AVL’s Finest Deli serves up amazing, fresh soups and sandwiches at local tailgate markets. Follow them on Instagram at @finestavl.
AVL Food Series is a new monthly series of foodie events that will include pop-up dinners featuring local chefs and mini-fests celebrating food favorites such as burgers, wings and tacos. Shay Brown Events and Devil’s Foot craft beverage-maker are collaborating on the series. The events will be held at The Mule, the Devil’s Foot taproom/event space on Sweeten Creek Road.
Off the beaten path at Big J’s Bubba-Q: Asheville’s fancy, award-winning restaurants get a ton of attention (deservedly so), but locals know there are plenty of eateries just as good, if not better, if you get out of town just a bit. William James Johnson, the man behind, Big J’s Bubba-Q, has just such a spot in Arden. Folks love his barbecue ribs and sandwiches, but I went for his fried chicken, which I’d heard was some of the best around. Indeed, it was truly fantastic. The sweet hushpuppies, green beans and gooey mac’n cheese simply added to the joy. Johnson, who cooked for years on his days off from working at Eaton Corporation, now operates out of a tiny space along Sweeten Creek Road. These days, the eatery is *not* open on weekends. Call ahead to place an order (828.676.1112), or expect to wait at least half an hour if you show up in person, because it’s just Johnson and a helper running the business, and there’s likely a couple of hungry people ahead of you. Go get it.
Highland Brewing, Asheville’s first craft brewery since Prohibition, will celebrate its 30th anniversary this year with a celebration scheduled for May 4-5. Festivities will include the release of a new beer, a tropical lager called “The Long Game,” as well as live music and sports at the brewery’s outdoor volleyball and disc golf facilities. Cheers to founder Oscar Wong, whose creation sparked a craft beer renaissance that has helped redefine Asheville these past three decades and spark what is now a nearly $1 billion industry.
Finally, the organizers of the Chow Chow food festival announced last week that the event, which started in 2019, will no longer be produced. The event, founded by a group of Asheville’s star chef’s, including Chef Katie Button of Curaté restaurant, sought to become the city’s signature culinary event. The pandemic put the party on hold in 2020, and organizers struggled to find a footing after that.
The event also struggled to make money from the outset. I broke it all down in my 2021 Chow Chow deep dive. (A look at the nonprofit’s 990 2021 tax form, the latest on file, shows the event had revenues of $476,409 and expenditures $503,627, for a loss of $27,218 that year. It started the year with a fund balance of $51,837, so it finished in the black, but barely. A nonprofit’s 990 tax forms are public records.)
I haven’t done my full look into this yet, but some vendors at last year’s Chow Chow have been writing in social media posts that they were still owed money when organizers announced the food fest would no longer be held and that its nonprofit organization would be disbanded. It’s a sad end for an event that tried hard to be approachable, inclusive and engaged with the community.
Thanks for reading,
-j
Yes!
We enjoy the fun of Asheville’s ever evolving food scape!!